{"id":3719,"date":"2014-09-30T06:25:54","date_gmt":"2014-09-30T10:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=3719"},"modified":"2014-09-30T08:15:12","modified_gmt":"2014-09-30T12:15:12","slug":"a-spade-a-spade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=3719","title":{"rendered":"what it is"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/a>\"whats_in_a_name.2\"<\/a>Let\u2019s call it what it is — and not what it\u2019s not…<\/p>\n

The unfathomable beheading at a food processing plant in Oklahoma City is not simply \u201cworkplace violence.\u201d It was the evil act of a disgruntled, fired employee who was a Muslim convert, who may or may not have been imitating recent, publicized acts by Muslim militants overseas — who have publicly called on Muslims across the globe to join in the terror.<\/p>\n

The military involvement overseas attempting to destroy ISIS is not simply a coalition addressing a \u201cconflict.\u201d It is a war. War is \u201ca state or period of fighting between countries or groups\u201d or \u201can organized effort by a government or other large organization to stop or defeat something that is viewed as dangerous or bad.\u201d The United States is fighting organized terrorist groups — currently ISIS, the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.<\/p>\n

(Note: that also means that there is no \u201cwar\u201d against women, teachers, or Christmas, much to the rhetorical chagrin of many.) <\/em><\/p>\n

We also are not fighting simply against a \u201cradical extremist group.\u201d We are fighting against an Islamic<\/em> extremist group. While many seem most comfortable omitting the religious affiliation, the reality is that Christians, Jews, Buddhists, etal. do not kill former members or those who don\u2019t embrace their religion. As said ironically, perhaps best by the too-oft, in my opinion, disrespectful Bill Maher: \u201cVast numbers of Christians do not believe that if you leave the Christian religion you should be killed for it. Vast numbers of Christians do not treat women as second class citizens. Vast numbers of Christians\u00a0do not believe if you draw a picture of Jesus Christ you should get killed for it.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

And perhaps Maher\u2019s best line, when CBS\/PBS\u2019s Charlie Rose attempted to compare the ISIS terrorists to so-called \u201cradical\u201d Christians: \u201cWell you\u2019re wrong about that. The Qur’an absolutely has on every page stuff that\u2019s horrible about how the infidels should be treated.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

(Another note: many do not know what the Qur’an actually says.) <\/em><\/p>\n

My point again: let\u2019s call things what they are — and not what they\u2019re not…<\/p>\n

As for the \u201cwhat they\u2019re not\u201d perspective, observe the current hot seat of Democratic Party Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Regardless of one\u2019s political leanings, she\u2019s fascinating to watch. Let me say now, I don\u2019t know her heart; I don\u2019t know what drives her; I have no ability to accurately assess her moral integrity. But with multiple polls suggesting a current souring of Democratic candidates as we near the November elections, she\u2019s restlessly working to drum up support for the politically likeminded. For a second time in recent months, she\u2019s actually said that an opposing gubernatorial candidate has given women \u201cthe back of his hand.\u201d What Wasserman Schultz must intend to imply (accuracy seems secondary)<\/em> is that her opponent\u2019s policies have not been friendly to the female gender. However, she instead calls the candidates something they are not.<\/p>\n

Yes, we should call things what they are\u00a0— not what they are not — always with respect, recognizing, too, we may possess a limited view of the facts.<\/p>\n

Respectfully…<\/p>\n

AR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let\u2019s call it what it is — and not what it\u2019s not… The unfathomable beheading at a food processing plant in Oklahoma City is not simply \u201cworkplace violence.\u201d It was the evil act of a disgruntled, fired employee who was a Muslim convert, who may or may not have been imitating recent, publicized acts by … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “what it is”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-event","category-daily-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3719"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3731,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3719\/revisions\/3731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}