Blu-icide

The recent spasm of activism from the Far Left is not surprising, but I am somewhat surprised by the acceptance of lawlessness by our political and business leaders. Seattle’s CHAZ or CHOP  and the highly publicized rioting and looting after George Floyd’s death are the most prominent examples, but the trend seems broad and deep.

Will American voters endorse this Far Left view in November? Perhaps Trump’s fumbling and his incoherent and divisive messaging have doomed his re-election campaign, no matter how crazy and irrational his opponents have become.  Who knows whether voters will actually look at Biden’s policies and his platform, or whether the dominant sentiment will simply be “anyone-but-Trump?” 

But I do think the Left has overplayed it’s hand. Maybe they are committing “Blu-icide” – if the Far Left slogans, memes and spasms lead to actual votes in the ballot box and shifts in policy.

The only question is whether the current situation will lead to the long-discussed “Blue Wave” that sweeps Trump, and many moderates and conservatives, out of office before the reality of the Blu-icide causes the Electorate to open their eyes.

 

Outrage Fatigue

The social media as well as the traditional media love a juicy story.  They tell us every day about something that ought to make us mad.  We’re tired of being outraged, I suppose.

In this piece, Harry Scanlon surveyed the various areas in which interest groups and their media enablers seek to work us up into a righteous furor.  Except that the story is usually way out of proportion to the actual misdeed or comment.  2016 Presidential politics was the poster child for this phenomenon, but it was constant and many people tuned out.  Like the boy who cried wolf, we just stopped believing the hyperventilating “sky-is-falling” spin anymore.

Turns out, of course, that the outrage before the 2016 was just the warm-up for the post-election outrage.  Since then, the media has treated us to non-stop outrage about something Trump said or they claim he said.  (Curiously, they pay relatively little attention to what his administration actually does.  I suppose because they can’t provoke instant outrage if they actually have to investigate and report about an issue that just might – horrors – be complicated and have more than one side to it.)

The radical Green enviro movement is constantly outraged.  The #MeToo zealots were outraged.  The multitude of conspiracy hounds (from Russian interference with US elections, to the latest – 5G cell towers and Covid-19) scream non-stop.  And now, Black Lives Matter has made a multi-year, well-funded media campaign the focus of current outrage.  Actually, police misconduct SHOULD create outrage, but BLM has many other issues besides that one, and I expect we’re already weary of that outrage, too.

What to do?  Well, its tempting to tune-out completely, but the better route is to filter and curate and measure your daily dose of outrage.  Stay involved and stay informed.  Listen to your allies and your opponents, but do your best to avoid outrage of every kind.

Double Standards and Sally Loo

Race relations are again an issue, at least for the media and those directly affected. Highly publicized shootings and other seemingly improper conduct by police are troubling to just about everyone.

I and just about everyone would also agree with the following goal for our country, mentioned recently by a national politician:

“Equal justice under the law must mean that every American receives equal treatment in every encounter with law enforcement, regardless of race, color, gender or creed.”

Justice means getting what you deserve – for both good behavior and for bad behavior. Most of us have at least some rough sense of justice, whatever our other beliefs. The Bible is clear in its teaching:

“Learn to do what is good. Seek justice. Correct the oppressor. Defend the rights of the fatherless. Plead the widow’s cause.”‭‭ Isaiah‬ ‭1:17‬ ‭

Alas, since we left the Garden of Eden, we live in a world full of injustice, sometimes great and sometimes minor.

Sally Loo’s Wholesome Cafe is a hip coffee shop and cafe in a California college town full of hip coffee shops and cafes. It has a loyal following, and I’ve been in there a few times. Of course, since Covid-19 state-ordered lockdowns were imposed a few months ago, Sally Loo’s – like all other restaurants – was closed to dine-in or sit-down eating. I’m guessing its been hard on the owner financially, and I’m guessing that she’s been anxious to fully reopen as soon as she can.

Recent protests against those state-ordered lockdowns were widely condemned in the press and those protesters ridiculed for endangering themselves and others by not maintaining social distancing and wearing masks. But when protesters took to the streets  to protest against police misconduct in the George Floyd killing in Minnesota and on behalf of the Black Lives Matter, the media mostly praised the protesters and the cause.  As one commentator said about the media, “If it weren’t for double standards, there wouldn’t be any standards at all.”

The owner of Sally Loo’s apparently posted a picture on her personal Instagram account of the not-socially-distant protestors, with a rhetorical question – “Wait, so when can we gather at church/concerts/restaurants in groups of 100+ again???” – referring to Covid-19 limits such as those on churches and businesses. I suspect she was simply pointing out the double standard of the media and left-wing politicians in condemning protests when they disagreed with the message, supposedly based on Covid-19 and public health concerns, while praising protests when they agreed with the message and sweeping aside those very same public health concerns.

Sally Loo’s owner soon got a taste of social media injustice.  She was challenged as being insufficiently devoted to the cause of protesting police misconduct and supporting Black Lives Matter.  Then she posted a message to the effect that she did not endorse wholeheartedly all that the organizers of Black Lives Matter believed or are pursuing, other than stopping police misconduct.  (In fact, I would guess that most American’s don’t endorse the set of beliefs that BLM says it stands for, although most of us want the police to behave justly.)  Specifically, she reportedly posted “Christians, if you are posting anything ‘BLM’ please tell me you’ve at least read their ‘What We Believe’ statement.”  By pointing out that she didn’t endorse the LGBTQ normalization agenda that seems baked into BLM, she was deemed to have committed a second social media sin and several comment-ors called for a boycott of Sally Loo’s.  One report says that she has received hundreds of comments on her Instagram account because of this on-line exchange.

Sensing she had stepped in it, and was perhaps making it worse while trying to explain, she then posted the now-obligatory apologies to those she might have offended with such politically incorrect postings. 

She hasn’t posted much on the business account about the dust-up, as you might imagine.  And, since the college students have mostly gone home for the summer, I expect this will all blow over.  But there are three lessons here –

First, protesting seems like a time-honored and constitutionally-protected form of speech in this country, but not if the media disapproves of the content of your protest.  We all know that the constitution guarantees a right of free assembly and free speech.  When citizens are unhappy with their government – whether its virus lockdowns or police misconduct or any number of other government misdeeds – I think they should speak up.  I’m sure the owner of Sally Loo’s believes the same.

Second, if you’re a business owner, you should probably stay neutral on hot-button issues.  For a long time, business owners believed that it was wise to stay out of the public eye on controversial subjects, for the simple reason that you’re likely to offend some portion of your customer base.  When I go to Starbucks and see the signs celebrating Pride month, I am not pleased; when I go to In N Out and see the scripture references on the packaging, I am pleased.  But by pleasing one customer, you’re offending another customer.  Today, we see businesses – depending upon their customer mix – more often speaking up on controversial subject matters, but as Sally Loo’s owner discovered, there’s a risk in doing so.

Third, if you’re a professing Christian, as the owner of Sally Loo’s seems to be, know that you’ll be judged by a different standard than non-believers.  The Bible, by example and by direct instruction, teaches us to make an effort to get along with all.  We can and should certainly speak up for our values and beliefs, but we need to do so in a way that is respectful and above reproach.  I suspect that Sally Loo’s owner wishes she had been a little more measured and thoughtful in some of the things she posted on-line.  But I hope she continues to speak up for her beliefs – “Your speech should always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.”