Emily Oster claims that the decisions she endorsed were “a mistake.” Well, they were a mistake, but not quite in the way that she meant. A discussion on the impossibility of unearned forgiveness .
I never suffered the terrible degradation & discrimination that many the world over experienced, & of what I did suffer was mostly by people I do not know, in stores, restaurants - I live in the red part of a blue state. My covidian friends did not abandon us - in fact, one of them insisted we not be banned from a party @ her home by another one who wanted us disinvited. We got together regularly when everything was shut down & when my husband & I came down w/ WuFlu pneumonia & were very sick, every one of them brought us food, left outside our gate to be sure, but they brought it nonetheless & we were so grateful. So I don’t need to forgive them because their actions spoke louder than their words.
But the instigators, the politicians, scientists, doctors, globalists & anyone else who said & did despicable or cruel things to family, friends, co-workers or total strangers, there will never be forgiveness because they’ll never humbly request it, at least not those @ the top who KNEW what they were doing & the havoc, destruction & death it is causing
Yes, in truth I have experienced a mixture of responses. I have lost a number of friends and some family members keep me more at a distance these days. I can see the trap door opening sometimes mid-conversation, and another one bites the dust...
The circle of friends (& even family) has shrunk, for sure. I think whipping up fresh fear of a “tripledemic” will again attempt to demonize us as selfish & granny (or w/ RSV, baby) killers. I expect all of the bad - masks, distancing, lockdowns, passports as discussed in Egypt by the geniuses - to be back. I hope I’m wrong
I think perhaps Oster is misrepresenting the concept of amnesty. Amnesty is granted regardless of whether the perpetrator asks forgiveness. According to the dictionary: "borrowed from Latin amnēstia, borrowed from Greek amnēstía "forgetfulness, oblivion, deliberate overlooking of past offenses". But Oster tries to justify her actions and those of her kind as a basis for amnesty. She is asking for, or rather demanding forgiveness based on the claim they didn't know what they were doing. This is what rightly infuriates her critics.
Someone who is wronged can decide to forgive the wrongdoer, but the wrongdoer can never have a right to it. Demanding such a right is in itself amoral.
Thank you, yes, your observation is right, and I should have given that aspect more thought. Amnesty is something granted rather than something requested. I think the many responses to her article have expressed a common revulsion at her attitude.
“The Covidians need to examine their consciences carefully and admit that they have orchestrated a sequence of events designed to demoralise, destabilise and destroy.” Unfortunately, their consciences are seared or atrophied so badly that any examination and admission will never happen unless there is a complete change of heart, or in biblical terms, repentance and conversion. We can only pray for that to happen. But in the meantime, there must be legal action taken where appropriate against the ones responsible for this reign of terror.
In some circumstances, I would agree with you. Both religious traditions share an antipathy to be conjoined in this way. However, there are times when what we share outweighs the differences and it is right to use the phrase, however difficult it feels. A substantial amount of scripture is shared, and even the parts that are not officially shared embody deep historical, social and cultural connections. It's complex, like so many things. We are in extraordinary times.
A powerful analysis, and a mighty judgement. Beautifully put.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I never suffered the terrible degradation & discrimination that many the world over experienced, & of what I did suffer was mostly by people I do not know, in stores, restaurants - I live in the red part of a blue state. My covidian friends did not abandon us - in fact, one of them insisted we not be banned from a party @ her home by another one who wanted us disinvited. We got together regularly when everything was shut down & when my husband & I came down w/ WuFlu pneumonia & were very sick, every one of them brought us food, left outside our gate to be sure, but they brought it nonetheless & we were so grateful. So I don’t need to forgive them because their actions spoke louder than their words.
But the instigators, the politicians, scientists, doctors, globalists & anyone else who said & did despicable or cruel things to family, friends, co-workers or total strangers, there will never be forgiveness because they’ll never humbly request it, at least not those @ the top who KNEW what they were doing & the havoc, destruction & death it is causing
Yes, in truth I have experienced a mixture of responses. I have lost a number of friends and some family members keep me more at a distance these days. I can see the trap door opening sometimes mid-conversation, and another one bites the dust...
The circle of friends (& even family) has shrunk, for sure. I think whipping up fresh fear of a “tripledemic” will again attempt to demonize us as selfish & granny (or w/ RSV, baby) killers. I expect all of the bad - masks, distancing, lockdowns, passports as discussed in Egypt by the geniuses - to be back. I hope I’m wrong
Brilliant. I am passing it on.
I think perhaps Oster is misrepresenting the concept of amnesty. Amnesty is granted regardless of whether the perpetrator asks forgiveness. According to the dictionary: "borrowed from Latin amnēstia, borrowed from Greek amnēstía "forgetfulness, oblivion, deliberate overlooking of past offenses". But Oster tries to justify her actions and those of her kind as a basis for amnesty. She is asking for, or rather demanding forgiveness based on the claim they didn't know what they were doing. This is what rightly infuriates her critics.
However, forgiveness can always be granted regardless of repention. Naomi Wolf has explained this well in a beautifully written essay https://naomiwolf.substack.com/p/a-lost-small-town
Someone who is wronged can decide to forgive the wrongdoer, but the wrongdoer can never have a right to it. Demanding such a right is in itself amoral.
Thank you, yes, your observation is right, and I should have given that aspect more thought. Amnesty is something granted rather than something requested. I think the many responses to her article have expressed a common revulsion at her attitude.
“The Covidians need to examine their consciences carefully and admit that they have orchestrated a sequence of events designed to demoralise, destabilise and destroy.” Unfortunately, their consciences are seared or atrophied so badly that any examination and admission will never happen unless there is a complete change of heart, or in biblical terms, repentance and conversion. We can only pray for that to happen. But in the meantime, there must be legal action taken where appropriate against the ones responsible for this reign of terror.
"…delusions…" ? (just a sideways thought)…
Yes, like it. What choice of words we have when describing these misfits!
Not bad, except there is no Judaeo-Christian tradition. Those two things are in eternal opposition.
In some circumstances, I would agree with you. Both religious traditions share an antipathy to be conjoined in this way. However, there are times when what we share outweighs the differences and it is right to use the phrase, however difficult it feels. A substantial amount of scripture is shared, and even the parts that are not officially shared embody deep historical, social and cultural connections. It's complex, like so many things. We are in extraordinary times.
Please explain
The term Judaeo-Christian was invented and pushed beginning in the late 1960s. It wasn't a Christian innovation.
Shared scripture means nothing when you misrepresent the subject populations: A recipe for cupcakes doesn't work when you swap salt for the sugar.
Enjoyable read.
Maybe try exchanging 'freedoms' with 'weapons', especially when mentioning Nazi Germany and the goings on circa 1940.
".......side-steps the difficulties of self-examination required for repentance. This is not an illegal weapons surrender."