Finance and morality would seem to have little in common. The former deals with the accumulation of wealth, the latter with right and wrong. If one looks closely though there are some, if not similarities, shared concepts. Bookkeeping, for example, is a financial tool for recording credits and debts, a practice not commonly associated with morality. However, if one were to consider good deeds and bad deeds, then at least metaphorically, there are some similarities. The weighing the heart or soul is a motif used by both ancient Egyptians and Christianity to describe judgement after death. It is, to borrow another financial term, the balance of the good and bad of one’s life. If the sum of one’s deeds are balanced after death, then it can be said that we each possess a moral ledger that “records” our actions in this life. The good and the bad add up and as with finance, if we are not careful, our moral balance sheet may decline tipping us into moral bankruptcy.
It is a truism that we live in a world of greys. Not in the sense that the sun never shines or that we don’t experience highs and lows but rather that we are frequently presented with situations that are neither black nor white. You should never tell a lie…unless it’s to spare someone’s feelings. Killing is wrong…except in self-defense. Violence is never the solution…unless turning the other cheek will get you killed. These obvious examples underline the extent to which our choices are not always between good and bad but sometimes between bad and worse. How do we navigate these situations?
If we have been raised right, we possess a moral foundation that assist us with difficult decisions. Some foundations are religious, some are cultural, and some a mix of the two but all establish a means of determining right and wrong and to help us navigate the world. “Thou shall not kill,” “turn the other cheek,” “do unto others as you would have done unto you” are aspirational rules that are difficult, if not impossible to follow at all times but which we should apply equally to everyone we meet. If on occasion, we fail to meet these high standards it is due to the situations we find ourselves in rather than the identity of the person we are interacting with.
Until recently I believed that the only people who would disagree with this were criminals, sociopaths, and terrorists. Sadly, I have concluded that I am wrong and that there is a sizable portion of the left who would disagree. I am not referring to those on the center left, who, while disagreeing with many of my political positions, would nevertheless agree with the moral principles that I have outlined. I am referring instead to those on the far left, Marxists, Progressives, anarchists and the like. These people have exchanged a moral foundation that provides exceptions based on situations for one that provides excuses based on identity.
The progressive left’s slow moral decline has followed a road built on good intentions. Having participated in, if not led, efforts to fight inequality, progressives have been stymied by the inescapable fact that, despite great strides, inequality still exists. Society’s failure to eliminate racial discrepancies has caused progressives to exchange beliefs based on equality, such as color blindness, for more divisive practices such as Anti-Racism, CRT, and DEI. In doing so they have abandoned a creed which demanded that people be “judged on the content of their character” for one that excuses anti-social or criminal behavior not as the failure of individuals, but rather as result of white supremacy. This extreme version of identity politics has led to:
Excusing Rioting and Looting as powerful tools “to bring about real, lasting change in society” and which question “the justice of ‘law and order,’ and the distribution of property and wealth in an unequal society.”
Harm reduction policies which characterize drug users as victims and which seek to make access to drugs easier and establish locations where addicts can freely abuse illegal substances.
Movements seeking to abolish prisons, defund the police, and eliminate cash bail based on the belief that racial discrepancies in prisons are based on racism rather than criminal activity.
Efforts to establish separate legal systems for indigenous people Canada on the grounds that “Indigenous Peoples have been disproportionately harmed by the Canadian legal system” and that “Violent settler colonialism and systemic racism are well documented in nearly every area of law.”
Judges being directed to take race into account when passing sentences due to “systematic racism.” This has led to sentences being reduced due "’systemic and background factors,’ including alcohol abuse and lack of education.”
Efforts in Australia to undermine the democratic principal of “one person one vote” by creating a separate body - the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice - that "may make representations to the Parliament and the Executive Government of the Commonwealth on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples".
Under progressive ideology, No longer is right and wrong determined by actions, instead identity must be factored in. This is, at best, a case of misplaced compassion. At worst it will lead to the creation of different tiers of citizenship requiring some to obey the law while others are permitted to engage in violence to address perceived historical wrongs.
Over the last few years, the progressive left has pushed an ideology that equates words with violence to suppress speech it disagrees with while simultaneously presenting violent resistance as acceptable provide you are “oppressed.” Oppression is, according to intersectionality, closely tied to the concept of multiple discrimination which “recognizes that discrimination can occur on the basis of more than one perceived characteristic…a person who is discriminated on the grounds of their ethnicity may be also discrimination on the grounds of gender, sexual orientation, age, and so on. Such discrimination can, and often does, create cumulative disadvantage.” Put simply, the more diversity-points you can accumulate the more oppressed you are.
The left’s increasing use of identity to excuse anti-social behavior, justify crime, and defend claims of white supremacy is evidence of slow descent into moral bankruptcy. While it has been accelerating for some time now, it has taken a turn for the worse recently in the wake of the horrific attacks in Israel. Rather than condemn the horrific crimes attacks by Hamas, a number of progressive individuals have sided Hamas and justified the violence. Examples include:
Pro-Hamas protesters at George Mason University chant “they’ve got tanks we’ve got hang gliders, glory to the resistance fighters.”
Zareena Grewal, American studies professor at Yale University, wrote on social media that “Settlers are not civilians. This is not hard.”
The York Federation of Students and the York University Graduate Students’ Association referred to Hamas’ attack on civilians as a “strong act of resistance” against the “settler-colonial apartheid state of so-called Israel.”
The co-president of the University of Sussex intersectional Feminist Society and leader of the Friends of Palestine group gave a speech in Brighton, England calling the Hamas attack on civilians "beautiful and inspiring."
A Stanford instructor divided students into two camps: Jews and non-Jews. The instructor then told the Jewish students to gather their things, stand in a corner, and said, “This is what Israel does to the Palestinians.” The teacher then asked, “How many people died in the Holocaust?” When a student said, “Six million,” the teacher replied, “Colonizers killed more than 6 million. Israel is a colonizer.”
By emphasizing Hamas’ use of paragliders, Black Lives Matter Chicago and UNC Students for Justice in Palestine they supported both Hamas and the attack on civilians.
Other groups emphasizing their support of Hamas and the use of violence include:
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)
Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL)
World Workers Party (WWP)
Center for Constitutional Rights
Black Alliance for Peace
The Red Nation
The concept of settler-colonialism, while developed in the 1960s, has only recently been used by the far left to justify violence. By identifying one group as “settlers,” progressives set the other side up as the victims, justifying them to engage in whatever violence they deem necessary to end their “oppression.”
The progressive left’s slow abandonment of morality has been apparent for some time. Its descent is characterized by a prioritization of identity over right and wrong and the use of history to sort people into oppressors and the oppressed. This practice does nothing to solve the world’s problems and most likely makes matters worse by encouraging people to view their neighbors as enemies. Despite what should be obvious, it is unlikely that progressives and others on the far left will embrace western morality and step away from the abyss. While progressivism may be lost, the left itself can be saved but only if those on the center-left, can be convinced to condemn the beliefs and practices of the radical racists who now inhabit the progressive left.
In the meantime, the conflict in the Middle East will continue and many more will likely die. In time, however, it, like all past conflicts, will eventually end, becoming just one more conflict for historians to debate. In doing so they may question the role that progressives played in the conflict and wonder how so many became morally bankrupt. The answer will be two ways, gradually and then all at once.
jackass genocide lovers
A more nuanced (and accurate) reading of the Bible says we are all sinners and no amount of good deeds will lead to salvation. Only the belief in Jesus is the path to salvation. There are many New Testament scriptures that say this
And Glen Greenwald is very good at pointing out the hypocrisy on both sides of the conflict between Hamas and Israel.
How can you condem the killing of innocents in Israel and justify the bombing of Palestine where undoubtedly there are many innocents killed in Palestine as well.
Half of the population of Palestine is under 18. There has not been an election in Palestine since 2007. They can not even escape to Egypt, where a popularity elected, pro- Palestinian government was replaced by a coup with a pro-western government.
Lots of problems, no simple solutions. And there will be no solutions that don't start at least with an honest assessment of the problem.
Which brings me back to the New Testament. We are all sinners, everyone of us.