Thanks for forwarding Jon Stewart's clip - a thoughtful and insightful presentation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUkv_jPgTeg
Jon's observation concerning the relationship between "tribalism" and "American exceptionalism" is brilliant.
"America is not natural. Natural is tribal. We're fighting against thousands of years of human behavior to create something that noone's ever (done) - that's what's exceptional about America... and this ain't easy. It's an incredible thing."
Just the other day I was contemplating tribalism from my Christian point of view.
The Twelve Tribes Of Israel were what they claimed to be, tribes.
Notably, the only Old Testament prophet who shared his "enlightenment" "outside the tribe" was Jonah.
But Jonah himself was a ferocious tribalist.
When asked to share "God's Truth" with the Ninevites, Jonah basically told God to "fuck off!" "I'm not sharing Judaism's "good thing" with the goddam Ninevites. They can go to Hell! I'd rather be swallowed by a whale!"
"The Story Of Jonah And The Whale"
Brilliantly Retold By Anne Herbert
http://paxonbothhouses.
http://paxonbothhouses.
Whether or not you believe Yeshua's teaching was "Good News," it was a message of inclusiveness.
In the Gospel of Mark (the earliest of the 4 canonical gospels, written around 60 A.D.) Jesus said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation." https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mark+16%3A15&version=NIV
They were to share the good news -- that "God is love and mercy is its manifestation" -- with everybody.
Even outcasts.
The "unclean."
The "untouchables."
Especially outcasts and untouchables.
The Unwashed Masses.
Not only does tribal self-enclosure have nothing to do with Yeshua's essential message, tribal self-enclosure is antithetical to the underlying matrix of his message.
Tribalism, Jonah And The Fundamental Impediment To Peace
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/07/tribalism-jonah-and-fundamental.html
What Too Many Christians Get Wrong
That said, I do question Jon's observation that "we are not fundamentally different now from what we were two weeks ago."
I believe "The Direction" which government posits as its "target" constitutes a fundamental difference.
Indeed, our goals -- intimately bound to our purpose -- may comprise THE fundamental difference.
Indeed, our goals -- intimately bound to our purpose -- may comprise THE fundamental difference.
Until now, the "official" direction of the United States' government has been inclusion.
With Trump, the "official" direction of government is exclusion.
This is not just a big difference.
It is a categorical difference.
Check out the following NPR report - and keep your barf bag at the ready.
NPR Interviews Founder Of "Alt-Right," The Movement Trump's Chief Strategist Belongs To
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/11/npr-interviews-founder-of-alt-right.html
Even Glenn Beck is "terrified" of the Trump administration.
Who knows what will go down?
I would eagerly bet long odds it won't be pretty.
Pax-Shalom-Salaam
Alan
On Fri, Nov 18, 2016 at 6:23 AM, CC wrote:
John Stewart’s is one of the more intelligentcommentaries I have heard since the election.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUkv_jPgTeg
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