My first mistake was believing,
I could negotiate with terrorists.
My second mistake was thinking,
that I was only bargaining for my soul.
But then it dawned on me, that if I failed,
I would be jeopardizing the world.
This is what happens,
when you let things go for too long,
because if you forfeit your soul,
you have to deceive somebody else
into being a proxy for yours,
and keep it going from there.
This is why culture-wars never cease:
the war against illiberal democracy;
the war against corrupt politicians;
and the war against evil capitalists.
I’m standing on a slippery slope,
because the devil
doesn’t just desire my righteous soul,
his legions want even more.
By: ElRoyPoet © 2023
Nietzsche and Nihilism – A Warning to the West
“How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause? Quote by: Sophia Magdalena Scholl was a 21 year old German student and anti-fascist political activist, active within the White Rose non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany.
“However, I feel anger and frustration at those who simply looked away. I’m now convinced by hard experience that much, if not most, evil is protected and prolonged by good people who choose not to see or hear. But we are each other’s keepers, and by God’s grace—as well as by the power of the internet, good journalism and truth tellers everywhere—it is harder and harder for us to look away. What we do once we face suffering and injustice, of course, remains to be seen.” Excerpt from We got here because too many good people put their head in the sand
“Satanic panics exists for the same reason that the vast majority of conspiracy theories and hate-driven hoaxes exist. They revolve around scapegoating those seen as having lifestyles and social mores regarded as abhorrent to the perceived majority. They turn outsiders into enemies, unexplainable events into smaller pieces of a vast plot, and make their believers feel they have secret and special knowledge that separates them from the masses.
Those who see Satan in the gyrations of Rihanna or the lighting in a speech by Biden believe they can divine information that others can’t, and they take that information and wrap it into the worldview they already have. And that worldview often puts them at the center of a vast battle between good and evil, one that doesn’t require understanding or empathizing with the views and actions of others, only destroying them, because they are bad and out to harm you and innocent children.
Despite the differences in speed and technology between the 1980s and now, the motivation ends up being the same: concern for children and decaying morality that curdles into obsession, paranoia, and scapegoating. And in both the 1980s panic and the more recent hysteria, no children are actually saved. Excerpt from Welcome to America’s new, digital Satanic Panic
“Though liberty is established by law, we must be vigilant, for liberty to enslave us is always present under that same liberty. Our Constitution speaks of the ‘general welfare of the people’. Under that phrase all sorts of excesses can be employed by [authoritarian] tyrants—to make us bondsmen.” By: Marcus Tullius Cicero
The Golden Rule: “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Bible, Matthew 7:12
Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wild. For forty wilderness days and nights he was tested by the Devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when the time was up he was hungry. The Devil, playing on his hunger, gave the first test: “Since you’re God’s Son, command this stone to turn into a loaf of bread.” Jesus answered by quoting Deuteronomy: “It takes more than bread to really live.” For the second test he led him up and spread out all the kingdoms of the earth on display at once. Then the Devil said, “They’re yours in all their splendor to serve your pleasure. I’m in charge of them all and can turn them over to whomever I wish. Worship me and they’re yours, the whole works.” Jesus refused, again backing his refusal with Deuteronomy: “Worship the Lord your God and only the Lord your God. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.” For the third test the Devil took him to Jerusalem and put him on top of the Temple. He said, “If you are God’s Son, jump. It’s written, isn’t it, that ‘he has placed you in the care of angels to protect you; they will catch you; you won’t so much as stub your toe on a stone’?” “Yes,” said Jesus, “and it’s also written, ‘Don’t you dare tempt the Lord your God.’” That completed the testing. The Devil retreated temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity. The Message, Luke 4:1-13
Freeman Poet 