A Whacky Conspiracy Theory

Lets play a game. Lets pretend that you are a socially aware person. You vote NDP or Liberal. You would never vote Conservative. You find Conservatives scary. You despise the Republicans in the USA. You believe that social programs are what defines us as a caring and compassionate society. Large corporations frighten you. You are environmentally aware. You have never seen a logging company that you could support or an environmental group that you would condemn. You revere David Suzuki and stand behind the Kyoto accord 110%. You are pro choice and support same sex marriage. You are anti capital punishment and any privatization of universal healthcare. You have never thought to blame any poor person for being poor or criminals for being criminal. Rather, you believe the cause of their plight is social inequity and can be cured with more government housing and a well placed government program or two. In fact, you have never encountered a government program that you would scrap. You adore state funded multicultural programs and mass immigration. You are suspicious of traditional Anglo Saxon Christian values. You believe that state funded daycare is a human right. In short, you are like virtually every teacher, school board bureaucrat and university professor I have ever met.

And suppose that, as an enlightened, socially conscious Canadian, your concern for our future has lead you to seek a position in the education field. It’s a natural choice. After all, you want to make a difference. You want to participate in the shaping of young minds so that our children grow up embracing the correct values. Your values.

So you run for a school board position and win. Many like-minded people do the same thing. You sit at the board table surrounded by your peers and you get to work. Other like-minded people run for political office and are also elected. They also get to work at running our educational Ministries and writing our schools' curriculum.

Other sensitive, caring people become teachers. They too are drawn by the opportunity of shaping young minds and building our future society into a utopia where no child is left behind and no one is ever affected detrimentally when they act irresponsibly or foolishly.

And they never speak of it, maybe they don’t even acknowledge it to themselves, but they are all really after the same thing: to make our children think like them and be like them - to require our children to embrace their values. And so, the emphasis in our education system swings from celebrating knowledge and academic achievement to celebrating tolerance, open mindedness and wanton charity. The smartest children are forced to slow down so that the slower children don’t miss anything. They cease teaching Canadian history. After all, history is the realm of white Christian folk and newcomers to Canada might feel somehow lessened by having to learn about the exceptional achievements of such people. They cease to award prizes for high marks in math or grammar and start to celebrate the students who are helpful and sensitive to the needs of others. No child is ever failed and held back a grade regardless of how little effort they put in. Scores are no longer kept in school sports. Preserving a students self esteem becomes more important than ensuring that they can read and write. Protecting the mediocre students becomes more important than celebrating the exceptional ones. Winning is seen as a slap in the face for the losers.

And our children grow up. The lazy and unmotivated are lead to believe that they deserve the same rewards in life as those who are dedicated, hard working and ambitious. In fact, they enter adulthood demanding it.

But, of course, they are unable, on their own, to achieve what their more principled, disciplined peers achieve. And they get mad. They can't understand it. Haven't they been taught that everyone is equal? What is this injustice? Maybe somewhere deep in their subconscious they realize that they have been duped. But it is too late for them to change. Far too late. They have been conditioned for life.

So, some join unions and revel in the fact that they will never be expected to perform at a higher level than their co workers. Some girls, having never learned that irresponsible decisions have negative consequences, get pregnant and go on welfare. The boys who get them pregnant, having gone to the same schools, take no responsibility either. Others get menial jobs or go on welfare. They grow bitter and envious of those who have more than them. And having no recourse, they crawl to government for assistance. Of course they don’t see it as crawling. They don’t see it as lowering themselves. They don’t see it as a loss of personal autonomy and self respect. After all they have been taught that everyone deserves to be treated equally and that government should always be there to take money from those who produce and give it to them, regardless of the effort, or lack thereof, that they put in to help themselves. In their eyes they are simply demanding their rightful entitlement. In reality though, the poor wretches are crawling. They are just too blind to see it.

And tell me, who do you think these people vote for? What political and social initiatives do they support? Do you think that they would vote for a political party or support anyone who speaks out in favor of self sufficiency and independence from government interference in society? Do you think they would ever consider supporting smaller government or fewer social programs given that they themselves have a god given right to such programs? Of course not. They support those who promise to take more from the people they envy and give more to them.

And so the circle is complete and perhaps unbreakable. Socialist minded people have fashioned an educational system that ensures that Canada has a ready and continuing supply of semiliterate, demanding, insatiable government dependents who will feel compelled, by virtue of their dependence and social conditioning, to support the values of those who created them.

But it's not so bad. It's a good thing really. Surely you see? lt must be this way. Power must be kept in the right hands. The compassionate hands. The hands that are, after all, by virtue of their owner's high level of enlightenment, entitled to wield power’s reins.

After all, we have to keep those terrible, profiteering capitalists and evil conservatives in their place. Sure, maybe they create all the wealth and jobs. Maybe they have, through their principles and work ethic, created the very society the socialists are now plundering. But the poor have rights too, don’t they? From each according to his ability; to each according to his need. And there’s lots of need out there. Those in control wouldn’t have it any other way.

Convert Before It's Too late

I’ve decided to become a Muslim.

OK, maybe not a real Muslim. That would probably take some time and effort. I’d likely have to learn a bunch of stuff from the Koran. Maybe even go to a Mosque a few times. Sounds like that would be a lot of trouble. So, I’m going to become a virtual Muslim. A quasi, neo, semi-Muslim. Maybe not in body, but certainly in spirit. I won’t pray five times a day. That’d be a pain in the ass. Especially the getting down on the knees part. Ugh. Way too strenuous. But, I promise to drink five beers a day and face Mecca while doing it. Allah will understand. After all, it’s the thought that counts.

I used to think of myself as a Christian. Maybe not an engaged, practicing Christian, but at least someone who respected and loved what Christianity stood for. But, I have come to understand that this Christianity thing is finito. A phase that has passed its best before date. These days I see Christianity as a lame, sad joke. A mere shadow of its former glorious self.

It used to be that real Christians went riding around on horseback smitin’ blasphemers and pounding heretics upside their ugly heads. Stuff a man could sink his teeth into. These were noble, selfless men. All they wanted was to save their fellow man from eternal damnation. Those they couldn’t save were beheaded or burnt at the stake or some such thing. Heck, a man’s gotta have some fun.

Those were the days.

OK, maybe some Christians went a bit too far in the promotion and endorsement of their religion and their god. (Kinda like what Muslims do today.) But they meant well. To them, it was unthinkable that anyone would not believe in their god and his teachings. To them, religion was a matter of importance – something to be proud of. These days, Christians are almost apologetic in the way they go about their lives. It’s almost as if they are embarrassed by their god.

Amazing, isn’t it, how, in a few short years, the followers of a religion could go from resolute adherence to flagrant disregard.

A short while ago, a public art gallery displayed a work of art. The work of art consisted of a glass jar full of the artist’s urine. Submerged in the urine was a metal crucifix with Christ attached. The artist called his work "Piss Christ". Nice.

Oddly, the Gallery was not burned to the ground. Thank heavens Jesus is not Mohammad. Imagine what would have happened.

And then there’s Martin Scorsese’s movie, “The Last Temptation of Christ”, which was, at the least, disrespectful and, at the most, sacrilegious. The movie was screened to critical acclaim in Christian nations. There were no riots. No one was killed. There were not even any demonstrations of any significant note.

Christians have become cowards. Weak kneed girlymen. Timid, uncertain and hesitant. Afraid to stand up for their beliefs. Scared to take action against those who would subvert and destroy their religion. And, never doubt it, there are many who wish to wipe out Christianity from western culture. And top of the list isn’t Muslims. It’s secular humanist atheists. These knuckleheads are everywhere – in our media, in our Universities and education systems, in our unions. And they never miss a chance to speak out against Christianity. Oddly, though, they are strangely quiet when Muslims riot, rape, murder and commit genocide in the name of their religion and their god.

In modern western culture, Jesus has been portrayed as a homosexual and adulterer. His mother Mary’s image has been smeared with cow dung and publicly displayed as art. In a nation formed and built by Christians, all images relating to Christianity have been removed from all public spaces. This, in the name of the separation of Church and state. Never mind that the concept of the separation of church and state came about to protect the church from the state and not vice versa. Never mind that only feeble minded cretins are offended by a nativity scene at Christmas or a sculpture of the ten commandments at a court house.

It pains me to say it, but, in some ways, I admire Muslims more than I admire Christians. Muslims stand up for what they believe in. They are fiercely proud of their religion and they actually take action to defend against those who would ridicule and belittle their god.

Christians, on the other hand, take no action when their god is defiled.

Consider this. Christians believe that Jesus is the son of god. He was sent to earth to deliver humans from their sins and provide a way for them to redeem themselves and obtain eternal life in heaven. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (This is from the Bible - John 3:16) I wrote that from memory. I learned it as a child. Some memories last forever.

In other words, Christians are supposed to believe that in order to get into heaven, you HAVE to believe that Jesus is the only path to salvation. You must accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior, and strive to live in accordance with his teachings. Of course, the rub here is that if you do not accept Christ as your personal savior, you’ll go to hell. That’s pretty serious stuff.

So, what do today’s sensitive, compassionate batch of Christians do? Why, they allow Christ to be demeaned and minimized in their culture. They form a societal model that glorifies multiculturalism and promotes the idea that all religions are equal and valid.

If all religions are valid. Then none are. If my god is as valid as yours, then I might as well worship your god. After all, why should I limit myself to one god when I can walk along the god buffet and choose the one that appeals to me the most?

It would seem that a lot of Christians have replaced Jesus in their lives with intangible secular concepts like tolerance and multiculturalism. They use these elusive, vague ideals to justify their disinterest in their own religion. Their fridges are full, their houses are warm. They have become apathetic. They believe they are going to heaven. But, apparently, they have stopped caring if anyone else is going.

Look, either Jesus is the only way to heaven or he is not. And if he is not, then Christianity is a farce. But if he is, Christians are doing everyone else a grave disservice by not standing up to those who defile him. Shouldn’t they be trying to convince everyone to convert to Christianity rather than meekly standing by watching all the Muslims and other non Christians go to hell?

Islam has given its followers pestilence, illiteracy and poverty in the nations they dominate. But, for some odd reason, it has also given them resolve. On the other hand, Christianity has given its followers health, literacy and prosperity. But, for some reason, it has also given them self doubt.

It would appear that the less you have to lose the more desperately you cling to what you believe. And the more comfortable you are the less you believe in what has made you comfortable in the first place. An old western saying is that “there are no atheists in foxholes”. What this means is that it’s easy to be an atheist when there is nothing at stake and your life is not on the line. Perhaps if we had more foxholes, we’d have more Christians. Who knows.

Whatever the case, one thing is clear. The future will belong to those who, as a group, know who they are and have the resolve to defend their identity. The future will never belong to those who continually question who they are and, therefore, cannot summon the resolve to defend who and what they are.

That’s why I’m betting on the Muslims. At least they know who they are and what they stand for.

Truth, Honesty and Dodos

Can you remember the last time you told a lie? Chances are you won’t have to think back very far. How about the last time you were lied to? You are a fascinating person. See? That was just 2 seconds ago. And you believed me. Didn’t you? And I don’t even know you. Sometimes I wonder if anyone can actually tell a lie from the truth anymore. When you think about it, we are surrounded by lies 24/7. They permeate our very existence. They define our very society and us as human beings. Most of us lie and all of us are lied to dozens of times a day. We don’t give it a second thought. If the truth were a bird, it’d be a dodo.

OK. I’ll admit that the vast majority of lies that we encounter do not have a big impact on our lives. They don’t cause any measurable harm or pain. Some people call in sick when they are not. Many respond to people who ask how they are feeling by saying that they are 'fine', when they are really feeling like crap. Some get back a bit more change than they are owed at the store and keep it. Some tell their wives that they don’t look fat in those slacks or that supper was delicious. Or, ladies, how about that last time you faked an orgasm so he would finally roll the hell over and let you get some sleep?

These are small, understandable lies. We rationalize them away and tell ourselves that they are justifiable and not that important. But it wasn’t always that way. (OK, maybe the fibs about supper and looking fat date back to the stone age, but that’s a matter of self preservation for god’s sake. No man tells the truth when their life is on the line. Let’s have a bit of perspective here.) Generally speaking, though, for the most part, don’t you think that lies are morally wrong and that people actually were a lot more honest just a few short years ago?

I do. In fact, I know they were. Important deals were done with a handshake. (It’s how my grandfather bought his house). When people gave their word or said something, it meant something. Divorce was rare because the words ‘commitment’ and ‘fidelity’ actually carried some moral weight. When teachers disciplined kids and told their parents that they had misbehaved, parents trusted the teacher’s judgment and gave their kids a good licking themselves for good measure. These days, however, our little darlings can do no wrong and woe be to any teacher that suggests otherwise.

Somehow, over the years something has changed. We have gone from a society where the truth was understood to be black and white, to a society where honesty is no longer an absolute and truth is a grey area to be debated, questioned and, often, exploited.

Depending on how old you are, you might remember the old days when honesty was expected from everyone and truth was an absolute matter-of-fact. These were comforting, straight forward, unambiguous times. People knew right from wrong and truth from fiction. It seems like a long time ago - almost like it was on another planet. Truth, as an absolute is almost impossible to imagine in today’s cynical, superficial, secular, valueless society.

I remember reading in the newspapers a year or so ago about a woman who stumbled upon a bag of money in the street here in Scarborough. It was an official bank package that had apparently fallen out of an armored car or something. Without a moments hesitation she marched over to the bank and turned the money in. The press was notified and this simple act of honesty made headline news for days. She was made out to be a hero - a human of rare and exceptional character. When, really, all she did was be honest. These days, it would seem that, honesty is in such rare supply that we are literally shocked when someone actually puts it before their own selfish interest.

I've been thinking a lot about this lately and have identified five specific areas of our lives where the truth is routinely compromised.

First there is the personal realm, where lily-white lies in our personal relationships and everyday lives occur daily. Please see above. (No, baby, I mean it, you positively skinny in that dress.)

Second, there are the lies perpetrated by corporations and individuals for personal profit. Some are implied, others are explicitly dishonest. Car companies that tell us that their vehicle is the best thing since sliced bread. Tide is better than Cheer. Campbells is preferable to Liptons. Enron and Worldcom are in good financial shape. The price of gas is not influenced by greed and profit, rather by so-called market forces and foreign policy. A party isn’t a party unless you pay a visit to the liquor store. A gift of Barbie will make your daughter’s Christmas exceptional. A life without Leaf tickets is not worth living. Yep, ma’am, your furnace/car/roof needs a total overhaul. We live in a world of lies and selfish exageration and innuendo. No one is to be trusted.

Thirdly, there is the spin perpetrated by various charitable and non government organizations for the purpose of currying favour & donations and influencing the way we think. Some seek donations by implying that men are horrible abusers and women are always the victims. Some use statistics to garner public attention and donations. They use numbers relating to people affected by any given ailment and disability. The number of AIDS victims is routinely exagerated in order to garner pity and public support for a problem that would not exist except for sexual promescuity and infidility. “Over two million Canadians have diabetes” says the ‘Canadian Diabetes Association’. That is one in 15 Canadians. Tell me, does one in every fifteen people you know have diabetes? Does the number they use include those who have not yet been diagnosed? How do they come upon this number? This sort of creative accounting is used a lot in our society to curry support and sympathy.

Fourth, there is the media. No reasonable person believes that the media reports unbiased facts. No one really believes that they can trust newspapers, television stations and radio to provide a balanced, unprejudiced viewpoint. Media sources never have and they never will. Private media sources are owned by rich people. And rich people have their opinions and biases. It is perfectly understandable that someone who owns a media company will invariably use that company to perpetuate and support their own personal political and social views. You would too. Be honest. But, when the news does not deal in facts, and instead deals in perspective and ideological manipulation, is this not just another way of lying? I’m not saying they shouldn’t have the right to promote their own beliefs. After all, in a free society, independent companies and people must have the right to own media companies and influence public opinion. Otherwise, here in Canada, only the CBC and their government benefactors would. Whatever the case, neither government, its media consorts, or independent media sources, speak the real truth. Whatever they say is always distorted in the prism of their biases. We must always be aware of this when we listen to what they say and temper our judgment accordingly.

Then, finally, (number five) there’s the most insidious, selfish and evil sort of lies imaginable. Those perpetrated by politicians and bureaucrats for the purpose of holding onto or gaining political power. Surely, there can be no greater lies that these. It is no coincidence that few Canadians trust government or politicians these days. It’s almost a given that they lie. We all know it. We all expect it.

This, in and of itself, should tell us how pathetically used to lies we have become.

Face it. Lies are everywhere. They define us as individuals and as a society. Therefore, they define our future. All that we are, and hope to become, is dependant on lies.

And here’s the rub. (You knew it was coming.)

It is really about values folks. Our forefathers expected to trust each other and be trusted in return. Truth was a reality to them. Lies were an exception.

And hey, wouldn’t ya know it, they believed in this being called ‘God’. He made rules and if you didn’t follow them, you’d go to hell. Normal, regular people believed in God. After all, they didn’t want to go to hell. So, normal, regular people followed his rules, spoke the plain, simple truth and lied (and tolerated lies) a helluvalot less than we do today.

These days, most of us either don’t believe in God or seriously question his existence.

God’s rules no longer matter. And with no rules, comes no truth. And with no truth comes no honesty. After all, honesty cannot exist without truth. And truth cannot exist without a common, understood set of rules that define what truth and honesty is.

We, as a society, are in big trouble. We no longer have any rules to help us define what truth is. And if we can no longer define truth, we can no longer know exactly when truth exists. And if we can no longer know exactly when truth exists, we can no longer pass judgment on anyone who lies.

Therefore, the future belongs to liars.

Get used to it.