The World Needs More Ninjas

Conservative Christians tend to get a lot of flack when they use the “God told me or the Bible says it so their can be no debate” argument. Admittedly, many times the criticisms are deserved as many times what “God” has told people turns out to be just loony or wrong in retrospect. It also highlights the problems with a perfectionist worldview that says, “There can be no counterpoints because I have complete faith that my opinion is the correct one.” There is no compromise or considering alternative views and/or evidence once this position is held.

What fails to get mentioned as much is that there are those on the left that hold just as strongly, and with as much faith, to their perfectionist arguments. Case in point:

Last weekend I did something I haven’t done in a long time. Something I swore I’d never do again. Something I’m deeply ashamed of.

I stood during the singing of the national anthem.

…

I won’t stand for the American flag because I won’t stand for what is done in its name. I won’t stand for the current war in Iraq, I won’t stand for the last war in Iraq. I won’t stand for all the wars before that. I won’t stand for its selectively faulty electoral process and I won’t stand for its unelected, renegade government. I won’t stand for its medieval attitude towards sexuality and privacy, for its violent misinterpretation of Christianity, for its refusal to deal sanely with AIDS and all other global health crises, for its environmentally suicidal stance on climate change, for the hypocrisy of its practices, for the torture of its prisoners, for its executions and its drug wars and its oil wars. I won’t stand for any of these things, and I won’t stand for the United States of America, or its flag or its anthem, until they change.

Carefully parse the author’s words.

All wars are wrong. Doesn’t matter that a lot of smart people have debated just wars and the like throughout history. Doesn’t matter that wars have been led by both American parties. Doesn’t matter that the wars have almost always had the overwhelming support of the US public at some point during the course of the fighting and many have been viewed positively in retrospect.

There can be no doubt that our electoral process is flawed, I know the optimal election strategy. Doesn’t matter that many smart people (including our Founding Fathers) have debated the merits and disadvantages to our system.

America has the wrong attitude about privacy and sexuality and misinterprets Christianity, because I know the correct attitude and interpretation It would be interesting to know if America interprets Judaism, Islam, and a whole slew of other religion “correctly” or if Christianity is the only what that remains less than perfect in the author’s omniscient knowledge.

Why is everyone else wrong? Because I know I’m right and have complete faith in my ideas. End of debate.

Here’s a rebuttal that asks some good questions of the author:

George W. Bush isn’t responsible for the first Gulf War, nor any of the wars before that. He’s not responsible for whatever flaws may exist in our electoral system (they’ve been around, and been much worse, long before he got here) and Bush has arguably done as much or more to combat AIDS than any president before him.

There are only two conclusions to be drawn from this woman’s comments: either she is a partisan hypocrite of the highest order (did she vote for Bill Clinton after he flew home to execute Ricky Ray Rector? Was she standing for the National Anthem while bombs were dropping on Kosovo or smoke was still rising from the ashes in Waco?) or she truly detests what America stands for regardless of which party is in control. Either way, it’s not pretty.

Another question would be: are there any countries in the world whose anthem the author would stand? If so, I’d be interested to know which countries represent these beacons of perfection to the author. If not, then it seems the author is upset because she cannot be God an control everything to create her own perceived heaven on earth.