This weeks Quantum goes to America, Northern Ireland, the UK, China, Hong Kong, Nigeria, Sweden and Australia and includes music from the Sugababes, Fleetwood Mac and Elvis.
We consider the George Floyd case and its implications; the ending of lockdown for demonstrations; the Northern Irish Assembly rejecting abortion;
We also ask why do some black lives matter more to Western activists than others. Who was demonstrating on behalf of the 20 Nigerians slaughtered last week?
The lack of honest news reporting is becoming really disturbing. We give an example from Sweden where the non Swedish press took one interview and turned it into something it was not.
Meanwhile the Chinese government continues to clamp down on Hong Kong and the Church. No demonstrations in the West about this. But good news of a possible three million Hong Kong citizens being eligible to come to the UK.
We reflect on a fascinating interview with one of the Sugababes who is a professing Christian. But should a Christian make sexually suggestive videos?
We also have some other Covid news…sex scenes in film and drama in Australia are to be restricted. In the UK adultery is in effect banned because of Covid whilst in Taiwan it is made legal! And a great quote from John Stott on the limitations of Cyber church.
And we finish with two bits of music (to make up for the Sugababes!). Fleetwood Mac – Dreams – and Elvis singing how Great Thou Art.
https://patron.podbean.com/theweeflea
Interesting facts about the Floyd case :
https://anncoulter.com/2020/06/03/on-the-other-hand-theres-rodney-king/
I must confess, I haven’t heard the podcast, but your point about the massacre in Nigeria is well taken. The thing about the George Floyd case is that it happened close to home, in a country that has prided itself as “the land of the free and the home of the brave”. For the media, it’s an easy score: far easier than having a correspondent in Nigeria reporting on the story; and since they thrive on conflict, it’s a gift that keeps on giving. A point that’s quite interesting is that Christianity Today reported on George Floyd’s work pointing young people towards Jesus and away from The Street in his hometown of Houston, Texas. CT referred to “A legacy of the Gospel”. That’s something the mainstream media haven’t touched, but then again, I haven’t seen much in the North American media about the Bishop of Truro’s report on persecution of Christians, either, so you can see where a story about 20 murdered Nigerian Christians would land on the assignment editor’s lineup sheet.
David,
Some stats:
In USA 2014;
123 blacks killed by police, twice as many whites.
6000 blacks killed by blacks.
13% of the population, 50% of the homicides
(source: Afro American Larry Elders)
USA July 2019:
98% of all blacks killed are killed by other blacks.
A black person is more likely to be killed by lightning than by a cop.
Some mothers put their children to bed in bathtubs to protect then from drive-by
bullets at night.(source: Afro American Candice Owens)
It is clear what the danger actually is.
American and British police are the best “bend over backwards” police in the world, this side of utopia. There is now talk of a March on Washington this August to demand that police/policing improve. How? By removing frail humans and replacing them with RoboCop might work. Meanwhile the bullets will still fly into black lives and that matters.
Your fan,
Euan
Euan,
Your data set about death by police is messed up. Here is a more accurate table:
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2020-06-03/data-show-deaths-from-police-violence-disproportionately-affect-people-of-color
Far more White people are killed by police in America, the issue is that the numbers are disproportionate to the racial make-up of the country. African Americans only make up about 14.5% of the US population; White Non-Hispanic or Latin people make up 61.3% of the population.
There are a myriad of cultural reasons for this that need to be addressed with better policies and more training. One of the issues is that belligerent white people who are arrested and injured of killed by police officers are most often drunk. African Americans- who have some cultural reasons to be fearful are also often – like George Floyd- filled with drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine, the later of which causes a serious increase in adrenaline and stimulate “fight or flight” syndrome in people. So, if you are fearful, and you are pumped full of adrenaline because of Meth – there is no way for it to be a good situation for the police officer or the arrested. Stun guns used in these situations have often proved fatal, when cops were using them to get someone under control who is pumping Meth induced adrenaline.
I think that the stories about George Floyd in Texas pointing people to Jesus are nice, but the fact remains that his autopsy shows he was significantly under the influence of illegal drugs, and he was arrested for passing counterfeit money. I have a hard time putting that behavior in the “role model” “gospel man” image; but again that may be entirely cultural.
I married into a large law enforcement family. My father-in-law was under-sheriff for decades and he and my husband (a psychologist by training) used to have many long talks about ways that police training needed to change; that more psychological testing needed to be done to weed out people who had a poor self-image and wanted to be in law enforcement to have some type of “social authority.” My father-in-law hated these kinds of people in law enforcement and refused to hire them, and he could spot them a mile a way. There are, unfortunately, way to many of these people in that chosen career. The same thing is true of prison guards. They all need to be weeded out. They all need to be trained (by community experience) in dealing with the cultural differences in how people behave and how they respond to stressful situations. I learned, years ago when working at a Domestic Violence shelter, that even how spouses choose to abuse one another is largely cultural. For example one group of men may give their woman a punch in the face that will cause swelling and bruising to let peers know that they have their “woman” under control; another group of men my not physically harm the woman so she can continue going to work and such by may emotionally abuse her by controlling everything she can do, wear, say, etc. Police need to know these things about have various segments of the culture respond to things.
Also, and I think this is the most important- we need to stop simply housing people in jail. Most people in jail learn new ways to commit crime or get away with it when they are released. There is little reform. No one who goes to prison should come out of prison without a GED or high school diploma and formal training in a trade that pays a living wage- give them a way to make a living without resorting to crime. Give employers a tax incentive to hire trained, skilled ex-cons and after 5 years of being a responsible citizen expunge their record completely, restore all their rights, etc.
In America, the drop out rate from school is quite high (compared to other first world nations) for males; in all ethnic groups. Our school system is failing our young people at an alarming rate. Test scores are horrible, even when all the curriculum is “teaching to the test.” School nurses, starting at a young age diagnose boys with ADD or ADHD, and send a note home for the family doctor to put the boy on medication. In reality, few of the boys have ADD or ADHD – the medication is used to make the boys more “compliant” and like the girls in the classroom; this has to stop; and it is far more endemic in poorer areas where they tend to have a problem recruiting the best educators also. That too is part of what manifests as systemic racism in America.
And finally, and what I think is the worst part of racism in America is the killing of 19 Million Black babies since 1973; because every poor neighborhood – while it doesn’t have a full service grocery store does have an abortion clinic and lots of billboards advertising abortion. There are approximately 48M black people in America, that number could be 67M, and 20% of the population here rather than 14.5%. – if it were not for the eugenics of Planned Parenthood.
I thought I was done but one more thing… Welfare programs in the United States are rigged against families. The welfare laws have all but destroyed the Black Family in America if a married couple have not made it to middle class before their first child was born. Children need two parents, and single mothers need to not be penalized if they know who the father of their child is and they name him.
Hi David
I wonder have you heard Candice Owen’s take on George Floyd and Black Lives Matter? Would appreciate your take.
Robert
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjjq4XezerpAhURaRUIHdoWBM8QwqsBMAN6BAgKEAc&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FrealCandaceOwens%2Fvideos%2Fconfession-i-do-not-support-george-floyd-and-i-refuse-to-see-him-as-a-martyr-but%2F273957870461345%2F&usg=AOvVaw1Tj2eg7WMVEGsaWxHyZtTi
Yes – I have…brings some balance – but I think still misses the main point – that although he was a sinner (as we all are) he did not deserve to be treated like that. But she is a brave woman.
I’ve just watched this video. I see Candice Owen in it condemning how he was being treated. Yes, it wasn’t her main point. Her main point being about being sold lies and refusing to see George Floyd as a martyr, a hero and icon for the struggle against racial tensions.
Her claim was that he was a criminal with an autopsy report showing he had drugs in his system and had dropped a bag containing white powder at the time of his arrest. That he had been in prison several times, the last time for 5 years having held a gun to a pregnant woman’s belly while a group he was with stole her wallet and phone from her home.
She also pointed to David Dorn – a retired Police officer that was killed in the riots and the black community having less to say about that, claiming it is the only community that upholds its criminals. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/03/us/david-dorn-st-louis-police-shot-trnd/index.html
The rioting is not about one person.
There is a deep wound of racial tension in the US. And while no one is without sin ( as you rightly point out) this wound is not going to be healed by assuming something positive or negative about any individual based on colour of skin or any other group identity.
Healing is only going to happen when everyone is identified primarily as a fellow human created in the image of God with Martin Luther King’s dream of being judged not by colour of skin but by content of character.
These are some thoughts after listening to Candice’s video:
1. Firstly she says that “only black Americans will try and defend the lowest denominator in society: criminals”. I think this is completely wrong. Many white people are very much against capital punishment and heavily protest for individual criminals on death row who have usually committed multiple murders and for the rights of criminals generally. White people will defend white mothers who choose late term abortion for their children and I remember the hashtag shoutyourabortion, probably one of the most disturbing hashtags ever to be created.
2. Secondly she said that white people dispose of those at the bottom of our society and uplift those at the top of our society. Again I disagree. We certainly celebrate drug addicted musicians, promiscuous violent celebrities etc. and pour hatred on politicians, business people etc.
3. She said white people don’t celebrate criminals. Some of the most wicked criminals we celebrate are not even considered criminals in white society which is even worse. For example the leader of BPAS, Ann Furedi is celebrated who campaigns for abortion for any reason up to birth including for gender (and presumably race since she supports abortion for any reason). We celebrate Christopher Columbus who treated the native Americans savagely. We celebrate people like Margaret Sanger who was a eugenicist. We celebrate Marie Stopes who was also a eugenicist. Let’s not believe we only celebrate moral people! Additionally we do celebrate criminal celebrities.
4. George Floyd had a past and I’ve seen his criminal record. The crime she speaks of that landed him in prison was in 2007 so 13 years ago. I believe he became a Christian either in prison or after he got out. His pastor said he met him in 2010. So as far as I know from 2010 till now he has been leading a reasonably clean life. But then we have the drugs he was on. To be honest after the mental stress of this lockdown if I’d been a previous drug addict which he was, I would be back on drugs. This horrific lockdown has kept people away from all their support networks…church, AA, cocaine anonymous, family etc. So I think we can forgive George Floyd for that. The rates of mental health issues have gone through the roof during this lockdown as well as suicides and panic attacks and psychosis so I really think we can forgive George for that.
5. She seems to then think it’s ridiculous for black Americans to be so upset about his horrific murder because he was a criminal in the past (13 years ago was his last crime) and then on drugs now. I don’t make that leap. A murder is a murder. She also fails to talk about George Floyd’s conversion to following Jesus and the positive things members of the Christian community have shared about him.
6. A lot of the rioting is not even by black people. My black friends who do support the riots (a few of them do) are not supporting them because of who George Floyd was but because another black man was murdered and there’s a long history of black men being murdered in America by white supremacists. Also they are tired of the systemic racism that they have experienced and their families have experienced for generations. They are tired of the pain and horror of racism. They each have many of their own stories of racism and marginalization and glass ceilings that have caused deep wounds. Never mind a despicable scientific system that believes black people are less evolved than white people.
7. She said the idea that there is an imbalance of police brutality of white police against black Americans is a lie. She justifies this with statistics saying that it’s more likely for a white American to be killed in a police encounter than a black American. I haven’t looked at the statistics. My suspicion would be that even if this is the case for the last few years, it’s hard to forget decades when that was not the case which is still well remembered.
8. She talks about the disproportionate amount of crime in the black communities compared to the white communities but she does not control that data for disadvantage, poverty, fatherlessness, trauma, education etc. Thus she’s not comparing apples with apples.
9. She doesn’t mention the effect of hundreds of years of slavery and racism on the culture and psychology and disadvantage of black communities.
10. I agree with her that some of the rioters are destroying black communities and that the far left antifa group seems to be supporting this which is a great sadness.
11. I also agree with her that it seems political groups are using George Floyd‘s death to capitalize on power and get black people to vote the way they want them to. They even seem to be stoking the pain/trauma to bring about destruction and division.
12. She then accuses black people of being the most vicious racist people when it comes to taking down their own. I don’t think it’s really fair in the context of George Floyd’s death for her to then start calling black people racist while they are still in a state of grief.
13. I agree with her assessment of some of the celebrities who waded in on this one. As someone else said (I can’t member who) it’s all well and good for celebrities to say we should defund the police which would lead to chaos in our communities when they have private security guards to defend them.
14. She repeatedly calls black people stupid and speaks about black people in a denigrating manner.
15. So overall I think she makes a few good points against the left using George Floyds death to capitalize on voters and to stoke racial tensions for political gain (The right also uses pro life issues to capitalize on voters). Other than that I think she’s very insensitive to the struggle of black people and the racism they have experienced in their own lives and the racism their families have experienced and the horror of hundreds of years of racial injustice.
Had to smile that you chose the album Rumours.
The band were going through serious personal crisis during the recording of this album – band members having affairs with each other!
Several of the songs reflect the tumult, apparently, including this particular track.
Still, all said and done, my favorite Mac album and one of the best selling albums of all time.
Good choice.
Fleetwood Mac has the world’s happiest on stage drummer.
Death of a Dream?
https://youtu.be/RcVZfJO01NI?list=TLPQMDYwNjIwMjA_aL_tPnK00w
Or unfulfilled longing?
Or the Wonder to be yet realised in all its fullness?
It’s Candace* Owens
For anyone interested in hearing more of Keisha Buchanan’s story this is well worth a listen.