Thomas Sowell is one whose writings I thoroughly enjoy. If I step away from the Bible, theology, or classic literature (my other passions), and decide to learn more about our culture, he’s one of the first ones I consult.
Yet something he stated in his essay The Left and Crime from
his book Dismantling America has once again raised the question within
me (as I’m always wrestling with it) as to whether or not today’s intelligentsia
really believe the mantras they tout, or is it merely propaganda used to advance
an agenda.
He references a speech given by former Oakland, CA Mayor Ron
Dellums (2007-2011) in which the reason for the high crime was cited to be because
“we have closed our eyes to the injustices and inequities, and now we are reaping
the wild winds of that disregard for a whole range of people.”
Sowell then responds:
“It was precisely the rise to power in the 1960s (in the
courts as well as in politics) of those who believed that ‘injustices and
inequities’ were the causes of crime which marked a de-emphasis on law enforcement
and imprisonment – and marked one of the most dramatic increases in crime in
our history.”
In typical Sowell fashion, he then cites evidence to show
that the murder rate had been going down for decades, but that it “suddenly doubled
between 1961 and 1974”.
What arrests my attention, however, is the notion that those
in power do in fact BELIEVE these things.
Do they? That’s what
I wanna know. And if I don’t figure it
out, I may end up pulling my hair out to the point of being mistaken for a mad
scientist.
Now it’s much easier for me to believe that the originators and respective contemporaries of humanistic ideologies (e.g. Marx,
Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche) honestly believed what they proposed (but I even
question this to some extent), but I have a wall in my mind preventing me from
believing that today’s elite believe it.
Is it not rather that they know their ideas are wrong, but are merely
using their rhetoric to influence and further an agenda?
We are often told that ideas have consequences, but does
that mean that the future generations have to actually believe the idea which originated in 19th century Germany for instance? Can it not be that the idea is not believed
at all, but is a convenient wedge to advance a cause? The idea itself may not be personally believed, but still can be used politically, and the consequences still ensue.
Systemic racism. The advantages of ‘diversity’. Climate change. A whole list of talking points fall under this
umbrella of things which are either 1) actually and truly believed, or 2) just politics.
I believe the powerful claims of the Apostle in Romans 1 may
be of help here. We read of men whom God
gives over to reprobate minds, many of which are currently in our midst, in my
opinion. No accurate assessment of the state of our culture can be made without
taking into consideration the fact that debased minds are themselves the result
of God’s judgment upon a society. The
only question is in what direction does that depraved mind venture? Is it debased to the extent that it actually believes
a lie (2 Thes. 2:11), or does it know it’s wrong, but gives the deceitful appearance
of assent in order to further a certain political or societal end?
This is one of the greatest questions I have today as I
survey the current state of our world. It would be nice for me to get a satisfactory
answer.
After all, I'd like to keep my hair.
1 comment:
I also have liked Thomas Sowell and his writings. I quoted from him in college and one of my Sociology professors, a black man, told me he was not a good source (because Sowell was conservative but the professor liberal). Liberals hate black conservatives.
I think the master minds behind the elite conspirators know that they are promoting lies, using lies, just like their father the Devil.
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