The central problem that Ray Rice had was that he is a football player and not a rapper. The central problem that Adrian Peterson had was that he is a father and not a rolling stone. The central problem that white liberal America has is that of being white liberal America, which is sadly showing no signs of getting any better.
This latter problem is a profound intellectual schizophrenia. We lionize and honor certain behaviors when there is a strong bass line and red carpet swagger, but then are shocked and horrified when someone actually does what we have been busy honoring. If Ray Rice had been more musical, and had treated his bitch like they all sing about, and stayed away from elevator cameras, he could making his reservations for a glitzy Hollywood awards banquet now. He could be a major Democratic donor.
C.S. Lewis was being a prophet, not simply a pundit, when in The Abolition of Man he said:
“In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.”
Lecrae was pointing to this same central screaming hypocrisy — for that is what it is — when in the middle of the Ferguson tumult, he tweeted this: “Dear Hip Hop, we can’t scream “murder, misogyny, lawlessness” in our music & then turn around and ask for equality & justice.” That is a prophetic word, and it has the additional advantage of being self-evidently true. It is the voice of righteousness and reason.
But a large part of the entertainment industry is dedicated to honoring the dishonorable, praising the despicable, and glorifying the inglorious. And then, when their tragicomic inversions have all gotten to a quivering pitch, ready to sproing, somebody comes along and actually does what they have all been giving awards to. The reason everybody was so furious with Ray Rice was not because he struck Janay, but rather because he cold-cocked their hypocrisy, which is still lying there on the elevator floor in a puddle of insufferable whiteness.
And Adrian Peterson switched his boy on the back of his legs and left some nasty welts. As a result of this, the sports establishment went nuts. Now the point here is not that Peterson is the wisest father ever, but I would like to point out that he was actually being a father. Just curious. How many African-American boys, biologically fathered by professional athletes, are growing up without any father at all? And how many news conferences have you seen addressing that crisis? I am talking about a news conference with the head of whichever sports league it was solemnly denouncing fatherlessness as the real crisis, the real disaster, the real abuse. Because it is.
But don’t hold your breath, because they are all kind of cool with that sort of thing. If you are a small black boy, white liberal America will continue to approve and subsidize the kind of welts — the welts of fatherlessness — that never stop bleeding. But if you ever get a switching, they will descend upon the man who did it in a self-righteous fury
But here is Lewis again:
“A great many of those who ‘debunk’ traditional…values have in the background values of their own which they believe to be immune from the debunking process.”
This is why white liberal America is standing on the verge of an epic reality drubbing. They have wrapped themselves in the soft cotton batting of their own ephemeral core values, believing it to be heavy armor for some reason. And the gods of the copybook headings are walking toward them, all armed with baseball bats, and with stern looks on their faces.
Important post script for those critics who don’t know how to read: if you read any of the above as a defense of punching a woman, or of abusing a child, please read over it again.
Doug,
Another spot on analysis! You have nailed down their hypocrisy once again in very stark and vivid language.
The problem with this critique is that they care not one bit about hypocrisy. Their very worldview is rooted in incoherence and hypocrisy. This critique assumes a basis in truth, but in the postmodern mind truth mattereth not.
Mr. Wilson, your us vs them viewpoint makes me laugh, honestly. What do you mean white liberal america is subsidizing domestic abuse? Sounds more like white conservative america that fills the seats at stadiums and watches the ads every year. White liberal america is moving back to baseball and on to soccer.
Please give examples of white liberal america being ok with men beating women and men beating boys because I must be missing something.
The problem here is not hypocrisy, it is violence and force. A sport culture based around violence is breeding violence off the field. Big surprise.
Pastor Wilson, I have detected a flaw in your article. The important post script for critics who do not know how to read is written in English, a language which critics who don’t know how to read are infamously inept at reading. If I were you, I would consider replacing this written post script with an emotionally compelling 10-second video consisting of a series of 1-second long clips that include a rich dose of sensationalism and misplaced sarcasm. I think such a video would communicate your point in a much more accessible format to the critics who don’t know how… Read more »
Also, to Stephen: Does all condemnation imply an “us vs. them” mentality? In other words, if I were to condemn the atrocities of the 15th century Mexica civilization, would that imply that I was “on the side” of the Spanish conquistadores? Was Mr. Wilson even talking about White Conservative America here? Is the violence of much Hip-Hop music and culture truly derivative of American sports culture? Is it possible to subsidize something without vocally advocating for it? Is it possible to unwittingly encourage something that you oppose? Why is your apparent understanding of Mr. Wilson uncharitably narrow, unsympathetic, and strawy?… Read more »
“Please give examples of white liberal america being ok with men beating women”
50 Shades of Grey
Hard cases make bad punditry.
http://nypost.com/2013/10/17/adrian-peterson-could-have-7-kids-ex/
@Stephen
Here you go. http://www.abort73.com/images/techniques/de23/04.jpg
(By the way, they do this to little girls as well).
Even this is pretty thin soup, though. Peterson apparently helicopters in now and then to visit his various distributed kids. It’s not like he’s living with them and actually raising them, or even attempting to take full advantage of what partial custody/visitation privileges he might have.
I’m sure that the Democrat Party would still be willing to take a lot of Rice’s money. They’re blind on that side, too.
I was wondering when you were going to get around to addressing this. The thing that is most frustrating to me is that culture is constantly is looking for the next person to blame. Satan is known as the great accuser for a reason. Then the media gets in this competition of “who can be the most outraged.” It’s almost as if they think outrage equates to moral integrity.
If these actions had never taken place then it would be some other social justice atrocity. Its all social justice war all the time and the more high-profile the arena the harder they push the narrative. Another part of the culture hollowed out and filled with cult marx.
I am troubled by your use of the term” White liberal” I have lived in America for forty-one years and have never seen a white person. I have seen European Americans though.The spousal as well as the physical abuse, is the result of an unregenerate heart, sin is apolitical. Some of the points you made were not ethnic specific,many European American athletes have sex and father children out of wedlock but that does not fit your scenario.It would be interesting to know what kind of close interpersonal relationships you have with African Americans
And now I remember why I read this blog. Fantastic essay. You’ve outdone yourself. If you’re reading the comments section Pastor Wilson, this random RN in his 20s thinks you wrote some pretty smart stuff here….
White liberals would prefer a whole league of Ray Rices over one Tim Tebow.
Hey Doug, quit stealing my material. ;)
http://www.kuyperian.com/lynching-adrian-peterson-2/
Andrew, it is more a case of the stars in their course fighting against Sisera.
Yes, exactly. I seem to remember you saying somewhere that “secularism is like an over-inflated balloon, ready to pop.” Pointing out the hypocrisy of secularists is like shooting fish in a barrel. So, if anything, I was plagiarizing what you probably thought.
It is always fun when you come across clear thinking when addressing issues related to American culture and Christianity. There are so few cogent arguments being made in the public square the internet affords us. Thank you again for bringing sanity to the world of Politically Correct thought.