We grew up thinking that the Holy Bible was a cornerstone of our lives. When you get told something enough, you start believing it. Heaven help a kid who would question that. In small towns you came from either a Protestant or Catholic family. For some reason that distinction was important, even defining. A lot of us had to wonder why.
If you were Protestant the odds were very good you were a Lutheran. The Lutherans heard stories about how strict the Catholic schoolteachers were, how the odds were high you'd be "flunked" there. Authority was rigid.
And this coincided with the government's authority in telling us we had to support the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. You had to know what was good for you. It took years but we finally saw through the lies of Vietnam. And right now there is a looming threat for how the Christian faith will lose its primacy in America.
When I was a kid we had the general sense that Christianity and the Bible, while a somewhat boring and not-always-relatable subject, really did want the best for everyone. Rich or poor. It was benevolent. The 1953 movie "War of the Worlds" projected the benevolent Christian theme. The movie continued our nation's recovery process from WWII. Christianity was the benevolent beacon for moving forward.
Well, we sure can look around and notice a different state of affairs today. Why have we let this happen to us? I personally have not been blinded. If you follow my writing - first of all bless you - you'll know I have felt consternation about what has been happening. And the whole specter hovers over our rural small communities more than anywhere.
The nation is lapsing into Fascist or totalitarian rule. And so many of us pay no mind. Our "bastion" against change or evolution is our Christian churches, most of them anyway. We feel threatened by change in general and in particular by changing demographics. God bless all the Spanish-speaking people who are happy doing the kind of work that other people would not want to accept.
And why are we so judgmental? I mean so judgmental about occupations? Maybe this is laid at the doorstep of our educational system. Maybe I'm thinking of our educational system from when I grew up. Was I an actual victim of the "Cold War?" Of the madness that set in after "Sputnik?" "Sputnik" about drove us out of our minds. So we put our government monopoly education system to work instilling a set of values. Our teachers gave "grades" in classes that were to be interpreted as value judgments.
I appreciated school classes up through the end of sixth grade - they seemed to impart knowledge that was useful in a universal way. That's what education should be for. After the sixth grade it got a little murky or disturbing - getting dragged through so much content that would seem questionable for one's real future. And I mean a future separate from going to graduate school which would just drag you along through more mostly irrelevance.
Today we cheer the "Christian" pro-Donald Trump notions as he aggressively and ruthlessly calls for the suppression and outright deportation of so many people who are brown-skinned and might speak Spanish. Many are bi-lingual. Again, these people are happy to do the kind of work like in nursing homes that your average white kid with a background in FFA (perhaps) would only grudgingly accept. And we need that labor.
We are getting news reports now that the aggressive deportations are hurting business interests. This at a time when the economy is facing other headwinds.
A microcosm of our current dilemma or dysfunction as a society is - of all things - the Super Bowl. But should we be surprised? The turmoil is evidenced nearly everywhere, maybe especially in connection to popular culture events or signposts.
Stop and think: years ago the Super Bowl was all about two very good football teams playing each other. Today? Well I didn't watch because I do not have a TV contract. I follow the news online and can catch game highlights if I'm interested. I'm not all that interested. But I sure became aware that everyone had to choose sides with the halftime show! This is perplexing. A halftime show ought to be simple entertainment.
The business world knows
The NFL with its business sense and prescience gave us the "Bad Bunny" thing which was a logical way of staying in step with our culture evolution in America. It was totally remindful of when Jose Feliciano sang the National Anthem in a "jazzed-up" way during the 1968 World Series. It was a big controversy! In 1968 there was still a strong feeling across America with only some hints of doubt about how we should support the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam war. You could not imagine a bigger tragedy.
And I think the aggressive ICE deportations of today are a similar tragedy.
We heard about the "competing" halftime show for the Super Bowl: this would represent Donald Trump and MAGA. Oh here we go again. When will we come out of this? In time to prevent Trump's rise to full-blown dictator just like what happened in 1930s Gernany? It appears to be happening right before our eyes as we see a compliant Supreme Court. The Suprcme Court has become a subsidiary of the White House.
And now "Kid Rock" tells us to "dust off our Bibles." So if you're a Christian you have to go along with today's Republicans led by Donald Trump? That's the message.
The "Holy Bible" is so archaic it is ridiculous. How can we expect young people to be attentive to it? Jesus and his "disciples" with their robes and thongs. I'd be happy to cut slack for Jesus and the Bible if all of this had not become an extension of the U.S. Republican Party led by Trump and his own "disciples." Like his cabinet.
I watched the "Bad Bunny" performance on YouTube in the days following the Super Bowl. I thought it was totally delightful. God bless the Hispanics among us. And the African-Americans. The law applies equally to everyone. If people want to come to America and follow our laws and pay our taxes, I'm happy to welcome all.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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