Liberty's Flame

"Why Young Americans Are Not Taught about Evil"

Source:	Jewish World Review
Published:	Aug 29, 2024
Author:	Dennis Prager
Post Date:	2024-09-06 10:38:27 by Mudboy Slim
Views:	8982

Most of our schools teach almost nothing of importance, and nothing is more important than the study of good and evil. In the United States today, nearly all schools, from elementary through graduate, concentrate on teaching about racism, sexism, preferred pronouns, homophobia, transphobia, LGBTQIA+, climate change, diversity, equity, inclusiveness and white guilt. In other words, most of our educational institutions, including the most prestigious, do not educate.

Here are a few proofs.

It is almost certain that the great majority of American high school and college students (with the obvious exceptions of Christian students) could not name the Four Gospels (presuming they even know what they are); five of the Ten Commandments (presuming they know what those are); or the names of two Shakespeare plays. Most American students know little about the American Revolution, let alone about the French or Russian Revolutions. The same holds true for the Constitution and every other American founding document. It is doubtful that, other than Washington and Jefferson having owned slaves, American students know anything about these men or could name two other Founders.

When it comes to evil, the ignorance is enormous, often almost total. For example, according to Pew, about half of Americans ages 18-39 cannot identify Auschwitz or any other Nazi death camp. And there is every reason to assume that much fewer than half could identify the Gulag Archipelago (20 million-plus murdered); the Ukrainian forced famine (5 to 6 million murdered in a little over a year); Mao's Great Leap Forward (about 60 million murdered); or Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge (about one in every four Cambodians murdered).

As noted, almost no one outside of Russia has ever heard of the Russian Civil War, let alone knows anything about it. One reason is that the winners, the communists, had no desire that people know about it. Yet, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, about 10 million people, the great majority noncombatants, were killed.

Why don't students know about evil?

The first reason is that nearly all the genocides of the 20th century were committed by communists, and the Left, which runs virtually all educational institutions, has always had a soft spot for communism. If people were to recognize that communism has been the greatest source of evil in the modern age in terms of numbers murdered, number of lives destroyed, liberty stolen, and the sheer amount of human suffering inflicted (greater by those metrics than those of the Nazis before they were forcibly stopped), the Left would lose much of its appeal.

Another reason is the foolish notion that people are basically good. This has been a left-wing belief since the French Enlightenment leader Jean-Jacques Rousseau came up with the idea. As he wrote in his book, "On Philosophy, Morality, and Religion," "Man is a naturally good being, loving justice and order; there is no natural perversity in the human heart... All the vices imputed to the human heart are not natural to it."

This nonsense had been foreign to the Western mind. Its view of humanity was rooted in the Bible, and neither Bible-based religion — Judaism or Christianity — affirmed the goodness of the human heart. As Genesis states, "The will of man's heart is evil from his youth," and the rest of the Bible repeatedly warns us against following our hearts.

However, as the West began to abandon the Bible, including belief in the God of the Bible, Westerners began to believe in man. As Marx put it, "Man is God." People had no choice. For if there is no God to believe in, one must believe in man — or one has literally nothing to believe in. Therefore, belief in man's inherent goodness became both psychologically and philosophically necessary.

A third reason follows from the second. With the exception of the mass murder of the Armenians (which was committed by Muslim Turks), the genocides and the other horrors of the 20th century were committed by secular regimes. Given the centrality of secularism to leftism, this fact has been kept from young people. Likewise, the fact that all these genocides were committed by big governments is not taught to young people because big government is also central to left-wing ideology. In other words, a true depiction of the evils of the 20th century would mean the end of the two pillars of left-wing ideology: secularism and big government.

If you want to make a more moral world, you must begin with the study of evil. But, for the reasons enumerated here, the Left is not — and cannot be — interested in fighting real evil. So, the Left fights made-up evils: American systemic racism, transphobia, capitalism, carbon emissions, sexism and former President Donald Trump, to name a few.

This is why young people know almost nothing about evil. The Left doesn't want them to know about it. Because knowledge of evil inevitably leads directly to rejection of the Left.

Post Comment Private Reply

#1: Vicomte13 To: Mudboy Slim (#0)

I’ll discuss this with you. It’s important. What IS “evil”, and how do you know? Is “evil” shorthand for “whatever I don’t like”? Or is it an objective standard? If it’s objective, where do I find the exact standard? (In other words, “Who sez?”) To answer “The Bible” is a cop out, becaufse the Bible is a sprawling thing filled with contradictory rules. Let me give you one: in the Torah, God says that the if the daughter of a priest has unmarried sex, she is to be burned alive. We don’t do that nowadays, but God commanded it. So, if the Bible is the standard, are we evil for NOT doing it? On the other hand, if we went out and did it I, at least, and I expect 98% of humanity, would say that was evil and barbaric, and that I should not be exalted for “obeying the Lord”, but should be at least imprisoned, and perhaps put to death for it. Would that be just? Or would I be a martyr.

One answer to this, sticking to the Bible, would be to say “Jesus changed all of that.” Note that if one asserts this, one is contradicting God, who said in Deuteronomy that the law can never be changed. Some Christians say it wasn’t. Others say it was. Still others say that that law never applied to anyone except Jews anyway. This difference of opinion causes some Christians to call others “evil” because they don’t agree with them on what the Bible means. Are they right? Or is just one group right (the ones who interpret the Bible rightly - in other words, the people you agree with - and everybody else is evil)?

Jesus said, regarding the woman caught in adultery who was to be stoned “Let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone.” And then he, who is said to have been without sin himself, also said “I don’t condemn you eithe,” thus directly overruling the law handed down by God. Was Jesus evil? If he was changing a law that said it could not be change, was he breaking the law or, as God, did he have the absolute right to change any sovereign law? This would be plausible, except he said “Note a jot nor a tittle shall pass from the law until all is fulfilled.” Was “all fulfilled” when he let the adulteress go? In other words “not a jot not a bottle shall pass from the law for a year and two months?” Is it evil of me to point out these glaring discrepancies in the Bible?

What it comes down to is this: I know what evil is, you know what evil is, Jesus knew what evil was, and so did Yahweh, but we have four different versions of evil here.

So yes, evil IS important, but what IS evil, exactly? I’ll tell you what I think it is: Iit is being cruel to others - physically, mentally, economically - all of it. My definition of evil does NOT align with Yahweh in the Old Testament. Eating pork, gathering wood on Saturday, and having sex with your wife during her period are NOT evil, at all, and yeah, you SHALL suffer a “witch” to live. It does NOT align with Allah. No, you will NOT beat your wives and fuck your slaves. It does NOT align with the various churches and all of their weird mental games. It DOES align with Jesus, how he said to treat people.

And by those standards, being good is covalent with being charitable, NOT with being Christian.

Vicomte13 posted on 2024-09-17 08:21:57 Reply Private Reply

#2: Mudboy Slim To: All (#0)

Regards...MUD

Mudboy Slim posted on 2024-09-17 09:38:56 Reply Private Reply

#3: Mudboy Slim To: Vicomte13 (#1)

Very interesting discussion. V13...just letting you know I'm impressed.

Regards...MUD

Mudboy Slim posted on 2024-09-17 15:55:27 Reply Private Reply

#4: A K A Stone To: Vicomte13 (#1)

Is “evil” shorthand for “whatever I don’t like”

Yes that is true for me.

A K A Stone posted on 2024-09-17 21:01:17 Reply Private Reply

#5: A K A Stone To: Vicomte13 (#1)

Not believing Gods word is evil according to God himself. It will send you to the fiery place.

A K A Stone posted on 2024-09-17 21:03:09 Reply Private Reply

#6: Vicomte13 To: A K A Stone (#5)

Ok. WHICH words? Don’t eat pork, this law can never change? Do no work on Saturday, this word will never change? If anyone tells you the law has changed, he’s a false prophet, kill him? Nothing that goes into a man’s mouth defiles him? Peter, take and eat these unclean things? Take the daughter of the priest who has sex out of wedlock and burn her alive? Stone adulteresses? Let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone? I don’t condemn you either? Jesus directly contradicts Yahweh. You make up which ones you accept and which ones you reject, and say that’s “The Bible”. Why on earth do you think that YOU’RE right and everyone else is wrong? Because you have “more faith”?

Vicomte13 posted on 2024-09-19 11:09:32 Reply Private Reply

#7: A K A Stone To: Vicomte13 (#6)

Why on earth do you think that YOU’RE right and everyone else is wrong?

I'm not always right. I'm right probably 95 percent of the time.

A K A Stone posted on 2024-09-19 23:02:44 Reply Private Reply

#8: Vicomte13 To: A K A Stone (#7)

Ok. So, must we kill witches, per the Bible, or not? And if not, why not?

Vicomte13 posted on 2024-09-20 10:46:14 Reply Private Reply

#9: A K A Stone To: Vicomte13 (#8)

Do you think witches are evil?

Do you think Jesus says gosh I love what those witches are doing.? Do what they do.

A K A Stone posted on 2024-09-20 21:35:18 Reply Private Reply

#10: A K A Stone To: Vicomte13 (#8)

Do you hunt deer out of season?

A K A Stone posted on 2024-09-20 21:36:32 Reply Private Reply

#11: A K A Stone To: Vicomte13 (#6)

Don’t eat pork, this law can never change?

You are so confused.

Then there are the hygienic concerns related to the Law’s dietary restrictions, including the ban on eating pork. It is well known today that pork carries any number of diseases, and the meat requires stricter cooking techniques than other meats such as beef or poultry. In Moses’ day, there was no knowledge of microscopic pathogens, and the cultural norm was to eat raw or under-cooked meat (Leviticus 19:26). Of course, eating under-cooked pork would have posed a significant health threat to the Israelites, but God providentially protected them through the Mosaic Law. “If you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you” (Exodus 15:26).

www.gotquestions.org/eating-pork.html

A K A Stone posted on 2024-09-20 21:41:24 Reply Private Reply

#12: Vicomte13 To: A K A Stone (#11)

It is not a matter of what I think when it comes to the Bible. It is a matter of what it says. It says “You shall not suffer a witch to live.” I did not make that up. What I think about witches is irrelevant to the conversation. The Bible says they exist, and directs the people to whom it is addressed to kill them. Period. Should we kill witches, yes or no?

The Bible says that the daughter of the priest who has sex out of wedlock is to be burned. Should we burn priests’ daughters, yes or no?

Your own morality should be screaming NO.

But the Bible says it. You can try to twist off the hook by saying that Jesus came. He did, but he said “Not a jot nor a tittle shall pass from the law until all is fulfilled.” And the law, for its part, says in Deuteronomy that it can never change, and that anybody who says it has changed is a false prophet who is to be killed.

So, if you say this is all true, do you say that all witches should be killed by men, and all sexually unchaste daughters of priests should be burned by men. Yes or no?

Vicomte13 posted on 2024-09-21 06:24:34 Reply Private Reply

#13: Mudboy Slim To: A K A Stone (#11)

That is the first time I've seen that explanation for the Bible's warnings against eating pork. Interesting...but I have always loved me some Carolina (pork) BBQ.

Mudboy Slim posted on 2024-09-21 18:19:27 Reply Private Reply

#14: Vicomte13 To: Mudboy Slim (#13)

Sure. And when it comes to not eating oysters and other sheefish, remember: Israel is the coastline right at the mouth of the Nile, which is to say, the natural sewer for millions of people for thousands of year. God said to the Jews - remember, his law was not for the world, it was explicitly for the Jews of Palestine - “Don’t eat shellfish” - which is to say “Don’t eat bottom feeders grown in the muck of the local sewer.” Good advice for ancient Israel. Had the Promised Land been Norway, God wouldn’t have forbidden shellfish. This highlights the point that it never was a law “for the world”, it was ALWAYS a law just for the Jews of Palestine. The law even says so, for what did the Jews get for keeping the whole covenant? Eternal life? He’s an? No, nothing like that. God promised the Prosperity in THIS life on a secure farm in Israel. That’s it. That’s all. If you don’t believe m, go read it. So, what happens if I don’t burn in haste daughters or kill witches? No farm for me in Israel… but I wouldn’t have gotten that anyway, given that I don’t live there and am not descended from Abraham.

Vicomte13 posted on 2024-09-22 13:49:31 Reply Private Reply

#15: A K A Stone To: Vicomte13 (#14)

Jews of Palestine

No such thing as Jews of Palestine. There are Jews of Israel.

A K A Stone posted on 2024-09-22 17:53:27 Reply Private Reply

#16: A K A Stone To: Vicomte13 (#12)

Would you hunt deer out of season?

A K A Stone posted on 2024-09-22 17:54:36 Reply Private Reply

#17: Vicomte13 To: A K A Stone (#15)

Palestine, Israel - same place. The point stands.

Vicomte13 posted on 2024-09-22 22:37:28 Reply Private Reply

#18: A K A Stone To: Vicomte13 (#17)

That is like saying vic dick same thing.

A K A Stone posted on 2024-09-22 22:50:37 Reply Private Reply

#19: Mudboy Slim To: Vicomte13 (#1)

Brainwashing tens of millions of gullible voters into hating their opposition so much they want them DEAD qualifies for EVIL, imho...MUD

Mudboy Slim posted on 2024-09-23 09:47:25 Reply Private Reply

#20: Vicomte13 To: Mudboy Slim (#19)

We’ll see how the election goes. I’ll be voting for Trump, but I live in Connecticut, so my vote will make zero difference.

Vicomte13 posted on 2024-09-24 18:00:47 Reply Private Reply

#21: Mudboy Slim To: Vicomte13 (#20)

Rumor is that Virginia is in play, but with all the DeeCeeRATZ in NOVA dependent upon on ever-expanding Federal Leviathan (aka Kamalaconomy/ObamaNationII), it will take a Herculean turnout from the rest of the state to make a Trump victory possible...MUD

Mudboy Slim posted on 2024-09-25 09:09:37 Reply Private Reply

#22: Vicomte13 To: Mudboy Slim (#21)

The whole “pets of Springfield” snafu is unfortunate, Hopefully Trump can move past that. It had a Biden-esque quality to it reminding people who support him of Trump’s age. It’s gonna be close, and given that the tone has been “How dare you even SUGGEST that there’s fraud in US elections!” I expect that the Democrat fraud nachines in Philadelphia, Detroit and Las Vegas may be enough to add a winning quarter of a point to Democrat totals. But we’ll see.

Vicomte13 posted on 2024-09-25 15:54:19 Reply Private Reply

#23: Mudboy Slim To: Vicomte13 (#22)

I don't consider the Springfield pets disappearing a snafu whatsoever. It ended up focusing attention on the intolerable living conditions being imposed upon good Americans by a tyrannical Federal Leviathan. Sure, the RAT-media made it out to be a racist slur...but WeThePeople lay the blame less on the Illegals than on the DeeCeeRATZ who enabled this clusterf***.

Regards...MUD

Mudboy Slim posted on 2024-09-25 20:11:57 Reply Private Reply

#24: A K A Stone To: Vicomte13 (#22)

The whole “pets of Springfield” snafu is unfortunate,

x.com/charliekirk11/status/1835851444563722611

A K A Stone posted on 2024-09-26 11:33:02 Reply Private Reply

#25: A K A Stone To: Vicomte13 (#22)

The whole “pets of Springfield” snafu is unfortunate,

You live in a bubble of rich people who don't experience the real world in many ways.

x.com/i/status/1837257 775115542645

Here the city manager of Springfield admits he has heard about it too.

A K A Stone posted on 2024-09-26 11:39:46 Reply Private Reply

#26: A K A Stone To: Vicomte13 (#22)

A K A Stone posted on 2024-09-26 11:47:20 Reply Private Reply

#27: Vicomte13 To: A K A Stone (#24)

Pretty good. Let’s hope Trump wins.

Vicomte13 posted on 2024-09-27 11:38:15 Reply Private Reply

#28: Vicomte13 To: A K A Stone (#25)

Perhaps. More like I live on the Coast, that is doing better than the interior (though not well), and it is better, when speaking here, to stick to the facts. Trump’s “Haitians eating pets” was not really true in Springfield. That it’s being overrun is true. Wish he’d have focused on that.

Vicomte13 posted on 2024-09-27 11:41:01 Reply Private Reply

#29: Mudboy Slim To: All (#0)