Imagine there’s no Heaven It’s easy if you try
No hell below us Above us only sky
Imagine all the people Living for todayImagine there’s no countries It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too
Imagine all the people Living life in peaceYou may say that I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one.
(“Imagine” by John Lennon)
The tragic and horrific events that took place in Tucson this past Saturday, where a sitting member of Congress was shot in the head and where six people were killed, including a nine-year old girl and the chief federal district court judge in Arizona, are vivid reminders that John Lennon was a great musician, but an atrocious philosopher.
How to explain the actions of one Jared Loughner, the (alleged) gunmen that walked up to Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords at a Safeway Store on Saturday? If Lennon’s philosophy is correct, then we could certainly not blame evil or the devil for the deadly massacre that was carried out by a clearly deranged young man. For that matter, we could not even blame evil for Mark David Chapman’s assassination of Lennon himself in December 1980.
If there is no heaven or hell, that means there is no God or devil. While I obviously strongly disagree with Lennon and his warped ideology (no surprise), there can be no question that this philosophy, if carried to its logical conclusion, will lead some people — both on the right and the left of the political spectrum — to create other gods to replace the one, true God.
These gods have existed since the beginning of time, but one of the stronger gods has been particularly visible in the last few days. It is certainly not this god’s first appearance in this country, but it is perhaps the most visible (and vivid). While the latest manifestation of this god is seen most clearly from the verbal rantings of liberals/leftists (both elected officials and columnists), one should understand that this god is also worshipped by some on the right as well.
This god offers temptations to those who would give their whole-hearted allegiance in worship — power, money, celebrity, fame, status. But, for those who sell their souls, there will be a price to be paid, although those who worship this god will continue to be oblivious to the consequences of such blind “faith.”
What god could have such a powerful hold on so many otherwise sane and rational people, so much so that these people say and do things that are antithetical to rational thought? Of course, I am talking about the god of POLITICS.
We have seen the true worshippers of the god of politics quickly surface in the wake of the senseless tragedy that took place in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday. From the completely (and par for the course) inane rantings of New York Times’ columnist Paul Krugman to the politically opportunistic views expressed by sitting United States Senator Dick Durban, we are witnessing some on the left become completely unhinged and calculatingly cold and cruel in their response to what can only be described as an evil act.
Durban and others, no doubt wanting to burnish their credentials among the lunatic left in this country and raise money for their never-ending campaigns, were all-too-eager to offer up the left’s most hated bogeyman, Sarah Palin, as the direct cause of Loughner’s evil acts.
And Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) explicitly called out Sarah Palin for injecting gun imagery into politics, arguing that it’s the responsibility of politicians and media outlets to call out Palin and others who, he says, push discourse into the danger zone.
“We live in a world of violent images … the phrase ‘don’t retreat, reload’ — putting crosshairs on congressional districts as targets … they invite the unstable,” Durbin told Candy Crowley on CNN’s “State of the Union.” (full story here)
Where is the humanity and civility? For Durban and countless others to ascribe political motives to the shooting — despite the facts that have surfaced that Loughner was apparently an anti-God, left-wing lunatic pothead — and blame anyone other than the person responsible for this horrific act, offers a view into the hearts of people like Krugman, Durban, Olbermann, and the like. To not even wait for the burial of the six victims before shooting their mouths off (without the facts) says more about them than it does about their political “enemies.”
That apparently sane people would use the deaths in Tucson to advance their political agenda only goes to show the power of the god of politics. It makes people say and do things that they might otherwise not say. For their heartless and cruel rhetoric aimed at their opponents, the leftists will reap what they sow. But, they won’t be able to blame their fall on the devil. Even though they have sold their soul to him, I imagine they don’t believe in him anyway.
Where is the reverence? These people exploit anything and everything for the advancement of their own agendas. Nothing is sacred anymore. People that say these things should be fired. It’s funny how political correctness has no control over speech like this. People who are most concerned about a result are not bothered with ethics.