When I was in the fifth grade, an encyclopedia salesman came into my classroom to promote his collection of a dozen leather-bound books. (For readers under the age of 20, encyclopedias were the forerunners of today’s Wikipedia — or, perhaps more accurately, Google or ChatGPT.Wish to know something about anything? Google it, right? Or ask Chat.)
After making his pitch, the encyclopedia salesman gave each of us a little button to wear as a reminder of his wonderful, indispensible product. The button read:
We Never Guess,
We Look It Up!
So, as one of the many self-appointed class clowns, I pinned on the button and immediately and proudly declared, “I never guess, I make it up!” (Insert titters from fellow 10-year-olds here.)
Just going ahead and making something up might be a brilliant joke among young children, but it turns into a dangerous mindset — or an evil way of thinking — when applied to important cultural and political issues. Four examples come to mind.
Shoddy Journalism
Making things up instead of getting the facts straight seems to have permeated the once-noble field of journalism. Now it appears that we are living in an age of “the facts be damned, full steam ahead” on the juicy anonymous tip du jour. Case in point: the recent Wall Street Journal revelation about the big, beautiful birthday card Donald Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein.
Evidence, anyone? (Bueller? Bueller?I)
Does the fact that journalists pass off shoddy allegations with no evidence as absolute truth surprise anyone anymore?
When actor Jussie Smollett claimed that MAGA thugs put a noose around his neck, called him naughty names, and did other unspeakable things to him, we were supposed to instantly believe that’s exactly what one would expect from those nasty, nut-job, brain-dead hicks who, like extras in a George Romero film, wobble after Trump. Did it really take a court case to finally drill down to the truth behind Smollett’s ludicrous claims?
In the same vein, during his first term in office, President Donald Trump was twice dragged through impeachment procedures on manufactured charges associated with being a Russian puppet – and later, more jury-rigged charges emerged. Over the next few years, former President Trump was hauled into court(s) again and again for various grievances – including a decades-old sexual assault claim that perfectly matched a TV show plot, and allegedly perpetrating some kind of real-estate fraud that had no victims.
Was it Joseph Goebbels or Saul Alinsky who said something like, “Accuse your opponent of what you yourself are doing to create confusion and to inculcate people against evidence of your own guilt”?
I suppose either of those two rascals could be credited with that idea basic idea. Either way, it has played out successfully in several dark eras of human history. Like Mr. Bojangles’ dog, this idea needs to “up and die,” and those promoting it should apologize — or at least say “oops” — to the rest of us.
Abortion
The first time I saw the obvious evil on a national scale in this country was in 1973 when the U.S. Supreme Court was deciding whether to legalize abortion.
Back then, I was a sophomore in college. When I seriously considered the topic, it became clear that the debate centered around “choice.” I thought, What choice are we talking about?
I thought (and still think) that if you wave away the smoke screen, what lies at the bottom of this crucial decision is human life. In fact, if the life were not human, there would be no debate. No one thinks an eagle’s egg is filled with a blob of tissue until a tiny eagle emerges. That’s why you cannot destroy an eagle’s egg without facing some serious legal penalties.
Now, of course, abortion on demand has become abortion through all nine months of pregnancy — and, in some cases, even after birth.
Homosexuality
What began as “What we do behind closed doors in our own bedrooms is none of your business” has now morphed into “You must endorse and celebrate our public acts and allow us to indoctrinate and surgically alter your children.”
Racism
As devious and disastrous as these first three evils are, racism tops them all. Why? Because in its most weaponized form, it has now become acceptable. Instead of enslaving people based on their skin color, as was done in the early American colonies, now it’s feeling justified as behaving any way you like toward some people to make up for the evil their ancestors may or may not have condoned.
Other ways this appears include voting for someone based on the color of their skin, not the content of their character – as many did when Barack Obama was running for president. We’re talking about someone whose stated target was to uproot our founding ideals (that “all men are created equal,” for example), by “fundamentally transforming” our precious country. This is the kind of racism that leads to a nation’s demise.
Recently, National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard released a slate of seemingly overwhelming facts of national importance. Allegedly, Obama orchestrated a “year-long coup” against Donald Trump in his 2016 election and first term in office. If these allegations play out in federal court, it could result in a treason charge – not to mention race riots many times more intense than those manufactured in the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020.
Christians and conservatives have marched peacefully to end the evil of abortion on demand; those on the Left have paraded peacefully to celebrate homosexuality (in all its mutations and mutilations). But when it comes to reactions to a person’s race, violence and property destruction rise up from racist ruffians like Black Lives Matter and ferocious fascist fronts like Antifa.
If left unchecked, these nefarious elements embedded in the nation’s lifeblood could spell very dark and destructive times ahead. We shall see.
In the meantime, those who not only love the Holy and Righteous God who influenced and established this country from its conception must pray – as well as those who deeply love their homeland.
Another version of this article previously appeared at American Thinker.
Albin Sadar is author of Obvious: Seeing the Evil That’s in Plain Sight and Doing Something About It, as well as the children’s book collection Hamster Holmes: Box of Mysteries.
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