Friday, October 12, 2018
GetReligion blows it
GetReligion normally steers a fairly objective course, observing reality and avoiding stupid preconceptions.
This article breaks the usual pattern.
Rifkin is drawing a comparison between Soros, Franklin Graham, and the Kochs. He's trying to say that all are equivalent scapegoats for opposite sides.
What do the following political players have in common; Franklin Graham, George Soros and the Koch brothers? Did I hear you mumble “nothing,” other than gender and the aforementioned political-player designations? Not a bad guess. But not the answer I’m looking for at the moment. The commonality I have in mind is that they all serve as public boogeyman — names to be tossed around to convey a suitcase of despised qualities that need not be unpacked for opponents skilled in the art of in-group rhetoric.First, the difference between a scapegoat and an actual troublemaker is simple. If the group or person has enough power to MAKE trouble, it's an actual troublemaker. If the group or person DOESN'T have any power, it's a scapegoat. When we find ourselves blaming a group, or when we hear others blaming a group, we need to ask this basic question first. Is the group influential in government or corporations? If so, we can validly blame it for problems caused by its influence. Franklin Graham has ZERO influence, or more precisely NEGATIVE influence. Governments and corporations are explicitly and murderously anti-Christian. Therefore he doesn't belong in the same thought with Soros and Koch. If you blame him for any real problems you're scapegoating him BY DEFINITION. The Kochs support Randian capitalism, and they do have some influence in some areas, so you can blame them (along with other influencers) for the excesses of share-value debtism. They haven't killed anyone directly, but Bezos and Zuckerberg and Buffett, following the Koch line, are ruining lots of lives. Soros destroys entire countries DIRECTLY and kills millions of people. His death count already matches Hitler's famous six million. How can you even TRY to compare these three? Is Rifkin abysmally stupid, or is he working for Soros?
Labels: infinite infinite infinite infinite evil
¶ 12:57 AM
