Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Why Many Christians & Constitutionalists Are Distressed By Trump's 2024 Election Victory - Jeff Wiersma


Pro tips for those wondering why many Christians and Constitutionalists have been so distressed by Trump winning the 2024 election:

For both Christians and Constitutionalists, it isn’t just partisan disappointment about how one election turned out. We’ve all had the candidate we didn’t prefer get more votes before.

Rather, it’s that Trump is so uniquely amoral, undignified, nihilistic, treasonous, unqualified, malevolent, incompetent, and dangerous - and has been given power once again while being enthusiastically supported by so many, despite the aforementioned flaws and despite repeatedly issuing ominous threats of the authoritarian and/or unChrist-like things he hopes to do once in office again. That’s our lament.

Additionally, none of the candidates who in previously elections got more vote than one's preferred candidate were rightly to be dreaded to anything close to degree which Trump is.

Accordingly, previous experiences of 4 year presidential terms where one’s candidate wasn’t in office simply aren’t in any way analogous to the 2024 election.

This election saw the return to power of a man who - despite professing Christian faith - shamelessly operates outside of the guardrails of Christian Values, Jesus' teachings, and universal ethical standards.  This election saw the return to power of a man who - despite swearing an oath to uphold the Constitution - shamelessly campaigns and governed outside of the guardrails of our constitution, international law, and diplomatic norms. 

Wednesday, June 12, 2024

How Indigenous Societies Fought To Preserve Blended Gender Identities In The Face Of Colonialism - LitHub

White Colonial Supremacism placed Indigenous people in fixed and transhistorical categories, willfully obscuring a reality of cultural dynamism and physical movement in a bid to contain, control, and, if necessary, destroy Native people.

Between the late 18th and early 20th century, scholars, missionaries, traders, settlers, and government officials in the Americas, Europe, and Asia interpreted Indigenous cultural self-preservation as further proof of “Aboriginal” secretiveness and untrustworthiness.

Ethnological descriptions of Siberian shamans as sexless, asexual, or given to “perversions”—namely, “transvestitism” and “homosexuality”—further reveal the wild speculations that ethnographic writers indulged in.

White Colonial Supremacism placed Indigenous people in fixed and transhistorical categories, willfully obscuring a reality of cultural dynamism and physical movement in a bid to contain, control, and, if necessary, destroy Native people.

Non-Indigenous linguists attempted to corral gendered pronouns and impose some sort of order on Indigenous cultures. These intellectual labors were in keeping with the empirical thrust of the Western intellectual tradition.

In contrast, Native communities operated in worlds in which metaphor and mnemonic devices reminded people of the importance of adaptation and renewal to ensure balance in the overlapping worlds of the physical and the spiritual.

The full article is available here