Author: Dan G.

Today’s English Lesson

Today’s pet peeve comes via John H at the BHT:

More generally, I think we should also avoid the word “ignorant” in this context, as the word is too much of a value-judgment. First-century people weren’t “ignorant” of what centuries of scientific and medical research have unearthed; they just “didn’t know” it.

“Ignorant of it” means “didn’t know it.” I am ignorant of a great many things – as are you. This is not a value judgment of any kind, it is simple fact. It is only when you define a person as being ignorant as an aspect of his character that it becomes a value judgment. So, can we go back to using words because of what they mean rather than what politicians try to make them mean?

Loyalty to God and country

Over at The Jury Talks Back, Not Rhetorical asked an interesting question:

“I’m a Christian first and an American second.” If you heard someone say that, would you consider it divided loyalty? What if a soldier said it?

I responded that I would not be surprised at all, because if anyone claims to believe in God but doesn’t place him as the primary influence in his life then that person does not really believe in God. It doesn’t matter which god – the God of Israel, Allah, Zeus, you name it – if God exists, then your entire existence is shaped by that fact. Anything else you do must be in the context of what that all-powerful God wished you to do or to be. I think the US Armed Forces understand this, given that they’ve allowed soldiers whose faith prevents them from fighting to serve other roles so as not to force a showdown between God and country.

This quote, however, comes from Nidal Hasan, the Ft. Hood shooter. He apparently made it public knowledge that he considered himself a Muslim first and an American second – a fact which is being played up as another sign of his blind devotion and barbarism. This should surprise no one. No political entity can match the sheer clout of a deity. The fact that he considered his religion to be the primary motivator in his life is a perfectly rational response to his beliefs, and using this point as evidence of his insanity is at best intellectually dishonest and at worst outright anti-religious propaganda. Continue reading Loyalty to God and country

20 Years of Freedom

At the end of World War II, what remained of Germany was divided into four territories, each occupied by one of the major Allied powers – The US, France, Britain, and the Soviet Union. Berlin was set as the central control area for all four powers, an arrangement which doomed it into being split by political strain between the victors.

The Soviets refused to agree to the reconstruction plans put forth by the other three powers, which would have allowed a devastated Germany to again become self sufficient, and continued to pillage the city for goods and dismantling any industry it had left. As the tensions grew, Britain, France, and the US combined their controlled areas and extended the Marshall Plan even further, allowing the western part of Germany to being rebuilding and growing again.

Following these disagreements, Stalin instituted the Berlin Blockade in 1948, which many consider the first major crisis of the Cold War. This prevented food or supplies from arriving in West Berlin. The other allied countries responded by airlifting in a massive amount of food and supplies to West Berlin, causing a war of propaganda to erupt between the Soviet and Allied governments. Ultimately the blockade was lifted, but the damage was done. Only a few months after the shipments restarted, East Germany was formally absorbed into the USSR as the German Democratic Republic, and West Germany began to embrace western capitalism and democracy wholeheartedly. Throughout the 1950s, the West’s economy and standard of living grew rapidly, while the East saw only stagnation, resulting in a permeating feeling of envy and a desire to escape to the West. Continue reading 20 Years of Freedom