She's Right, Unfortunately

I post the following piece here for several reasons.  First let me say that I don't do it for sensationalism, and I don't like doing it to "harsh your mellow."  But Ann points out that we need to be aware of what's really going on out there.  You can't fight against evil if you don't understand it.  Nothing makes it easier for evil to advance upon you than to think, "I've got nothing to do with that."

I copied and pasted all of Miss Barnhardt's post here, because as she admits, her blog doesn't allow for permalink.  That's why she encourages people to share anything and everything from her blog.

I have taken some heat for being judgmental when it comes to commenting on the stuff they call "rap."  But I was vindicated when some black friends of mine admitted that rap and BET (Black Entertainment Television) was doing incredible harm to the black community.

ON THE RAP/HIP-HOP CULTURE (PART 1) REPOST

POSTED BY ANN BARNHARDT - MAY 10, AD 2011 9:20 PM MST

The reposting of this essay inspired by Michelle Obama inviting a "rapper" to perform at a "poetry" event at the White House. The rapper, Common, is a filth monger very similar to the rapper cited below, L'il Wayne.Hey Michelle, your taste in music is despicable and you need to keep your filthy, degenerate rap-trash friends out of the People's House. And don't you dare tell me that I simply don't understand "your culture". I understand "your culture" completely. It is rotten to the bone and satanic to the core. The race card has been officially maxed-out, Michelle. You have cowed good, decent people of all colors and races in this country for decades into tolerating filth and evil in our culture. But that era is over now, Hon. We have had enough, and WE WILL NOT BE COWED AND INTIMIDATED ANY LONGER. We are here, we never left, and we are mad as hell, so you and your filth-peddling friends better step back. And take your Godforsaken rap noise back to the gutter where it belongs.Love,
Ann
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"Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious."
"Speaking the Truth in times of universal deceit is a revolutionary act."
--George Orwell
I'm making this post because I suspect that most of the people who read this blog have absolutely no idea how bad the rap/hip-hop culture has become. From what I can tell about my readership, I'm guessing that the average reader is white, male, rural, over 50, and, apparently, retired from the United States Air Force. What up, flyboys.
First, I want to show you a couple of videos of contemporary, popular, chart-topping rap/hip-hop. I was a kid when rap first started and the popular acts were Run DMC and MC Hammer. Rap was simply rythmic speech laid over a simple beat track. It was crude in the sense that it was lyrically stupid and lazy, and did not contain any intrinsic beauty. The lyrics were often shouted and/or grunted, and if there was more than one voice, the combination of shouting voices produced sonic dissonance. I think that we all made the mistake of dismissing it as a fad, thinking that something with no intelligence or beauty could persist. It wasn't a fad. It was the beginning of a cancerous evil. If you are like me and have not really listened to any rap music in 20+ years, you need to listen to these videos so that you can understand the level of sheer evil that we are now dealing with.
CONTENT WARNING. These videos are EXTREMELY graphic. There are no images - I refuse to post the "music videos" because they are pornography, and even in the interests of education and intelligence gathering, I just can't do it. These videos are simply the text of the lyrics, because most of us couldn't understand what was being said without the lyrics printed. But believe me, the children who are listening to this garbage read the lyrics and know every word by heart - so we need to know too. The language is extremely profane and sexually graphic. It could certainly be characterized as verbal pornography. If you feel that you can't handle such things, DON'T WATCH. And for goodness sake, make sure there are no children within earshot. Finally, as you are watching these videos, understand that this is actually MILD. This rapper, "Lil Wayne", is a very mainstream, popular rapper. This is the kind of stuff that gets played on the radio and makes the Billboard charts. This is the "bubblegum" category of rap/hip-hop. Obama has stated publicly that he is a fan of this guy and has him on his iPod. (That in and of itself should be grounds for impeachment.) But there are additional levels of fouler, more pornographic, more "hard core" rap. Remember that. The first rap is called "Gonorrhea" and the second is called "I Am Not Human"

I didn't embed the video/audio for that stuff because it is too vile. If you want to sample it you can go to Ann Barnhardt's blog and play them from there.  If you are coming to this blog late.  You will need to index it to May 10, 2011.

Here is part 2:

ON THE RAP/HIP-HOP CULTURE (PART 2) REPOST

POSTED BY ANN BARNHARDT - MAY 10, AD 2011 8:56 PM MST

What you just heard was pure evil. What you just heard must be fought against and, with God's help, exterminated from the face of the earth. What you just heard contains absolutely no beauty, goodness or truth - only ugliness, sin and lies. It has no redeeming qualities, and can do nothing but damage and corrupt those who listen to it. What you just heard is a clear and present manifestation of satan running free in the land. The rapper's voice sounds demonic. The beat and sonic accompaniment sounds demonic and hellish. And where to begin with the lyrics? Every single sentence is either talking about horrific sexual objectification, murder, extreme pride (braggadocio) or extreme materialism. There are also several instances of blasphemy, wherein the rapper calls himself "god" and remarks about women kneeling before him (performing a sex act) as if they were in church.This is the mainstream, contemporary rap/hip-hop culture in the United States. The vast, vast majority of black Americans under the age of 50 listen to rap/hip-hop like this on a regular basis, and many other people of all races listen to it too. How do I know? Because this "Lil Wayne" person, and scores of others like him are eight and nine-figure millionaires. His product is being consumed at a massive rate.
Why does this matter? Because the evil twin towers of rap/hip-hop and government welfare are destroying the black culture, and by extension and spillover the broad culture, and by extension the broad economy, and by extension western civilization. Don't think for a second that this filth has no effect on you on your ranch in rural Nebraska. Let's think this through.
Over the past 30 years, rap/hip-hop culture has conditioned many black Americans (and others as well) to actively disdain education, work, honesty, integrity, personal responsibility, generosity, humility, marriage, fatherhood and human life. If you think I'm making generalizations, GO BACK AND WATCH THE VIDEOS AGAIN. Young black boys and men grow up believing that the only worthwhile endeavors are basketball and/or football, dealing drugs or rapping. They are taught materialism on a level never before seen in human history. Bentleys. Multi-million dollar mansions. Gold and diamond capped teeth. Gold and diamond- crusted jewelery. Any job or vocation that yields less than the exorbitant wealth showered upon rappers, drug dealers or professional athletes is rejected in favor of a life of complete sloth subsidized by the welfare state.
They are taught that sex is a perverse contact sport consisting of merely slapping pieces of human meat together in various ways in order to achieve orgasm. The black family in the United States has almost completely disappeared. Illegitimacy rates in the cities are now in excess of 90%. Most urban black youth have never, ever heard or been taught that sex is limited to marriage. Let me say that again: most urban black youth have NO IDEA that sex is limited to marriage. Most urban black youth have little or no personal contact with marriage or even monogamy. The concept of a father being present in a household is completely foreign. And just today it was reported that in New York City, 41% of all pregnancies end in abortion. Among blacks in NYC, the figure is a jaw- dropping 60%.

They are taught that drug use is desireable and normal, and that drug trafficking is just a means of making easy money.
As a result of all of this, in combination with labor unions and a general rejection of Judeo-Christian morality by all people, we are now staring down the barrel of a total societal and economic collapse as engineered and executed by Marxist elites over the past 50 years. The welfare and entitlement state has reached critical mass. The entire system is about to implode, and it will take ALL OF US with it. Because our culture has been reduced to an animalistic self-absorption, this collapse will not be like the Great Depression. Men will not take any job they can find to support their family - because men stopped supporting their families decades ago. Men will not take any job they can find in order to feed themselves, because men have been conditioned to believe that honest work is for "suckas".


At this point, some of you reading this may already be feeling very uncomfortable with what I have just said. You may be thinking me "racist" and "bigoted". Of course you are. You have been conditioned your whole life to have that reaction. Did you watch the Evan Sayet video posted last Sunday? (Posted Below) What did Sayet say? We have been conditioned to believe that any statement of truth, rooted in direct observation and objective evidence MUST be "bigoted". We have been conditioned to believe that anything that discerns between two or more options, and determines that one option is superior or inferior to any other option is an act of evil, which is named "discrimination". We have been conditioned to believe that the only morally acceptable stance on anything is complete indiscrimination - in other words, ANYTHING GOES. According to our culture, if I watch the videos above and discern with my powers of observation, reason, intellect and transcendent universal morality (called the Natural Law) that they are, without a doubt evil, then the problem is with ME. I am the evil that must be eliminated. I am the stumbling block to a utopian culture. If I would just sit down and shut up and embrace evil, then there would be no conflict in the world. By engaging in rational thought, I am perpetrating a hate crime. The only way for me to be a "good person" in this world is for me to utterly abandon Reason and Truth. And as I have stated many, many times on this blog, Reason and Truth are a Person, and His Name is Jesus Christ. Oh, yes. Satan is most assuredly afoot in the land.
If you are still feeling latent guilt about criticizing the rap/hip-hop culture, I would invite you to simply defend it. Go back to the two videos above and find me ONE example of virtue, goodness, selflessness, generosity, humility or LOVE. Go ahead. DEFEND IT. Defend pure satanic evil. Tell me about "diversity", "cultural differences", "artistic license" and "tolerance" whilst defending and justifying this:
"Diva in the room, she blowin me just like a band horn / Got her on her knees, the same knees that she be prayin on."
Tell me who the racist is: me, or a man who proclaims, "I am not human." My God, what more do you need? What more is there? Satan has these people denying their own humanity. I'm trying to reassert and proclaim the humanity and infinite dignity of Lil Wayne and everyone who listens to him. Lil Wayne IS A HUMAN, made in the image of God. God made the universe so that He could create and love Lil Wayne. Christ went to the Cross with Lil Wayne's face in His mind, and "Wayne" on His lips. Yeah. Jesus that hateful bigot

There is a part three, and if you feel so inclined, you may go there. Same link as provided above.  I check on Ann's blog from time to time because she does have gems like this.  She is a very die hard Roman Catholic, which is why I don't have her blogrolled.  It is hard enough getting people to understand the importance of Scripture being the only and final authority on matters of faith, so I can't endorse her for regular reading.  But where she brings such important and worthwhile stuff to the blogosphere, I have to applaud her.

Knowing God: Part 1

Talk about a tough subject to tackle.  Why even try?

I will try, to a very, very limited degree, because of something that I've heard or read from people over and over, both on one extreme or on the other.  On the one hand, I've heard from people who have said the most outlandish, crackpot stuff while invoking the name or authority of God, at the other extreme are those who, while being correct about human inability to comprehend God fully, seem to believe that we can't know anything about God, so, why even try?  Which leaves them open to create a god in their own image, according to their own likes and dislikes.

This is a subject that actually requires a tremendous amount of background.   Like having a discussion on the fine points of flying an F-18 Superhornet and carrying out a mission involving multiple combat scenarios, you wouldn't attempt to include people who have never flown in a plane, let alone don't know anything about aerodynamics or avionics.  Therefore, I understand that I'm about to talk about stuff that will leave a lot of people in a fog if they happen to stumble on to this blog.  In the religious realm, this is like lecturing on eschatology when some of your audience has never even heard the terms; amillennial, pre-trib, or harpazo.

But this is what I feel led to do, so here goes.

I came to my knowledge of God, not based on some experience.  Thank you, Father.  I don't mean for that to disparage those who have, after all, look at Rabbi (apostle) Paul.  I came to my faith kicking and screaming, battling with my intellect the whole way.  By the time I was 25, I hated all forms of organized religion. But I couldn't shake the gut feeling that there was some kind of "higher power."  That brings up the issue of  being "spiritual, but not religious," but that will be another post.

Here is where you have to pay attention carefully.  I came to God out of desperation and in spite of my mind, while having a crisis of purpose.  He answered me and gave me some personal miraculous confirmation.  But I was a long way from any real knowledge of God and I had lot's and lot's and lot's of misconceptions and doubts.  I spent the first few years of my new life with God getting spanked and corrected in my thinking.  Actually that still goes on, but not quite as dramatically as it did in the first year.

I had a friend who led his family life as though God existed, but admitted to me in private his serious doubts about God's existence. His main problem was that he felt God should make His existence obvious to the point that no one could have any doubts about it.  I finally discovered his "bottom line" after giving him lots of evidence from several years of studying apologetics.  What I also discovered about my friend is that he really just wanted a consensus of  worldly "experts" to simply render a judgment and tell him it was true so he wouldn't have to wrestle with the hard thinking.  He couldn't understand why so many people he knew believed in God, while so much of the world of academe that he put his faith in, didn't.  I've lost touch with him, and don't know if he ever did come to an understanding of what faith really is.

Over time, I've discovered a consistent thread among those who wish to avoid any mental heavy lifting when it comes to theology.  The name for such people is agnostic.  They don't think of themselves as mentally lazy.  Instead they will declare that questions about God or knowing anything about Him or His existence is just too difficult for even the most brilliant intellects, therefore, it is unknowable.  They have decided to take their chance in the hereafter by pleading ignorance.  What's funny to me is the amount of mental gymnastics they employ to avoid the difficult choice. And while such people in the realm of religion are called agnostic, in the realm of politics, I call them moderates. Same thinking process, or lack thereof.  Atheists are a completely different animal and are so illogical as to be silly.  The rules of logic make that clear, and when you confront them with it, it nearly makes their heads explode or they shut down or switch position to agnostic, at least in front of me.

Which reminds me: this is where someone is going to think I'm horribly arrogant.  Showing any confidence at all in an argument is enough to reduce most moderates or agnostics into simply using the "arrogant" epithet and concluding that they don't need to engage the debate any longer.

How is it possible that little-old me has the chutzpah to think that I can really know something or anything about God?  Believe it or not, it is precisely because of my love of science that I came to believe in God.  It is because I like and appreciate logic and reason that  I embrace the existence of God and the pursuit of knowing Him more and more.

I didn't start out that way, as I said.  I had accepted, without reservation, everything that the average secular person believes about evolution, that the Bible was merely written by men who used religion as a way to control others, that miracles were myths, and that science had explained almost everything, and whatever it hadn't yet explained, it was just a matter of time until it would. In the Spring of my 25th year, had you told me that I would one day reject all of that and eventually be teaching creation apologetics and that the Bible was true, I would have said, "Screw you and the horse you rode in on."  But I would have done it in less polite language and with much gusto.

At first, I just wanted this warm fuzzy idea that I could be forgiven for all my shortcomings and that I didn't have to worry about some cosmic justice or judgment at the end of life.  I liked the "idea" of Jesus, but I didn't want anything to do with that Bible stuff.  And I could have gone along like that indefinitely had I only hung around the "Christians," because the vast majority of them were just like me in that regard. (A very sad statement about Christendom) The problem came because I was challenged by the secular world about being simple minded for believing in such a fairy tale as Jesus and the Bible.  That just didn't work for me.  I can't pretend that it's possible to compartmentalize what should be, what is,  the most ultimate question of the Universe from everything else I believe.  My logical mind was not going to let me get away with that.

I was forced into engaging in linear logic, Aristotelian thought, if you will.  Either Jesus is real, or he's not.  And it isn't just enough that he was a real historical figure.  If he simply lived and died, and all the information about him in the Bible is just a bunch of made up stories or embellishments, then it's foolish and self-delusional to think that he can somehow save me or make my life better.  If there is no certainty that there's a life after this earthly one, then I might as well get whatever pleasure I can while I'm here.  What's the sense of playing by a set of rules if the outcome is a guaranteed loss?  The flip side of that scenario is what happens if this Jesus guy is for real and all that stuff in the Bible about him is true?  That would mean that what I stand to lose goes up exponentially.

So, I made up my mind, with a tenacity like I'd never known before.  If I could come up with enough evidence to put to rest this idea that Jesus was anything more than a really charismatic teacher, then I could go on living my life the way I wanted and not have to worry about stories no more valuable than those of Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.  All I had to do was prove that the Bible couldn't be trusted.

I said out loud, "Hey God, or Jesus, or whoever you are; if you are real and if this book is really your word, you're gonna have to prove it to me."  No feigned reverence.  No pleading as if I was worried about losing anything.  I was my typical bull-headed, in-your-face punk.

The following day is when things got interesting.

To move on to the next part click on Knowing God: Part 2