{"id":48647,"date":"2020-06-07T12:36:17","date_gmt":"2020-06-07T16:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/?p=48647"},"modified":"2020-06-09T08:36:11","modified_gmt":"2020-06-09T12:36:11","slug":"dialogue-principled-conservatism-george-floyd-racism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/06\/dialogue-principled-conservatism-george-floyd-racism.html","title":{"rendered":"Dialogue: Principled Conservatism, George Floyd, &#038; Racism"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-48650\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2020\/06\/BlackLivesMatter.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"660\"><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Photo credit:<\/strong> <span style=\"color: #008000;\">\u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d: four African-Americans murdered by rioters (oftentimes African-American <em>themselves<\/em>), who are supposedly looting and killing over the outrage they feel about George Floyd\u2019s death. Makes a lot of <em>sense<\/em>, doesn\u2019t it?: \u201cWe\u2019re \u2018protesting\u2019 the unjust murder of a black man by murdering black men.\u201d David Dorn was a 77-year-old former police chief. He was murdered by a rabid, insane mob for trying to prevent looting. The rioters scornfully laughed and chanted \u201cblack lives matter\u201d as he bled to death on the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">***<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/Pete%20Sonya\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Pete Vere<\/a> is a friend of mine, and is an [Eastern]\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/s?k=pete+vere&amp;i=stripbooks&amp;ref=nb_sb_noss\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Catholic author<\/a>, canon lawyer, and ecumenist. He calls himself a political \u201cconservative\u201d; so do I (though with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2017\/08\/conservative-passionate-social-justice.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">several important qualifications and clarifications<\/a>). The following comes from several exchanges on my Facebook page. His words will be in <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">blue<\/span>. Words of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100014131659321&amp;comment_id=Y29tbWVudDozMzY5MzQxODc2NDM0MTA3XzMzNzM0NDYxOTkzNTcwMDg%3D\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Liz Perez<\/a> will be in <span style=\"color: #008000;\">green<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">*****<\/p>\n<p>[I posted an article about former President George W. Bush\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2020\/06\/02\/george-w-bush-on-george-floyds-death-its-the-time-to-listen\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">response to the killing of George Floyd<\/a> by Minneapolis police, and its implications for race relations and equal justice for all in America.]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">President Bush has now posted the entire text to his presidential website. I don\u2019t want to politicize the discussion, but I found it very heartfelt, candid, and imbued with Christian spirit at a time when people are hurting.\u00a0I would definitely recommend reading the whole text. I was going to quote a paragraph or two, but the entire text is worth quoting.<\/span> [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bushcenter.org\/about-the-center\/newsroom\/press-releases\/2020\/06\/statement-by-president-george-w-bush.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">link<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p>I made my view about the killing of George Floyd very clear in my article,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2020\/06\/george-floyd-atheist-but-whats-the-solution.html\" rel=\"bookmark\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">George Floyd: Atheist &amp; Christian Agree; but What\u2019s the Solution?<\/a> (6-4-20). I am 100% opposed to it, and am glad that all four officers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\/posts\/3361992600502368\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">have now been indicted<\/a>. I wrote about that:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I\u2019m in favor of this development.\u00a0I have yet to find <strong><em>anyone<\/em><\/strong> of <em><strong>any<\/strong><\/em> political persuasion who defends this action (which I say is murder) against George Floyd. If anyone finds a case of agreement from anyone who is not a KKK wacko (where such a view would be expected), please let me know. [no one has, as of this writing]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>[I put up a meme of<a href=\"https:\/\/scontent.fdet1-2.fna.fbcdn.net\/v\/t1.0-9\/78994663_3256605931038195_4501969502598070272_n.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"> looters fleeing from the store they had just looted<\/a>; two with smiles on their faces. The text read: \u201cMinneapolis protesters in mourning over Floyd\u2019s death.\u201d I fully agree that the protesters and looters are different groups, however, and disagree with the terminology used in the meme. I would have put \u201cprotesters\u201d in quotation marks.]<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">You are the third pro-life Catholic apologist I have seen share this meme. So this isn\u2019t just you to whom my comments are directed. This is the type of meme that, when circulated, makes conservatives, pro-lifers, and Catholics look bad.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">There have been documented cases of looters from every race and ethnic background. Yet this meme chooses a photo that uniquely pictures looters from one particular racial minority\u2013a community that is in extreme shock and pain right now, and who former President George W Bush (a pro-life, conservative, and Christian president) has asked the nation to reach out to, and listen to.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">I would ask anyone tempted to circulate this meme to ask themselves one question: If I were pregnant teenager from a minority community, and I came across this meme on your Facebook page because I was contemplating abortion, what would I conclude from seeing this meme? Would I reach out to you?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Not trying to condemn anyone here or point the finger, but I am very uncomfortable with this meme as a pro-life Catholic and political conservative. I feel it is not in the spirit of how Pope Francis and President Bush have asked us to respond to this crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because I don\u2019t think in terms of liberal categories, as you do, and have been trained to do. I think in terms of morally good and bad, and I am colorblind, just as Martin Luther King urged us to be. These acts are morally bad. I didn\u2019t even <em>notice<\/em>\u00a0that they were all black, because in my mind that was an irrelevant consideration.<\/p>\n<p>If I show a picture of all white Nazis in the 40s, killing Jews, is that saying all white people are bad, or Nazis? Obviously it can\u2019t be, because the victims were white, too.<\/p>\n<p>No. It\u2019s embarrassing and an insult to my intelligence and everyone\u2019s who is reading, to have to point out elementary things. But I have to because even self-described conservatives like you have been brainwashed to think in irrational liberal categories.<\/p>\n<p>Keep up comments like this and I will either put \u201cNo comments please\u201d on every political meme I put up, or delete \u201cliberalthink\u201d comments.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">If you are approaching this meme in terms of morally good and bad, then I would ask two questions:<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">1 \u2013 What is morally good about this meme?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">2 \u2013 Is the pursuit of this moral good worth turning away audiences who might view this meme differently?<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"brah0\" data-offset-key=\"9kfo3-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"9kfo3-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"9kfo3-1-0\">Sometimes people don\u2019t accept truth. It doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t say it in any instance. Sometimes we are misunderstood or hated when we speak it. If that\u2019s the choice, and it\u2019s necessary to speak it, then we do at whatever cost rather than become man-pleasers and butt-kissers.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"brah0\" data-offset-key=\"91sfq-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"91sfq-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"91sfq-0-0\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"brah0\" data-offset-key=\"drn91-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"drn91-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"drn91-0-0\">Today everything is subjective and relative. That\u2019s the nature of postmodernism. Christianity is primarily objective and absolute truths.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"brah0\" data-offset-key=\"7u9c5-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"7u9c5-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"7u9c5-0-0\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"brah0\" data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">The meme makes the point that \u201cthese riots (and looting) have <strong><em>nothing<\/em> <\/strong>to do with George Floyd.\u201d And they aren\u2019t mourning him if they are stealing and smiling about it.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">You state <span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cI am colorblind\u2026\u201d<\/span>\u00a0If you are colorblind, how can you see this meme\u2019s message?<\/span><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">President Bush is a practicing Christian, a pro-lifer, and a political conservative. And he has spoken both boldly and prophetically\u2013not just to the nation-at-large, but to us specifically as politically-active conservatives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">How does the messaging of this meme compare to the message of President Bush?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<p>Again, the meme has nothing to do with what President Bush said. I was the one who put up an article about the speech by President Bush. You were impressed and went and found the whole thing. I totally agree with it.<\/p>\n<p>This meme is not about all that. I have continually condemned the murder of George Floyd and have called for police reform and have endorsed <em><strong>peaceful<\/strong><\/em> protest (I said I would even march in one). I have put up memes about how most policemen are good people, and serve the community. I have also constantly condemned rioting and exploitation of protests, and looting. None of these views exclude the others. They are all completely harmonious and consistent.<\/p>\n<p>Riots and looting and murder have nothing to do with respecting black people and their communities and desires, etc. To the extent that black people loot and riot and burn and kill (along with many white Antifa types, etc.), they are not helping the black community, nor its image, nor the memory of Floyd and the desire for any racist policing to be stopped forever.<\/p>\n<p>So you ask, \u201chow does it compare?\u201d It\u2019s apples and oranges. Bush condemned the violence as well (in two sentences; but he did):<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that lasting justice will only come by peaceful means. Looting is not liberation, and destruction is not progress.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>So this meme is identical to those two sentences. The rest is about a different topic (and I agree).<\/p>\n<p>I love what President Bush said (which is why I linked to him saying it!): it\u2019s an eloquent and moving statement of conservative \/ Rev. King-inspired (which is Christianity-inspired) anti-racism and justice and equality of a sort that I have passionately held to my entire life.<\/p>\n<p>If Democrats would just stop regarding conservatives <em>en masse<\/em> as a bunch of racists, that would be huge progress itself. We don\u2019t improve race relations by lying about scores of millions of people, and falsely accusing them of racism, simply because we disagree with them regarding political solutions to problems.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">You wrote:<\/span> \u201cBush condemned the violence as well (in two sentences; but he did).\u201d<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Exactly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">One sentence midway<\/span> [two] <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">through a six-paragraph statement.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">He devotes the majority of his attention to (1) mourning the death of Mr Floyd, (2) acknowledging the historical wrongs against the African-American community and the legitimacy of their hurts and frustrations, (3) and he urges the rest of the country to really listen to the African-American community before we work together to fix the problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Now let\u2019s look at the sentence where President Bush rightfully condemns looting: \u201cLooting is not liberation, and destruction is not progress.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">One is immediate struck by the tone. It is serious, not sarcastic. And in a time of deep pain and division not just in America, his condemnation of the looting and violence uses words that are presidential rather than polemical.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">The contrast between President Bush\u2019s condemnation of looters, and this meme\u2019s condemnation of the same, is especially striking when one considers Bush\u2019s words within the context of the full paragraph in which they appear:<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">Many doubt the justice of our country, and with good reason. Black people see the repeated violation of their rights without an urgent and adequate response from American institutions. We know that lasting justice will only come by peaceful means. Looting is not liberation, and destruction is not progress. But we also know that lasting peace in our communities requires truly equal justice. The rule of law ultimately depends on the fairness and legitimacy of the legal system. And achieving justice for all is the duty of all.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">Dunno where else to go with this, Pete. I agree with the meme, and I agree with President Bush. There is no contradiction here. You have a different impression because, in my opinion, it\u2019s an instance where you have learned to think like liberals do (in an area where they are mistaken). I don\u2019t think like a liberal anymore. I used to in the 70s. Now I think like an orthodox Catholic, who accepts all of Catholic social teaching.<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">I know some of our mutual friends now condemn President Bush as a liberal. Personally, while I did not agree with him on everything, I continue to respect him as an elder statesman who is consistently conservative, pro-life, and Christian. I also agree fully with both the content and the tone of his statement responding to the current crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Christians, pro-lifers, and conservatives would do well to listen to his words, and emulate his example.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">If one has listened to President Bush\u2019s words and taken them to heart, can one truly state this meme emulates his example?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><a class=\"_6qw4 decorated-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=1373783721&amp;comment_id=Y29tbWVudDozMzY5MzM2MzU5NzY3OTkyXzMzNzE4ODUxMzk1MTMxMTQ%3D\" data-hovercard='\/ajax\/hovercard\/user.php?id=1373783721&amp;extragetparams={\"directed_target_id\": \" \"}' target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Carlos A Morales<\/a> chimed in:<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><span dir=\"ltr\"><span class=\"_3l3x _1n4g\">I have seen photos and videos with people of all\u00a0races looting and rioting, where I saw the meme, I agreed completely with it, I did not see only black people, I did not notice they were all black. The idea behind the meme stands firm in what its says, people of all races are mourning the death of George Floyd peacefully, people of all races are outraged at how he was murdered. The people in this photo are not mourning, are not protesting his murder, the people in this photo are lawless opportunists looting and destroying. Whether the person who produced this meme chose it because it only showed black people to insert a racist tone or not is not for us to judge, we are not in his head, we don\u2019t know.\u00a0You immediately saw color; that\u2019s all liberal leaning people look for and see.<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">[<a href=\"https:\/\/scontent.fdet1-2.fna.fbcdn.net\/v\/t1.0-9\/101712197_10217087284830496_11077863117684736_n.jpg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">I put up a meme<\/a> that stated, \u201c900 black babies a day can\u2019t breathe, but no one cares to riot for their injustice. It shows an aborted \/ murdered black baby, held in a hand (about as big as the hand), with the caption, \u201cI can\u2019t breathe.\u201d]<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">As a pro-life Catholic I am not sure what message this meme is suppose to convey.\u00a0Is the message supposed to be a universal pro-life message?\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Or is it supposed to be partisan and political?<\/span><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">What is to <em><strong>not<\/strong><\/em> understand about it? 900 black babies a day (out of about 3000 total in the US) are being murdered. They are human beings. Therefore, they are part of \u201cblack lives matter.\u201d\u00a0I am a pro-life activist, first and foremost. I have been since 1982 and I will never shut up about it, no matter how unfashionable or un-chic it is.<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Not disputing your pro-life activism\u2013you even have a good decade on me! Nor asking you to shut up about it. Rather, I am trying to discern whether it is a pro-life message or mere partisan polemic.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>*<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">I follow your explanation of the sentence\u2019s first phrase, which you explain in your first paragraph. You make a good case that it\u2019s pro-life.\u00a0It\u2019s the second phrase I find confusing, or overtly partisan and polemical so as to distract from the message of the first phrase.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<p>If you\u2019re gonna riot, supposedly because of the death of one black man (I deny that most who are rioting are doing so primarily for that reason; legitimate protesters are different), then you would certainly also riot over 900 black babies being ruthlessly murdered every day.<\/p>\n<p>This is not rocket science, Pete. You\u2019re an intelligent man. You can figure out an analogy and a <em>reductio ad absurdum<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Is the message about babies, or about rioting? Or about racially-motivated police brutality against African-Americans?\u00a0That is where the meme\u2019s messaging confuses me.<\/span><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">I just explained it. I don\u2019t know what else to say.<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Am I wrong for believing a pro-life meme should leave me thinking about children in the womb?\u00a0This one mentions the unborn, then shifts focus to rioting, before ending with police brutality against racial minorities.\u00a0Come to think about it, it doesn\u2019t even\u00a0mention abortion unless you click on the small print below.<\/span><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\u00a0\u201cA picture speaks a thousand words.\u201d<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Even with the photo there is still too much mixed messaging to tell me what the message is.\u00a0Worse, to someone unfamiliar with the history or context of the pro-life movement\u2019s principled emphasis on peaceful and non-violent forms of protest only, a person might even mistake the meme as suggesting pro-life activists riot for an end to abortion.\u00a0This is another reason why the meme fails. The focus here is not the unborn.<\/span><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">My friend <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/margie.sindelar?comment_id=Y29tbWVudDozMzY5MzQxODc2NDM0MTA3XzMzNzE0ODE3Njk1NTM0NTE%3D\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Margie Prox Sindelar<\/a> (on whose page I saw the meme), added:<\/div>\n<blockquote>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">I posted this on several pages and it seems you are the only one so far who doesn\u2019t get it. It\u2019s about hypocrisy: the outrage over one black man, while justified [vs.] the silence of black babies being aborted at these kind of rates. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?fbid=10217119679800350&amp;set=p.10217119679800350&amp;type=3&amp;theater\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Look at the likes<\/a> [1,400], shares [2,100], comments. Everyone gets it; why don\u2019t <em>you<\/em>?<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Perhaps others don\u2019t get it either, but being a pro-life Catholic and a political conservative, I am the only one to speak up?\u00a0What I am asking you to consider here is other people\u2019s perceptions.<\/span><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">They are perceptions of liberals (including pro-abort liberals): how they look at things. That\u2019s why we are clashing, and this is my point: in these respects you have learned how to think like a liberal and are more concerned about pleasing\u00a0them and getting their approval, than about pro-life ethical principles and getting the message out about mass genocide.<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<br>\n<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Curious. Yesterday I was was told that I had learned to think like a conservative, and was more concerned about seeking their approval, than about correcting injustice and getting out the message of racial injustice, because I spoke against condoning violence as a form of protest. In fact, I even quoted BLM criticism of Antifa on that topic.<\/span><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">With an elected democracy, I would state all political viewpoints matter. Conservative viewpoints matter. Liberal viewpoints matter. Libertarian viewpoints matter. Green viewpoints matter. Moderate\/ Centrist\/ Independent viewpoints matter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s the \u201c<em>new<\/em> pro-life\u201d or \u201cleftist pro-life\u201d mentality that<a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2006\/11\/life-issues-abortion-euthanasia.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"> I have been critiquing for many years now<\/a>. This meme is expressing two concerns at once: concern for black lives and concern for aborted babies\u2019 lives: in this case, <em>black<\/em> babies, which are 28% of those murdered every day, on average.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">As a traditional Catholic, I would agree with each of those two concerns.<\/span><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">What I am less clear about in terms of the meme\u2019s messaging is the following: How does rioting relate to the two concerns you expressed? Is it important enough to draw attention to in this meme, or should the focus be kept on the other two concerns?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve been passionately concerned about race relations and racial justice since 1967 and about the right to life of babies since 1982 when I came to my senses on that issue. I express both here.<\/p>\n<p>Yet you protest it. Somehow by being concerned for the lives of aborted black babies I am sending a message that I care little about the concerns of <em>black<\/em> people???!!! That makes <em>less<\/em> than <em><strong>no<\/strong><\/em> sense at all.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">I think I understand where Pete is coming from. We want to build bridges not walls. The moment a liberal person sees this meme instead of thinking\u2026 \u2018wow yes I\u2019ve been mistaken, I\u2019m here protesting the life of a man with a past, yet I don\u2019t even think about the 900 innocent black babies that are aborted daily, I\u2019m such a hypocrite\u2019. No, they wont be thinking this at all because abortion is not an immediate concern to them. Instead they will feel \u2018unheard\u2019 in their cause. And they will feel as if we are deflecting from the problem at hand and that we who stand for \u2018life\u2019 are the ones being hypocrites and bringing in our own agendas. That\u2019s the perception that I think Pete is referring to.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">We as pro-lifers understand that, yes, it may be hypocritical that thousands everywhere are protesting one unjust death, but never protest the aborted babies. But this meme is not the answer to get them to \u2018hear\u2019 us (if that\u2019s your audience). But if like-minded people are your target audience then this meme may do wonders to get <strong><em>our<\/em><\/strong> own indignant monster fed. <em><strong>We<\/strong><\/em> have been rewarded by the likes and the shares. But no one from the other side has been touched. And not one additional unborn life will have been saved.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">This meme will simply turn them away and close their hearts to us. They will view us as cold and uncaring even if that was not our intention. We can have the best of intentions, but if we do not speak their \u2018language\u2019 nor understand where they are coming from, there is no way to even begin a conversation about abortion or the hypocrisy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">There\u2019s a time and place for those conversation (<strong><em>after<\/em><\/strong> you have established a relationship with the other), but not now, not when our society is aching and crying out in pain. They are people too and we as pro-lifers, need to put aside <strong><em>our<\/em><\/strong> \u2018outrage\u2019 and <strong><em>our<\/em><\/strong> \u2018indignation\u2019 and offer up that moment when we hold back from posting what feels good. We have to practice a little mortification of our emotions, rid ourselves from our religious pride and come down to a level where others can see us and sense our compassion and <strong><em>not<\/em> <\/strong>our criticism of them by \u2018guilting\u2019 them or \u2018shaming\u2019 them by \u2018using\u2019 these babies bodies as a pawn. When we put aside our indignation and criticism and \u2018hear\u2019 them, only then can their hearts be opened. And that is done not with a meme, but one on one, with various conversations and allowing the Holy Spirit to work through us. And sometimes it may take years. And that is why this meme is not a good pro-life message.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">I too have been aching to share this picture and to \u2018give in\u2019 to that angry part of me that sees the hypocrisy. But I<strong><em> know<\/em><\/strong> that the moment I do, I will alienate my good friend who\u2019s a liberal and I\u2019ve been building up a relationship with her and \u2018guiding\u2019 her through Catholicism. But if I give in to my emotions and share this, I will lose everything I have been building up with her, because I know exactly what she will think of me. It will turn her off and turn her away from me. And that\u2019s not what we are about. We are not about burning bridges and giving in to what feels good. We are about saving souls inside and outside the womb.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">I am not commenting because I feel I am oh so enlightened. I\u2019m writing from experience, because I, too want to set \u2018them\u2019 straight and \u2018defend\u2019 the unborn, and \u2018expose\u2019 their hypocrisy. And I too have given into the pride of posting \u2018in your face\u2019 memes, and calling the other side \u2018the leftist mob\u2019 and it feels good at the moment and it feels righteous and even better when we get likes and our friends repost and our point is proven. But are we really exposing <strong><em>their<\/em> <\/strong>hypocrisy??? Or <strong><em>our<\/em><\/strong> hypocrisy? I can sometimes recognize in me, slowly creeping in, slowing creating the \u2018them vs us\u2019 divisions. We tend to become victims of that which we criticize in others and then become blinded to it by the enemy. I\u2019m still learning how to overcome my own religious pride and indignation and \u2018be\u2019 present with those I disagree with, with those that oppose what I know to be good, true and beautiful. It\u2019s a journey. And we are all in it together. You are blessed to have a friend who can stand up to you and call it out. That\u2019s a friend who cares about your soul.<\/span> [comment \u201cliked\u201d by Pete Vere]<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for your articulate exposition of this point of view. I respectfully disagree and have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2006\/11\/life-issues-abortion-euthanasia.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">written about this sort of thing many times<\/a> (its the so-called \u201cold\u201d vs, so-called \u201cnew\u201d pro-life debate), but I do understand what you are saying.\u00a0I think sometimes we have to offend people; that we can\u2019t always be touchy-feely and tell people what they want to hear.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also different sitting in your living room by a fire, talking to a trusted friend, with whom you are building trust, and speaking to a broad audience in a public forum: <em>vastly<\/em> different. With a close friend, I would almost always act just as you recommend. St. Paul said, \u201cI have become all things to all men.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There is a time for everything. But there is a reason why Jesus said \u201cyou will be hated by all for my name\u2019s sake.\u201d Why do you think that <em>is<\/em>, Liz? What is it about us that they hate, and what was it about <em>Jesus<\/em> that made <em>Him<\/em> so despised and hated (and murdered)? We know it wasn\u2019t sin in His case. Is it <em>always<\/em> because we Christians are rotten hypocrites and unfeeling jerks that we are so hated, as Jesus said we would be?<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">But what is the point of posting something that will alienate another? Posting this meme isn\u2019t going to get the point across is it? I doubt that the message you\u2019re intending is getting through to the other person. And it is surely not helping the unborn child. In fact I would dare say it\u2019s only making others dig in their heels more. Having people \u2018hate\u2019 us isn\u2019t necessarily the prize or the goal here. When we follow Christ there are those that will \u2018hate us\u2019 because of our lifestyle and what we believe in and stand for. But that\u2019s different than being hated for provoking others and shaming them for what they aren\u2019t caring about. And aren\u2019t you assuming that those that are protesting this death do not at all care about the unborn? How do you know they aren\u2019t at the \u2018march for life\u2019 as well?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">A picture is indeed worth 1000 words and can work both ways\u2026 Even though you have extensively written about how much you do care about black lives, this meme at this time may give others the perfection that you care about the 900 unborn babies, but not about this one black life that was ended at this moment in time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Also in this scenario you may be \u2018hated\u2019 because you will be perceived as a hypocrite, not necessarily \u2018hated\u2019 for speaking the truth or following Christ or standing up for what is right.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #008000;\">Did you watch <em>Unplanned<\/em>? This reminds me of the moment Abbey Johnson was won over not by the screaming protesters with the graphic pictures but by the one who reached out to her in love and compassion without any of the emotional provoking graphic pictures.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Are you against showing pictures of the Jews starving in the concentration camps, too? Or the photos of the Nazis murdering victims at mass grave sites? Or drowned illegal immigrant children? How about starving children in many parts of Africa or Christians massacred by the Muslims in Nigeria or the Sudan? You oppose all that on the same grounds, too?<\/p>\n<p>Do you oppose showing pictures of black people being lynched and burned to death, or the ones that show the backs of slaves torn to bits by whips? How about the famous videos where the racist police in the South set the dogs on peaceful black protesters and blasted them with fire hoses? Or the body of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old who was tortured and murdered by white supremacists in Mississippi in 1955?<\/p>\n<p>From an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facingsouth.org\/2016\/08\/living-legacy-emmett-tills-casket\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">article about the latter<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The National Museum of African American History and Culture considered Till\u2019s mother\u2019s decision to make the world see her son when they decided to include his casket among its exhibits, which also include a pair of shackles so small that they must have belonged to an enslaved child.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat this museum is going to do is make sure that America remembers that, at one point \u2014 and unfortunately some of that still goes on \u2014 we killed our children,\u201d said Kinshasha Holman Conwill, the museum\u2019s deputy director.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Emmett_Till\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Wikipedia article on Emmett Till<\/a> described the influence of the horrific photograph of his mangled face:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Mamie Till Bradley . . . had insisted on an open-casket funeral. Images of Till\u2019s body, printed in\u00a0<i><a title=\"The Chicago Defender\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Chicago_Defender\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Chicago Defender<\/a><\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0<i><a title=\"Jet (magazine)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Jet_(magazine)\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Jet<\/a><\/i>\u00a0magazine, made international news and directed attention to the lack of rights of blacks in the U.S. South. . . .<\/p>\n<p>She decided to have an\u00a0open-casket funeral, saying, \u201cThere was just no way I could describe what was in that box. No way. And I just wanted the world to see.\u201d\u00a0Tens of thousands of people lined the street outside the mortuary to view Till\u2019s body, and days later thousands more attended his funeral at Roberts Temple Church of God in Christ.<\/p>\n<p>Photographs of his mutilated corpse circulated around the country, . . . generating intense public reaction. According to\u00a0<i>The Nation<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0<i>Newsweek<\/i>, Chicago\u2019s black community was \u201caroused as it has not been over any similar act in recent history.\u201d\u00a0<i><a title=\"Time (magazine)\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Time_(magazine)\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Time<\/a><\/i>\u00a0later selected one of the\u00a0<i>Jet<\/i>\u00a0photographs showing Mamie Till over the mutilated body of her dead son, as one of the 100 \u201cmost influential images of all time\u201d: \u201cFor almost a century, African Americans were lynched with regularity and impunity. Now, thanks to a mother\u2019s determination to expose the barbarousness of the crime, the public could no longer pretend to ignore what they couldn\u2019t see.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"bfibg\" data-offset-key=\"2dsi4-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"2dsi4-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"2dsi4-1-0\">Lastly, you don\u2019t understand the very purpose of showing photos of aborted children. The purpose is not to convince a woman intent on killing her child, or the enabling men around her, to not commit the evil act. It almost always <em>won\u2019t<\/em> have that effect, as you say. You\u2019re right.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"bfibg\" data-offset-key=\"8t4jn-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"8t4jn-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"8t4jn-0-0\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"bfibg\" data-offset-key=\"50al0-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"50al0-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"50al0-0-0\">The purpose is to reveal the injustice and evil of abortion to the <em>world,<\/em> just as the photo of the tortured and murdered Emmett Till was not going to convert the murdering racists who did this to him. It was to show the world the outrageous injustice that was being perpetrated on African-Americans in the 1950s. And that was exactly the right thing to do.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"bfibg\" data-offset-key=\"b0o2q-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"b0o2q-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"b0o2q-0-0\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"bfibg\" data-offset-key=\"blml7-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"blml7-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"blml7-0-0\">Photos or videos of ISIS beheadings do not convert ISIS terrorists. They reveal their terrorism to the world.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"bfibg\" data-offset-key=\"7v0cn-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"7v0cn-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"7v0cn-0-0\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"bfibg\" data-offset-key=\"b33jt-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"b33jt-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"b33jt-0-0\">Pictures and movies of Nazi concentration camps didn\u2019t convert Nazis. It showed the world how utterly evil they were.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"bfibg\" data-offset-key=\"26ubl-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"26ubl-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"26ubl-0-0\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"bfibg\" data-offset-key=\"6r1n1-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"6r1n1-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"6r1n1-0-0\">Photographs of the mangled backs of whipped slaves didn\u2019t stop slavery or convert plantation slave owners (it took the Civil War and a constitutional amendment to do that). But it revealed the injustice and the inhumanity of slavery.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"bfibg\" data-offset-key=\"bfkis-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"bfkis-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"bfkis-0-0\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"\" data-block=\"true\" data-editor=\"bfibg\" data-offset-key=\"95i0b-0-0\">\n<div class=\"_1mf _1mj\" data-offset-key=\"95i0b-0-0\"><span data-offset-key=\"95i0b-0-0\">Etc., etc. So your whole argument that this doesn\u2019t persuade a woman not to have an abortion is completely beside the point, since it was never the primary purpose of showing abortion photos in the first place.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"95i0b-0-0\"><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"95i0b-0-0\">[see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\/posts\/3369341876434107?comment_id=3369756436392651&amp;reply_comment_id=3375500249151603\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Liz\u2019s further reply<\/a>, and my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\/posts\/3369341876434107?comment_id=3369756436392651&amp;reply_comment_id=3375629839138644\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">counter-reply<\/a> on my Facebook page; also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\/posts\/3369341876434107?comment_id=3369756436392651&amp;reply_comment_id=3376600672374894\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">one last \u201cshot\u201d<\/a> from her and my <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\/posts\/3369341876434107?comment_id=3369756436392651&amp;reply_comment_id=3376946815673613\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">final disgusted reply<\/a>]<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<p>***<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve said over and over that I am totally opposed to the murder of George Floyd. A person either believes me or not. But I will not stop being opposed to the murder of 900 black babies a day in America (and the 2100 other non-black babies) just so I can win the approval of a pro-abort or a liberal and in order to agree with every jot and tittle of how they go about things.<\/p>\n<p>They say that the prophet Jeremiah preached for sixty years, with absolutely no success or fruit to speak of. Was he to stop preaching the truth because he was utterly rejected?<\/p>\n<p>This debate about showing pictures of abortion has gone on for fifty years now. I continue to find the arguments against it as unconvincing as I always have:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">***<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Again, I agree with what President George W Bush wrote, and would appeal to other Christians and conservatives to listen to his wisdom on this issue.<\/span><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<p>So do I, which is why I am listening to what [peaceful, mainstream, non-rioting and murdering, non-Stalinist, non-fascist, non-anarchist] black people say about George Floyd\u2019s death and entirely agree with it.<\/p>\n<p>I <em><strong>also<\/strong><\/em> condemn looting and murder and riots and leftist exploitation of same, and the continuing effort of liberals to make out that conservatism is the root cause of racism and that we are all (including Trump, of course) a bunch of racists.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s apples and oranges. I can chew gum and walk at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s because you presuppose that somehow I and other conservatives \u201cdon\u2019t <em>get<\/em> it\u201d and still have <em>remnants<\/em> of racism in our views, that you judge me for putting up various memes. Yet I <strong><em>entirely<\/em><\/strong> get it, and fully endorse what President Bush said. Last I checked, he is a conservative. I voted for him twice and heard him speak in person twice.<\/p>\n<p>By the way, I have not said <em>one word<\/em> about Black Lives Matter. I haven\u2019t taken a position on them at all in all this.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">I appreciate you not joining the knee-jerk condemnation of Black Lives Matter. I also agree with you that President Bush is a conservative, and more importantly (as I have mentioned several times in our exchanges over this topic) a Christian and a pro-lifer.<\/span><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Do you really think I consider him a racist?<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">Never said that. Your strong response to my positions, which are entirely anti-racist, suggests that you think I have remnants of racism to some extent (however little). And it\u2019s because you think like a liberal does in these respects. So you think Bush is the type of conservative (like you) that \u201cgets it\u201d, while I am not: even though I <strong><em>love<\/em><\/strong> what he wrote, which is mainstream, Martin Luther King-type equality and integrationism and justice for all.<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<p>You just can\u2019t comprehend how I can also express all these <em>other<\/em> things I am expressing. You think they contradict Bush\u2019s message. I say they do not at all, and that it\u2019s apples and oranges.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Oh, that would explain your strong reactions. No, I know you\u2019re not racist.<\/span><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">In terms of President Bush \u201cgetting it\u201d. I am not sure if Mr Bush gets \u201cit\u201d, or gets \u201ceverything about it\u201d, but as a conservative and an elder statesman he has definitely shown himself open to \u201clistening to it\u201d with an open mind and an open heart, and this is why I keep invoking his example.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">I feel strongly that the rest of us\u2013not just conservatives like you and me, but everyone\u2013would do well to emulate his example in this regard.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Especially those of us who are Christian.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>How soon we forget! You continually cite George Bush, thinking that liberals will respect his opinion. You apparently have no memory of how they hated his guts when he was President, making out that he was an idiot, imbecile, and ignoramus who couldn\u2019t even<em> speak<\/em> correctly (and of course, he was \u2014 as always \u2013, a <em>racist<\/em>, just as they said about Reagan and now Trump). They drove his approval numbers to the low 30s before he left office and he was virtually invisible in the last three years or so of his second term. And of course they always said he wasn\u2019t even <em>legitimately elected<\/em> in 2000, because it was so close and the Supreme Court had to decide it (sound familiar?).<\/p>\n<p>During Hurricane Katrina, they attempted to blame him for the disaster in New Orleans, and make out that he didn\u2019t give a damn about black lives and was literally responsible for the ones who died in New Orleans.\u00a0I regularly noted in those days, liberals and leftists posting memes of Bush with a Hitler mustache and Nazi uniform. Here are four of those:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-48664\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2020\/06\/BushHitler.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"291\" height=\"226\">\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-48665\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2020\/06\/bush-hitler.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"317\" height=\"224\">\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-48667\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2020\/06\/bush-hitler2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"138\" height=\"202\">\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-48668\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/572\/2020\/06\/bush-hitler3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"288\"><\/p>\n<p>Lucky I preserved three of these in my files, as Google is now obviously trying to censor them and hide the past.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, President Bush\u2019s legacy includes profound work in combating AIDS in Africa. According to a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.history.com\/news\/what-was-a-george-w-bushs-greatest-achievement\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">History.com\u00a0article<\/a> from 2018:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Bush has probably done more than any other president to combat AIDS, particularly in Africa. . . .<\/p>\n<p>In 2002 Bush unveiled the Mother and Child HIV Prevention Initiative targeting one million mothers in Africa and the Caribbean for treatment in an effort to save the lives of 150,000 babies.<\/p>\n<p>Bush then pushed to devote $15 billion over the next five years. These funds would go to drugs and medical care for about 10 million patients, and also help millions of children orphaned by their parents\u2019 deaths from AIDS. It was considered the largest health initiative ever to target one single disease. . . .<\/p>\n<p>PEPFAR proved to be an impressive achievement: In 2007, the program was considered so successful that Bush asked for a funding increase, totaling $30 billion for the following five year period. In 2008, $39 billion was marked for PEPFAR. . . .<\/p>\n<p>Under Obama, funding for PEPFAR fell.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">Yep. This is the man I voted for twice. I couldn\u2019t be prouder of him than I am. He put into practice these Christian and conservative principles of helping black people in Africa in particular.\u00a0Yet according to millions of liberals he was a flat-out racist, as are supposedly, the vast bulk of Republicans and conservatives.<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">*<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">See also the ABC News article, <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/blogs\/politics\/2013\/04\/george-w-bushs-legacy-on-africa-wins-praise-even-from-foes\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cGeorge W. Bush\u2019s Legacy on Africa Wins Praise, Even From Foes\u201d<\/a> (4-26-13):<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">\n<blockquote><p>The George W. Bush Presidential Library dedication brought together five living presidents who have been at odds about much of the 43 rd president\u2019s foreign policy legacy, particularly the Iraq war. But they all agreed on, and offered effusive praise for, Bush\u2019s work on Africa.<\/p>\n<p>From the historic peace agreement between Sudan and South Sudan in 2005, to Bush\u2019s work on HIV\/AIDS and malaria, all the presidents, regardless of party, thanked No. 43 for his involvement in African policies and issues.<\/p>\n<p>Jimmy Carter \u2013 who now runs the Carter Center, a non-profit organization whose mission is to fight for human rights, conflict resolution and global health in the world\u2019s most impoverished countries \u2013 laid out Bush\u2019s accomplishments, including increasing aid to the continent by more than 640% by the time he left office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMr. President, let me say that I\u2019m filled with admiration for you and deep gratitude for you about the great contributions you\u2019ve made to the most needy people on Earth,\u201d said Carter.<\/p>\n<p>At more than $5 billion a year in humanitarian aid to Africa, President Bush has given more assistance to the continent than any other president.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">Not <em>bad<\/em> for the guy who allegedly couldn\u2019t care less about black people dying in Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, huh?<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\">***<\/div>\n<div data-offset-key=\"7mli7-0-0\"><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo credit: \u201cBlack Lives Matter\u201d: four African-Americans murdered by rioters (oftentimes African-American themselves), who are supposedly looting and killing over the outrage they feel about George Floyd\u2019s death. Makes a lot of sense, doesn\u2019t it?: \u201cWe\u2019re \u2018protesting\u2019 the unjust murder of a black man by murdering black men.\u201d David Dorn was a 77-year-old former police [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2331,"featured_media":48650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[289],"tags":[11207,1575,5160,11201,750,7498,5151,1971,2453,4817,177,6573,6564,11192,5483,6561,11198,4828,1576,11210,1970,11195,11213,176,11216,11204],"class_list":["post-48647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-ethical-moral-issues","tag-antifa","tag-bigotry","tag-black-lives-matter","tag-black-man","tag-civil-rights","tag-civil-rights-movement","tag-colorblind-society","tag-discrimination","tag-equal-rights","tag-equality","tag-evil","tag-fanaticism","tag-freedom","tag-george-floyd","tag-hatred","tag-liberty","tag-malcolm-x","tag-martin-luther-king","tag-prejudice","tag-protests","tag-racism","tag-racist-cops","tag-riots","tag-sin","tag-societal-turmoil","tag-violence-against-black-men"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Dialogue: Principled Conservatism, George Floyd, &amp; Racism Dialogue: Principled Conservatism, George Floyd, &amp; Racism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Photo credit: &quot;Black Lives Matter&quot;: four African-Americans murdered by rioters (oftentimes African-American themselves), who are supposedly looting and Discussion of two conservatives over how to approach the George Floyd issue. He thinks I am too inensitive to black concerns. I say he is too concerned with pleasing wrongheaded liberals.\" \/>\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\/davearmstrong\/2020\/06\/dialogue-principled-conservatism-george-floyd-racism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dialogue: Principled Conservatism, George Floyd, &amp; Racism Dialogue: Principled Conservatism, George Floyd, &amp; Racism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Photo credit: &quot;Black Lives Matter&quot;: four African-Americans murdered by rioters (oftentimes African-American themselves), who are supposedly looting and Discussion of two conservatives over how to approach the George Floyd issue. He thinks I am too inensitive to black concerns. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \\\"This Rock\\\" (now called \\\"Catholic Answers Magazine\\\"), \\\"Envoy Magazine\\\" (Patrick Madrid), \\\"The Catholic Answer,\\\" \\\"The Coming Home Journal,\\\" \\\"Gilbert Magazine\\\" (American Chesterton Society), and \\\"The Latin Mass.\\\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \\\"The Michigan Catholic\\\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \\\"Catholic Answers Live\\\" (twice), \\\"Faith and Family Live\\\" (Steve Wood), \\\"Kresta in the Afternoon,\\\" \\\"Son Rise Morning Show,\\\" \\\"Catholic Connection\\\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \\\"The Catholics Next Door.\\\" His large and popular website, \\\"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\\\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \\\"Envoy Magazine.\\\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \\\"index\\\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \\\"Surprised by Truth\\\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \\\"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\\\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \\\"The Catholic Verses\\\" (2004), \\\"The One-Minute Apologist\\\" (2007), \\\"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\\\" (2009), \\\"The Quotable Newman\\\" (editor: 2012), and \\\"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\\\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \\\"The New Catholic Answer Bible\\\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \\\"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\\\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \\\"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\\\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \\\"Quotable Wesley\\\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Dialogue: Principled Conservatism, George Floyd, & Racism Dialogue: Principled Conservatism, George Floyd, & Racism","description":"Photo credit: \"Black Lives Matter\": four African-Americans murdered by rioters (oftentimes African-American themselves), who are supposedly looting and Discussion of two conservatives over how to approach the George Floyd issue. He thinks I am too inensitive to black concerns. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}