Christianity & Culture

I can’t explain why. I can’t tell you what I think because I still can’t put my finger on it.

I just know I’m not buying the Charlie Kirk thing.

The entire thing is off in so many ways.

Is anyone else feeling this way?

I haven’t had time to dig into it. I’ve seen different videos here and there in my feeds, but haven’t had time to look at any and analyze them.

This was a 9/11-like mass trauma event inflicted on Christians and conservative Americans.

There is one person, in particular, involved with the entire thing who makes me uncomfortable. But I don’t want to name this person because I can’t explain why.

The whole thing is just weird to me. Something’s really off.

We’ve not been told the real story.

Note: Discussion in comments

Photo credit: Charlie Kirk (53952923573) Wikicommons

That’s it. That’s what the post is about. How are you doing? I’ve been thinking about everyone here in the midst of regular life that’s taken a lot of my time and attention. I hope you’ll share in the comments where you are in the process of thinking and dealing with the recent events. Maybe we can all help each other out in this respect now that the initial shock has worn off.

I know the last week and a half has been a life-altering time period for many American citizens. I had less of a reaction to the Charlie Kirk assassination than many people and I’ve tried to figure out why.

One, I didn’t follow Charlie Kirk. I watched his video clips here and there, but I wasn’t invested in his work like I have been other people. So the deeply personal connection wasn’t there for me.

But, more importantly, I think it’s because over the past six years I’ve already gone through so many emotions as I’ve dug into All The Things that at some point I started to detach myself from the emotions of it all. (Except righteous anger. I’ve still got plenty of that.) I’ve been horrified so many times by what I’ve learned that I don’t think Charlie’s execution could have shocked me the same way it did people who aren’t aware of what’s actually going on around them. It’s not that I don’t care because I do. But I realized a long time ago that if I continued to read and write about these things, I had to detach myself emotionally from it all. Dealing with All The Horrific Things has worn me out.

So this felt like One More Horrific Thing to process but not respond to emotionally. I don’t say that to minimize it. I felt the same way about the assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler. Both assassination attempts have felt like The Next Horrific Thing of this arduous and exhausting journey we are on as a country. It’s not that I couldn’t be emotional about them. I’m simply functioning in a more detached way than most Americans at this point.

What did move me was thinking about Charlie’s children. I cannot imagine trying to explain to tiny children why their wonderful dad is simply never going to come home from his last trip. As a mother, that breaks me up.

I’ve also been moved to think about Charlie’s family. So much attention has been geared toward his wife and children (with good reason). But his original family suffered a great loss as well. I saw a picture of his father and he was clearly heartbroken. So I feel compassion toward them as well.

After seeing how those under 30 (who aren’t completely deranged) responded to this event, it gives me more hope for the future.

Now to unravel all the related stories about Israel.

Photo credit

I wrote this post the morning of September 9. I decided not to finish and publish it because I was weary and this is such a difficult topic. Here’s the proof for anyone who wants it.

and

The other post mentioned in the first screenshot is one I moved over from my now-closed website. I had moved it, but not republished it. It’s now been published here: Does Israel Run America?

The original post from September 9 follows the gray line. Even though it wasn’t done, I’ve resisted the urge to edit it any further so that it is only what I wrote on the morning of September 9 before everything transpired the next day. There will be another gray line break at the end where I will add a few more observations written today.

Here are two visuals that are very related. How does this situation in America get resolved? I’ve pondered this question a lot and have no answer.

My comments continue after the screenshots.

and

The Tyler of the above screenshot is someone I’ve exchanged comments with on Truth Social. I have no idea who he is, but we’ve interacted multiple times. I left this comment on his status.

How do you think this is going to play out and/or be resolved? I’ve tried to figure out how the Truth (whatever it is) can be persuasively presented to Americans and bring resolution to this ever widening and contentious subject. I can’t see how that happens. I really can’t. Maybe because I don’t have access to all of the Truth that can be provided? But how to get the overwhelming majority of Americans on the same page with this particular issue seems borderline impossible, especially if the Truth goes in one particular direction.

He replied:

I can possibly see one way, attempted New Testament ban. I can’t imagine they would have the stones to try it, cause the hornets nest would be kicked indefinitely. Let’s see what happens~

This idea of banning the New Testament (or at least specific verses) has been floated by some so Tyler didn’t just pull that out of thin air. How would you respond to a Jewish push for a ban on parts of the New Testament because it promotes “anti-semitism” and is therefore considered “hate speech”?

I told David this morning that some Evangelical Christians would probably rush to defend those seeking to ban the New Testament. Ever heard of Stockholm Syndrome?

From Britannica on Stockholm syndrome:

Stockholm syndrome, psychological response wherein a captive begins to identify closely with his or her captors, as well as with their agenda and demands.

The name of the syndrome is derived from a botched bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden. In August 1973 four employees of Sveriges Kreditbank were held hostage in the bank’s vault for six days. During the standoff, a seemingly incongruous bond developed between captive and captor. One hostage, during a telephone call with Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, stated that she fully trusted her captors but feared that she would die in a police assault on the building.

The most infamous example of Stockholm syndrome may be that involving kidnapped newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst. In 1974, some 10 weeks after being taken hostage by the Symbionese Liberation Army, Hearst helped her kidnappers rob a California bank. But it was during the hostage crisis in Iran (1979–81) that the Stockholm syndrome worked its way into the public imagination. The syndrome was also cited after the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847. Although passengers underwent a hostage ordeal that lasted more than two weeks, upon their release some were openly sympathetic to the demands of their kidnappers. Another example involved Westerners kidnapped by Islamist militants in Lebanon. Hostages Terry Anderson (held 1985–91), Terry Waite (1987–91), and Thomas Sutherland (1985–91) all claimed that they had been treated well by their captors, despite the fact that they had often been held in solitary confinement and chained up in small, unclean cells. Similar responses were exhibited by the hostages held at the Japanese embassy in Peru in 1996–97.

Psychologists who have studied the syndrome believe that the bond is initially created when a captor threatens a captive’s life, deliberates, and then chooses not to kill the captive. The captive’s relief at the removal of the death threat is transposed into feelings of gratitude toward the captor for giving him or her life. As the Stockholm bank robbery incident proves, it takes only a few days for this bond to cement, proving that, early on, the victim’s desire to survive trumps the urge to hate the person who created the situation.

The survival instinct is at the heart of the Stockholm syndrome. Victims live in enforced dependence and interpret rare or small acts of kindness in the midst of horrible conditions as good treatment. They often become hypervigilant to the needs and demands of their captors, making psychological links between the captors’ happiness and their own. Indeed, the syndrome is marked not only by a positive bond between captive and captor but also by a negative attitude on behalf of the captive toward authorities who threaten the captor-captive relationship. The negative attitude is especially powerful when the hostage is of no use to the captors except as leverage against a third party, as has often been the case with political hostages.

When I say I have no idea how this is going to get resolved, I really mean I have no idea. I know how I think it should be resolved, but I don’t have access to the information I would need to know if I’m correct.

I now wonder if the assassination of Charlie Kirk is the way the Truth will come out.

If you’ve seen some of the stuff being discussed online about how these two topics intersect (Charlie and Israel), you will know exactly what I mean.

There are multiple stories from (allegedly – because who knows any longer) reliable sources that Charlie was concerned for his safety after openly questioning some of the narratives related to Israel’s impact on the United States, October 7, etc. There are multiple videos of Charlie discussing these topics in recent weeks on shows and podcasts with men with significant platforms. He was apparently under tremendous pressure to stop platforming Tucker Carlson (who has been an outspoken critic of a particular foreign government) and was facing losing his last major donor. And on and on.

I don’t know what the complete Truth is. I know what I think the Truth is, but I can’t prove it. But I know that until the Truth about this particular matter comes out, the USA will not heal and be made whole.

I’ll close with a screenshot from the time in spring 2024 when Congress was passing yet another anti-semitism bill as our country was collapsing all around us.