Posted on by Abe Austin

Us vs Them- Trends of Today

The State of Things)

It is impossible to be properly judged without being known. At different times, different categories of people have had broad generalizations made about them because of the category, not because of who they actually were. They have been accused as a whole for the problems in the world, each member guilty simply by association. Of late, being a White, Christian, male with traditional conservative views has lumped me into such categories of disdain and ridicule, with no regard for who I actually am and why I believe the things that I do.

Over the past couple years, it has become apparent that the wholesale disparagement of White, Christian, conservative, masculinity will not go unchallenged in the West. For a long while, it did. I watched as the prior generation, and many of my own peers, and even I, myself, simply shook our heads and went about our day quietly, trying not to think about the hostility growing against us. But with the assassination attempts on Donald Trump and his second election into office, something clearly changed.

And that is not all good news.

Worse, Not Better)

It is one thing to no longer agree to being walked on, it is another to start retaliating with sweeping generalizations against the other side. Sadly, the latter trend is growing alongside the former. I am seeing more and more defenses against blanket criticisms of White, conservative, men, but then also blanket criticisms where someone “knows” what a woman speaking really means, because all women are a certain way. Or how one is “fatigued” with Black people, as a rule. Or how every liberal is morally compromised. Not just that there are problems with certain individuals, but with all of a certain category.

We are trading one mistake for another. We are right to stop being overly passive. To stop pretending that being walked on is a virtue. We should not be afraid to openly disagree with the trends that we’ve been seeing, and to advocate for the principles we hold dear. We need to restore fairness and equal treatment on both the legal and societal level. But in doing all of that, we must not leap all the way painting everyone on “the other side” with the same brush.

Of course, not every White, Christian, conservative will do this. But as their views becomes more popular, the basest and most easily influenced among them will reduce things down to “this side good, that side bad.” Sadly, the basest and most easily influenced cohort seems to be increasing every year.

So, when I say “us vs them” thinking, that I believe retaliation for the past is about to increase, I am not saying that I am happy about it. I think the injustices of the past decades were tragic, and I think those of the coming decades will be also. I am not happy that White, Christian, conservative men were so unfairly treated, but neither am I happy for the reckoning that is coming back in turn. I do believe that reckoning is inevitable, though. It will happen, whether I like it or not.

And I think there is a very simple reason why this reckoning is inevitable, and a reason why it is just starting to begin now but will soon be fully upon us. I will endeavor to explain with my next post what lines were crossed that went too far, and what will happen now in retaliation.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Us vs Them- Shifting Towards Tribalism

It is commonly understood that “us vs them” thinking only brings out the worst in people. It frustrates efforts for peace and even becomes a justification for terrible atrocities. All my life I have been told that we must reject this sort of thinking. I have been told that knowing one part of who someone is does not give me the entire picture of them. That I must appreciate the nuance in people. That I should seek to understand people as individuals.

I find this to be excellent advice. All throughout my life I have had the opportunity to associate with people who believe very strongly and very differently from me. People with contrary religious beliefs, inverted politics, and opposing social agendas. And in each and every case, I have always found it worthwhile to shelve my assumptions and actually get to know these people. I have had open and frank conversations about our strongly different views, with an emphasis on understanding the good reasoning that led us to such different outcomes. In every instance, I have discovered an individual. A sensible person. A rational and coherent brother or sister. I often still disagree with them, but I can appreciate where they are coming from. I have learned that even someone who I think is “wrong” still has that spark of divinity within them. Even those that feel differently from me are still children of God.

So I agree with those sayings that we’ve all heard countless times. “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” “Walk a mile in their shoes.” “90% of an iceberg lays beneath the surface.” We’ve all heard these nuggets of wisdom since our childhood. We’ve all repeated them when someone was making unfair assumptions.

But then…why is “us vs them” thinking still so common? In fact, why does it seem to be growing stronger every year? Perhaps it was always this way. Perhaps it is our default way of being, only overcome by deliberate choice. If that is the case, then more and more, we do not seem to be making that choice as a society.

As I have recognized this worrying trend, I have had thoughts about what it means for the future, the imbalance that it will create in society, and the obligation of the faithful in the face of the trials ahead. I will spend the next couple days discussing those thoughts, and hopefully we will be able to find an ark in the midst of the rising flood.

Posted on by Abe Austin

Those Who Cannot Do, Deconstruct

The Human Nature)

It is in our human nature to advance and improve. We are never content with the accomplishments of the past, we always seek to be better and better. We are a race of inventors and innovators, creators and pioneers. Entirely new branches of science, technology, medicine, and mathematics are constantly being opened, and old branches pushed further than ever before.

This is a divine characteristic within us, linked to our need for personal self improvement. It shows how our hearts and minds are constantly pulled toward the ideal. We seek perfection in all its forms, and that gives us the power to do brave, new things. Just as our pioneering spirit leads us to invent life-saving methods, it leads us to engage in soul-saving repentance. This is unquestionably a good thing, and a clear sign of our divine heritage.

But what happens when we lack the innovation to improve on what has already been done, but retain the desire to advance something new?

Deconstruction in Place of Innovation)

Ever since the social sciences began, one truth has emerged above all others: people do their best when they are raised in the traditional, nuclear family.

When a society has each of its children raised by a devoted father and mother, there is less crime, less mental illness, less depression, less suicide, and less drug use. When children have a devoted father and mother they report greater happiness, participate more in their society, obtain higher levels of education, earn more money, give more to charity, and live longer, healthier lives. Society settled on the traditional, nuclear family many years ago, and there simply has never been a better system ever found.

If every alternative strategy for raising humanity has fallen short, then one would think that continued research would be focused on how to strengthen this family unit. How can we better support the working father and the nurturing mother? How can we better train the raising generation to prepare themselves for those roles? How can we remove the temptations and obstacles that lead people to choose harmful alternatives? How can we shore up the children who lose one of their parent-pillars due to some tragedy?

Remarkably, though, those are not the sort of questions that the social pundits of today tend to focus their energy on. In spite of all evidence against it, social academia continues proposing ways to subvert, twist, and fully replace the ideal family. They push for alterations to laws and social norms, even though those changes have no evidence of yielding positive results. They criticize the standards and principles that have stood for years, even when those standards demonstrably lead to a better quality of life for everyone involved.

A society that achieves the pinnacle has the unfortunate tendency to adulterate its adventurous spirit and deconstruct that ideal, crippling and breaking it simply for the sake of having a project to work on, never mind if that project destroys millions of lives along the way! Those that lack the skill to build and improve occupy themselves with tearing apart!

The Ease of Destruction)

And, unfortunately, the rule of the universe is that destruction is always easier than construction. Chaos comes more easily than order. Toppling is always faster than stacking, scattering easier than gathering, breaking more accessible than creating. Even a minority in a short period of time can undo what a majority took a very long while to accomplish. If current trends continue, the collapse of the most basic social unit will occur, and it will be many generations of horror before that good thing can be built back again, if ever at all.

In short, we have very good reason to be very fierce about promoting and protecting the traditional nuclear family, and in renouncing and destroying every bastardized alternative.