{"id":44227,"date":"2017-09-11T16:32:56","date_gmt":"2017-09-11T22:32:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=44227"},"modified":"2017-09-11T16:32:56","modified_gmt":"2017-09-11T22:32:56","slug":"day-massacres-2001-1857","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html","title":{"rendered":"A day of massacres, in 2001 . . . and 1857"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MMM — The principal memorial at the site of the Mountain Meadows Massacre \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
As has been noted, today is the sixteenth anniversary of al-Qa\u2018ida\u2019s lethal attacks on the Pentagon in Washington DC and the World Trade Center in New York City and of its failed attempt to use United Flight 93 for an attack on either the White House or the United States Capitol.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Oddly, I have a particular song going through my mind \u2014 Nanci Griffith\u2019s rendition of \u201cFrom a Distance.\u201d<\/a>\u00a0 Bette Midler had a hit with the same song<\/a>\u00a0and I like her version, but, for some reason, it\u2019s the Nanci Griffith cover of the song that sticks with me most. \u00a0Perhaps because it was the Nanci Griffith version that I first saw and heard. \u00a0 This<\/a> is the very performance (although I don\u2019t recall the Portuguese subtitles!):<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Of course, while dreaming of peace I realize all too well that there are evil people out there who wish to do harm to us and to others. \u00a0So, sadly, it\u2019s necessary even for those who love peace \u2014 and perhaps <em>especially<\/em> for them \u2014 to prepare for war.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo be prepared for war,\u201d George Washington correctly said of this fallen world, \u201cis one of the most effective means of preserving peace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With that in mind, I pass on this article by David French, with which I agree:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/article\/451247\/steve-bannon-wrong-george-w-bush-foreign-policy-kept-america-safe-post-911?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NR%20Daily%20Monday%20through%20Friday%202017-09-11&utm_term=NR5PM%20Actives\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cThe \u2018Idiots\u2019 Were Right, Mr. Bannon\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>God is indeed watching us \u201cfrom a distance,\u201d and he cannot be pleased. \u00a0And when we\u2019ve left this twisted world behind and remember where we came from originally and what we were really here to do, there will be few of us, I think, who won\u2019t be appalled at how often and how thoroughly we fundamentally messed up, losing sight of what actually mattered and who we all actually are.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>***<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve tried to steer a middle course between pacifistic isolationism, on the one hand, and hyper-militarism, on the other. \u00a0The latter is not only immoral but\u00a0counterproductive. \u00a0The former, however, seems to me completely unrealistic and a recipe for disaster, an invitation to attack.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Likewise, I\u2019ve found myself positioned between those who effectively see no problems in the Islamic world and no significant threat originating there (and who sometimes seem to\u00a0prefer to blame everything on the United States and the West) and the very vocal anti-Islamic bigots who have been so loud and so visible over the past few years. \u00a0The latter seem, to me, to be cooperating, if only inadvertently, with the extremists of al-Qa\u2018ida and Daesh (aka \u201cISIS\u201d or \u201cISIL\u201d or the \u201cIslamic State\u201d) and other such groups, who yearn for an apocalyptic war to the death\u00a0between the Islamic world and the West.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Representing such bigoted ignorance is a Canadian woman named \u201cJennifer,\u201d who didn\u2019t exactly cover herself with glory with her antics at a recent political meeting in Brampton, Ontario:<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/entry\/jagmeet-singh-racist-woman-canada_us_59b47554e4b0b5e531069a14?ncid=inblnkushpmg00000009\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cSikh Canadian Politician Brilliantly Foils Racist Woman During Event\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><strong>***<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, today is also the 160th anniversary of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which is almost certainly to be regarded as the worst blot on the history of <a href='https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/library\/mormonism' target='_blank'>Mormonism<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>There are a number of good books on the subject, including\u00a0<em><span id=\"productTitle\" class=\"a-size-extra-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Mountain-Meadows-Massacre-Juanita-Brooks\/dp\/0806123184\/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=SY4MGAXDJ0SJED7800YR\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Mountain Meadows<\/a><\/span><\/em><span class=\"a-size-extra-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Mountain-Meadows-Massacre-Juanita-Brooks\/dp\/0806123184\/ref=pd_sim_14_3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=SY4MGAXDJ0SJED7800YR\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> Massacre<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span><em><span id=\"productTitle\" class=\"a-size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/John-Doyle-Lee-Juanita-Brooks\/dp\/087421162X\/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505168284&sr=1-2\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">John Doyle Lee<\/a><\/span><\/em><span id=\"productTitle\" class=\"a-size-large\">, both by Juanita Brooks<\/span>, as well as a large number of bad and <em>very<\/em> bad books.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Probably the best single volume on the subject now is the Oxford University Press volume <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Massacre-Mountain-Meadows-Ronald-Walker\/dp\/0199747563\/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505168023&sr=1-1&keywords=massacre+at+mountain+meadows\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Massacre at Mountain Meadows<\/a>, by Ronald W. Walker, Richard E. Turley, and Glen M. Leonard.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As I read it when it was first published, it reminded me of a Greek tragedy. \u00a0I thought, if I were a playwright, that I could have built something Sophoclean on the story. \u00a0The worst thing, of course, is what happened to the innocent victims of the massacre. \u00a0But, especially since I knew what was going to happen, there was a sense of doomed inevitability to the story. \u00a0I kept wanting to scream out \u201cStop!\u201d \u00a0But the logic of the events was, in a way, inexorable, each step flowing more or less reasonably from the one before, until everything culminated in a bloody horror. \u00a0How, one might ask, could good people have committed such an act? \u00a0(It would have been easier to understand had they simply been thugs and villains. \u00a0But they weren\u2019t.) \u00a0Reading the story, to my shock, I understood more or less how and why it happened. \u00a0And that was chilling in itself.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>We are fallen. \u00a0We desperately need the Atonement. \u00a0It\u2019s our only hope.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0 As has been noted, today is the sixteenth anniversary of al-Qa\u2018ida\u2019s lethal attacks on the Pentagon in Washington DC and the World Trade Center in New York City and of its failed attempt to use United Flight 93 for an attack on either the White House or the United States Capitol. \u00a0 Oddly, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A day of massacres, in 2001 . . . and 1857<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    As has been noted, today is the sixteenth anniversary of al-Qa\u2018ida's lethal attacks on the Pentagon in Washington DC and the World Trade\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A day of massacres, in 2001 . . . and 1857\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"    As has been noted, today is the sixteenth anniversary of al-Qa\u2018ida's lethal attacks on the Pentagon in Washington DC and the World Trade\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Sic et Non\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-11T22:32:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2015\/09\/800px-Mountain_Meadows_Massacre_Memorial.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Peterson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html\",\"name\":\"A day of massacres, in 2001 . . . and 1857\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-11T22:32:56+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-11T22:32:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\"},\"description\":\"    As has been noted, today is the sixteenth anniversary of al-Qa\u2018ida's lethal attacks on the Pentagon in Washington DC and the World Trade\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A day of massacres, in 2001 . . . and 1857\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/\",\"name\":\"Sic et Non\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045\",\"name\":\"Dan Peterson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Dan Peterson\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\\\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A day of massacres, in 2001 . . . and 1857","description":"    As has been noted, today is the sixteenth anniversary of al-Qa\u2018ida's lethal attacks on the Pentagon in Washington DC and the World Trade","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A day of massacres, in 2001 . . . and 1857","og_description":"    As has been noted, today is the sixteenth anniversary of al-Qa\u2018ida's lethal attacks on the Pentagon in Washington DC and the World Trade","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html","og_site_name":"Sic et Non","article_published_time":"2017-09-11T22:32:56+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/files\/2015\/09\/800px-Mountain_Meadows_Massacre_Memorial.jpg"}],"author":"Dan Peterson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dan Peterson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html","name":"A day of massacres, in 2001 . . . and 1857","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-09-11T22:32:56+00:00","dateModified":"2017-09-11T22:32:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045"},"description":"    As has been noted, today is the sixteenth anniversary of al-Qa\u2018ida's lethal attacks on the Pentagon in Washington DC and the World Trade","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2017\/09\/day-massacres-2001-1857.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A day of massacres, in 2001 . . . and 1857"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/","name":"Sic et Non","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/77113e9b09701bd1599fa272c4f65045","name":"Dan Peterson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5ed1a72d26805e35a503e3167599df7c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Dan Peterson"},"description":"\"Life was very unsatisfying until I discovered Dan's blog, which gave me a reason to live.\" (gemli, 7 November 2019)","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/author\/danpeterson"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1019"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44227"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44227\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}