Racism On Every Corner

I'm getting tired of being called a racist simply because I'm white.  Or because I disagree with a black person.  Or because I was born white.  The cries of racism have gone too far.

Don Lemon was let go by CNN because, frankly, he was horrible.  It wasn't because he was black or because he was gay.  He was horrible and insufferable.  But Jemele Hill, who seems to have racism on the tip of her tongue any time something happens to a black person, descried the racist firing.

Phil Jackson, the venerable coach of my Chicago Bulls, complained about how the NBA was too woke now.  Jalen Rose, another person who can find racism in anything, complained that Jackson's statement showed his true colors, suggesting without saying it that Jackson is racist.

It's gotten to the point that any time there's a negative outcome for a black person, someone will cry racism.  It's diluting the actual racist incidents and it's insulting.

When Martin Luther King declared that he dreamed of a day when his daughters would judged by the content of their character and not by the color of his skin, he meant that his daughters would be judged by the same standards as white people.  Blacks nowadays seem to think that what Dr. King said was that whites cannot judge black people.  If that's so, then blacks and whites are not equal.  Moreover, it begs the question of whether blacks can judge whites.  Most whites, I believe, have no truck with a black judging them.  As with blacks, whites would hope for fair judging.  And as with blacks, they would be entitled to fair judging.  Undeniably, our history is rife with examples of unfair judging of blacks by whites, but there are plenty of examples of fair judging of blacks by whites.

To start with, Brown v. Board of Education, the SCOTUS opinion that overruled Plessy v. Ferguson, was a unanimous decision.  Although the case was argued for Brown by Thurgood Marshall, the decision rendered by the SCOTUS was brought by nine white justices.  Thus, it is more than possible that blacks can get a fair judgment from white judges.

If blacks are to be truly equal to whites, they have to accept judgments against them that are unfavorable to them.  To insist that every judgment rendered must favor them is illogical.  It is also racist in and of itself.  The law of averages suggests that it's not possible for one group to always win.

I'm not sure what's worse:  Blacks feeling aggrieved at every unfavorable decision of liberal whites declaring that unfavorable decisions against blacks are based in racism.  At some point, for true equality to exist, blacks have to accept the good with the bad, just as whites must.  This does not deny that there are still, very unfortunately, instances where racist decisions are rendered against blacks.  These racist institutions must be rooted out.  But to insist that every unfavorable decision is based in racism is wrong.  And it's tiresome.

What these incessant calls of racism have done to me is make me draw back and stop engaging with blacks.  I used to try to debate them, honestly, but all I'd ever get was a lecture.  I probably read more books about the black experience in America than most whites who aren't woke, so I don't need the lectures.  I'm really open to learning, but I want it to be an engagement, not a lecture.  

Unfortunately, that's not the tenor in this country.

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles

Why I Left the Catholic Church

 I was raised Catholic.  I was an altar boy.  I faithfully adhered to Church doctrine as a child, although I became more of a buffet style Catholic as I grew older.  But one day I'd had enough.

My reasons for leaving the Church are many.  My Mother, good Irish Catholic that she was, is probably rolling in her grave.  But the Church lost me as I learned more about its perfidy toward its flock.  The decision, when I reached it, wasn't that hard.  

First, the roll of the Church in Ireland, where it hit the congregation hard to ensure its survival from its British masters, irks me.  The Church should have protected its flock from the Brits, not catered to the Brits to ensure its survival.  The way it sold babies from unwed mothers to wealthy Americans, how it would separate families for any perceived shortcoming, was particularly vile.

Second, pedophilia.  Res ipsa loquitur.

Third, it's amazing to me how wealthy Catholics are able to get annulments so they can remarry in the Church.  Name a Kennedy and you'll probably find an annulment.  Vanessa Williams got an annulment from her first husband so she could marry her third husband in the Church.  Boris Johnson was allowed to remarry in the Church after getting an annulment.  

Fourth, the Church's stance on in vitro fertilization is ridiculous.  According to the Church, in vitro fertilization is immoral.  But here's my quandry:  Thomas Aquinas, the doctor of the Church, declared there was such a thing as a just war.  Man, in pursuit of a just war, can use the genius God gave him to develop artificial means to take life in violation of a Commandment to which there is no exception of which I'm aware.  Meanwhile, man can not use the genius God gave him to bring life into being, which violates no Commandment of which I'm aware.

Fifth, the Church miraculously is divinely inspired to carve out exceptions to the rules.  For example, priestly celibacy was the result of divine inspiration, although priests have been allowed to be married for centuries...until prelates abused the practice.  But married Lutheran ministers who wish to convert and continue as a priest, are granted an exception.  Why?  The concern about the priest having to decide between his flock and his family is still there with the Lutheran minister turned Catholic priest.  

I was just tired of the inconsistencies, tired of the lying, tired of the unfairness.  Surely, this isn't what God ordained.

(c) 2023 The Truxton Spangler Chronicles