WWJD: the Crisis

Refugee:
Noun
A person who flees for refuge or safety, especially to a foreign country, as in time of political upheaval, war, etc.

One would truly have to live under a rock, in the current state of affairs, to have not heard about what is being called a "refugee crisis," wherein, as of July 2015 an estimated 4,000,000 (four million) Syrians have been displaced and fled the country, according to the UNHCR, or the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The reason for this crisis is mainly due in part to a bloody civil war that has torn the country into three different factions: territories controlled by the current political regime, rebel fighters, and Islamic extremists. This civil war had it's roots going as far back as 2006, however it is widely accepted that the official start of the war was in 2011. Between 2011 and 2013 an estimated 100,000 civilian casualties have been recorded, and many of the countries cities and towns have been ravaged and are no longer inhabitable. Understandably, these Syrian people had to leave their country.

Up until October of this year, less than 2,000 Syrian refugees have been allowed into the United States. However, in September, President Obama announced his plan to increase that number to at least 10,000, a number that pales in comparison to the aforementioned 4,000,000 refugees. Overall, our response to this historical crises has been lackluster to say the least, and despicable to say the most. The United States has the highest number of people who identify as Christians in the world (my source for this appears to be outdated although it's meaning is not lost). Of the Christian citizens in the United States, a majority of them have historically voted Republican, or leaned towards conservativism; this is no great surprise or revelation to anyone living in the United States. It is with that in mind, however, that I have turned my attention towards Republican representatives, most notably Ted Cruz and Jeb Bush, who have been vocally opposed to President Obama's announcement to accept more refugees into the United States. In a survey done by CNN in September, a majority of conservatives opposed allowing refugees to enter the United States (55%).

While I have no statistics to prove what I've observed, I can only imagine that the number opposed has increased in light of the terrorist attacks that took place in Paris, France, on the evening of November 13th, this year, 2015. Additionally, 24 different Governors have taken explicit steps towards the prevention of refugees being accepted into their states; only one of these Governors is a Democrat. As I have previously stated, a majority of Conservative Republicans identify as Protestant Christians, So, correct me if I'm wrong, but what I'm seeing here is that Christians don't want Syrian refugees in the United States. But why?

In no uncertain terms I will tell you that the number one reason Christians don't want refugees in our country is fear. The Lord did indeed give us a spirit of fear, and we're using it to the fullest extent. We're afraid for our homes, our families, our way of life, and our security. That, mixed with a heaping helping of ignorance about the M word (yes that's right, Muslims) and how they are, in general, bad people, has created the notorious love child that only fear and ignorance can: hatred. The United States, after all, the golden calf we have come to know and love, cannot survive in it's current state if we submit and grant these "refugees" (read: terrorists) passage into our land of milk and honey, right?

Sarcasm aside, American Christians need to take a long, hard, introspective journey and open their Bibles in search of guidance. Should we love our enemies? Should we give them water to drink if they are thirsty and food if they are hungry? Can we continue to say "I love God" but turn and hate our brothers and sisters? Should we give to everyone who begs of us? Should we turn away people in need or will we make room in the stable? Will be oppress the poor and insult our Maker, or will we be generous to the needy and honor Him? Are we ready to reap what we're sowing? I ask these questions on the pretense that these refugees are indeed our enemies, because apparently that's how many people view them, but they aren't. Not in my eyes, at least. Maybe I'm a fool, maybe I'm ignorant, or maybe I'm not.

I know not everyone shares my sentiment, but I find it heartbreaking when I think of the hundreds upon thousands of men, women, and children, who are not only in desperate need of shelter, food, and clothing, but the grace of God that we have so selfishly harbored in our borders. Is our pride too great to recognize our duty as Christians to be the light of the world? Is our fear a lack of trust in the sovereignty of Christ or is it simply a symptom of never having really trusted in Him to begin with? Are we willing to sacrifice our humanity for our security? Is it the Christian inside us that refuses to acknowledge what is right, or is it the American?

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love." 1 John 4:7-8

This Country

 ~ I totally wrote this like, 4 months ago for the 4th of July, when I was aggravated and fed up with ignorant people, so if it sounds like I'm angry and fed up with ignorant people, it's probably because I am. ~

Some might call this country a house divided. There are the republicans, and the democrats. There are the liberals, and the conservatives. There are the people who are right, and the people who aren't right. The smart and the dumb. The informed and the "sheeple." The true, red-blooded, blue-collared Americans, and whatever happens to be the opposite of that.

But what really divides the house? Difference in religious beliefs? Difference in definitions of freedom? Difference of skin color?

Between you and me, I'm not entirely sure what the main factor is that fractures our great country, and between you and me, I don't care. Why? Our society cares more about being right than it cares about anything else.

"CNN and the liberal media are polluting our great nation into believing anything Obummer says is undeniable fact." "Fox News has it's hands so far in the GOP's pockets, it's disgusting. They'd do anything to discredit anything we say just because they're getting rich to do it!" "Gays shouldn't get married." "The NRA is an evil, child-killing club." "Gun control laws are infringing upon our rights as Americans." "Christians are what's wrong with this world." "Atheists are what's wrong with this country." "Hobby Lobby has to give women birth control." "Hobby Lobby doesn't have to give anyone anything." "Abortion is murder." "Conservatives are bigots." "The death sentence is barbaric." "Life in prison is a waste of money." "Terrible things have been done in the name of organized religion." "Horrific things have been done in the name of science." "Libertarians are basically anarchists." "Both parties are basically communists."

Do these sound like some of the things you've heard when talking about politics with friends, family, or acquaintances? Are some of these the things you say when talking about politics? Have you ever thought that basically every single argument in the world has two sides, both of which have legitimate ground to stand on, and "right" and "wrong" are almost always subjective things? Do you care more about being right and making other people feel inferior than having a legitimate discussion? Is your opinion better than everyone else's opinion? Do you frequently refer to opposing views as "liberal/conservative/republican/democrat rhetoric" simply to dismiss it without having to present a reasonable response?

You're so, so wrong. I'm wrong. We're all wrong. Incorrect. Fallible and fallacious. Straight up full of crap. This country is a house divided; a fractured wing on an antiquated eagle in a polluted sky over an ocean of self-righteousness, selfishness, and disregard for progress. The olive branch is shriveled and dead and the flag is the echo of a screaming jet dropping bombs of democracy on third-world countries in the name of peace and freedom. This country will burn down, break in half, and sink like the Titanic to the sound of one person yelling "this great country will never sink, and if it does it's there fault" from the Atlantic ocean, and another person yelling the same thing from the Pacific.

Happy Dependence Day.

The punchline is out of this world.

"Man, I sure wish I had payed attention in Californian geography class." The names of every significant city in that state seemed to somehow escape me. Three open-ended and three direct questions was what I was allotted, and I only had an open-ended question left. Trying my best to not get frustrated with my looming, inevitable loss, I recalled all the information I had gathered up to this point. "He's a place. A sunny place. And the people there are nice? That doesn't really help me at all. I know that he's in California, though. West coast, like he said." I couldn't think of a question that would help me in the slightest; I know next to nothing about Californian cities. This was supposed to be an exercise in asking good questions and getting information, but I was doing abysmally. Finally, desperate, I decided on "can you tell me what's around you?" I didn't know how this would help me, either, but it was the best I could do.

Honey Boo Boo and America

When Honey Boo Boo and some of her family went to a burger joint in Florida, they caused a big commotion, considering they're rather famous. Since they felt bad about how much trouble they inadvertently caused, they borrowed a jar and encouraged people coming up to them to leave tips, which they then donated to a charity that raises awareness about cyber bullying.

The Cost of Freedom

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." - Preamble to the United States Constitution.

America is not a utopia. There is no such thing as a perfect society. People will always do bad things for various reasons. The first documented account of violence was between the third and fourth individuals to ever even walk the earth, when Cain killed his brother Abel.

Srsly 'Merica?

Imperialism: noun.
1. The policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies. 


There are currently over 200,000 U.S. soldiers stationed in approximately 1000 military bases, which are in around 150 different countries world wide. Nearly 300 of these bases are in the Middle East.


Terror, as defined by Wikipedia, is a political strategy of the asymmetrical use of threats or violence against enemies using means that fall outside the routine forms of political struggle operating within some current regime.
Terrorism is performing acts of terror, as defined above.


About two months ago I got to see Newt Gingrich speak at Oral Roberts University. After he was done giving his little speech, my older sister, brother, and I got into a discussion with a few students from the university about some random political issues. Eventually the topic of the Middle East came up, and at one point in the conversation I blurted out "I think that the United States is over in these countries, terrorizing them for our governments own agenda. I think that we are terrorists."

You can probably imagine the following stares and faces. If you can't, they looked like this:

I'm not about to tell you that there aren't people out there in the world that have some serious problems with America. As a matter of fact, most of the world has a problem with America. I have a problem with us, and so should you.


I don't typically watch Fox or CNN. I sincerely dislike them. In my honest opinion, they're fear-mongering, war-mongering propaganda pundits. They all want you to believe that the whole of the Middle East is a bunch of rag-headed Muslims who hate America and our "freedom" and our "Christianity."


Well, first of all, if you're really convinced that the Qur'an is a book that preaches violence and that all the Muslims in the Middle East want to "kill all the infidels," I'd suggest you go do some research. However, since I know you're too lazy to do it, I'll provide you with some.


Way back when, when Rick Santorum was still in the Presidential bid, I would have a discussion here and there about some of his supporters, and they were all adamant about one thing in particular: we have to invade Iran because they want to have nukes, and if they have nukes they'll blow up Israel, and we support Israel because we're Christians like Santorum, which is why we support Santorum.


Well I hate to be blunt here, but they don't. Most people site the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) when they try to argue that Iran wants nukes, but in the words of Iran, IAEA has "pro-Western bias" and just wants us to invade them more. I know you're thinking "really? You trust Iran over your own government? They're the ones who want the nukes!" Well actually, yeah, I do. When exactly has the American government been known to tell the truth? "Oh don't worry slaves, you'll get 40 acres." "I didn't have sexual relations with that woman." "I am not a crook!" "Ah, America, the land of the free! Except for you natives, get back in your reservation!"


Iran isn't building nuclear warheads. The CIA knows it, Israel knows it, Mossad knows it (for those of you who don't know, Mossad is to Israel as the CIA is to the U.S.). Everyone knows it, but nobody admits it. Even Iran is like "srsly guise we need this nuclear power plant to keep our country running, stop trying to shut it down."
"What was that Iran? I can't hear you over the sound of our bombs exploding all over you!" - America
":(" - Iran


"In exchange for suspending its enrichment program, Iran has been offered "a long-term comprehensive arrangement which would allow for the development of relations and cooperation with Iran based on mutual respect and the establishment of international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program." However, Iran has consistently refused to give up its enrichment program, arguing that the program is necessary for its energy security, that such "long term arrangements" are inherently unreliable, and would deprive it of its inalienable right to peaceful nuclear technology."


How is this related to us being terrorists, you ask? I believe that we are terrorists because our government has flared up this conflict between the American people and the people of these Middle Eastern countries with their hateful propaganda and racism. Because of this hate and racism, many Americans advocate these wars that we're fighting, when we're killing more defenseless civilians than Al Qaeda members. We're terrorizing the civilians of Iran right now, just like we did to Iraq, as you read this. We're breaking into random houses and doing sweeps. We're interrogating and torturing innocents for information that we have no evidence that they even have. If you don't believe me, then I implore you to watch this video. No, I dare you to watch this video, then look me in the eye and tell me we're not doing something extremely wrong overseas.

It's all rainbows and discrimination.

I like gay people, because I believe that love comes in many different shapes, sizes, and colors. Gay people, from what I've gathered from my own personal experience, are very nice, because they also believe that love is a versatile thing. Straight people suck and are mean, because they want to put love in a neat little box, have the government regulate it, and put a tax on it so you can't have/be in love without paying for it.

There's approximately 600,000 people in Tulsa (2010 census). Around 1% of all American couples are gay or lesbian. So if I take a really big leap and by-pass some basic mathematics for the sake of being lazy, I can guess that there's about 12,000 gay or lesbian people in Tulsa. I don't even know that many people. I don't even know what "12,000 people" looks like. If I were to be able to remember every single person I've ever met and ever will meet, it probably wont even be near 12,000.

If every single person who served in the armed forces of the U.S. stopped doing so, we could fill their positions twice with solely gay people, with some to spare.

There are more homosexual people in America than Native Americans.

I don't see gay people as gay people, or a minority, or someone who's doomed to spend eternity chillin' with Satan. I don't walk up to one and say "how are you today, Mr. Gay man?" or "Howdy, sinner!" If you're gay, it's part of who you are, just as much as your ethnicity, eye color, accent, etc. It's your personality. When you see "homosexuality" like this, you'll understand why I don't think it's right that people bully gay kids, or deny them basic human rights. And this is where it gets juicy.

WHAT IS LOVE? BABY DON'T HURT ME.

But seriously, in the Declaration of Independence, they were all like "dudes, you should be able to do what you want, because the Man shouldn't be able to tell us what to do! The Man's trying to keep us down!" (in my version, the founding fathers we sort of hippies.) Henceforth, America separated themselves from England and their oppression and founded America, the land of freedom and opportunity. And then suddenly, 200 years later, our very own government stomped all over the Declaration of Independence and said "lol nope, gays don't get to be happy." If we're going to do this, I think it's only fair we return Lady Liberty to the French and surrender ourselves to the British. (also, if we're a democracy, we need to change our flag, because the classic "stripes and stars" one stands for a republic.)

California's Prop. 8 officially eliminates same-sex marriage in what I grew up understanding to be the most gay state of them all.

Question time: does love make you happy? A large number of heartbroken teenagers will probably try to tell you that it'll make you miserable, but let's look at the science. Love is the biochemical reaction inside the brain that releases "love drugs" (that's normal-person talk for dopamine, norepinephrine, pheromones, and serotonin). Basically, these naturally occurring chemicals make you stupid and happy and in love. So yes, scientifically speaking, love makes you happy. Is love not, under these conditions, one of the certain inalienable rights given to you in the Declaration of Independence? Or at least, the pursuit of love. And is marriage not the furthest extent of love?

I'm calling America out on their blatant discrimination of homosexual individuals. We're denying them their God-given rights, in the same way we denied African Americans theirs. And Westboro Baptist Church the modern day Klu Klux Klan.

I know that homosexuality isn't a race, but if you're "homophobic" to any degree, I see you as being on the same level as a racist. If you hate any group of people for who they are, you're just like a racist. A love racist, in this case.

I am not talking about your religion. You can have all the religion you want. You can follow all the rules and guidelines you want. I believe that you can be gay and still be a Christian, or a Muslim, or a Buddhist, or whatever you want to be. This isn't about whether gay people go to heaven or hell. All that is is your opinion, or someone elses opinion. If you have a problem with homosexuality because of your religion, just remember that "God is love."

Think about it. Makes sense.

I just don't care (about some stuff).

If I ever told anybody that I enjoyed American Idol, it was a straight up lie. I'm sorry.

I don't watch the finals. I don't watch the auditions. I don't find it very entertaining to see a bunch of punk kids cover classic songs, nor do I take pleasure in idolizing our musicians. I think it's a silly show. So there you have it.

I will not now, nor ever, give you input on who I think should have won, will win, once won, or shouldn't have made it past the first round. There are two reasons for this. Firstly, I don't know any of the participants. Secondly, because if you're the kind of person who would ask me to discuss these things, you probably also want to talk to me about Snooki's baby.

I don't care about Snooki, and I don't care about her baby. Approximately, there are just under 13 million women pregnant right now. My congratulations to each and every one of them. However, Snooki is an oompa loompa who's famous for being trashy and drunk. My sincere condolences for the future of that child, because we all know it's destined to be a Guido, and it will probably never know which of the eighteen possible candidates is actually it's father.

Now that you've probably gotten the hint that I don't care about a lot of stuff, I'd like to take the time to talk about Joseph Kony. Most of you probably know who Kony is because everyone and their dog have shared a video produced by the Invisible Children movement on Facebook. If you haven't seen it already, you can check it out here:


KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

It's about thirty minutes long. If you don't want to watch it, I understand. You've got Angry Birds to play, and before you head off to your dead-end desk job you need to stop by a giant corporation and throw your money at them for their nasty coffee and McMuffins.

I don't care about American Idol. I don't care about Jersey Shore. I don't care about McDonalds, Starbucks, or your IPhone.

I care about children. I care about the future. I care about freedom. I don't particularly care for the American government, and I really don't care for it poking it's nose where it doesn't belong. What's happening in Uganda, though, is important. This is bigger than me, and it is bigger than the government, and it's bigger than you. Kony is a terrorist. As an American, that should be a concept you can wrap your head around.

I refuse to tell you that you need to donate all your money to a foundation, and I wont tell you to become an activist just because it's something I and many other people consider important. You don't need any student loans or four year programs to educate yourself though. Watch the video and get connected.

War, in a soldier's words.

"Without racism soldiers would realize that they have more in common with the Iraqi people than they do with the billionaires who send us to war."