Mental Health Monday

Trending, Thought for Today, Freedom of Speech, Gun Control, More

This is a reminder that one reason I blog is for my own mental health. DISCLAIMER:  The views expressed therein may or may not reflect the views of the editor.

Trending

• Climate crazy:  University bans burgers to save planet [Drudge Report 8/12]
• Leeches latest health trend [ditto]
• Husband daycare now available at all Hobby Lobby locations [The Babylon Bee 8/12]
• Texas constructs border wall to keep out unwanted refugees from California [ditto]
• Sodom, Gomorrah wondering why American hasn't been obliterated yet [ditto]

Thought for Today

When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things.

In Jesus, the full stature and maturity of humanity is on display. He taught that love was the summary of all that had gone before, and fulfillment of the entire law and the message of the prophets—love God and love your neighbor as yourself. If the greatest of the virtues is love, as affirmed by Jesus and the apostle Paul, can all who seek to follow envision becoming a community that seeks to make love their chief responsibility and goal?(2) Now abide faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.  --Margaret Manning Shull, Slice of Infinity

Freedom of Speech

Our citizens today are enfranchised irrespective of race, sex, and creed. We are, in this respect, more fit to make political decisions than any those in any previous political epoch. American citizens are afforded liberties by our forefathers, because the founders of our nation had confidence in their posterity to use and protect them wisely. The Founding Fathers did see the potential problems that liberties — those of citizens and of factions of citizens — could present a republic. Yet they knew that the freedom to speak was the foundation of any successful republic, and that any cure for the so-called problems of speech — as with other forms of liberty — would be worse than any of its associated illnesses. --Joe Lonsdale, National Review Online 8/12

Gun Control

It is on the issue of guns that this incomprehension is most pronounced. The cable news anchors expressing frustration and disbelief that the latest shooting may not result in tighter regulation of firearms are sincere. They live safe and satisfying lives without guns; why can’t the rest of the country do the same? Yet the spokesmen for “doing something” do not appreciate the equal sincerity of gun owners, whose weapons are not just possessions but also, on some level, part of their identity. --Matthew Continetti, NRO 8/12

Emotions & Laws

Whenever the United States faces a crisis or a tragedy, it is invariably suggested in the press that the country needs a more streamlined political system that is capable of transmuting the transient whims of the majority into concrete action in a matter of days. This view is a dangerous one, and it ought to be resisted at all costs, for when a nation sets up a direct pipeline between its emotions and its laws, it does not keep its liberty for long. There is much that we can — and should — do in order to respond to changing circumstances. We must recognize that there are certain corners of the Internet that are anything but harmless or “ironic”; we must accept that evil ideologies such as white supremacy represent a physical as well as a spiritual problem in America; and we must avoid complacency, even as we defend our elementary rights. But defend them we must. Even — no, especially — when our grief points us in another direction. --Charles Cooke, NRO 8/12

The Blame Game

There are no sure solutions to mass attacks; one man with a weapon and motivated to kill is hard to stop. The rash of murders in El Paso, Dayton, Gilroy, and Chicago has delivered a wake-up call to a divided and angry America. There are no easy answers, but collectively searching for ways to make such attacks less likely is far more constructive than getting stuck in the current blame game!

It’s easy for politicians to get coverage by blaming President Trump’s supposed “racism” while ignoring their own hateful rhetoric. The president is no more responsible for the El Paso domestic terrorist than Bernie Sanders was responsible for his supporter who nearly killed Rep. Steve Scalise at a Republican baseball practice or Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren is responsible for her supporter unleashing carnage in Dayton. Whether fueled in part by environmental extremism or white nationalism, such views are just used to justify their hateful attacks. --Terry Paulson, Townhall 8/12