During the Fall semester of 2012, I was fulfilling some of
my core curriculum at the University
of Idaho. It was an Integrated Seminar (Isem) class
which is the kind of thing that is supposed “broaden” your mind and knowledge
of your world; the purpose was to give you another accomplishment to make you
more interesting and less bigoted. As I
was looking at the list of Isem classes, I came across one that was title
“Tribal Cultures and Histories”.
Naturally, since I am a History major I figured this would be
sufficiently promising class for I had thought that it would cover tribes all
over our globe, ancient and modern. I
would have recommended it cover everywhere from the bushmen of Africa
to the revered middle eastern tribes. I
was sadly mistaken as I showed up to my first day of class and discovered that
this class was to cover only Native American tribes and what the white man had
done to them.
It was not the type of environment that was supposed to make
you feel guilty, although a lot of guilt was then pandered to, and the lesson
plans were accusatory. Our teacher was a
nice lady whose main goal was for us to be educated about the “real” history of
the founding and creation of America
as a nation, and also to be prepared adequately for the likely event that we
socialize and work with Native Americans.
These were things that I had no problem with other than the guilt
tripping, but what I discovered as the class progressed was unnerving.
Our culture has become naïve. They are not naïve about the history of man,
but rather about the nature of man. When
some of the students read or hear about the war that was waged on the
“peaceful” Indians by the colonists, they were utterly shocked. They could not imagine that men could act in
such a fashion to kill millions of people for no other reason than their
personal gain. This led me to believe
that they had never opened a history book in their lives. They had a keen distaste for these actions
and felt it necessary to inform others of the atrocities committed by our white
ancestors.
The absolute brain washing of the culture that has taken
place in these students is done pretty well if they never notice how evil and
wicked man is. In Judeo-Christian
tradition it is pretty clear that man is wicked and we should not be surprised
of his actions when he is. The Bible is
full of lists that describe the condition of man and one that is popular is
right out of Romans 1 which goes as such: “They were filled with all manner of
wickedness, evil, covetousness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit,
malignity, they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty,
boastful, inventers of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless,
heartless, ruthless.” Pretty good and
direct list this is, and it has proven true in the centuries before and after
it. And no better evidence is there than
our present day where we see mass shootings almost as a regular
expectation. But the shock of these
students over what is simply war is proof of the slow loss of Judeo-Christian
sensibilities. Our kids are being raised
with dump trucks full of self-esteem that could knock out any curmudgeonly old
man. They are told that toleration is
important and the only way this can be argued is if the premise that people are
generally good prevails upon them. So
they walk around in the defined mental utopia where they are a gift to the
human race and no one would ever say otherwise because they are pretty decent
people themselves. This is a folly that
has nothing but pain and suffering ahead of it.
As these self esteem sponges begin to function in society they slowly
realize that their initial opinion they had of themselves was not wholly
accurate. And it does not stop
there. They begin to see others who are
undeniably better people than they are.
They will rationalize that these betters are not actually better even
though the proof of their lives is a complete testament to the opposite
persuasion. If they accept that there
are some people are going to be better human beings this is a first step to
repentance of down right depression. But
the inconsistencies do not stop there.
They also deal with people who are worse than they are; then their emotions
are conjured up to the indignant or an unhealthy amount of pride. All the while the questions remain
un-answered. They cannot account for the
wickedness that they experience in the fallen.
Things cease to make sense and they are left to nothing other than a
life full of confusion, bitterness, and resent.
These fools have become popular images and have inserted
this type of thinking into our media, penal system, military, and
politics. Philosophies like humanism,
communism, and modern Buddhism are the refined versions of this elementary
grade of thought. Luckily, reality has a
way of catching up with bad philosophy.
Before I had only mentioned that some of the students in this class were
shocked at the “news”. Others I had
discovered later were of a more realistic persuasion. They knew that everybody in every culture has
had a bad day. No one is exempt from
suffering. I said, perhaps some what
insensitively, “So what? This sort of
stuff didn’t just happen to the Indians, but most every other culture who gets
dominated.” So, this was refreshing for
me, as a dinosaur, that these freshmen were a bit smarter than their culture
bargained for. They weren’t acting as
bigots who want to always maintain the upper hand for the white race (they were
white kids). Instead they had a cold
blood towards the matter. They wouldn’t
mind seeing an evil man sent to the electric chair, because they believe in
morality, so they believe in good and evil, so they see these truths to be self
evident. Some men deserve it.
“Gunn, you are a psychopath!
Isn’t it clear to you that the Native American Indians didn’t deserve
what happened?” No. Just because they had cutsie nature
philosophy does not convince me that these inhabitants weren’t also out for
blood. Some of them were nice to the
white man and the white man with his ultimate knowledge of commanding and
conquering pulled a double cross on the Indians after a series of unfortunate
events. My point is simple: Indians as
individuals and nations were equally evil with the white man; the white man was
just better and more efficient at it.
And now we have the great nation America
where the prejudice is mild and the hate for one another is nicely regulated in
the court system.
The Judeo-Christian tradition is under a lot of fire. Certain moments in the Old Testament are
“intolerant, bigoted, sexist, racist and unenlightened” according to the modern
age. We have grown past that and now we
know that problems can be solved through dialogue. We distinguish ourselves from the Neanderthal
by not waging war. Of course, I am
speaking in a sarcastic voice. By no
means! There is not a single legitimate
argument that I can find that defends Enlightenment philosophy. So, most of the children of enlightenment
philosophy believe in it because it strokes their own egos in one way or
another. But then I should ask, “What
was the argument that convinced you that Judeo-Christian morals were
wrong?” They may have not done their due
diligence in finding a new belief, but what about the old? You will find that most people have not even
done this. They have no argument other
than it was too hard for them. Might war
be the default of man? Is it possible
that the natural state of man is one of war, battle and killing. Is war bad?
They will automatically say “no!” but they would be more than willing to
fight in a war to defend tolerance. They
partake of the sweet, savory aspect of war and they have just temporarily
justified it.
All that we do is war against each other. And we do this especially in a free
society. If a man stands next to another
and he is of different culture, he will be resented, hated and eventually
killed. The utopia where nobody fights
is an ultimately childish endeavor. All
that I should like to see in my generation is a bit of reality and
hardness. As David said to Solomon on
his death bed, “Be strong and show yourself a man.” Taking offense and demanding reparations is
one the least manly things you can do.
As a Christian I recommend forgiveness.
If you are not a man of the law all one can do is pray to his God to
deliver him. Love is patient. Love is kind.
