Uncompromising Convictions and Freedom to think Foolishly

Yesterday yours truly ordered a book on Amazon called 'The Brick Bible' which is the retelling of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible using a graphic novel visual format with Legos so to make the Bible more visually understandable for those who may have trouble reading directly.

Before purchasing, I looked at the reviews.. People either loved it or abhorred it..  They thought the book was a fresh and unique re-telling of the bible that those young and old would understand and appreciate...

Or a blasphemous exercise written by an Atheist with an anti-scripture agenda.

Pretty interesting how polarizing a book with Lego pieces can be.

But this post is not an endorsement or free commercial for 'The Brick Bible'.  We're not connected to the book and do not economically benefit from its sales.

Rather its to demonstrate the mindset of people      

One either thinks the Bible is the literal word of God and not open to any form of interpretation or critical discussion, or one treats it with the same gravitas as one would a book of fables.

People are going to love/admire whom they wish and the closer that person or entity is to their heart, the less open one will be to criticism...

Yours truly admittedly being no different.

A family member once asked who I admired in history.  It might have been that famous 'Name 3 people in history you'd invite to dinner' conversation starter.  My choices were poo-poo'd snobbishly and we haven't spoken since..

This mindset also extends beyond person and into country...

No one wants to really objectively look at one's nation in terms of his social or military history or publicly acknowledge weakness particularly on the economic front.

Its simply not how people particularly in the Western world are educated to think and react.

Take for a moment all the social injustices done to black people in the US over this nation's history..

Very easy for people to denounce the Confederate flag and seek to trash every aspect of the beautiful South in the process while revising history to make those who fought for the cause (Robert E Lee is always excluded) into monsters...

And yet...

What government's Constitution in 1787 allowed the slave trade to continue for 20yrs after the document was signed?  What government's Constitution officially made blacks 3/5ths a person for taxation purposes, then spent the next 80 years making one Compromise after another to protect slavery's existence?

It wasn't the nation who flew the Stars n Bars..  (** Historical aside: today Dec 20th is the 153rd Anniversary of South Carolina seceding)

Who's Supreme Court passed the Dred Scott verdict in 1856 where a slave entering free soil was still to be treated a slave, and voted in 1898 (Plessy v Ferguson) for the legalization of the concept of 'separate but equal', the basis for Jim Crow?

It wasn't the Confederacy.. they had been extinct for 33 years...

And where was the modern Klan formed back in the 1890s?   Illinois.. Hmm didn't they fight for the Union?  And in 1920s there were so many people who were openly members, the Klan had a big ol' get-together and march in Washington DC

But I thought that was the Capital of the Union?

And all those racial riots throughout the last century.. the killings and lynchings.. 34 individual race riots in 1919 alone... where did they take place mostly?   Cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, New York City, Detroit, Los Angeles..

Those aren't backwoods southern redneck hick towns.. Are they?

Stars n Bars.. "Ohh, Racist to the core"..  Stars n Stripes?  "How dare you!!"

Its hard to combat 2,160 days of K-12 educational indoctrination folks

And presently on the economic front, if there are problems with finding good jobs and the overall slow-death of the middle class, then it Must be that opposing political party..  Those gridlockers. and obstructionists.. Oh if only..

Or its due to "Big Government" or taxes being too high

One genuinely mis-informed opinion after another.

Some people will never allow themselves to see how corporations and the overall concept of globalization have completely decimated not only the US economy but really most Western economies around the world.. And how both Dems and Reps are their whores...

Populaces told to educate themselves and get into insane amounts of debt which the governments themselves profit off of, then at the end of the tunnel, little hope of a true future.

This has always been the M.O. of business when it comes to hiring.. play one group off another to lower wages and maximize profits..

Back in the early 19th century, the businesses would hire immigrants at pennies a day because the native born dared to want to be paid nickel, all the while bitching that the Southern plantation owner had the advantages because he didn't have to pay anything..

~  Yes, those Northern industrialists sure treated their workers well..

Of course the slave owner Did have to pay to feed, clothe and house the slave as well as provide medical care to endure their investment wasn't productive or die off.   The Northerner could just fire an immigrant and replace with another..

Broken or torn limb from socket.. or other machinery calamity?  Ehh.. next!

Then after the Civil War, the free blacks would work cheaper than the immigrants so they were sought out and hired in masse which was a major reason for so many riots and racial friction especially between blacks and Irish..

Fast forward to the 20th century, women entered the workplace in droves during both world wars and worked for less then men which made them keepers (as long as they didn't need maternity leave) and now men had to take less $$ to keep what they had..

And now the thing is outsourcing..  Why pay an American $10/hr to sew a shirt when someone in Sri Lanka or Cambodia will do so for $10/month?

And no one in political power wishes to do anything to right the wrong and in turn make a dent to fix this economy.

So people will keep believing as they do..  That those in office are trying to fix things..  That the Fed really is trying to lower unemployment..  That everything is either back to normal or will be soon enough..

And in a perverse way that's what makes America great..

The freedom to be a fool.

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