WYSWYG

I was reading the local newspaper, oft-times referred to as “the Zero”, and found several seemingly unrelated articles. Therw was a link between them – “perception”. The first article was worried that the president is “perceived” to be a Muslim. The second article pondered the perception that Muslims are not peaceful or peace-loving. Another article wondered why the American people can’t perceive how great the economy is doing. There are other examples of things not perceived as the liberal progressives think we ought to do so – “the border is more secure than it has ever been”, “the Tea Party is populated by racist homophobe bigoted trailer trash red-neck fools”, etc.

Which brings me to What You See is What You Get: I don’t believe that we Americans are misunderstanding what we are seeing daily from our leaders, and the world around us. If perhaps we were discussing a fleeting incident, happening only once and flashing by at that, then maybe you could chalk it up to mis-perception. We have read, or seen, statistics that show for any group of witnesses to an event there are at least as many versions of the event as there are witnesses. But like watching a commercial on TV, or listening to a song; repetition begins to crystallize what is being seen or heard. With personal behavior, what is observed has more impact, than what is said. When a wife-beater says, “I love you,” but still smacks his wife around we conclude that perhaps he doesn’t, or has sick and twisted version of love. In any case, we don’t want any part of it. When a person says he is a Christian, but shows few outward signs (aka: hypocrite) we can doubt his salvation. Yes, I know that this is between him and God, and I am glad I do not have to make that judgment.

Is the president a Muslim or a Christian? I don’t know – but I have some observations. Based on his actions, I think perhaps he is a socialist, a secular humanist. He is a believer in social justice, a social gospel. His foundation, background, upbringing leads me to believe this. The church he 'attended' in Chicago preaches the social justice, liberation theology. Let me ask you: if your pastor spoke about the United States as did reverend Wright, would you sit there and say nothing? If you thought he was wrong, dead wrong, could you remain silent? Would you remain a member of that church? It seems more likely that Obama ‘joined’ the church to pad his resume, similar to joining Kiwanis or the Rotary – it looks good in the CVs. Listening to the several inflammatory statements from Wright, a person is rightly puzzled that the president ‘never heard these statements’. It makes more sense that the president is a ‘member’ of the church, but hardly ever attended. Many of the actions Obama has shown that he is happy “poking a finger in God’s eye”- he won’t participate in a National Day of Prayer (a nominal Christian event), but will participate in Ramadan; doesn’t attend church (too disruptive) but will play golf (not at all disruptive!) and so on.

His spiritual advisors are socialists. Reverend Wright is a liberation theology leader. Father Flagler ( a nominal catholic) is a socialist rabble-rouser. Obama’s latest spiritual advisor, Wallis, is a socialist. Remember Obama during the election campaign told us to judge him by the company he keeps, the people with which he surrounds himself.

When I was much younger, my friend (attended the University of Oregon, drove a psychedelic VW bus, wore long hair and a long mustache, tied-dyed clothes and sandals) could not understand why the State Police stopped him when he drove around. He wanted to know, “What was their problem? I don’t smoke pot. I’m not driving drunk, or stoned.”

My reply, “Why wouldn’t they think you might be a dope-smoking hippy? You look like a hippy. You drive a stereotypical hippy vehicle. Ninety-nine percent of the people they stop who look like you, dress like you, drive a bus like you are hippies, and have pot in the vehicle with them. ”

“Yeah, but…”

“But what? They have to get to know you to know that you aren’t what you seem. But they don’t have the time to do that, they have to make a judgment based on experience. If you don’t want them to stop you, don’t give them the reasonable cause.”

I think the president has the same problem. He wants us to accept what he says, but our experience with similar behaviors renders a different conclusion.