{"id":100556,"date":"2017-06-23T00:41:15","date_gmt":"2017-06-23T07:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=100556"},"modified":"2017-06-21T09:22:22","modified_gmt":"2017-06-21T16:22:22","slug":"ed-psych-libertarianism-nra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/06\/ed-psych-libertarianism-nra.html","title":{"rendered":"Ed Psych, Libertarianism, and the NRA"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I once took an Ed Psych class back in the day I was thinking about becoming a teacher. \u00a0One of the things the class pointed out was that our brains tend to function in such a way that we process new information according to how it fits in with what we already know (or think we know).<\/p>\n

So, for instance, the prof told a story about an award-winning teacher he knew who taught a unit on the Reformation to a bunch of inner city kids. My prof sat in on the class and observed for a week as the teacher clearly worked through the events of the Reformation and laid out the facts concerning Luther and the other major players of the day.<\/p>\n

As the unit was winding up, the teacher asked the kids if they had any questions. \u00a0One young girl tentatively raised her hand and the teacher called on her. \u00a0Hesitantly, she said, \u201cBut\u2026 what about the March on Washington? \u00a0And Selma? \u00a0And the Bus Boycott?\u201d<\/p>\n

The entire week, every time he had said \u201cMartin Luther\u201d she had fit the name into the only framework she had and heard \u201cMartin Luther King\u201d.<\/p>\n

This happens, by the way, constantly. \u00a0And it causes us to, among other things, simply not see and hear things we do not know how to process. \u00a0I discovered this upon becoming Catholic. \u00a0There were any number of biblical passages which simply didn\u2019t fit the constraints of what I \u201cknew\u201d from my non-denomination Evangelical theology. \u00a0So I had simply not seen or heard them.<\/p>\n

Jesus remarking on not getting out of prison till you pay the last farthing. \u00a0It was just one of those things Jesus said. \u00a0Who knows what it means. \u00a0Moving on\u2026<\/p>\n

Paul speaking of fire testing each man\u2019s works. \u00a0Moving on\u2026<\/p>\n

Paul saying that we fill up with our sufferings what is still lacking with respect to Christ\u2019s afflictions. \u00a0Paul says weird stuff sometimes. \u00a0Moving on.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my body.\u201d \u00a0\u201cSinning against the body and blood of the Lord\u2026\u201d Weird. \u00a0Moving on.<\/p>\n

It is important to emphasize the mostly unconscious nature of such acts. \u00a0The person doing it is typically unaware they are filtering anything. \u00a0 They are certainly not saying \u201cNO! \u00a0IT CANNOT BE!!!\u201d They simply have no idea what to do with the data. \u00a0There is no framework for it, so it is dropped without a thought, just as you would ignore and delete an email from a stranger saying something incomprehensible.<\/p>\n

What happens to change such situations is that something helps us make a connection (often partial, mysterious, and intriguing) between what we know or think we know and the new information. \u00a0In my case, I established enough trust in the Church\u2019s teaching to be able to take her word for it that the passages comported with her teaching on such things as Purgatory, sharing in Christ\u2019s sufferings, and the Eucharist. \u00a0Suddenly those passage fit into the framework. \u00a0They had a context. \u00a0They made some sense.<\/p>\n

I mention all this because something similar is happening in this article from Reason<\/em> on the silence of the NRA re: the shooting of Philando Castile<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One thing I will give the Libertarian naifs at Reason<\/em>: their ideological framework leaves them still believing the mission of the NRA is to defend the second amendment and not to incestuously support and profit from arms manufacturers by stoking terror of the Brown Other in the hearts of white gun zealots. So Reason<\/em> is genuinely surprised by the NRA\u2019s silence. Such naivete is quaint, but needs to be outgrown since the NRA\u2019s cynical silence and lucrative prostitution to lies is why it fights to maintain our gun death toll of 33,000 each year. The ideological imperatives of Libertarianism drive them to address the Castile shooting (which is more than you can say for the NRA). But when they address it, it is totally from a second amendment perspective, not from the perspective of race\u2013which is clearly what the story is really about. Like my blindness to Paul\u2019s Catholicism, they are blind to what the NRA is really doing. \u00a0So props to Reason<\/em> for at least *saying* something. But boos for still being so blind to what the central issue really is. How much of Reason<\/em>\u2018s blindness is culpable, I don\u2019t know. \u00a0But I think the NRA is not blind, just flatly dishonest. \u00a0It is a criminal organization with an ocean of blood on its hands for the sake of filthy lucre.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we have to ask ourselves why are deadly weapons being sold to those who plan to inflict untold suffering on individuals and society? Sadly, the answer, as we all know, is simply for money: money that is drenched in blood, often innocent blood. In the face of this shameful and culpable silence, it is our duty to confront the problem and to stop the arms trade.\u201d \u2013 Pope Francis, Address to the US Congress, September 24, 2015<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The reason this \u201cjust one of those things Francis says\u201d for millions of American Catholics is not because it is not Catholic teaching, it is. \u00a0Its roots go as deep as \u201cLove your enemy\u201d and \u201cTurn the other cheek\u201d and \u201cPeter put up your sword\u201d and, above all, \u201cYou cannot serve both God and mammon.\u201d<\/p>\n

No. \u00a0The reason Americhristians cannot hear it is because they do not measure their actions according to the framework of the gospel, but according to the framework of American right wing culture war narratives. \u00a0Like the girl in the class, when they hear such things they are fitting what they hear into the only framework they have, Fox News culture war narratives about \u201cliberals\u201d and \u201cconservatives\u201d, not \u201cgospel\u201d vs. \u201cworld\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I once took an Ed Psych class back in the day I was thinking about becoming a teacher. \u00a0One of the things the class pointed out was that our brains tend to function in such a way that we process new information according to how it fits in with what we already know (or think […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[594],"class_list":["post-100556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-gun-violence-is-a-prolife-issue-too"],"yoast_head":"\nEd Psych, Libertarianism, and the NRA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I once took an Ed Psych class back in the day I was thinking about becoming a teacher. \u00a0One of the things the class pointed out was that our brains tend\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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