When fear strikes the heart of man, he loses the glory he might have enjoyed had he lived with vigor and purpose until an actual threat arose. Even when actual threat looms, or is wielded against him, he can choose to face it with courage or cowardice. Fear can be conquered, and must be if we are to avoid becoming a nation of sheep.
Bill Whittle and Zo Rachel create two new episodes of The Virtue Signal each week to understand the morality and ethics behind the news of the day. Our Members fund these discussions, and unlock access to Backstage content, comments, the Member forum and blog. Join now.
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15 replies on “A Nation of Sheep: How Fear Keeps Us from Embracing a Glorious Future”
I used to be consumed with worry over the loss of our magnificent American heritage, those unparalleled Blessings of Liberty created, secured, and bequeathed to us by our extraordinary forebears. But to my surprise, as I become increasingly convinced of the likelihood of our national collapse, I no longer fear it. I imagine that’s partly due to the desensitization process Mr. Whittle referred to. After all, we’ve had a lot of practice with this; we’ve been suffering the incremental collapse of the bulwark securing our rights and liberty our entire lives. For over a century, the needle on America’s liberty to tyranny meter has only headed one way. Despite that fact, working my way through reading the Bible has brought me an unexpected depth of peace. It’s not that it’s convinced me that I will escape suffering, to the contrary, by its recurrent recitation of: a loving God makes good times; good times make morally weak men who stray from God; a forsaken God makes bad times; bad times make contrite men who return to God; a forgiving God makes good times (and if he isn’t smacking his forehead every dang time, well then, that’s irrefutable proof his ways are beyond human comprehension, but I digress); that cycle convinces me of the probability that suffering is surely headed my way. Inarguably, we are in the weak men straying phase, so it sure seems likely the forsaken God will be our due, and I think it’s fair to say that we in this community recognize that the evidence keeps mounting to confirm it. It is that very recognition we share that serves as a great contributor to my sense of peace. Though the Book of Isaiah is filled with warnings of the doom God inflicts on his straying creation that Mr. Rachel touched on, at the same time it offers the hope-filled blessing of the faithful remnant. Though we may fail to recognize him, God cannot die. Though we may fail to deliver the Blessings of Liberty to our posterity, the genius of that supreme bequest cannot die. God repeatedly advises against mourning the loss of the stiff-necked people who deliberately turn their backs on him and his righteousness. It’s becoming increasingly evident that we cannot prevent our fellow Americans from squandering their priceless legacy, so trying do so is a waste of our dwindling time. Paradoxically, what they hold worthless helps me see the rarity of its value and thereby strengthens my resolve to fortify my little patch of the remnant. Our legacy isn’t a government, it’s a set of principles. The very institutions so painstakingly designed and dedicated to conserve our legacy are infested with men and women hell-bent on destroying them. I can’t replace all those people, I can’t preserve a whole nation, but I can cultivate the breadth and depth of my understanding of those principles to sustain them securely in my heart. If they shall have any hope of being passed on, it is only there they will endure.
I love how the Virtue Signal logo behind Zo changes with every episode!! Love the graphic design creativity behind this, Zo! Just lettin’ you know I noticed, and find myself looking forward to what the next iteration might be!
I like to think that while the Marxist Decepticons are looking into their abyss, the same ABYSS is looking into THEM! I’m sure Nietzsche was familiar with their abyss too. It seems he hated God.
Mindless Fear.
237.4 deaths a day from covid-19 = 0.000071% of the population.
25,700 hospitalizations daily from covid-19 = 0.00772% of the population.
*Population rounded to 332000000
And THIS is why they want to remove that cumbersome Constitution from the hands of citizens…
https://www.mayoclinic.org/coronavirus-covid-19/map/florida
Yes, the high spots are between 50 -75 cases per 100,000.
For context, 639 per 100,000 Americans are incarcerated
per statista.com.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/262962/countries-with-the-most-prisoners-per-100-000-inhabitants/
It sure was nice to have a free country for a while.
Have a couple of things here. I’m with Zoe on his fear of God not knowing me. Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” But courage is not the absence of fear, but acting in spite of it. Now my big fear outside of Zoe’s is: heights. Anything over about 8 ft terrifies me. But I act as if it doesn’t. I climb ladders when I need to. I’ve gone 4 stories up on a rickety ladder. And on my bucket list is skydiving. Does being called racist scare me? No! I know who I am. If in the right mood (angry enough with a bit of time to spare) I ask why they think that. Almost always, they cite that I am white. Then I point out that assumption is racist by definition. I ask for specifics. They can never find any, because I don’t care about race. I care about character, and they are qualified to do their job if that affects me. And I assume the positive, but keep wary until experience reveals the truth. The other thing that I’m not sure is fear is my problems with groups over 6 including me, unless I can prepare in advance, or happen to have the appropriate skills for the group.
“Dumping your #2” brings to mind the story of the young lad relating to his brother how he out ran a vicious dog;
Kid: Well, I slid down 1st street to Main, slid on down Main to 3rd, slid around 3rd to my house and slid into my house and locked the door.
Brother: Wow!! That would have scared the sh!t out of me.
Kid: What do you think I was sliding on.
Don’t want to dominate this thread, but on spider bites: if you get bitten by a spider, don’t mess around. Go see your doctor!
I was bitten on the calf a few years ago. I thought I would just tough it out as similar to a bee or wasp sting, but there was some swelling that did not go down, so eventually I saw my doctor after three or four days. He said it was a good thing I had come in even as late as I had, since significant damage can occur from spider venom. He gave me an antibiotic shot, but also sent me for an ultrasound of my leg to ensure there were no blood clots. Then had me come back in 10 days just to be sure things were ok. I can still find the bite site today, even after the skin surface is completely healed up, etc.
Thanks for the caution about spider bites!
Bill at 12:15 “A coward dies a 1000 times, a brave man only dies once”.
Good to keep that idea in mind.
Bill at 17:50 Losing our liberty so fast: but as Earnest Hemingway said about his bankruptcy, it happened “slow, then fast”. So we can go back to Rousseau’s flawed concepts about the state of nature, discussed in the Paris Salons during the French Enlightenment; or the unconstrained vision of Condorcet [around 1794, via Thomas Sowell]; to the developments of the German universities authoritarian outlook [1870’s?]; on to the Social Gospel and Progressive movements 1865 to 1920; to the Frankfurt School of the 1930’s that Bill has mentioned in the past; Gramsci’s Communistic March Through the Institutions; Thomas Dewy and his influence on education; on to the 1960’s campus take overs; LBJ and the Great Society; Bill Clinton’s version of liberality/ licentiousness; Obama, etc. etc. This has been building for a long time.
The only real question is why have we been so slow to recognize and counter this social, and now political, illness?
Fear as a weapon: Bill and Zo’s ending comments on that topic are also top grade and right on. Indirectly also goes to my earlier comment about calling them out as cowards. And we can now be glad they are so over confident and open and transparent and brazen about their anti-liberty designs, desires, and efforts. It gives us multiple foci to join the fight.
Fear is the weapon of the bully. How do you stop a bully? You stop letting yourself be bullied and CONTROLLED by the fear. You fight back and not only defend yourself but aggressively attack. Half measures won’t stop these tyrants.
Think of what the Democrat bullies are doing right now to all those who dared to stand up and be noticed when they went to the Capital on the 6th. They are using every bully trick and underhanded ploy to cause fear of anyone else ever challenging their power/control. I have said it before, AOC was actually terrified, because she knows what they have been doing and deserved what she believed was going to happen. I fully believe that the Democrats and bureaucrats live in fear of the rest of the populous actually holding them accountable for all their actions. Why do you think they surrounded themselves with concrete/steel barriers, raze wire, and actual military?
Instead of fearing the repercussions for fighting back, we should be marching on D.C. regularly and all the other enemies camps. We don’t need to become rioters just citizens defending their rights and God given privilege’s. We should be telling our leaders that we will be holding them accountable for their actions, and we have long memories. History is recorded and if we pay attention we can learn the truth.
The truth will set you free from guilt and fear!
This could go on and on…….
Psalm 56:3-4When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise— in God, I trust and am not afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?
Zo at 7:25 on cowards: I have been thinking a lot lately that the Leftists, Woke, MSM, academia, Democrats, et al. really are cowards and we ought to call them out on that basis. They do not want to face reality and accept responsibility, which are the two core actions we need to maintain liberty.
They will not engage in real debate or accept any criticism* as being valid to show the errors in their ways and thinking: CRT, debt, Keynesian demand theory, Great Society failures, LGBTQ idiocy, etc.
Sometimes this applies to the GOPe and the Right side as well. Don’t reduce taxes unless you are also willing to cut spending to match, and face the political heat for doing so. Make the case for that action if it is a valid one!
When faced with an accident or other event requiring courage and sound action, maybe the first thing to think is “Don’t Panic!”
https://duckduckgo.com/?q=don%27t+panic+hitchhiker%27s+guide+to+the+galaxy&t=opera&ia=web
*CITOKATE: Criticism Is The Only Known Antidote To Error — Dr. David Brin.
Fear is suffering in advance.
Looks like someone removed the halo from the Virtue Signal graphic behind Zo. Good move!! 🙂
Proverbs 31:25