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Some thoughts I put down at the time, and which I'm going to store here.
It's the week after the Bondi massacre. There's a very strong push in Christian circles to emphasise that the shooters were Muslim, following Islamic 'intifada' or 'jihad' (interestingly, "jihad" actually means "striving", and while it could mean the 'holy war' mindset that western language assigns to it, it more commonly means something akin to "spiritual discipline". It might very well be that "jihad" is closer to Christian "discipling" than Christian "holy war".
Also, I never trust someone who thinks that "our gospel" is kindness and peace and light at moments like this. They almost certainly turn around and make war on the world - usually culture war - with the whole angle of "Jesus said that we're in a fight for our souls".
Do we serve a prince of peace? Yes. But peace doesn't just mean repression and a smooth surface where nobody says what they want to; peace means living alongside the rough edges of our fellow humanity, and sanding them down over time. It means living in a way that brings shalom: a lasting peace and joy and thriving and growth. That is the way of God, not merely an "absence of conflict".
Anyway, in the midst of concerns about Islamic Extremism, I wonder if it's not providing a convenient opportunity to avoid confronting our own Christian Nationalism (which I think is a longer-term problem and far more blighting prospect to the good of our society than Islamic Extremism which is, at least, recognised as a problem).
--
So post-Bondi, there's a lot of shit going on in the Australian Israeli community (I think you know what I mean).
Firstly, they want more compensation from the Federal victims' fund (yes, we have a compensation fund for the families of victims of these situations); they're already getting compensation, but they want more.
Then, a huge number of people publically announced they wanted a Royal Commission (federal investigation) into 'anti-semitism' and specifically the guys who were radicalised (Australian citizens, both of them; one was born here - all the "major events" of their lives which could be said to have radicalised them happened during the conservative party being in power). Ironically, this Royal Commission will likely interrupt the flow of justice for the last living perp - so long as the RC is going, his trial and sentencing will be in abeyance.
The RC is also a problem in that certain parties are pushing for "antisemitism" to be defined in the broadest sense as "saying anything negative about Israel and its actions", and from what I can tell, also along the lines of "anything that makes a Jewish person of Australia feel afraid".
Then a Palestinian author who has criticised the bombing of Palestine was asked to leave a major Writers' Festival here in Australia, with no explicit and specific reason given, just the vague comments implying that her faith and background make her "a concern"...
And yes, I'm using the term 'Australian Israelis' because there's a lot of Aussie Jews out there who don't want this and are actively against this kind of slander. Several of them resigned from the Festival citing the board's bigotry as the reason. At least one resigned from THE BOARD when she discovered what they'd done.
Anyway, it's getting bad - most of our traditional media is controlled by the same sort of people as those who control American media - Murdoch, moguls, and people who make money out of war.
Are there people who are recognising what is happening? Sure. But there are too many people who are frustrated and short-changed by the current economy and scared - and fear leads to anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the dark side... And honestly, entirely too many people take their news from the 'major outlets' without ever questioning what is said or the perspective that comes through...
Black and white thinking. False equivalence. All the fun stuff that comes from online discourse, and which we're stuck with, because common sense is HARD, yo.
It's the week after the Bondi massacre. There's a very strong push in Christian circles to emphasise that the shooters were Muslim, following Islamic 'intifada' or 'jihad' (interestingly, "jihad" actually means "striving", and while it could mean the 'holy war' mindset that western language assigns to it, it more commonly means something akin to "spiritual discipline". It might very well be that "jihad" is closer to Christian "discipling" than Christian "holy war".
Also, I never trust someone who thinks that "our gospel" is kindness and peace and light at moments like this. They almost certainly turn around and make war on the world - usually culture war - with the whole angle of "Jesus said that we're in a fight for our souls".
Do we serve a prince of peace? Yes. But peace doesn't just mean repression and a smooth surface where nobody says what they want to; peace means living alongside the rough edges of our fellow humanity, and sanding them down over time. It means living in a way that brings shalom: a lasting peace and joy and thriving and growth. That is the way of God, not merely an "absence of conflict".
Anyway, in the midst of concerns about Islamic Extremism, I wonder if it's not providing a convenient opportunity to avoid confronting our own Christian Nationalism (which I think is a longer-term problem and far more blighting prospect to the good of our society than Islamic Extremism which is, at least, recognised as a problem).
--
So post-Bondi, there's a lot of shit going on in the Australian Israeli community (I think you know what I mean).
Firstly, they want more compensation from the Federal victims' fund (yes, we have a compensation fund for the families of victims of these situations); they're already getting compensation, but they want more.
Then, a huge number of people publically announced they wanted a Royal Commission (federal investigation) into 'anti-semitism' and specifically the guys who were radicalised (Australian citizens, both of them; one was born here - all the "major events" of their lives which could be said to have radicalised them happened during the conservative party being in power). Ironically, this Royal Commission will likely interrupt the flow of justice for the last living perp - so long as the RC is going, his trial and sentencing will be in abeyance.
The RC is also a problem in that certain parties are pushing for "antisemitism" to be defined in the broadest sense as "saying anything negative about Israel and its actions", and from what I can tell, also along the lines of "anything that makes a Jewish person of Australia feel afraid".
Then a Palestinian author who has criticised the bombing of Palestine was asked to leave a major Writers' Festival here in Australia, with no explicit and specific reason given, just the vague comments implying that her faith and background make her "a concern"...
And yes, I'm using the term 'Australian Israelis' because there's a lot of Aussie Jews out there who don't want this and are actively against this kind of slander. Several of them resigned from the Festival citing the board's bigotry as the reason. At least one resigned from THE BOARD when she discovered what they'd done.
Anyway, it's getting bad - most of our traditional media is controlled by the same sort of people as those who control American media - Murdoch, moguls, and people who make money out of war.
Are there people who are recognising what is happening? Sure. But there are too many people who are frustrated and short-changed by the current economy and scared - and fear leads to anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the dark side... And honestly, entirely too many people take their news from the 'major outlets' without ever questioning what is said or the perspective that comes through...
Black and white thinking. False equivalence. All the fun stuff that comes from online discourse, and which we're stuck with, because common sense is HARD, yo.
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