Political Activism: Political correctness is just one tool in evidence of an underlying cancer slowly eating away at Western Democracy. Children are turning away from 'our' traditions, because they have failed to give them 'inner emotional stability'. Finding no ability to put their 'faith' in what Modern Society offers, they seek something 'more substantial' and more emotionally satisfying. So afraid are we of not being perceived as 'righteous', that we gladly crucify those amongst us who are not afraid to say what they think; and to further assuage our guilt we find ways of 'excusing' the terrorists. And then when the brutality of those we support becomes so personal and intense that we can no longer excuse it, we must find some politically correct 'sanitary' and acceptable means of expressing our disgust.
Political Correctness activists are not civilized and egalitarian
Prologue:
"Traditional Moorings"
In King's Calendar Newsletter No. 1 entitled: Religious Compartmentalisation, I wrote about possible causes for why young western people are today turning their backs on Christianity and Traditional western values.
This may seem like it has nothing to do with Political Correctness and Democracy, but it is in fact, a demonstrable symptom of the decay of Western Democracy. Political correctness is just one tool in evidence of an underlying cancer slowly eating away at Western Democracy.
In the abovementioned article, I wrote: In the matters of Religion and Science, the west has undergone a tremendous upheaval during the last one hundred years or so, and if the rise of various religious fundamentalisms is any indication, despite our reliance upon science, as human creatures, we seem to need an inherent 'Reliance' on the 'scientifically dubious' Divine Power.
Many folk wonder why it is that their children have turned from their religious traditions to new or exotic forms of religious observance, and it is not at all unreasonable to suggest that this is because our materialistic, logical, and science driven society, has robbed us of the inner emotional stability which comes through 'trusting in a higher power'.
As far as Christianity in all its forms is concerned, fundamentalism has as its catchcry, 'God says!', or 'The Bible says!' or other such foundations of authority. This willingness to 'Rely on God', often flies in the face of the 'scientifically' demonstrable. But we don't worry about that because 'Faith is all we need'.
When you strip the religious connotation from the foregoing text, you are left with the following: Children are turning away from 'our' traditions, because they have failed to give them 'inner emotional stability'. Finding no ability to put their 'faith' in what Modern Society offers, they seek something 'more substantial' and more emotionally satisfying.
A recent article at TechCentralStation entitled: The White Moor As Willing Executioner By Phyllis Chesler and Nancy Kobrin not only reveals the reality of the mass exodus of Western Youth from traditional culture, but predicts the dire consequences in the years to come, as these young people, not only turn their backs on what 'we gave them', but will endeavour to 'bite the hand that fed them', by actively joining with other jihadists to terrorise and destroy our society.
Chesler and Kobrin in their article draw attention to the November 9th terrorist attack carried out by Muriel Degauque, a Caucasian Belgium-born woman, who blew herself up in a failed attempt to kill American troops in Iraq.
Whilst they discuss the pathology of such people, the most telling line is that in which Dr. Monika Wohlraub-Sahr suggests that such people's "lives have spun out of control," and they are now "in search of structure." [Made in direct reference to prisoners who turn to Islam]. Another telling line is that "According to prison psychiatrist, Theodore Dalrymple, who has worked with Muslim prisoners in Britain, "a large part of the attraction of Islam to increasingly and essentially secularized men" is the opportunity Islam allows for the "abominable abuse of women."
The key points here are that men and women who feel like their lives have spun out of control, are seeking some structure, and that the 'secularised' males amongst them see Islam as an opportunity to practice institutional abuse of women. [Are they just mysogynists or emotionally scarred and looking for revenge?]
People who have lost faith in what their Society offers them; those who find no answer to the inner turmoil of the mind or soul; those whose lives are out of control within their current social context, are all seeking something to bring some order to their chaos, some faith to conquer their fear, and some sense of control to replace the hopelessness of powerlessness.
It's a rather strange thought, that in today's Western environment, people should be feeling 'powerless' and without a 'sense of direction'. We are after all, at the pinnacle of knowledge of all types, especially in relation to human rights and 'self-empowering'. We live in an environment where almost no imaginable 'psychological' malady is without remedy, and access to the remedies is readily available.
Why then, at a time in history when we should be at the pinnacle of mental and emotional health, are we facing a crisis? [A quick internet search will provide you with the relevant data to check this fact out.]
One part of the answer lies in our abandonment of 'religious faith' and its' social benefits. Don't be an ostrich because you have a knee jerk reaction to 'religious' things. Societal abandonment of traditional religious faith is precisely WHY so many young people are turning to Islam. But this is only one part of the problem. Loss of Traditional Religious moorings is just one of many 'losses' that people are facing, and they don't know how to cope with the problem.
Psychological Realities
In response to an article I wrote entitled: Christianity versus Communism: American Style which took a look at the psychological reasons why people get heated about the debate on 'Separation of Church and state', I included a 'throw away' line in relation to 'Extrinsic Motivation' [The desire or push to perform a certain behavior based on the potential external rewards that may be received as a result]. I asked what the 'abortion doctor murderer' thought would be his reward.
Because of this one line, I received a vitriolic email that condemned me as a 'pro-abortionist' and a 'murderer'. I replied to the email and then penned an article entitled: Killing Abortionists in God's Name.
The religious minister who sent me the email, was accusing me of the secret problem that he had in his own heart. He was projecting his 'desire to murder' onto me. projection: - An illustration would be an individual (Alice, for example) who feels dislike for another person (let's say Bob), however her unconscious mind will not allow her to become aware of this negative emotion. Instead of admitting to herself that she feels dislike for Bob, she projects her dislike onto Bob, so that her conscious thought is not "I don't like Bob" but "Bob doesn't seem to like me."
In common speak, projection is "accusing another person of the thing that is the problem in your own life." More importantly, the next step up the ladder is Reaction Formation: The blocking of desire by its opposite. "Reaction-formation" is the term Freud uses to describe the mechanism whereby the ego reacts to the impulses of the id by creating an antithetical formation that blocks repressed cathexes. For example, someone who feels homosexual desire might repress that desire by turning it into hatred for all homosexuals.
All the Political Correctness in the world has no effect on those suffering from 'reaction formation'.
In an article entitled: Western Society's well spring of Cognitive Dissonance and Reaction Formation I referred to an article entitled: Detached From Reality by GERALD M.STEINBERG (Jerusalem Post, June 13, 2004) in which he discussed another problem called, Cognitive dissonance: a psychological phenomenon which refers to the discomfort felt at a discrepancy between what you already know or believe, and new information or interpretation.
"When presented with evidence contrary to our beliefs even academics will try to rationalize disturbing data to reinforce their existing worldview".
As this might apply to our opinions on the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, an example of cognitive dissonance might be that because our political correctness does not allow us to admit to Anti-Semitism, we accuse the Israelis of 'Stealing' Arab land and being racists and terrorists, while at the same time finding ways to justify such things as the indoctrination of young Palestinian children into becoming 'martyrs'. Our Anti-Semitism (to which we cannot admit) is hidden within political arguments.
So afraid are we of not being perceived as 'righteous', that we gladly crucify those amongst us who are not afraid to say what they think; and to further assuage our guilt we find ways of 'excusing' the terrorists. And then when the brutality of those we support becomes so personal and intense that we can no longer excuse it, we must find some politically correct 'sanitary' and acceptable means of expressing our disgust. Read:The Vatican Confronts Islam : by Daniel Pipes.
Our 'self image' does not allow us to say "Those heathen Arabs", or "those religious fanatics" or "those blood thirsty bastards", because 'WE' can't lower ourselves to speak at such levels. We remain calm, and polite lest someone accuse us of being 'less than'. We cannot allow ourselves to say or do anything that would ruin the perception we have of ourselves as 'perfectly civilized and egalitarian'.
And this is the point!
Politically Correct activists are not 'civilized and egalitarian'.
Political Correctness: The front for psychological disorders.
In "The War on Terrorism & Cognitive Dissonance" I referred to a news report that said: "A policeman shot a fleeing criminal who ram raided a business premises. The 'victim' told how he was 'afraid for his life' when the policeman pointed his gun, and how agitated and menacing the policeman acted".
In effect that story condemned the policeman for doing his job. The policeman is of course an authority figure, and irrespective of his duty and the prevailing circumstances, we would rather 'feel sorry' for the criminal, because we ourselves 'hate authority figures'. We 'hide' our true feelings behind sycophantic philosophies, that enable us to 'profit' at the expense of 'truth and justice'. Personally, I often think that 'Social Justice' activists, are anything but 'just'. Refer to:Save the Slaves By Uriah Kriegel
"the flagship human rights organizations seem completely uninterested in the phenomenon (slavery in the Sudan). This is primarily because the perpetrators do not represent the kind of highly visible figures NGOs are eager to confront. Most human rights groups are driven today by a single, superficial principle: oppose the powerful and back the weak, no matter what the powerful stand for or what the weak stand for.
As an example of Australian Social injustice, I can cite 'the Pauline Hanson Saga'. Hanson, an Australian Political figure, called on our country to treat 'all Australians equally', said that we should control Asian immigration, because it was unbalancing the traditional culture of Australia.
She said nothing new, nothing that was not already on people's minds, and nothing that was not obvious. Had she been left alone by the media, she would have disappeared into obscurity as quickly as she arose, but she became an 'iconic victim', a beacon for politically correct activists, to rally the mob in its' fight against 'injustice'.
The interesting thing about the whole debacle, was that the activists who maintained that they were "protecting" democracy and supporting 'non discrimination', did everything of which they accused her and her party members. They were abusive, incited hatred, perpetrated violence, and did everything they could to stifle 'free speech', in a DEMOCRACY yet! They were, I believe, suffering from 'Reaction Formation'.
With hearts already filled with anger and rage over 'inequality and immigration' and incapable of admitting to those feelings, they projected and then vented their anger onto Ms. Hanson, hiding their true feelings behind the 'political correctness' smoke screen, and in the process were able to let the world perceive them as truly righteous people. While not understanding their own self loathing at the fact that they themselves were racist, they pursued the impulse and rewards of 'political correctness', to 'justifiably' turn their hatred on Ms Hanson. They did the very thing of which they accused her! [Refer to Footnote at end of Article]
An Age of Scientific Fact and Reason
At this current point in time, there is great controversy over the issue of teaching evolution to school children; the matter being challenged by those who want Creationism or its cousin 'Intelligent Design', taught, at the very least, alongside 'evolution theory'.
We live in an age that has done its' best to 'kill off God'. He is no longer relevant. We proudly proclaim that science and technology is everything. We want the facts! No superstition from a bygone day. And yet - despite that claim, we still prefer our own brands of 'faith', to facts.
In my King's Calendar Academic Newsletter No. 2 "Academic Opinion" in which I strongly criticized Academics, I made the following comment:
"It is a strong thing to publicly state that Academics are arrogant, but what can you call the attitude of 'professional or scientific' people, whose refusal to look at an issue is based solely on their 'personal' reactions to and prejudices against people and their ideas".
Such refusal to deal with the 'scientific data' is not the sole pejorative of the scientists.
In an article entitled: Jack Murtha and the Lessons of Vietnam By Carroll Andrew Morse, the author relates how that U.S. Congressman Murtha wants to bring the troops home from Iraq because there is no discernible progress there "towards…a stable and improving economy in Iraq".
But as he then points out: "The International Monetary Fund disagrees. An August IMF report on Iraqi progress projects that Iraq's 2007 per-capita gross domestic product will be nearly double its pre-war value". The question was then posed as to whether Murtha and his party are not acknowledging Iraq's successes because they really are willing to sacrifice Iraqi democracy for a little short-term political advantage at home.."
In "Tortured Logic" By Martino Pillitteri in relation to: "the alleged kidnapping of an Egyptian terrorist by a group of CIA agents that took place in Milan on February 17, 2003" the author points out that while the Italian press accused the US of violating Italy's sovereignty, and supporting the brutal practices that take place in Egypt, they did not bother to condemn Egypt itself. Furthermore, the article pointed out that:
"When representatives of places like Cuba and Iran come to town for an official visit and someone dares to raise the constant abuse of human rights in those countries, the anti-American press defends Castro and the mullahs citing, in the name of cultural relativism, that we have to respect the practices occurring in other countries. The rest of the world can do what CIA agents in Milan cannot".
One of the most common accusations against Israel is that it took all the best that Palestine had to offer, leaving the Palestinians with nothing. In "The InstaPundit Interview" Re: Ray Kurzweil's new book, "The Singularity Is Near : When Humans Transcend Biology" it is pointed out that "Israel has little land and no significant natural resources, yet its gross national product is now several times that of Saudi Arabia due to the education and technological sophistication of its citizens".
What we see in these articles, is that we don't live in an age of Truthful Reasoning, and we certainly don't promote our agendas using scientifically gathered facts and figures. We live by 'faith in' and personal devotion to our own particular philosophical cause; a cause which is ultimately an end in itself.
Modern Philosophical Causes
I drew the ire of some people for comments I made in an article entitled: The United Nations, Iran and Israel, because I failed to 'prove' my assertion that the United Nations is a place where the lunatics run the asylum. For those without eyes, ears and the personal ability to think and rationalise, the following is just one citation that demonstrates the 'metal' of U.N. leadership. [As if recent news of Bribery and Corruption are not enough.]
In "Crisis? What Crisis?" By Alan Oxley, Mr.Oxley, Australia's Ambassador in 1986 to the GATT, the WTO's predecessor said: The then Swiss Director General Arthur Dunkel used to say, "We will need to manufacture a crisis" when agreement looked hard to reach".
What matters in today's world, is not 'truth', not 'fact', but perception. Political Correctness DENIES the truth, covering it under layers of deception. It is a 'pathological illness' affecting millions of people with little knowledge of or interest in 'truth'.
It is amazing when you think about it, that one of the offshoots of 'political correctness', is the attempt to introduce 'hate speech laws', concerning which it is claimed, that they will stop or at least punish people who promote 'violence' in one form or another, on the basis of 'race or other discrimination'.
As previously stated, a person suffering from a pathological illness will not be dissuaded from certain actions just because there is a regulation prohibiting that action.
The most vocal people in the support of these types of laws, are in fact not the least bit interested in stamping out 'racism or discrimination'. The whole purpose of the law, is to prevent you from expressing your right to freedom of expression.
Hate speech laws are not restricted to prosecuting those who 'ask for or demand' violence of their audience, but rather they relate to the act of 'incitement'. 'Incitement' is a nebulous word in a nebulous world. If language that causes 'violence' or the 'possibility of violence' qualifies as 'hate speech', and justifies prosecution, then those whose constant refrain is 'Racist!', should be prosecuted, for it certainly incites me toward the consideration of 'perpetrating bodily harm'.
Political Correctness, like its' cousin 'Multiculturalism', is a weapon in the hands of people who are either suffering some pathological illness, or who manipulate what was intended for good, for the sole purpose of some self gratifying reward, or power.
Political Correctness activists are the least tolerant people one can encounter, and the most racist and discriminatory. They constantly rale against 'whites', 'traditional values', 'the religious', and 'anyone who does not at least passively accept' their, and other activist agendas.
Their platform is to prohibit [except unto themselves], all negative expressions about or vilification of anything, everything and anyone.
Freedom of Thoughts, Feelings, Opinions and Speech
Whilst the 'ideological' reasons for political correctness and 'hate speech laws' are commendable, those who use and manipulate such laws are at least cowards; at best manipulating society, and at worse, in need of psychological assistance.
"I have never been a supporter of any legal restriction, aside from libel laws, on speech or writing, no matter how repellent it may be. I have also been opposed to laws against Holocaust denial because I believe it is more important to expose the moral treachery of such a posture than to pretend, according to canons of political correctness, that such hallucinated discourse does not exist. And while living in Bosnia-Hercegovina and Kosovo, I have opposed restrictions on hate speech because I believe it is better for rage to be vented than suppressed. A great thinker once argued that liberty is defined by its preservation for what we oppose, not what we approve. The point is undeniable."
In that article he not only points out that there are those who would prevent 'freedom of speech' but those as well who want to prevent the right not to speak, or in that particular instance, to deny a publisher the right not to publish a submitted manuscript. [Italian academic, Luciano Canfora's pro-Soviet account of 20th century politics, entitled: "Democracy: History of an Ideology." (Due to appear in the U.S. under the title "Democracy in Europe: A History"), was declined by a German publisher who was then accused of "censorship"]
The Academic Agenda
Activist causes are instigated by, if not academics themselves, then those studying in academic institutions. Examples of Academic incitement toward rejection of traditional values abound. [Look them up].
To quote Steven Schartz in the previously cited article:
"To see the respectable caste of mediocrities in Western media and academia exposed as liars and charlatans, that would be something, to say the least. To see this reptile breed (as Trotsky once described the writers of The Nation magazine) called to account for a generation's worth of history betrayed, hope prostituted, and ideals treated as a pretext for belly-crawling propaganda?is, to repeat, tempting. Perhaps too tempting."
Every new law that enters the book, finds its' genesis in some academics desire for social experimentation, and irrespective of how good it looks on paper, many laws in relation to Political Correctness, Racism and discrimination, have become nothing more than weapons in a war to tear down traditional societal structures, to implement some academic social agenda. That people have agendas is not new. That government should institute laws to prevent free expression of opposition to those agendas is also not new. It's Called - Totalitarianism.
In a free society, people should have a right to their opinions. As Alan Oxley says:
We Australians are raised to see things simply -- if people want to agree, they will; and if they don't, they won't".
As R.P.BenDedek says: "It is WRONG to INSIST that I MUST believe, act and think in accordance with your wishes. If you need to FORCE me, then whatever you are selling is a LIE and I'm not buying it!"
When Pauline Hanson was in Parliament, preachers such as Robert Hughes enthusiastically condemned the innate racism of the Australian people. There were numerous gleeful predictions of suburban pogroms. But what happened was that nearly all the violence flowed the other way. At Hanson's apogee, hundreds of people would demonstrate outside her meetings, abusing, and in some cases spitting on and attacking, those who came to see her. Many were frightened away. It was possibly the most disgraceful episode in the recent history of our democracy. Strangely, it went almost completely uncriticised by the educated middle classes.
The sad truth for middle-class moralisers is that most Australians are unhelpfully non-racist. The book How Australia Compares, by Rodney Tiffen and Ross Gittins, includes the result of a 1990s survey on the sorts of people who were not desired as neighbours. Some of the respondent percentages were: drug addicts 74, heavy drinkers 60, people with a criminal record 45, emotionally unstable 38, and immigrants and people from a different race 5. Only 5 per cent! And that was the lowest in the list of countries surveyed: Austria and Belgium 20 per cent, Japan 17, France, Italy and Germany 13.
The Origins of Political Correctness : An Accuracy in Academia Address
We call it "Political Correctness." The name originated as something of a joke, literally in a comic strip, and we tend still to think of it as only half-serious. In fact, it's deadly serious. It is the great disease of our century, the disease that has left tens of millions of people dead in Europe, in Russia, in China, indeed around the world. It is the disease of ideology. PC is not funny. PC is deadly serious.
If we look at it analytically, if we look at it historically, we quickly find out exactly what it is. Political Correctness is cultural Marxism. It is Marxism translated from economic into cultural terms. It is an effort that goes back not to the 1960s and the hippies and the peace movement, but back to World War I. If we compare the basic tenets of Political Correctness with classical Marxism the parallels are very obvious.
The UNHRC's resolution effectively delegitimized Israel's right to exist by denying that it has a right to defend its territory and its people from illegal aggression carried out by an illegal terrorist organization.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency's virulently anti-Israel chairman, announced a deal has been reached between Iran and the US, Russia and France regarding Iran's nuclear program.
But now that the administration has agreed to an accord that effectively transforms America into a facilitator of Iran's nuclear weapons program, the time has come for Israel to start voicing its objections.
I think it is time for us to realise that there is something going on in the United Nations that is working within an agenda far removed from Democratic Principles and Personal Freedoms that we expect.
"The Patriarchs' Route" in Gush Etzion also passes through an area known as Netzer, located between the Elazar and Alon Shvut communities. The Netzer area is built on terraces that assemble a spectacularly beautiful, green mosaic; green grapes twining alongside old olive trees in plots of varying shapes and sizes, and in the pre-Spring season the Netzer space looks like a Claude Monet masterpiece: the green background is spotted with the pink and white of the almond trees at the peak of their bloom. But this pastoral bubble bursts the moment we 'zoom-in' on the photo, then we discover a real battle for this land and the future of the country, with the innocent plants often standing like soldiers on the frontline.
A key portion of the meeting was White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC) Director Cecilia Munoz outlining President Obama's overall immigration reform proposal that includes creating a pathway to citizenship for up to 11-million illegal aliens. In my discussion with the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Safety and Border Security, I mentioned that a potential "State of State Emergency" might be unfolding, and deliberate steps might have to be taken by the State of Arizona to protect its' own sovereignty and welfare."
When we arrived, we noted that this place really was a resort centre. It had wave pools and other interesting things for people to enjoy, and even accommodated school tour groups with dormitory style accomodation. Opposite the breakfast room was a swimming complex, in the front of which was a very interesting sign. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to bring my .38 Smith and Wesson. When we went in for breakfast, we saw that the next room was set up for a wedding, and discovered that it was 'our' wedding reception. Taking a 'sticky beak', I noted that there were no knives on any of the tables. 'Ahah! Thank God I brought that solid clear plastic knife with me!'.. The whole time before and after the actual church service, the local beggars were inside the church hitting everyone for money. Oh the guilt of refusing a pittance for the poor in the house of God, but I was advised to give no one anything, for that would be more effective than the 'last trump' for the dead. All the beggars would arrive. Not that this mattered at all. Who was carrying money?
A Male Steward came off the plane and walked over to me and said: "It's alright! We aren't going to leave without you! Calm down! Catch your breath!" The 'So and So' was right. It was still another 30 minutes before we took off! I on the other hand was watching the driver through his rear view mirror. He seemed to be blinking an awful lot and his driving was a little erratic. Not that that is unusual in China, but when you are on the highway and you have 3 or 4 lanes to choose from and very little traffic, you would think that you could drive in at least one or two of those lanes for more than 500 meters at a time.
Anyway, I was not the kind of child that hung around and did nothing. I had to have my own adventures and make discoveries of this new place we were to call our home away from home. There was a huge Combined British Military Hospital and a Family Hospital attached to it. At first I avoided the Military Hospital, because the nurses and the orderlies who saw me loitering around might question me and then report this to my father who was the officer in charge.
Definition: King's Calendar Chronological Research
The Premise: Between the 5th and 3rd centuries BCE (but continuing down to at least 104 BCE), Sectarian redactors transcribed the legitimate 'solar year' chronological records of Israel and Judah, into an artificial form, with listed years as each comprised of 12 months of 4 weeks of 7 days, or 336 days per year, thus creating a 13th artificial year where 12 solar years existed.
When the Synchronous Chronological Data provided in the Books of Kings and Chronicles for the Divided Kingdom Period are measured in years of 336 days, the synchronisms actually align. [Refer to Appendix 5. to see how it synchronises the Divided Kingdom Period]
About the KingsCalendar Publisher
R.P.BenDedek is the owner and Editor of KingsCalendar.com which was originally set up to publicize his research results into the Chronology of Ancient Israel. Those results were published under the title: 'The King's Calendar: The Secret of Qumran'.
Whilst there have been many attempts to solve the chronological riddle of the Bible's synchronisms of reigns of the kings of Israel and Judah and their synchronism with other Ancient Near Eastern Nations, no other research is based on a simple mathematical formula which could, if it is incorrect, be disproved easily. To date, no one has been able to dismiss the mathematical results of this research.
Free to air Academic articles set forth Apologetics for and results of his discovery of an "artificial chronological scheme" running through the Bible, Josephus, the Damascus Documents of the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Seder Olam Rabbah.
During the current economic downturn, this book has been drastically reduced in price but will eventually rise as the economy improves.
Check the Chapter Precis Page to see details of each chapter and to gain access to the Four Free to Air Chapters
R.P. BenDedek writes social commentaries and photographic 'Stories from China' both at KingsCalendar, and as a contributing columnist at Magic City Morning Star News in Maine USA.
(He has been teaching Conversational English in China since 2003 and currently (2013) is teaching in Suzhou City Jiangsu Province.)
Academic Deception: History Lies: Challenging the Math that Biased (Anti-Biblical) Historians use to demonstrate the Length of King Nebuchadrezzar's Reign. Nothing in this article actually contradicts the Egyptian, Assyrian or Babylonian Records of events that transpired during the period from 609 BCE to 562 BCE. This article does not in any way dispute the Archaeological Evidence.
Assyria, Babylon, 7th Century BCE: Josiah: Nebuchadrezzar: Concealed within the Biblical Texts are difficulties that go unnoticed when one in ignorance accepts the word of historians, as to the timing of the actual event, for in fact, there is absolutely no evidence to support the historical contention that King Josiah died in 609 BCE in what historians insist was an incident related to The Battle for Haran, in the 17th year of Nabopolassar. A cursory reading of Thiele (1966, preface - p.10), and Wiseman (1985, p.33), will offer some understanding of the lengths to which academics go, (and to which they will disagree), in order to understand and solve complex issues involved.
LXX and MSS Bible Texts: Septuagint, Masorete, Bible Dates: Because the academic world cannot understand Biblical chronology, they assume that the fault lies with the record. If the Biblical information is no longer correct, then modern Academics demonstrate a highly unscientific approach to history, when they quote Scripture to support various archaeological and Historical propositions. When they do this, they are quite clearly 'manipulating' the public". The earliest, and best known, source for the story of the Septuagint is the Letter of Aristeas, a lengthy document that recalls how Ptolemy (Philadelphus II [285?47 BCE]), desiring to augment his library in Alexandria, Egypt, commissioned a translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek.
Who were the Patriarchs of Israel? Adam to Noah to Abraham: Judges of Israel: Israel Timeline charts: Citations and References for students from over 100 Academic publications: The file contains chronological details as listed in the Septuagint, the Masorete, Josephus and Seder Olam Rabbah. It relates how long the Patriarchs lived and how old they were when their sons were born. It forms a footnote to Six different articles at King's Calendar.
As Mr.Schwartz says, it is healthier to vent anger (at the time you feel anger, rather than let it build up until it explodes into violence).
What does it mean to be 'un-Australian'? We have had genuine Australian culture and attitudes wiped out by those wishing to force upon us some 'multicultural' ideal.
As for the 'reacist' nature of the violence, it is not hard at all to understand. This is a natural consequence of punishing people who open their mouths to express their negative opinions about 'others'.
When you are not given the liberty to speak what is on your mind for fear of legal action, you suppress your feelings which only exacerbates the situation until like Mt. Vesuvius you finally explode.
As for Middle Eastern 'gangs' - or any other for that matter, that has as much to do with Anti-Australian Racism, as it does with Anti-Immigrant Racism, and probably, truth be told, 'nothing at all to do with racism!'
Frankly, I fail to see how anyone could be disgusted or shocked by these events. They were predictable, and many writers including myself have warned of the consequences of 'too much too soon' and the tension which comes from 'reverse racism'.
When people are branded 'racist' or 'criminal' for saying what they think, they shut up, and eventually they lash out.
Venting Anger (expressing your opinion) is good for the soul. If you can't express yourself freely, then you will do it violently. [if you can't understand this then trying reading some psyche books on the subject]
What has happened as a result of this, is that Australians are beginning to feel under obligation to become what they are not, and to adopt cultural practices or ideas with which they have no affinity, and in the process, feel that they cannot 'be natural', 'speak the truth' about anything, or 'have an opinion' that is not officially sanctioned.
It's like being in a pressure cooker, and one day, there will be a violent explosion, as average Australians refuse to be told what to think and believe and feel about just about everything.
One of the results of these constant accusations that 'we Australians' are racists, is that 'we Australians' feel that 'we' in fact, are the victims of 'reverse racism'. Our culture, our traditions and especially our religious beliefs are publicly denigrated, despite the fact that such behaviour is by definition, discriminatory.
I think it is fair to say, that Australians could care less where you come from, what religion you are, what language you speak, or what your affiliations are, as long as you make the effort to 'be Australian'; to be one of us, and not 'one of them!'
