Can't things just be the thing that they are?
How needlessly complicated we make matters when we spin them to our steadfast ideas. I could go my whole life without the event of the Notre Dame fire being politicized, turned into a conspiracy, or profanely dismissed by those frothing at the mouth to see organized religion suffer. Fire has no agenda. The authorities stated arson was not involved. Until new evidence changes that, I’ll accept their word at face value. A lot of objectively great art was lost, but no human lives were lost. It’s possible to see and acknowledge the negative while still focusing on the positive. I could stop writing there. But we all know I won’t.
Ben Shapiro was attacked by a New York Times columnist for tweeting “Absolutely heartbreaking. A magnificent monument to Western civilization collapsing.” He wasn’t wrong. He didn’t misspeak. Western civilization, like it or not, has a Judeo-Christian heritage. It has plenty of heritages. You can’t rewrite historical fact because you don’t like the fact in question, nor are you oppressed by the heritage. We have this thing called freedom written into our 1st amendment. It’s a pretty cool thing when you step back and look at the big picture.
Vociferous atheists, or at least anti-Christians took to twitter to revel in the fire, saying it was a symbol of western oppression burning down. I’m not Catholic (I’m a Christian first, a Baptist second) but I appreciate the magnificent structures the followers of the Vatican erected at their height of power. Appreciating doesn’t mean condoning. They were powerful because they were ruthless and evil. Shall we not better serve ourselves and future generations by learning that history and allowing monuments (which, pragmatically speaking, also currently bring in tourism revenue) like that to stand as reminders? I’d argue for allowing symbols of oppression to stand. They are more real in person than on the page in a history book. Plus, to be fair and consistent across the board, we must needs tear down all symbols of oppression. I don’t see the anti-Christian or anti-Western civilization crowd clamoring to dynamite the Sphinx, pyramids, Forbidden City, Taj Mahal, or any of the wonderful castles that pepper the Mediterranean, Arabian Peninsula, South America, or Asia Minor. All or most of those were built with either coerced taxation and/or indentured servitude. Goodness’ sake, these folks call gainful, free will employment under capitalism slavery. They just will not be pleased if anything has anything to do with the idea of individual achievement western culture promulgated.
Some people on social media have pointed out that black churches in Louisiana have been burned down and we should be focusing on that. It’s a valid point. But it is possible to be saddened by both events. These churches were deliberately set on fire by the son of a law enforcement official with his own nefarious, and probably racist, ends in mind. What they fail to realize that if African American-centric stories are ignored by the mainstream media, that says something about the mainstream media. I’m a moral conservative and political centrist. I am appalled by the mainstream portrayal of blacks, whether as disproportionately criminal or inerrant victims. Blacks are too diverse in all factors you care to devise and measure to lump into one group. The media has a long and rich history of not giving them that credit. So the simple remedy is to take what the mainstream media says with a grain of salt.
The conservative media I occasionally glance at mentioned these churches and how wicked it is to target blacks for suffering. But you do you, militant social media user. What they also fail to recognize that the second word of social media is “media”. You’re joining the media and helping to dog-watch it with your content. By drawing attention to it, they don’t have to spin it in opposition to the Notre Dame event. It can just be its own thing, and one can implore others to donate to these church families without haranguing or shaming others for feeling sad or donating to the Catholic cause. I know that the Catholic Church is richer than rich, but one can allocate their money as they see fit, so long as it’s in a lawful manner. I just don’t understand how public speech has to be inflammatory and sanctimonious nowadays. The positive things I post on Facebook tend to get more positive responses than the provocative things I occasionally post. Who woulda thunk?
I don’t believe in politicizing natural events, nor turning them to fit my narrative. It’s possible in the aftermath to try to prevent something like that in the future, but that’s where ideas and cooperation come in. Twitter is not known as the place for those to come together.
