Monday, January 21, 2019

A Rubicon Moment

For those of you that missed a certain shaving commercial last week, you apparently missed nothing in content.  But what was missed in the following uproar was the fact that we truly have become two very distinct cultures.

It was one of those moments - the Alia iacta est, the crossing of Rubicon or the first moment when Varus realizes the Germans have trapped him - that may go unrecognized in its impact until years later, when the dust has settled and Caesar is now dictator or the Rhine has become the Northern Border for the life of the Empire. 

Simply put, we are a two culture state.

Two culture states can exist, of course.  They have for thousands of years.  The way that they exist is, of course, that both cultures allow the other to exist and neither seeks to crush the other.  That whole "Do unto others" that so many people like to quote from the Bible as proof that God somehow endorses everything.

But where it breaks down, of course, is one culture seeks to become the dominant one and enforce its will on the other, crush it out of existence, burn its crops and salt its land.  In this world, it is more important to enforce ideological or cultural purity than it is to let people live.

Now more than ever, I find myself conflicted with people who believe differently than I - not that they believe differently, but that in the moment of blatant bias and hatefulness they choose not to cry "foul" but rather support if for no other reason than it represents "their side".  The dichotomy of carrying on a conversation knowing in my heart that if we touched on certain subjects that we would be in a heated argument is becoming more than I can bear.

This, in my mind, is the final death knell - or rather, the sign that great troubles are on the horizon.

People who no longer talk no longer do so because they believe that there is no point in talking. They no longer talk because they no longer feel that they are heard or any attempt to understand them is made.  And once talking no longer occurs, there is no other medium for resolution than action - and actions, once taken, cannot be undone.

The middle ground - or now, "No Man's Land" (Irony unintentional but present) - has now been destroyed by the guns of both sides leaving only a destroyed and pock marked landscape.  There is nothing left but the sounding of the whistles and bodies hurling over the trenches.

13 comments:

  1. I dunno what to do TB. For me we crossed the Rubicon a long time ago. I sat exactly where you are sitting now - 6 or 7years ago. In my family of enlightened progressive liberals, I was toxin. I had all the wrong opinions, nothing I said would be heard, it their way or the highway. I saw nothing for me (or them, really) in their demands and ultimatums for me so I left. So it goes for the idiots at Gillette: their social justice zealots and inquisitors hate men and want to hurt them. They are so caught up in their own toxic mentality to see that if you hurt one gender... you will hurt them both.

    Personally I think these people are going to destroy themselves. They’re already turning on each other.

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  2. We are a nation divided to such an extent that it is no longer repairable. Sad and worrisome at the same time.

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  3. Some days I hate my phone. 😞
    Are you whete you want to be?
    Have your daughters look into work/study and grants, if they haven't already, to help pay for their education.
    There was more, but I want to post begore my phone deletes it again.

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  4. Anonymous2:41 PM

    I see the same things that you see TB. It seems like we are being forced to choose sides and that worries me. What if both sides are evil?

    Jeff

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  5. Then choose the lesser one, Jeff. Or the greater one will win. It is literally that simple.

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  6. Are in the end times per the Bible? Or is it just the death knell of our nation, just like hat of so many nations before us? Worry about my daughter. What will life be like for her and the generations after her?
    If we could truly separate into two nations, the orthodox among us living in flyover country, it might work but only God Himself could make a thing like that happen and happen peacefully

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  7. Anonymous7:47 PM

    There are a couple of sayings that I constantly remind myself of:

    A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.

    The problem with arguing with an idiot is that from a distance no one can tell who the idiot actually is.

    TB, I've finally told myself that it's not my responsibility to tell someone that they are stupid. You'll never convince them of the facts and people will wonder why you even bothered.

    Matt

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  8. Glen, we all seem (at least in our family) to be playing nice with each other- living far apart will do that for a family. I think that peace will last a long time, if no other reason that we are never together enough to make stirring the waters worth it.

    I do note the same great irony as you - they are already starting to devour themselves, try to find a way to be more "social just" than someone else and then destroy them as that is what they seem to do. My heart bleeds for the people who went along with them for the best of intentions (many churches fall into this category) only to someday find themselves rendered by the same people they thought were on their side.

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  9. Leigh, I think so too. I do not see a way back. Interestingly, my pastor feels the church - or ones like ours anyway - can be a bridge to heal the nation but I am not so sure: Christianity has become as culturally split as anything else.

    The rather sad reality is that by the time the next cycle of power comes in, there will be little enough reason to stick together. I truly believe people will start asking why we continue to be so when we are hated - and the phrase "But we are Americans" will not have the value or pull it once did. You cannot denigrate and destroy a common culture and society and then expect to pull on those same strings to bring it back together.

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  10. Linda - It is a legitimate question. No, I am not, not really - but I am not really sure where "there" is. On the whole I would rather be home (The Ranch) than here, except that everything is miserable in that state except the Ranch (and I would miss Iai).

    The girls are working on scholarships and grants.

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  11. Jeff - I find myself more and more to be like Treebeard in The Two Towers: "I am on nobody's side, because no-one is on my side." The choice pointed out by more than one person is simply do we careen over the cliff or do we slowly go over it. We are still going over.

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  12. Deborah, it really could be either. Certainly there are elements that seem to speak of the End Times, but states have collapsed throughout history.

    I worry about my children as well. I think the world they have will be very different for them - and not in a good way.

    A peaceful separation, were such a thing to occur, would be a God thing. Sadly, I feel it is also highly unlikely.

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  13. Matt, I very much like that saying.

    I am beyond trying to convince people as well. Those that do not want to know, will not know - until things have gone too far.

    Thanks for stopping by!

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Comments are welcome (and necessary, for good conversation). If you could take the time to be kind and not practice profanity, it would be appreciated. Thanks for posting!