Revelation 6 King James Version (KJV)
6 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
You know, I'm a former member of the End Times Prophecy Movement...and also a former conservative Baptist (but from back when that meant something other than "Fundamentalist nut) and I used to be a Republican. Over the last couple of years, I've watched with interest that has slowly ramped up to increasing horror over the almost-worship of a Man (and throwing away every value they've ever claimed in his service) by my former party and many of the very same people who have (or claim to have) the same background and life experience as I do, and who claim political or religious views that spring from the same wellspring of thought as what I used to believe.
In the Book of Revelation, none of the Beasts described as originating from the Seven Seals signifying the initial judgement of God are ever described as being good or worthy of following. But then, I see pictures like the one I posted above...and I can almost imagine the adoring fawning by Trump Supporters over a person such as the one seated on the White Horse.
For those who don't know, the End Times nuts usually take the First Seal judgement as signifying the "Anti-Christ" of "pop-Christian" thought. Yet here we have an image of Donald Trump standing on an outdated M-1 Abrams tank...looks to be an original M-1 (driving out of the surf with no snorkel kit and a paint job that in the real world says "bust my chops") while holding an M-82 .50 Caliber anti-materiel rifle as an improbably-armed Bald Eagle and a Vietnam-era UH-1 Iroquois helicopter provide air support against unseen foes and (apparently) an Iowa-class Battleship waits offshore. Firstly, I quite suspect whoever made this has about as much exposure to the physics of modern firearms, the United States military, or riding on top of any kind of large vehicle in adverse terrain as John of Patmos had. Secondly, if they've read Revelation 6, they obviously didn't comprehend its meaning one damned bit.
For those who don't know, the End Times nuts usually take the First Seal judgement as signifying the "Anti-Christ" of "pop-Christian" thought. Yet here we have an image of Donald Trump standing on an outdated M-1 Abrams tank...looks to be an original M-1 (driving out of the surf with no snorkel kit and a paint job that in the real world says "bust my chops") while holding an M-82 .50 Caliber anti-materiel rifle as an improbably-armed Bald Eagle and a Vietnam-era UH-1 Iroquois helicopter provide air support against unseen foes and (apparently) an Iowa-class Battleship waits offshore. Firstly, I quite suspect whoever made this has about as much exposure to the physics of modern firearms, the United States military, or riding on top of any kind of large vehicle in adverse terrain as John of Patmos had. Secondly, if they've read Revelation 6, they obviously didn't comprehend its meaning one damned bit.
Why? Because they basically just drew Trump as an over the top modern version of the Man On The White Horse.
For anybody who has familiarity with the Book of Revelation, this should be setting off alarm bells.
Let me help you out here. Words have meaning. Starting with the horse...white is often a color associated with peace. The crown signifies that the man is a ruler, obviously. However, no nation or region is named. Note that he is given a bow...but arrows are not mentioned. He is sent out conquering and to conquer...but there is no army and no strategy described. What this has been taken to mean is that a ruler (of one nation or more often some trans-national organization like the United Nations) will claim peace and seize power by threats of force or other nefarious means.
When you actually break it down, this could easily describe somebody like Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin. But back in the 1990's any Fundamentalist nut would have told you it signified some European secular liberal or United Nations secretary general Boutros Boutros Ghali.
Here's the funny part...Secretary General Ghali was an Egyptian Coptic Christian (and his wife was a Catholic) and Boutros is Arabic for Peter. So his name means "Peter, son of Peter" and in his own country he was the son of a former Egyptian Prime Minister, a lawyer who served as the foreign affairs minister and thus to much of the world, he was a very respected diplomat and university professor, and the founding Secretary General of the La Francophonie, the international organization of French-speaking countries...a fitting end to the career of a guy who did all his post-graduate studies in France. He believed deeply in peace, yet his tenure was marked by conflict, particularly the breakup of Yugoslavia and the Bosnian War.
Fuck, it's almost like American Fundamentalist nuts are classless, tasteless idiots or something. I think anybody who's paid attention for the last couple of years probably can see where I'm going with that. This is a perfect example of white American right-wing anti-intellectualism and racism and these people's minds stopping with the idea that a person with a "non-white" name (even though his name's English version is pretty damned common) who happens to be an Arab and is from another country is somehow something something gazpacho up to no good by default. Also, at the time, plenty of liberals-especially late night comedians-mocked the dude's name and a second term was vetoes by the Clinton administration (much to the outrage of the rest of the world.) So it wasn't just the conservatives who were against him. But that aside, minus a few of the variables being different, it's the same bullshit these people kept trying to slime Barack Obama with and he was born here and was, I think, somebody that a majority of Americans could relate to. But of course, to the average white American racist, somebody not being white invalidates everything else about them. Judging from how these idiots treated Obama...and looking back...you could safely say that to them, apparently any non-white, not obviously-far-right political leader is potentially the Anti-Christ. This is White Supremacy, right here. Never mind that Ghali was, and Obama still is, a Christian.
Ghali's funeral (with military honors provided by the Egyptian Army) was officiated by the Coptic Pope and the dude is buried at a church.
Some Anti-Christ, that guy.
Yet the same people that spewed this kind of dumb shit will hold up the obviously-irreligious old racist white man as a paragon of "Christian" values?
Now, of course, to most thinking people this literally makes no damned sense, and well it shouldn't.
Now, I think this sums up what was going on back in the day:
Situational Ethics
noun
PHILOSOPHY
plural noun: situational ethics
- the doctrine of flexibility in the application of moral laws according to circumstances.
It's actually, come to think of it, a term that should be familiar to any observer of Republican politics that hasn't spent the last few months curled up on the couch with a Fifth of Old Ocelot bourbon.
When the Republican Party has decided that conservatism is whatever Trump does and whatever Trump does is moral and they resolve to defend it...that's Moral Relativism and Situational Ethics.
For the record, Situational Ethics was a concept a lot of us on the Right back in the day got pretty worked up about, claiming that fixed values and a strong moral compass were a better idea...for reasons that seem all the more obvious now...except it's the Democrats and the liberals who seem to be the ones who have them. Damn it, I feel pretty stupid, looking back. It turns out that damned near everything we accused the Clinton Administration and the Democrats at the time of has been exceeded by Trump & Co. to the point of ridiculous.
Granted, I'm now a registered Democrat and I voted for Hillary Clinton, but still...
I re-registered and voted the way I did for the last decade, because of my fixed values, because I've always believed that racism is wrong, I've always believed in truth, I've never liked Trump and I...a descendant of immigrants...have always supported immigration.
This Situational Ethics crap has other dimensions, too.
For example, When a person demands Truth in a religious context...but is fine with having political leaders who like to lie to them and tell them what their carnal flesh wants to hear (even if on some level they know it's wrong) that's...wait for it...moral relativism and situational ethics.
When a White person demands that People of Color follow every aspect of the law...especially when their legalism lacks any concept of context, justice or morality...but then they break the law and support politicians who do so as well? That's situational ethics.
I was taught that, hey, that kind of bullshit is wrong. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. "Being White" doesn't count as something to stand for, and I'm GOD Damned sick of these motherfuckers lighting everything they've ever claimed to value on fire for Donald Trump, racism and tax cuts.
We're past the point of "Cut that shit out." I honestly feel like the next step is consequences.
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