Last weekend there was a society changing event in Sydney (similar events happened in London, Glasgow, New York and many other cities). The Black Lives Matter march was eventually permitted to go ahead with around 10,000 participants. It was deemed by the Sydney appeals court to be legal – although the law says that we are not allowed to meet in more than groups of ten. Why did this happen? Because the authorities feared disorder.
On Saturday 6th June the BBC reported that groups over six were illegal but the police refused to enforce it for fear of disorder. This is why this event was society changing. It is important to challenge and defeat racism within society – both individual and systemic. But I don’t believe the events of this past weekend will see any change for good in our society. In fact, I suspect it will end up making things worse. They have done more to aid the far-Right (and Left) than anything. The rule of law, reason and rationality have been replaced by the rule of the mob and who shouts loudest on social media. All aided and abetted by governments, police and media.
I don’t want to say anything about BLM – the organisation (I will leave that for another time). But that does not mean, as Twitter tells me, that I don’t think Black lives matter. They do. And the simple riposte – ‘All lives matter’ – doesn’t help. The point about saying Black lives matter is to say that they matter (or should) as much as any other people’s lives. Any Christian should agree with that.
Hypocrisy
What I am concerned about in this article is the hypocrisy, the mob rule and especially the breakdown of law and order.
We have teachers who say that it’s not safe to teach children in schools – but its ok to go on demonstrations in London. We have health professionals who warned us that going to visit someone was putting their lives at risk – but commended mass demonstrations.
We had Iain Livingstone, Chief Constable, tweeting “If neighbours are having a party call the police” but then after a mob pulled down a statue in Bristol we had this Chief Constable telling us that if the mob is big enough the police will make ‘a tactical decision’ and let you do what you want.
The BBC news department managed to outdo even its woke self. They claimed that the officer who was thrown off her horse after bricks were thrown at it “knocked herself off her horse”. The BBC also had this incredible headline
Can you imagine what the headline would have been if a right-wing protest had resulted in 27 police officers being hurt? I suspect the words ‘largely peaceful protest” would have been nowhere near it.
The double standards were well summed up by Brendan O’Neill.
It was hard to escape the conclusion that the protest was tweeting made flesh, a noisy display of virtue disguised as a radical assembly.
The double standard was made crystal clear by Labour MP Dawn Butler. When in mid-May Boris Johnson relaxed the lockdown rules and said some people could return to work, Ms Butler fumed. She said the PM was being ‘reckless’ and, get this, was ‘sending people out to catch the virus’. And yet when Conservative MP Kevin Hollinrake criticised the BLM demo on the basis that it could cause a second spike, Butler responded: ‘Don’t you dare! Don’t even go there!’
The justification for these things is important they say. BLM is important. So is going to my friend’s funeral. So is visiting my elderly parents. Way more important than tearing down a statue in Bristol, or attacking police in London, or nicely protesting in Glasgow.
The politicians of course joined in the hypocritical double standards – suddenly those who called for the head of Dominic Cummings because he was endangering lives; found out that having thousands of people together was not endangering lives. The ‘science ‘quickly changed to fit the politics! In Scotland, the justice secretary, who would fine you if you went beyond a five-mile radius from your home – was implicitly condoning mass gatherings. Because he agreed with the cause. I have to,at this point, give credit to the impressive Labour leader Keir Starmer for criticising his own MP, Barry Gardiner for attending one of these protests.
Illogicality
Hypocrisy is usually accompanied by its twin, illogicality. If we 
are going to destroy anything to do with slavery that’s the Coliseum, the pyramids and most ancients monuments gone. Perhaps we should take down the statues of Keir Hardie who was a rabid anti-Semite? Of course, Karl Marx should go! And if you care about African American lives then you should defund Planned Parenthood, whose founder, Margaret Sanger was a eugenicist who thought that abortion was particularly good for getting rid of poor black babies. Will Humza Yousaf demand that all Mosques be taken down because Mohammed was also a slave trader?
Lunacy
But the hypocrisy, illogicality were then joined by the lunacy – as Os Guinness warmed in his excellent book – A Free People’s Suicide. When I first saw this report, I did not retweet it – because I thought it must have been a spoof. But apparently its true (it must be – it was on CNN!). “Minneapolis City Council has pledged to dismantle the local police department. Nine of 13 councillors said a “new model of public safety” would be created amid nationwide protests sparked by George Floyd’s death last month”.
Apparently BLM want to defund the police. In other words do away with them. Listen to what one activist said about why and how this would work.
CAMEROTA: “What if in the middle of the night my home is broken into. Who do I call?” BENDER: “Yes, I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors. And I know — and myself, too, and I know that that comes from a place of privilege.”
https://twitter.com/dbongino/status/1269963823932375040
Think about what she is saying. If you can have the police come and protect you and uphold the laws, you are privileged – so you should give up your privilege and have no police so you can be like those who are oppressed. Let’s take that the next step. If you have a house, you are privileged – so let’s burn down your house so you can empathise with the homeless. What’s even worse is the sheer naivety of the proposal – that community groups etc could police the neighbourhoods. So, we are literally going to have vigilante groups, armed militias and mobs bringing ‘justice’. Welcome to Beirut.
The Basis of Law
Western Liberal democracies are founded upon some basic principles derived from the Bible. One of which is equality before the law for all. That principle was trashed this weekend. The police and some politicians said that if your mob was big enough and prepared to cause enough trouble you could get away with it. Actually, it was worse than that. The reality is that if you are big enough, violent enough and your political cause is one that the police approve of – you can break the law. If you were a group that the police did not approve of – then you can expect the full iron fist of the law. None of that sensitive policing to non-PC groups!
Equality Under the Law
Here in Sydney there was a social contract between the people and the authorities. We believed and acted upon what they said about not gathering and having our freedoms restricted in order to prevent the spread of Covid 19. After the march this weekend I have noticed a considerable change in attitude. If they can do it – why not us? If the Court says its legal for thousands of people to march in the CBD, then why should I pay a fine for taking a drive to the beach? In the UK and the US, I am concerned that that most basic of all legal principles, equality under and before the law, was already being eroded. This past weekend has made it worse. If you have money, if you have media power, if you have the right political cause, then the law will treat you differently from those who don’t have those privileges.
Carl Trueman has a great article which points out that the reason the young people (and the Progressives) in the West are more concerned about Minneapolis than Hong Kong is that they (of both right and left) no longer really care for democracy (and often see it as a hinderance) and see ‘identity’ as the most important factor.
Black Lives Matter
All of this matters because black lives matter – as well.
When law and order breaks down it is, as always, the poor who suffer the most. We had further proof of that last weekend. This is an absolute heart-breaking story from Chicago. On Sunday May 31st 18 people were murdered in Chicago – the highest total for sixty years. I suspect most if not all of them were black – and most were probably murdered by African Americans. Do these black lives not matter?
With Covid 19 and the riots over George Floyd the police received 65,000 call outs – 50,000 more than normal. People are angry, people are poor – what they need most of all is justice and the rule of law. Actually, perhaps what they need most of all is hope. But one thing is sure – without justice there is no hope.
What is justice? Plato said in The Republic that it was ‘minding your own’ business. Which can easily be misunderstood (he wasn’t saying you have nothing to do with other people or society at large) but that you first of all must learn to see and do justice in your life. The prophet Micah showed us the way:
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Without spiritual renewal and reformation – the West is finished. Protestors will saw off the branch they are standing on. The West will freely commit suicide. Who can save us from ourselves? Lord, have mercy!
David, I’m not sure whether you are talking about NSW or the UK in this post (or both), but which part of the NSW court decision supports your claim that
‘[t]he rule of law, reason and rationality have been replaced by the rule of the mob and who shouts loudest on social media. All aided and abetted by governments, police and media.’
Assuming you have read the article – you will see it refers to both. And it also explains why the NSW decision supports that claim. I’ll not insult your intelligence by mansplaining it to you! I’m sure you can work it out!
David,I had assumed you had read the NSW court decision. I couldn’t see how what the Court had adjudicated supported your claim.
Look again. They agreed that a gathering of 20,000 people could go ahead and was not illegal. But if I had 100 in church on Sunday it would be illegal..
An excellent letter, David !
Good morning (afternoon,evening?!), David.
As always, a thoughtful and thought-provoking piece. Just a small point. Do not be alarmed by cities defunding their police force – there is good precedent for this. Look at Camden NJ which a few years ago disbanded its police force, then rehired at lower salaries and less benefits most of its officers. The force has emphasised community relations with de-escalation training with a large growth in the number of officers. Their crime statistics have markedly improved. You should look at it.
Except the radical academics really do mean defund. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/31/the-answer-to-police-violence-is-not-reform-its-defunding-heres-why
What Camden NJ did was actually to enlarge its police force (as you point out).
https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/06/camden-didnt-defund-the-police/
Thank you David. I am minded of the violence that seems to come at the end of Ramadan. Something has been let loose across the world – and I don’t mean Covid-19! Even my local Council in a quiet corner of Wales has decided to virtue signal by lighting their offices purple in ‘solidarity’ with BLM. I gather other UK Councils are similarly misguided. The UKBLM crowd funding page lists one of their aims as ‘the abolition of the Police.’ When I tried to raise this on a (rather toxic) local Facebook page, I was told, “If you oppose BLM, you are racist.”
Would think that as a minister in the Presbyterian tradition you would have a little sympathy for some iconoclasm like tearing down Colston’s statue?
The word is “Oxymoronic”, David,
and that doesn’t just apply to young black people from areas where their elders have been particularly affected by Covid 19 — e.g. Newham, Ms. Butler! — congregating in a way that is most likely to spread the virus with the result that they take it home to family members who have thus far managed to avoid infection.
What is going on is a shift from talking about justice — about what is right — to shouting a grievance; as in, “It isn’t fair!” The end result of bureaucratic impartiality — which finds ways to listen to neither stridant nor reasonable voices — is a police force unable to make arrests so that a demonstration/riot might be deemed “largely peaceful.”
In the end the logic reduces to a conviction that the only people deserving of death are those who think that anyone is deserving of death! It spells the death of a civilisation when
[Rom. 1:32.]
Yours,
John/.
Equality Under the Law
Yeah, get back to us when non-white people get this in white-ruled countries. Not the written down law cause that’s easy. The actual application of the law.
(That can be used for the reverse in other countries. Can also be used when religions are protected by laws as well – can you tell us a country where all people have actual equality under the law).
Oh, and the pyramids were not built by slaves.
David I think you make valid points about populist virtue signalling and the contradictions of people’s necessary practical decisions and their emotive decisions. However i think what is glaringly missing from the commentary is the impact of the behaviour of the imperial political class that now inhabits the hallowed halls of the once great democracies. The degree to which the, often incompetent, ‘professional’ politicians in the west have selfishly surrendered society to the global corporate agenda, and leveraged their office for their own self interest, is criminal. (Was it ever any other way he asks) The suspicion and disdain that politicians of all hues are held in is a consequence of the dishonest, deceitful and arrogant way that the majority of the modern political class, acting in concert, treat the electorate once in office. Yes we as individuals need to be socially responsible, both for ourselves and others. However when elected leaders repeatedly act like untouchable gang lords in a toxic Roman Senate, and abandon virtue for opportunistic self interest, is it any wonder that in the absence of real leadership the mob take to the square. Whether that is Twitter or Trafalgar square to vent. Perhaps we are witnessing the fall of Rome and history will show that responsibility for the fall was shared.
“It is important to challenge and defeat racism within society – both individual and systemic.”
Why do you say that?
Because its true
Don’t gather peacefully outside a place where abortions take place to discuss an alternative to killing babies of 24 weeks gestation because you will be arrested if you are within 150 metres of such an establishment. But go ahead and gather in your thousands to protest violently in any large city in the UK. Forget about Covid 19 rules because there are simply too many of you for the authorities to cope with.
David, I like most of what you said. But you mention the “far-right” and how this is aiding their agenda. We hear sanctimonious politicians and media personnel warning us of this “rise” of the far-right all the time. You will have to excuse my ignorance if this is in fact the case, but where in the world is this happening? Where are all the nazi flags marching down the streets? Where are all the “fascists” prancing around, calling for a one party totalitarian state? Where are all the true white supremacists marching on all the worlds capitals? And if there are actually people doing this, what are there numbers and who is taking their claims seriously? Nobody. To my knowledge, the only authoritarians marching in the street are the ones marching now, the same mob that has been destroying the western world one stroke at a time. Mentioning the “far-right” as if it’s a threat is meaningless, if not an outward sign of capitulation to the current mob out of fear for not sounding balanced.
There is no far-right “movement.” It doesn’t exist. If it does, the numbers are so minuscule it isn’t worth mentioning. The only mob we have to worry about is the far-left radical mob, which is now mainstream across the western world, and they are the fascists; stand up to them and you will be ostracized, fired from your job, physically abused, or worse. I’m sorry, but the “far-right” is the lest of my worries right now.
Yes – the far right do exist. I have witnessed them and their activities. There are several far-right movements. The far right and the far left are two sides of the same coin….don’t fuel either.
As I understand the concept of de-funding police, it’s to re-direct some of the funds towards activities that can prevent crimes from happening in the first place. Police, at least in Canada, often have to play the roles of social worker, addiction specialist and a variety of other things not connected to responding to law-breaking. Use the funds to train up and deploy more people in those fields, the thinking goes, and there’ll be less need to respond to crime. Also, officers will be less likely to flip out during a situation due to stress.
When it comes to “who you gonna call?”, I called police several times regarding situations at the Skid Row Mission where I worked in Vancouver: once was for a breakin and once for an assault; the other times were for help with people in medical trouble. Anti-police activists like to portray police as harrassing the poor and homeless, Sure, there are bad actors in uniform, and it’s sad that they’re the ones who get mentioned in the media.
As for the question of “privilege”, that’s usually an expression employed by an activist to dismiss a counter-argument — often followed by the supercilious advice that one should “look at the issue through the lens of _____(fill in the blank)”.
Excellent article! As a citizen of the U.S., I have been appalled at the riots here. I refuse to call them protests because there was little peace in the mass of looting and destruction. Several police officers have been killed, one by ambush. Then, there is the death of a retired policeman named Dorn who was killed by a looter. He was a real hero and there was no marching for him. What happened to Floyd was despicable, but the reaction to his death has been worse. I am re-blogging your article because it is so thought provoking.
There is nothing new today, that hasn’t been seen before among humanity.
People have not changed. Human nature has not changed.
It’s very easy to get angry about an issue, and miss the plot completely. Jesus experienced this in his time on earth.
The crowd baying for blood from the woman caught in adultery, even though they were not the husband nor wife betrayed by such an act. What business was it of theirs?
They had not suffered at her hand!
Or the virtue signalling lawyer who was keen to show how good he was, worthy of eternal life, ‘who is my neighbour?’
Jesus wasn’t hoodwinked for one moment.
We see both issues at play in the current news. Anger and hostility over an incident that has not had an impact on them, and self justification that this abstract issue is someone else’s fault and not one that is reflected in their conduct.
Jesus gives two answers.
If you condemn, what’s your conduct like?
And
This is how you should behave.
For Jesus to use an example of a Samaritan, must have been harsh for those who heard it. Samaritans were enemies. Who were they to set a moral standard?
Jesus chose this for good reason.
To expose prejudice. He was not using the example of. Jew to teach Samaritans. Rather a Samaritan to teach the Jews.
Also, Jesus never said the Good Samaritan was a parable. That would be an assumption.
He also eliminated the idea the individual could hide behind a cause. An issue.
No. What will you do, man, woman, child, in the situation you find yourself?
Will you ignore your neighbour in need?
Will you judge, and move on?
Assume and cross over?
Or is there something in you that will ignore the social barriers, engage with the nearest human to you in need, even if they would consider you an enemy, and act with compassion and self sacrifice? Not for gain or popularity on your social media page, but because that’s what it means to love your ‘neighbour’ as yourself.
Oscar Schindler got it. He discussed power with Amon Goeth, and declared, “Power is when we have every justification to kill, and we don’t. … to pardon. That is power.”
It’s possible to join marches, make speeches, and join the throng, ……..and go away and still not love your neighbour.
“It’s possible to join marches, make speeches, and join the throng, ……..and go away and still not love your neighbour.”
Exactly! That is what some believers are doing- just to be part of the action. It than amounts to nothing more than virtue signalling.
Yes indeed power being having every justification to kill but choosing to pardon. “Forgive them Father the know not what they are doing”.
Or as I like to say, a gentleman is someone who can play the trombone but chooses not to ;).
I thought that the instrument in the definition of a gentleman was the bagpipes, not a trombone. After all, a trombone is a musical instrument, whereas the bagpipes are an instrument of warfare.
I would respond to anyone screaming “black lives matter” with “is anyone saying black lives don’t matter, clam down”.
Is it the truth that is it the end to law an order in the west or was this, hyperbole – an attention grabbing headline? Time will tell.
The issue of “mob rule” has been common rhetoric in your posts recently David. I think for many when Cummings decided to take his round trip along with isolating himself because he did what “intuitively” every father would do then I think many took a cue form that to do “intuitively” what was appropriate in their eyes and have a break sunbathing on a beach or protesting with or without social distancing.
With the Norwegian health minster claiming that lock-down was too draconian a measure to combat Covid-19 and it not being uncommon for there to be similar thoughts widespread except for those that are elderly or with health conditions, then it is perhaps unsurprising for it to be not uncommon for members of the public to act as they see fit. Increasingly, it seems unsustainable for lock-down to be enforced whether it is or whether it is not the best approach.
I don’t think it can be safely assumed that a tactical withdrawal by the police is an affirmation of certain conduct. I might suggest that it could be in order to live to fight another day so to speak with the decision made on the basis of not withdrawing likely resulting in a worse outcome than withdrawing.
Lockdown has many people emotionally in a fragile and sometimes angry state. Perhaps you are right David to have concerns about the law. My hope is that as lockdown restrictions are lifted we will begin to see more of a restoration of order.
But, I admit, I could be naiive to hope this.
Systemic racism in the UK must be very hard to find these days. Maybe thats why BLM have chosen to pick a fight with the past instead. I was interested to read on their website that they are not only ‘ant-racist’ but also anti-family and desire the demise of the nuclear family .
Might this be the time of the man of lawlessness that was predicted in the New Testament?
American Democracy explained :
https://www.revilo-oliver.com/news/1982/01/whos-for-democracy/
You might want to look a few weeks back, to a protest it seems has already been forgotten.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-05-14/michigan-cancels-legislative-session-to-avoid-armed-protesters
I can find no evidence in a news search that any of the protesters have yet been tried. And the President, as usual, was not exactly supportive of the legitimate State authorities, but rather of the wannabe militia deploying against them. Sow one failure to defend the rule of law, you will reap another: and the current “riots”, bad as they are, don’t (yet) feature firearms or dangled nooses. I very much fear the ratchet is being deliberately twisted with a view to outright civil war.
If “defunding” includes withdrawing the subsidy that allows American police to buy surplus military hardware off their Armed Forces, and the gung-ho working practices that allow the cops to pretend their citizens are the Viet Cong, I don’t think I would complain. If the rest of the Anglosphere can manage public order without turning their civil police into armed stormtroopers, surely the Americans could learn from them? We managed to “deNazify” a whole nation within living memory.
But I suppose you are going to need paramilitary police to manage the protection of property in a place where a human life itself is not worth a $20 bill. And even without firearms, could be taken by the simple and unchallenged application, for over eight minutes, of a human knee.
I wonder if the macabre echo of “take a knee” was unconscious, or intended?
“Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye”. The scenes of toppling a statue in Bristol is not symbolical in the way those people intended it to be – it’s a symbol of mob mentality which forgets itself and everyone else, demonstrating a facile, unedifying, ignorant but very thought out response to a problem that will never be solved as man is dyed in sin. We all need to look to ourselves first in the light of what Jesus said in that sermon and deal with ourselves, recognising that we sin is a big step. Knowing how to deal with that is another step but not a popular one. We are all slaves to something or other. Being a slave to Christ is best of all but how many of us are keen enough. Slavery – who isn’t a slave. Is it the slavery or is it the way the slave is treated that is wrong. Is a man perfect when he is free? Was Colston a free man or a slave? Did any of those people ask that. Let us hope people will not leave their brains behind when they make their expressions.
What is your commentary on the Chicago murders based on?
“ I suspect most if not all of them were black – and most were probably murdered by African Americans. Do these black lives not matter?”
This seems to be pure speculation which does nothing but detract from an otherwise excellent article.
No – its not pure speculation…its actual fact. The photos of the victims show the first part is true (the only reason for the ‘probably’ was that I didn’t have all the photos) and it was the police who said that the majority of the killers were as far as they knew young black men.
Despite your alarmist title, it seems your main contention is with the breaking of lockdown rules for the purpose of protest, and the dangers and hypocrisy inherent in that. Most of your commenters seem to have latched on to the broader points you mentioned in passing, particularly at the end. I mean this very kindly – you need an editor! Make a series of posts, addressing the different problems you see in these protests. It would add some clarity and depth, and make it easier to respond. Without some focus the Wee Flea comes off as contratrian, as opposed to constructively (and necessarily) irritating!
Stephen – I’m really sorry that my writing was so bad that you were unable even to grasp the main point – which was not about the breaking of lockdown laws – but rather the dismantling of the principle that the law should apply equally to all. And no thanks I don’t want an editor. I have my own style which most people seem able to follow and some actually like. Those who are looking for more polished articles are free to go elsewhere. And I’m afraid that your comprehension and assessment of my motivation is also wrong – I am not a contrarian – that’s a lazy way to dismiss those you disagree with. So thanks for the advice = but in this case I don’t think I’ll be taking it!
I don’t think it is bad writing, I just think that this is a complex issue that could use more than a cursory glance. You bring up black-on-black violence in Chicago without looking at some of the hugely important factors that have historically driven that violence (which are very much relevant to the current discussion of police violence and systemic abuse of power). Defunding the police is much more nuanced than that selective quote you used – it would be more accurate to call it ‘Reallocating resources to more appropriately address the complex nature of non-emergency response incidents’. It just doesn’t sound as good on a placard (and admittedly many protestors don’t even understand what it fully means, but that doesn’t detract from its point).
Please don’t take contrarian as an insult; it wasn’t intended as one, and I would even call myself that most days. Maybe it’s a Scottish quality?
As for your main point that the law should apply equally to all – we are in firm agreement there! But for many of the people protesting, the primary and most urgent application of that principle is exactly what is driving them to protest. The isolated violence that is occasionally seen is no more or less than than you would expect from large crowds of people gathering with high emotions and twitchy police response.
Don’t change your style for my sake. Just write…more?
Thanks – but I wasn’t writing a book and didn’t have the time to go into all the details…
Doubtless some of those protesting want equality before the law for all – but also many don’t. It’s not isolated violence – some of it was pre-meditated. But thanks for the response…
”isolated violence” is relative, some of it seemed pretty bad on the news. Plus what about the BBCs double standards? A BLM rally is broadly peaceful even though nearly 30 Police Officers were injured. Reverse that and if it were a Brexit rally, the BBC would be saying violence was endemic and widespread.
Many debates to be had about the interface between equality and equity; which models of justice and the rationale(s) that under-pin them.
I like the micro-managed, small seed approach of “love your neighbour”, if everyone did that with their immediate company in life’s varied situations … ‘what a wonderful world it would be’.
Why can’t any government institute a generation-long proactive policy? Sure, you can’t make people love each other or, even, obey a law … but it is possible to offer a vision.
David good points made here. Plus the BLM ideology runs contrary to Bible view, that is we’re all ‘of Adam’ and race is less important by a long way than our standing in Christ e.g. saved or not saved. What underpins BLM is fundamentally anti Christian and leads to a liberalised belief which is empty of meaning.
This article seemed to point a better way. Written by a US commentator. Thank you for your point of view.
https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2020/06/race-and-redemption?fbclid=IwAR3a4uzQ1hU7G2knOI2tWFxGniGCFHZB26z10BuuvwYn0oWrpSU17vPr6OQ
There are a lot of presumptions and over simplified arguments in this article. Tony Blair’s slogan, “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime” would be a help in the “defunding” issue. A study of Northern Ireland and the changes brought to its formerly Protestant police department to better police a mixed society would show that the right changes can be made. The right to bear arms in USA society makes policing very high risk, those risks cannot be properly managed while racist police officers are retained.
I’m happy to post your comment – but not happy that you state that there are a lot of presumptions and over simplified arguments – and then don’t mention any of them. The notion that Northern Ireland is an example of defunding the police is absurd. The rest of your post is arguing against something that was not said.
In his brilliant book “Behind the wall: the inner life of east Germany,” psychiatrist Hans-Joachim Maaz, psychoanalysed the protests that lead to the over through of the Easy German regime. He completely agreed with the purpose and point of the protests, but warned that, even as the over throw of the government released a wave of euphoria, it would do little to sate the inner termoil of the protesters. Their anger and frustrations were more deeply founded in the trauma of growing up in an inhuman communist society and these factors lay undealt with. I think with the BLM protests the same is true; there can be no denying the trauma that people of colour and their community live with. Overt and covert experiences of racism abound, along with the internalised generational trauma of slavery, which was only abolished shockingly recently. You can also understand the frustration felt that these things keep happening. Protesting is pressure release; you smash a few statues, knock a policeman off his horse. Maybe that feels good. It feels like you got them back, but it’s wider achievement is potentially little more than creating a further divided society. Unlike overthrowing a government or demanding votes for women, ending racism isn’t a particularly concrete goal for a protest to achieve, so proxy goals like bring down statues or defunding the police get set up. Racism is an attitude and the self- righteousness and violence of the protests and undemocratic proxy goals only serve to potentially point up the otherness of different race communities. So what’s the answer?
Well, there is only one answer; the gospel. The gospel speaks peace and healing into the lives of the hurt and the hurter, the blm protester, the policeman, the far-right protester, the person who wants nothing to do with it. We all need to sit down, examine our hearts, forgive those who have wronged us, repent of wronging others, or indeed overlooking wronging and looking the other way. The gospel cuts across all of us and champions social transformation through individual transformation, but that doesn’t mean waiting for others to start first. POC and their community are crying out that they are hurting; if we are Christians then we must humble ourselves and lead the way, asking ourselves in what ways am I hurting, or overlooking hurt, or excusing the celebration of a slaver in a way I would never excuse the celebration of any other inhumanity. If the effects are radical, then maybe radicalism is what this world needs.
If we want these protests to end, we have to say, okay, we hear you, pray for the Holy Spirit to transform our hearts, exhibit that transformation through changing our behaviours and lead people to Jesus through our example.
What about the truth that the media is complicit in abetting the destruction of our Republics and that they are taking down Western Civilization? “double standard” is double speak for lying in order to destroy a nation. Stop using phrases that put people back to sleep. This is not usual. It is not a double standard. It is criminal overthrow. Citizens must rise and take back their country and protect their homes.
This is a classic example of the mob rule you highlight David. One brave young Christian woman removed from speakers corner by police officers while a muslim mob shout her down. The mob wins.
https://youtu.be/KLnBh7e2YEo
Just how is this video meant to be helpful?
Drilling holes in a Qur’an is not covered by any freedom of speech legislation; it may be possible to argue that the act was not intended to be an incitement to violence; but — the bravery of this woman notwithstanding — her act was surely neither serpent-wise nor dove-harmless.
Some years ago now there was an incident at Speaker’s Corner which illustrates the point Hatun Tash obscures with her dramatics. As I understand it the leader of a group of Muslim apologists calling themselves The Princes(?) was attempting to make out that Islam is quintessentially the religion of peace. When he finished, the Christian evangelist to whom the remarks were primarily addressed, began to speak in reply but before he had done anything more than say that Islam was not a religion of peace, the enraged would-be emissary of peace had struck him full in the face. As the rest of the Princes stood in stunned silence, one of the evangelist’s co-workers remarked (truthfully) that the violence had put the lie to claims of peacefulness; and the Princes fled the scene.
Hatun Tash is obviously a brave woman and apparently she knows what she’s talking about; it would not run against the grain of Christian experience that someone might yet show her a “more excellent way” of critiquing Islam. The video however is bad journalism if for no other reason than the “Speaker’s Corner” → “Sharia Corner” witicism. Under actual Sharia Law Hatun Tash’s offence would be punishable by far more than expulsion from the park.
Hatun Tash’s organisation — DCCI — is intended to defend Christ and critique Islam, however ‘defending’ Christ by defacing a Qur’an and brandishing a copy of Charlie Hebdo comes perilously close to ‘preaching a different gospel’ if it doesn’t indeed cross that line already.
Yours,
John/.
Unfortunately I believe you miss the point of my having posted the video.
Regardless of the rights or wrongs of the manner in which the brave young lady conducted her offering, the point was that in Speakers Corner, which should be somewhere free speech should not be prevented, it was. Also the mob ruled. The young lady who was exercising her right to free speech was silenced while the mob were facilitated by the very people who should have upheld her right to do so.
The point of the video regardless of the rights or wrongs of the manner in which it was carried out was to show how free speech is being silenced by, in this case, muslim mob rule.
Yours etc
Ulsterman51.