Imposter Syndrome

"I'm not a writer.  I've been fooling myself and other people."

John Steinbeck

I can definitely relate.  And I think most of us can relate to the idea of fooling themselves and other people.  Feeling truly unqualified. 

If you want to know what can help exacerbate that feeling, look no further than the modern job search.

On average, 250 resumes are received for each corporate job opening.

More and more, in their initial pass, resumes are filtered through software that will exclude resumes that do not meet keyword requirements.  Meaning a person may never even look at your resume or cover letter.

The average HR manager spends less than seven seconds looking at the average resume.  But, they are scouring your online and social media presence. 

Only 2% of applicants actually get interviews.

This means, there will be jobs that you feel extremely qualified for, that exactly match your skillset, that you never, ever hear from.  And the jobs that you may interview for, you are keenly aware of the deficiencies in your skill set. 

All of this can feed into one's imposter syndrome.  "The persistent inability to believe that one's success is deserved or has been legitimately achieved as a result of one's own effort or skills."  In other words, the constant feeling that you are an imposter in the role and it is just a matter of time before everyone figures it out.

I know my search is starting to wear on me.  I've sent out over seventy-five applications, at least.  I've had discussions regarding around six, between recruiters and companies.  I've progressed through interviews with one.  I've had to discuss my deficiencies for positions that I really like; things I am sure I could learn and would look forward to learning, but not current practical skills that I have.  I've also had a couple of positions that I thought I was extremely qualified for that I never hear from.

In looking over the imposter syndrome, it can generally be broken in to five types.  The perfectionist (having to get it all right), the superwoman/man (needing to be able to do it all), the natural genius (needing it to come naturally to them, to get it on the first try), the soloist (having to do it on their own), and the expert (having to know it all).  It comes down to the internal expectations we place on ourselves compared to how we see everyone else.  The expectation that everyone else is just better than us, so we have to do more to keep up.  To be perfect, to be superhuman, to do it all yourself.   

Generally, I've fit into the natural genius type.  I know that was me through school.  Most things came easy to learn.  When they weren't easy, it was difficult to keep momentum to push through it.  Law school really presented the first challenge, it's where I got my first C's for a class grade.  And I cannot be prouder for following my Contracts professor's advice, in that it would be better to be the student who dug in and improved each quarter than to peak first and never push yourself.  Thankfully, I was able to break through those early C's and change how I studied and prepared, enabling me to get A's in the hardest classes at Baylor my last quarters.

Thankfully, with job applications, the motivation definitely remains.  It just makes the internal questions and doubts a little more amplified. Talking through them helps, as does realizing everyone feels this way at some point.  If not frequently.

"Not qualified is where he starts."

Jon Jorgenson

The imposter syndrome can extend far beyond our work or school though.  It can also extend to our spiritual lives.  We can feel extremely unqualified for any form of ministry that we are called to, from evangelism to service to children's ministry to missions.  

At its worst, this is what makes can make believers doubt salvation, feeling completely unworthy of love and saving, despite knowing that there is nothing they could do to deserve it.  To feel in a special class of people that are just too bad, too far gone.  Too wretched to receive what they feel others have and will.

I think this can acutely happen in the spiritual realm because only we know exactly how depraved we truly are.   We know what hides behind the mask.  "If you really knew me, you wouldn't want me."

It's a common thread you can also see in the Bible.

In Moses:

"But Moses said to the Lord, 'Oh my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.'"

Exodus 4:10

In Gideon:

"He responded, 'But sir, how can I deliver Israel?  My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.'"

Judges 6:15

In Jeremiah:

"Then I said, 'Ah, Lord God!  Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.'"

Jeremiah 1:6

In the woman at the well:

"The Samaritan woman said to him, 'How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?' (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans)."

John 4:9

That's the great thing, though.  God never leaves people at the state of feeling unqualified.  He is actively looking to use the unqualified.  The weak, the ineloquent, the young, the undesired.  What He calls people for, He qualifies them for.  He provides them the resources, the tools, the skills to accomplish the task.  He wants us to be dependent on Him, to be continually seeking Him.  He wants our weaknesses to be seen as His strengths.

Further, perhaps it is only from His vantage point that the touch points for our callings can be seen.  While Moses may not have been the most eloquent speaker, from hindsight we can see that he was the Hebrew with the best access to Pharaoh, having lived in his court.  The woman at the well would have the greatest impact on the community. 

It would be the same with our calling.  While we cannot see it at the time, God has a purpose for the call.  For His glory to shine.  For our pasts to be redeemed and purposeful.  For us to rely on Him.

I know in this waiting period whatever job is out there, I'm getting because of His provision, not my skill alone.  I'm getting because that is where He is leading us, not because I'm the most qualified.

And whatever it may be, He will be the one to qualify me.  He will be preparing me, guiding me, leading me.

As long as I'm willing to listen.

And as long as I can realize the imposter syndrome is false to begin with.  It depends on the feeling that everyone else doesn't suffer from it.

But we all do.  Even the best of us.

"...Some years ago, I was lucky enough invited to a gathering of great and good people: artists and scientists, writers and discoverers of things.  And I felt that at any moment they would realize that I didn't qualify to be there, among these people who had really done things.

On my second or third night there, I was standing at the back of the hall, while a musical entertainment happened, and I started talking to a very nice, polite, elderly gentleman about several things, including our shared first name.  And then he pointed to the hall of people, and said words to the effect of, 'I just look at all these people, and I think, what the heck am i doing here?  They've made amazing things.  I just went where I was sent.'

And I said, 'Yes.  But you were the first man on the moon.  I think that counts for something.'

And I felt a bit better.  Because if Neil Armstrong felt like an imposter, maybe everyone did.  Maybe there weren't any grown-ups, only people who had worked hard and also got lucky and were slightly out of their depth, all of us doing the best job we could, which is all we can really hope for."

Neil Gaiman

The Golden Chicken?

Dear Fellow Christians,

Can we talk?

I have to admit, I'm getting concerned about your obsession with Chick-fil-A.  I know, I know, it's a good fast food place.  Those are rare.  The chicken sandwich is good, waffle fries are great.  The locations are generally clean and the staff is generally very helpful.  Plus they have a play area, which as a parent, is lifesaver.

But you are talking about it a lot and in some ways that don't seem healthy.  You seem to be elevating it to a potentially dangerous degree.  Especially in light of this Popeye's Chicken Sandwich battle.

We've all seen them.  The confessional posts.  The "I have sinned" posts where a Christian admits to eating the Popeye's Chicken Sandwich or worse, just attempting to eat the chicken sandwich, but then repents and returns to Chick-fil-A swearing to never be unfaithful again.  Psychoanalysts could have a field day with this, in light of some potentially disturbing social implications.

I know these are meant to be jokes.  But when you see post after post after post after post of the same thing, there clearly seems to be an issue here.  When all the jokes seem to view Chick-fil-A as an extension of the church, as the Lord's Chicken Place, there's likely some truth to the joke.  An underlying sense that Chick-fil-A is special, set apart, holy in some way.

Chick-fil-A is praised for their cleanliness, for their efficiency, for their service, to the point where jokes are made that Chick-fil-A will be running the intake process in Heaven.  It's put up on a pedestal as the "Christian" business we all should be supporting it.

Is it becoming our new idol?  Have we created a "golden chicken?"

I'm only semi-kidding.

At the end of the day, Chick-fil-A is a business.  It is a soulless corporation.  It has no religious identity or association.  It has no belief system.  It exists for the purpose of making money.  Period.  It can do good things and it can make decent food, but it exists to make money.

This fervor of support seemed to pickup following the controversies Chick-fil-A found itself in regarding its stance on same-sex marriage.  Is this support simply brand loyalty or is it a form of Christian virtue signaling?  Have we entangled a love of and support of Chick-fil-A with the Evangelical identity, because they close on Sundays?  Be honest, how many of you would love for them to be open on Sundays so you could eat there after church?

Look, I don't want to shame anyone for liking what they like or for being big fans (which we know is short for fanatic).

Maybe we need to just dial it back from treating it as a holy extension of the church.

Meme better.

truly,

A concerned fellow brother

An Epiphany: Transgenderism, The Church, and New Bodies

"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself."

Philippians 3:20-21

I recently experienced an epiphany regarding the new bodies we are promised in scripture.  It was not a monumental epiphany nor should it have taken me this long to reach it, but it does represent a divergence from what is often relayed in modern church thought.  Another way of looking at things.

The epiphany focused on our new bodies and the transgender community.

I make it no secret that I have become more liberal in a lot of ways as I have aged, and that includes in my views regarding the church, the LGBTQ community, and faith.  It's still an area I struggle in; I still struggle with the concepts of sin and sex, understanding both sides of the issues, seeing where our translations may fail us and where societal implications play a role, and coming to my own personal understandings.  I do know for certain that how we've treated that community is not Christlike and that is an area that we must do better in.

I also try to look at these issues a little more detached.  To try and understand from a different perspective.   For example, when you look at homosexuality and observe the practice across the animal kingdom, one could surmise that there is perhaps a biological purpose for the drive.  Could it act as a form of population control, removing a pair from contributing to the furthering of the species?

I've struggled in trying to understand transgenderism from the same perspective.  Perhaps that is due to there being many different issues wrapped up in transgenderism:  gender norms, social expectations, gender dismorphism,  We can see there is definitely a biological component.  Body dismorphism that occurs throughout a persons life.  The concrete knowledge that a person was born in the wrong body, the wrong gender.  There are countless stories of people who can tell harrowing tales of knowing all their lives that their gender was wrong.

But with that knowledge, my question has generally centered on whether the exterior changes were the most appropriate treatment for an internal issue.  What is the root of the issue - is it biochemical?  Is it neurological?  Is surgery just masking the root issue or is it truly the best solution?

Regardless of that answer, I know that this is a community that again needs to be treated with more kindness and compassion by the Christian community.  By referring to them by the name that they ask to be called.  To use the pronoun that they prefer.  Those are basic acts of kindness and compassion.  The least that we can do.

We can also seek to understand their struggle.

It is from that perspective that my epiphany developed.

What if transgenderism, that level of body dismorphism, stems from the difference in the gender of the soul and the physical body?

Put another way, what if the root of transgenderism stems from the soul crying out to be housed in the correct gender?

What if we could recognize the physical sex of a transgender person as an earthly corruption instead of the default setting?

I came to this from a study of the new, perfect bodies that believers receive in their resurrection.  Their bodies for glory.

What if the new body of a transgender person matches the gender they identify with, as opposed to the gender of their physical shell?

The traditional current church view of the transgender issue would be to treat it as going against the natural order.  That the sex that we are born into here on earth is what God intended and so any attempt to alter it or deny it is to go against God's plan.

That is a very interesting way to view our earthly bodies.  One which seems to be unique to this particular issue.

Throughout scripture, our earthly bodies described as "perishable," "mortal," "earthly," "dishonorable," "weak," "lowly," and "natural." (1 Cor. 15:42-44, 48, and 54; Phil. 3:21)  Our flesh is corrupt.  And has been corrupted.

Beyond recognizing our bent towards sin and away from God, we recognize this with a lot of physical imperfections.  From genetic diseases to disabilities, we treat them as something that will be corrected and will no longer exist in Heaven.

We even extend this view to certain mental issues.  To schizophrenia, to depression, to manic-depressive, and so on, we view these mental illnesses as something that is an earthly corruption.  Something we deal with here, but will have no longer in heaven.

We know and believe this because of the descriptions of our new bodies.  Our new bodies described as "imperishable," "immortal," "of heaven," "glorious," "powerful," and "spiritual."

We know the bodies will be like our earthly bodies.  We will eat, we will drink, we will go about normal activities like farming, fishing, building, and other regular jobs.  We will walk on streets of gold, not float.

We also know our bodies will be healed; we have verses that are a comfort to those who need healing.  Isaiah 35:6 indicates the lame will leap like a deer.  The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the mind will know, and the stammer will be removed.

What we do not know is what these bodies will look like.  I think we all just assume that we will look like ourselves at our physical peak, but we have no such indication in scripture.  Colossians 3:9 through 11 can be read to indicate we will no longer have racial or cultural distinctions.  That would indicate a broader change of our current forms.

So with an issue that implicates a difference of the internal and the external, why do we assume that the internal one is the earthly corruption?  Why do we assume the physical form is correct and the mental difference is the problem?

If the soul exists separate from the body, if the soul is the perfect, imperishable form that is truly the essence of who we are, why would we not assume the physical form is the one that is incorrect?  That the transgendered person's inclination is correct?  That their conviction that they are trapped in the wrong gender is their soul crying out to be recognized?

If this is the case, wouldn't that greatly change how we treat this community?  How we act towards them?  The assumptions we make about them?  How we seek to help them as they struggle with their identity?

And even more, isn't that how we should be acting regardless?

Confession, or Group Therapy

"I'm worse than you think worshipping a God who is greater than you know."

Jon Jorgenson

For my fellow believers, tell me if you have experienced this.  Have you ever felt like a sermon was being preached directly to you?  You know, as if there was no one else in the room and the pastor had written it exactly for your situation?

That was me.  This entire summer.

Our church has been working through a sermon series on Ephesians this summer, and every week was aimed directly at me.  Even when we went to visit friends in Ohio and attended their church service that morning, guess where the sermon was from - Ephesians.

Ephesians, in particular, provides one of the more practical applications of how the Christian life is to be lived.  It outlines why the life is so important and instructs us on how it is to be lived.  How we as Christians are to act.

"[F]or at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true), and try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord.  Take no part in unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.  For it is shameful even to speak of the things that they do in secret.  But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light."

Ephesians 5:8-14

Even our bible study as a couple seemed to be hitting on the same themes.  We moved from reinforcing Ephesians and Galatians into the minor prophets.  All about how God's people had strayed and how he would correct them.

How God disciplines his people.  How He corrects them.  How He will not allow His children to remain in darkness.  How He will expose their darkness to the light.

Two weeks ago, I had to confess to Jamie that our debt was twice the amount that I had led her to believe.  That though we had already been crawling out from under a lot, there was a portion that my arrogance and pride had held on to.  That through my issues of control, selfishness, and pride, I had determined that there was a piece that I needed to correct.  That it was my problem, that I had created it, and that I alone needed to be the one to fix it.  And because of that foolishness, I had instead let it increase.

God had been working on me all summer.  Every sermon was used to convict, every study.  Each one was God's way of saying that this could no longer remain in darkness.  Looking back, I'm now convinced all of this, the firing, the long job search, the sermons, all of it was designed to get me to this point.  To a point where I no longer had self-reliance.   Getting me to the point where I would stop fighting it.

And believe me, I fought it.  I bargained with God.  I pleaded.  I even tried to delay the particular day of telling Jamie when I finally got to the point of confession.  I then got a reminder in our church email bulletin with a first point that said "We should live our lives in the light and continually expose things that we have kept in the dark."  That was clear enough for even me to understand.

I also know that I clearly heard Him say "I will not bless you until this is confessed."  Letting me know He would provide, because He promises to provide for His people, but there would be no permanent job, there would be no great position, no new opportunity until this was out in the open.

So, it has been confessed.  I confessed first to Jamie.  I've confessed to my pastor, to our parents, and to a journey group member.  And now I'm confessing it here.

I'm not going to go into the full details.  I do not mean to minimize the weight of the confession, but the amount of money is not the root issue.  We are not in financial trouble; the amount of debt is significant, but it is a fraction of what we have come through.  Given our projections, even in this time, should nothing change, we project to be completely out within less than a year.  Hopefully, if a permanent position comes it would be something that would speed up the process even more.

The root issue to be addressed is the self-reliance to think I could handle it all by myself.  The control issues to think I should.  The foolishness and selfishness that led it to increase.  And the preservation instinct that led me to cover it up instead of reveal it.  That is what needs to be confessed the most and that needs to be addressed.

I'm sure there is a question as to why confess it in such a public forum.  In such a public way.

Sure, confession is good for the soul.  There is power in exposing ourselves, in acknowledging our failures, and moving on from them.  It brings the issue into the light and it increases accountability.

But that is only a small part of confessing here.

I write all of this because I firmly believe this is what church is supposed to look like.  It is supposed to be group therapy, instead of the pep rally we have made it.  It's a hospital for the sick, the broken, and the wounded, instead of a country club for the well-to-do.

One of the saddest realities is that we have created a vision of the church in modern American society of the ultra-pious, goodie two shoes coming together each Sunday.  Of a group of people who do nothing wrong, who have their lives together, who have all the answers and who judge those who don't.  That idea that you have to get your life together first to go to church.

It's why the most common complaint against churches is that they are full of hypocrites.  Because that is an impossible standard.  And it is a great lie.

The real truth is that we are all far worse than you realize.  We gather on Sunday because we know how bad we are.  That there are people that have come from abuse, from neglect, from addiction, from crime.  That there are compulsive liars, cheats, and addicts among us.  We gather in the Lord's house because we know what we have been brought through.  What we have been saved from.

Churches are full of filthy sinners barely holding it together.  Full of people struggling to live day to day.  Those who do what they do not want to do and do not do what they want to do.

I write because I want to be a part of that reality and not the sanitized version of church we have created.

I write because from the outside, I'm sure our life looked like everything was perfect.  Like we had everything together.  Because we're good at hiding and covering our weaknesses.  Our shortcomings, our failings.

I write because I know that is not the truth.  That we struggle, just like everyone does.  That we have our hang-ups like everyone does.  We have issues that you might not even imagine from the outside, from the mundane to the serious.

I write in case anyone else is going through the exact same thing.

Because we should live in the light and continually expose the things in the dark.

Imagine if our churches really looked like group therapy.  That they appeared to the outside world like a place where people gathered to get better.  To get healed.  Where they could be completely open in regard to the struggles that they were facing.  Where they expected to get support instead of judgment.

If we opened with something like, "Hello, my name is Mitch and I am a sinner.  In this past week, I've struggled with self-control, self-reliance, and self-image issues.  I continue to struggle with trying to control most aspects of my life.  I have seen things I should not, I have said things I should not, and done things I should not.  And because of that I have been ashamed to live as I should.  I've felt like a failure for most of the week."

A place where we were able to show each other just how similar our struggles are.  How alike we are in trying to live this Christian life.  And how we cannot do this on our own.

How we need the two most beautiful words in the English language - "But God"

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus."

Ephesians 2:4-7

I can tell you that it is definitely better on this side of confession.  That while there are things that I am still having to work on and that there are repercussions to confession, it is far better for it to be in the light than to be hiding it in darkness.  To be fearing its exposure.

That there are already positive impacts that I can see happening.  I can see how this will lead to our benefit.  That it will be a blessing.  I'm not going to give into magical wish fulfillment thinking, believing the job is just going to immediately fall into place because I've confessed.  Treating God in a transactional way - I've done my part, now it's time for you to do yours, etc.  The job will come in its time according to His will.

The blessing is in the freedom.  The blessing is in a better focus.  The blessing is in a strengthened relationship as we work through this.

The blessing can be in helping others work through the same or similar issues.  In speaking truth into other's lives.  In being part of that great group therapy needed in the church and our society.

In hopefully revealing a bit of that God for greater than you know.

If there is something you need to bring to the light, if there is something you need to confess, I pray you are able to find someone that you trust to do so to.  A pastor, a friend, a spouse.  Someone that will hold you accountable.  Someone that will respond in love and will seek to help you through whatever the issue is that you are holding on to.

It's what we were created for.

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."

2:10

Labor Day 2019

“No day in the calendar is a greater fixture, one which is more truly regarded as a real holiday, or one which is so surely destined to endure for all time, than the first Monday in September of each recurring year, Labor Day. With time, this day of the year is taking a deeper hold in the respect and confidence of the people. It is regarded as the day for which the toilers in past centuries looked forward, when their rights and their wrongs might be discussed, placed upon a higher plane of thought and feeling; that the workers of our day may not only lay down their tools of labor for a holiday, but upon which they may touch shoulders in marching phalanx and feel stronger for it; meet at their parks, groves and grounds, and by appropriate speech, counsel with, and pledge to, each other that the coming year shall witness greater efforts than the preceding in the grand struggle to make mankind free, true and noble.”

Samuel Gompers, “Labor Day. What It Portends.” American Federationist. September, 1898.

Today we honor American labor and the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, laws, and well-being of this country.  To the blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into the construction of our country, to the infrastructure that makes its backbone, and to the role that labor plays in our society today.

To those who have the day off, enjoy it.  To those that must continue to labor, we thank you.

To all, remember, it's more than just grilling or time off.  It's a recognition of the work it took to get here.  It's for the dream of a better work life in our future and for our posterity.

Happy Labor Day!

What Is An American?

"What then is this American, this new man?"

J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur
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Since before the foundation of our country, this has been the existential question of our time - what is an American?  What does it mean?  How is it defined?  Who qualifies as being an American?

With recent events, I fear we need to ask ourselves this question again.  Now more than ever.

It is a harder question to answer in the affirmative than you would imagine.

We can say for certain what it is not.  American is not a singular race, nor is it a particular people group.

There is not a singular American culture.  There is no one American cuisine, no one dialect, no one American experience.

We are not of a single religion, despite some protestations otherwise.  There is no Church of America.

We are not all one color, one size, one shape.

We share no singular origin.

Further, American is not bound by a specific geographic location.  Not bound to a singular language.  Not bound to a single history.

Instead, we are what we have always been - a diverse group of outcasts held together by a collection of ideals.

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"The chief ideal of the American people is idealism."

President Calvin Coolidge

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We hold tightly to some of the best ideals ever put to paper.  That all men, that all people are created equal.  That they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights - by definition, God given rights that cannot be taken away.  Rights to life.  To liberty - to freedom in many senses of the word.  To the pursuit of happiness.

We believe the government is of the people.  That it derives its power and its life from the very people that it governs.  That it is crafted and sustained by the people.  They fill its halls, they make the laws, and they in turn enforce them.  And that ultimately it exists for the people.  Government is for the benefit of the people, not the other way around.

That we have given the government a purpose.  A reason for existing.  To form a more perfect Union.  To establish justice.  To insure domestic tranquility or peace.  To promote a general level of welfare.  To secure the blessings of liberty, not just for ourselves, but for those that will come behind us.

We have not always done a great job in living up to these ideals.  We have struggled with equality for all people.  We have struggled with having the government benefit the governed, not the governors.  We struggle with securing the blessings of liberty for our posterity, and not just being focused on the now, the immediate, the self-centered us.

But, by and large, we as Americans define ourselves by these ideals.  These lofty goals that bind us when we pledge our allegiance to this nation.

The problem with having ideals at the center of a national identity is that they are intangible; they only have the meaning we assign to them.  

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"I don't know what you mean by 'glory'," Alice said.

Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously.  "Of course you don't - till I tell you.  I meant 'there's a nice knock-down argument for you!'"

"But 'glory' doesn't mean a 'nice knock-down argument'," Alice objected.

"When I use a word," Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, "it means just what I choose it to mean - neither more nor less."

"The question is," said Alice, "Whether you can make words mean different things - that's all."

"The question is," said Humpty Dumpty, "which is to be master - that's all."

Through the Looking Glass

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As discussed above, we have struggled in the past because we have tried to change their definitions.  We want to be able to define who qualifies as "men" when we refer to "all men" being created equal, so that we can control exactly who we must acknowledge.  We have excluded based on gender, believing it only referred to men specifically.   We have exclude based on color, believing evil notions of racial superiority.  Even codifying a system in which a darker color would make someone 3/5 of a person.  A contradiction right in our founding documents.

We are at this point again.  We are seeking to control the definitions.

Our president has long been seeking to end birthright citizenship.  The principle of jus soli, or the idea that you are a citizen of the place where you were born.  That you are forever tied to the soil your feet land on.  This week, he ended birthright citizenship for children born overseas to United States service members.  Think through that, we've ended birthright citizenship for the children who for whatever reason are born overseas to the very people defending our country.

We're narrowing our definitions for political gain.  We want to stop "anchor babies."  We want to discourage or outright end most forms of immigration.  We want to pick and choose who can be an American.

As if that were not dangerous enough, it goes even further than that.  When our identity is tied up in our ideals, we can accuse those who do not hold up to our version of those ideals as no longer belonging.  Those on the right can accuse those on the left of being "un-American," and vice versa.  To accuse those who disagree as being disloyal.  To suggest that particular groups should leave.

It's no longer enough to cling to these ideals.  We're requiring an extra claim; a stronger tie.

We're looking to require uniformity where liberty once reigned.

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"It has always been cited as an irrepressible symptom of America's vitality that her people, in fair times and foul, believe in themselves and their institutions."

Alistair Cooke

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We have to recognize that differences and disagreements are part of our national identity.  That we are meant to wrestle with how to proceed as a nation.  It's meant to be hard.  Because when it's hard, when we push through it and reach compromise and consensus, it's worth it.

We have to recognize that there will be times we have to be pushed into progress when we don't want to face it.  We as a nation had to have racial equality thrust upon us for it to take root.  And we are still having to deal with those consequences.

We have to recognize that it is our differences that define us.  That there is a constant pull in this country between experiences.  Between black and white.  Male and female.  North and South.  East and West.  Coastal and fly-over.  City and country.  1st Generation and 3rd/4th/5th generation.  Naturalized and Immigrant.  Religious and not.   Further, we must recognize that it is these differences that make us greater than the sum of our parts.

We have to recognize how we got here.  Who we are.

We are a nation of outcasts and runaways.  There are too few of us who can claim an uninterrupted direct link to the soil of this nation when we trace our full lineage.  For the vast majority of us, we are the products of immigration to this land, and often, we represented the groups our old countries wanted to get rid of.  Those groups they didn't want.

We were the religious heretics, the undesirables, the lower social classes.

The tired.  The poor.  The huddled masses.  The wretched refuse.  The home-less.  Tempest-tossed.

We are a nation of dreamers.  We came together, we sought this land, because we believed in its ideals.  Because we sought freedom.  Liberty.  Equality.  The American Dream.  The eternal promise.  The huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

We are a nation of borrowers.  We have borrowed pieces from every culture, every race, every nation, every tongue, and every tribe to cobble together this country we call America.  We see this in our language, in our food, in our art, and in our principles of government.

This is how our melting pot is formed, in the best sense of the analogy.  From each group that comes to our shores, they contribute the best of themselves.  They join and impact our culture, and we in turn, impact theirs.

We are the ultimate shared experience.  The ultimate neighborhood.  The ultimate village to raise a person.  To better each other.  To love each other.  To share with each other.

Maybe then, we can truly live up to the ideals that we claim.  Maybe then we will be the western pilgrims.

Maybe then we can call ourselves Americans.

"He is an American, who, leaving behind him all his ancient prejudices and manners, receives new ones from the new mode of life he has embraced, the new government he obeys, and the new rank he holds.  He has become an American by being received in the broad lap of our great Alma Mater.  Here individuals of all races are melted into a new race of man, whose labors and posterity will one day cause great changes in the world.  Americans are the western pilgrims."

J. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur

Apolitical

“We can’t get too deep into the politics. And the characters can take sides, choose sides, turn evil, turn back to good, but they still have to entertain. That’s first and foremost, no matter what real-world events we are going to reflect, they are going to be fictionalized and they’re going to have the classic spin that Stan always brought to them. They will be serious, but they may make you smile.”

C.B. Cebulski, Editor in Chief, Marvel Comics, 8/30/18

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.  If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality."

Desmond Tutu

There's a growing push, a rallying cry for entertainment to be apolitical*.  To be neutral.  To avoid the controversial or anything that might divide an audience and to just be entertainment.

In other words, to be toothless.

There are definitely times when stories, when entertainment can tell universally applicable stories that carry no overt or implied political meanings.  But to demand that every story be so is to misunderstand the purpose of entertainment in the first place.

Entertainment is meant to entertain yes, but it is also meant to move us.  It is meant to challenge us and our beliefs.  It is meant to spur us on to further action.  It is meant to inspire us.

Marvel Comics decided last year to do a bit of course correcting and move to an apolitical stance.  The quote from Editor in Chief Cebulski followed a particular notorious storyline in which Captain America was revealed to have been manipulated into being a Fascist dictator.  It involved mind control and full timey-wimey shenanigans.  It's comics.

The storyline definitely got a reaction and divided the comics community.  To be fair, many of the people objecting to the storyline were objecting without knowing the full story - they were objecting and protesting following a first act turn that was supposed to shock and unsettle.

The announcement also came in light of the Comicsgate movement; a campaign against perceived "forced diversity" and progressivism in comics hiring and content, with Marvel at the center of the crosshairs.  At the time, many of Marvel's legacy heroes (read white, male characters created in the 1940s and 1960s), had been replaced by heroes of more diverse backgrounds.  It's a common storyline in comics, where the hero is replaced by a substitute, only to come back later.  It just happened to be happening in several books at once.

In order to take the heat off, Marvel made an aggressive course correction, even going so far as to say "what we've heard is that people didn't want more diversity."  Books shifted back to the legacy heroes.  Storylines for the most part stopped being overtly political, with notable exceptions (you don't hire Ta-Nahesi Coates without expecting him to be political).

"All art is propaganda."

W.E.B. Dubois

This apolitical stance has brought Marvel into the recent news.  Two high-profile creators have reported that Marvel asked them to revise their text pieces for books related to Marvel's 80th anniversary celebration.

First, Pulitzer Prize winning Art Spiegelman reported that Marvel asked him to revise his introduction for the Folio Society collection of Golden Age Marvel Comics to remove a pointed but passing reference to President Trump.  Spiegelman declined and pulled the introduction.

Now it is alleged that Marvel requested veteran creator and award winning Mark Waid to revise a text piece designed to accompany Captain America art in their Marvel Comics #1000 celebration issue.  A text piece which discussed the dichotomy of the flaws and virtues of America.

This at a time when it is more important to be political than ever.

At a time when toddlers are still going unrepresented in courts of law and are left to fend for themselves.

At a time when the administration is moving for the indefinite detention of migrant families, seeking to dismantle the Flores Agreement.

At a time when United States Customs and Immigration Services confirms that children born to United States service members outside of the United States will no longer automatically be considered United States citizens.

At a time when our President is confirming his plans to end birthright citizenship for children of non-citizen parents.

At a time when our President ponders nuking a hurricane.

At a time when we may finally see the deep connections our President and his family have to Russian oligarchs through co-signed loans, as a result of his tax returns finally being revealed.

It's past time we were all political.

If you cannot find something in that list above that doesn't make your blood boil, I would suggest checking for a pulse.

It's time for all of us to be involved and it's time for our art to push us onward.  It's time for our art to motivate us to do better.  To make good.

And for comics, it's time for our heroes to inspire us.  To show us the better way, the brighter future.  For them to show us truth, justice, and the American way.  An American way that applies to us all equally.

For the sake of art inspiring us, I'm including Waid's unaltered text piece below.

"I’m asked how it’s possible to love a country that’s deeply flawed.  

It’s hard sometimes.  The system isn’t just.  We’ve treated some of our own abominably.  

Worse, we’ve perpetuated the myth that any American can become anything, can achieve anything, through sheer force of will.  And that’s not always true.  This isn’t the land of opportunity for everyone.  The American ideals aren’t always shared fairly.  

Yet without them, we have nothing.  

With nothing, cynicism becomes reality.  With nothing, for the privileged and the disenfranchised both, our way of life ceases to exist.  We must always remember that America, as imperfect as it is, has something.  It has ideals that give it structure.  

When the structure works, we get schools.  We get roads and hospitals.  We get a social safety net.  More importantly, when we have structure, we have a foundation upon which to rebuild the American Dream — that equal opportunity can be available to absolutely everyone.  

America’s systems are flawed, but they’re our only mechanism with which to remedy inequality on a meaningful scale.  Yes, it’s hard and bloody work.  But history has shown us that we can, bit by bit, right that system when enough of us get angry.  When enough of us take to the streets and force those in power to listen.  When enough of us call for revolution and say, “Injustice will not stand.”  

That’s what you can love about America."

------------------------

* - I have to point out I think it's a bit disingenuous when people say they want entertainment to be apolitical.  What they are usually saying is that they do not want entertainment that they disagree with politically.  Just as with celebrity opinions, they are fine with those that agree with them, but want those opposed to be silenced.

The Peanut Butter Falcon

Fair warning - language in the quotes from Esquire.

It's rare that I would plug a new original movie sight unseen, but from everything I have read and heard, I am anxiously desiring to see The Peanut Butter Falcon.



The film is a modern re-imagining of Huckleberry Finn, which follows a young man with Down syndrome who runs away from his care home to pursue his dream of becoming a professional wrestler.  It is receiving a lot of praise.

Variety called it a "feel-good niche indie with its priorities in the right place."  The Rotten Tomatoes consensus calls it "a feel good adventure brought to life by outstanding performances."  It received the Narrative Spotlight Audience Award at South by Southwest this year.  It has been described as the type of movie that does not get made anymore.

Much of the coverage of the film has centered on newcomer Zack Gottsagen.  Through the filmmaking experience, Gottsagen has emerged as a shining star.  As Relevant Magazine wrote, "Like his character in the movie, Gottsagen has Down syndrome.  Also, like his character in the movie, he's a big personality and exudes optimism and encouragement."

And every article on the subject has written about how this personality, optimism, and encouragement impacted everyone he worked with.  The writer-director duo behind the film, Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz, talked about how Gottsagen was very grounding, always in the present.  They described how he would grab the megaphone at the end of the day and give out compliments.  How he would demand a group hug from the team.  And how all eighty to one hundred people on set would do it.

Gottsagen had an even bigger impact on costar, Shia LeBouf.  LeBouf had lobbied to play a part in the film before even seeing the script, pulled in by a clip of Gottsagen's performance.  To say LeBouf was working through issues at the time is an understatement.  His time on the film coincided with a very publicized incident in Savannah that resulted in his arrest.

Gottsagen had been a huge fan of LeBouf, dating back to his Even Steven days.  When Gottsagen learned of LeBouf's arrest, he was angry, frustrated, and soured on the idea of working with him.  Shia would open up about this time in a brutally honest interview with Esquire.

"The morning he got out of jail, LaBeouf attended a small party for the cast and crew, and no one brought up what had happened. 'Everybody was pussyfooting around it,' he says. As soon as Gottsagen arrived, he beelined for LaBeouf and sat on the floor, and there LaBeouf joined him. They talked for twenty minutes. Gottsagen told him, 'You’re already famous. This is my chance. And you’re ruining it.'

'To hear him say that he was disappointed in me probably changed the course of my life,' LaBeouf says. ' 'Cause I was still fighting. I was still on my "Look how fast they released the videos! They don’t release these!" Just on my defense-mechanism-fear garbage. And you can’t do that to him. He keeps it one thousand with you, and that shit doesn’t even make sense to him. Zack can’t not shoot straight, and bless him for it, ’cause in that moment, I needed a straight shooter who I couldn’t argue with.' He says their conversation continued on set: 'We were getting ready to do a scene and Zack said, "Do you believe in God?" And I thought, No fuckin’ way are you about to explain God to me, Zack.' LaBeouf tries to keep it together. His voice jumps an octave. 'Zack said, "Even if He’s not real, what does it hurt?"' He turns his face away. He takes a breath and continues. 

'I don’t believe in God... But did I see God? Did I hear God? Through Zack, yeah. He met me with love, and at the time, love was truth, and he didn’t pull punches. And I’m grateful, not even on some cheeseball shit trying to sell a movie. In real life. That motherfucker is magical.' LaBeouf’s posture is all right angles, as if the memory alone has straightened him. 'Zack allowed me to be open to help when it came.' 

When LaBeouf first checked into rehab, he was asked about the pop—the moment your head gets pulled out of your ass and clarity washes over you. 'For me,' he says, 'it was Zack.' LaBeouf is not broken but on the other side of brokenness, and he’s looked back at the wreckage for long enough. It’s time to go home. He rises, puts his hands in his pockets, and walks out from under the shade of the crab-apple tree."

Both LeBouf and costar Dakota Johnson made a point of telling the directors just how positive, how special Gottsagen made the set.  "Just so you know, it's not always like this.  Sets aren't always like this."

That quote wrecked me, it really did.  It forced me to come to grips with an overwhelming question:

Why not?

Don't get me wrong, I know why sets, why jobs can be horrible.  This person can't get along with this other person.  This person's method acting drives this actor's sensibilities crazy.  Actor in the supporting role feels they should have been cast as the lead and wants to prove it.  This director is controlling and manipulative.  And so on and so on.

But truly, why is having a positive experience at work, especially in the arts, such a rarity?  Why is it a surprise to find a set that is affirming, that is positive, that is joyful?

Are we that vain?  Are our egos that fragile?

Why do place the onus on "special" people to make that happen?  For it to either be the place of the rare saints like Mister Rogers, or of those who we would often treat dismissively in other scenarios?

Why do we shirk our responsibility to love our neighbor?  To show that we serve a better kingdom?  To show that there is a better way?  To be fully present?

"If there is nothing but what we make in this world, let us make good."

Maybe it's time to realize that the onus is on us, each and every singular one of us, to make our environments better.  That our calling is to be the one that makes the set, our job, our classroom, etc. the place that people say "it's not always like this.  This is special."

That it's time to own up to changing our own environments or getting out of those we cannot change.  If we are stuck in a job that we cannot improve and that is only draining and not rewarding in some way, that it's time for a change.  For something different.

It's time for us to make good.

Are You Not Entertained?

Most of you know, I don't really follow sports, but this news item spoke to me.  Andrew Luck, quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, announced Saturday night, August 24, that he was retiring from professional football at the age of 29.  “This isn’t how I envisioned this or planned this, but I’m going to retire.  This is the hardest decision of my life, but it’s the right decision for me."

Luck was one of the most highly decorated college quarterbacks in history and was the number one overall draft pick in 2012.  His career in the NFL, though, was plagued with injury after injury.  He missed the entire 2017 seasons for shoulder surgery.  He suffered a lacerated kidney, a partially torn abdomen, and torn rib cartilage.  This year, he was out most of training camp and the preseason because of a lower leg problem.  “I’ve been stuck in this process. I haven’t been able to live the life I want to live.  It’s taken the joy out of this game.  The only way forward for me is to remove myself from football.”

Luck walked away to better his health, to be with his wife, who is expecting their first child, to refocus his future, and to find his passion again.  All mature decisions that should be applauded.

After the announcement was made in the stadium on Saturday, fans booed Luck as he walked off the field.  As if he owed them anything.  As if they were entitled to his performance.

At what point does our love of a game, our desire to win supersede the desires of the players?

What entitles us to treat them like things?

Does fantasy football further this detachment from the players as people - instead viewing them as fungible pieces related to their function?

Do the players just exist to show up and play, regardless of the circumstances?  There are a lot of troubling implications if we want to go down this path.

At what point does our entitlement override our concern for the players health and safety?

Do we really think they owe us their physical and mental health?

Are these really just our modern gladiatorial games?

Will we not be satisfied until blood is finally shed?

Are you not entertained?

I’m focusing on Luck and football for now because we know there are very problematic issues in the game of football.   We have report after report regarding the damage that the players are suffering.  Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is much more of an issue than we would like to believe.  It has been found in 99% of deceased NFL players’ brains that were donated for research.  And it’s heartbreaking to read story after story like that of Debra Fellows, wife of Ron Fellows, cornerback for the Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Raiders.  Fellows is suffering from Alzheimer’s brought on by CTE.

But this is entitlement is not limited to the fans of the NFL or even sports in general.  It spills over into all our forms of entertainment.  In response to Luck’s announcement, Yvette Nicole Brown, lead on television’s Community, discussed the “fans” she had to deal with who viewed it as a personal slight that she stepped away from the show to take care of her father.

I had to deal w/some mean “fans” after I had to leave @CommunityTV to care for my dad. To this day, I don’t understand how putting my family first was seen as a personal slight to them. #AndrewLuck has played thru a LOT of pain. He doesn’t want to, anymore. He shouldn’t have to. https://t.co/S646J3x1qj

— yvette nicole brown (@YNB) August 25, 2019

Or how about the response David Chappelle got when he walked away from his show at the height of its popularity because he couldn't handle the stress anymore and why he headed back to standup.  "It's incredible. Because I was surrounded by so much negativity at some point that it took me going back and doing stand-up to realize, you know, people really like me. There's a lot of people who don't want anything from me but to laugh and have a good time. You see them at the show and they like -- they dress up to come see your show and stuff. And they pack these auditoriums and it's a lot of fun, man. It's like, this is how I started, and it's still fun for me."

I've shared before how we see this entitlement in how we shout down entertainers or athletes when they dare voice a contrary political opinion, as seen in the image below.

You are a marionette to us.  Nothing more.

This was a popular image a couple of years ago following the Academy Awards.  It's the same spirit as booing Luck.  How dare you have opinions!  How dare you have a life!  How dare you act independently!  The outrage!

Here's the thing - this is just as true on a micro level as well.  If nothing else today, I think this is an important truth to share:

You should not have to sacrifice your physical health, your mental health, or the health of your family for your job.  

I'll say it again a little louder.

You do not owe your job your physical well-being, your mental well-being, or the well-being of your family. 

If you are trapped in a job that is damaging your physical health, that is gaslighting you or eroding your mental well-being, or is putting a strain on your marriage or parental relationships, it's time to find a new job.

You are more than a cog in the machine.

I understand the above is complicated.  There are situations in which we do find ourselves trapped . and sometimes the job is needed just to make sure the bills are paid.  We have to do better as a society to make sure for holding businesses to the labor reforms that we have already created and for creating new ones that address the new issues in labor relations.  We have to create a better social structure so that if you work a full time job you can actually have a living wage.  We've got to be better about taking care of each other and supporting each other in every situation we find ourselves in (that's tomorrow's blog) to make our environments better places.  And sometimes we like the job that we have and don't mind the sacrifice because of the fulfillment.  That's ok, that's sacrifice for a purpose.

But if your health is deteriorating, you are miserable, your relationships are at their limits, it's time to find something else.  There is something better out there.

And it's better to end on your terms, like Luck, than to push on and find yourself burned out and used up in a job that would have replaced you in a second.

Take care of yourselves.

Disney's Talespin: The Problem of Influencing Social Media

These were supposed to be good weeks for the Walt Disney Company. D23, their big corporate fan convention, where they get to promote all their good press, is coming up this weekend. The press on Galaxy's Edge should be changing for the better with the blackouts being removed from the Disneyland park and the Disney Hollywood Studios version coming online.

Then everything started going sideways.

First, the Disney rumor mill was stirred with reports of exactly why Galaxy's Edge in Disneyland "underperformed."  Then, an alleged expose of Disney's manipulation of the online community was posted.  On the same day, an ex-accountant blew the whistle on Disney allegedly inflating revenue for years to the tune of billions of dollars.

To understand the significance of many of these events, a little Disney history is needed.

Despite a popular perception of Walt as the man in charge, Disney has always worked best when there are two visionaries at the head of the company.  In the original days, it was the two brothers, Roy O. and Walt.  Walt was the dreamer, envisioning projects no one had dared attempt before.  But Roy was a visionary in his own right.  Roy was the money man, and he had the insight and the experience to trust Walt and to make Walt's dreams happen or rein him in when necessary.  It was Roy who approached the television studios to get financing for Disneyland.  In brokering that deal, Roy secured advertising and financing in one fell swoop.  Their partnership is what allowed Disney to continue to innovate and prosper.

When Walt died, Roy assumed control, but focused on safer bets.  The Florida Project started with a theme park as opposed to the radical new urban design Walt had hoped for.  Even that theme park would be a closer copy to Disneyland that Walt would have done.

To say the company floundered without Walt would be an understatement.  The company would continue in this meandering path until the late 1980s/early 1990s.

The more general population would attribute the Disney Renaissance, as this period became known, to Michael Eisner.  Eisner was the visible creative.  A successful producer at Paramount, Eisner brought a new life and energy to the Disney Company.  Eisner's early success with the Walt Disney company, though, must also be attributed to his President and Chief Operating Officer, Frank Wells.

Wells and Eisner were brought in as a team by Roy O. Disney to replace Ron Miller.  Eisner would be CEO and Chairman, Wells President and COO.  Once again, we had another successful combination - Eisner the big idea man, Wells the practical applicant.   Wells could make Eisner's out of the box ideas happen, or pull him back when they went too far.

The Wells and Eisner team had a lot of hits in the early 90s.  Disney Animation quiet literally roared back into prominence with The Little Mermaid, Beauty & The Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King.  Parks and Resorts opened Disneyland Paris, Disney MGM Studios, planned for Disney Animal Kingdom, and announced the Disney Decade.  The company looked unstoppable.

On Easter 1994, Frank Wells was killed in a helicopter crash returning from a ski trip in the Ruby Mountains.  Of the five people aboard the helicopter, only one would survive.

Eisner's tenure following Wells' untimely death was marked by disappointment, frustration, and infighting.  A string of flops in Disney Animation.  The very public breakup with Jeffrey Katzenberg and the PIXAR/Dreamworks feud.  The failure to launch several theme parks (Disney's America, Port Disney, WestCot) and the ultimate failure of Disney California Adventure.  The "Save Disney" campaign and shareholder/board fight.

It's this Save Disney era and background that the recent troubles stem from. Save Disney referred to a campaign by Roy E. Disney, Roy O.’s son and Walt’s nephew, to oust Michael Eisner from the company. Roy felt there was too much micromanagement within the studio, too little success with the ABC acquisition, too much timidity in the theme parks, and an overall transition into a “rapacious, soul-less” company. Roy was able to rally shareholders to withhold their proxies in March 2004 and refuse to re-elect Eisner to the board of directors. From there, it took Eisner a year to step down as CEO.

One of the key tools Roy E. Disney was able to use in the Save Disney campaigns, and one of the chief sources of support came from the early internet.  Enter Al Lutz.

Lutz was a former recording industry executive who gained a following in the pre-internet days, with the alt.disney.disneyland USENET newsgroup, where he edited the Disneyland Information Guide, an unofficial resource for information about Disneyland.  What started as an FAQ quickly became a gossip column, with articles about the perceived decline in value and quality in the Disneyland park.  And during this time, there was a lot to write about, particularly in light of the fatal incidents on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the S.S. Columbia at the time.

Lutz's columns on Mouseplanet and Micechat/Miceage developed a devoted following.  Readers ate up the behind the scenes peek into the tumult of the Disney company.  After Disney California Adventure premiered with a dud, readers followed Lutz in blaming Paul Pressler and Cynthia Harris.  Media even started paying attention with columns that reported on Lindsay Lohan's antics at Disneyland or the changing of the it's a small world boats to accommodate "heavier" guests.

To say Lutz's columns bothered the Disney Company is an understatement.

Lutz's health, though, prevented him from continuing his column as long as everyone may have liked.  Suffering from the effects of Parkinson's disease, he largely retired from regular writing around 2005, coming back from time to time for an April Fools post or the like.

Two weeks ago, Lutz reappeared back online at Disney fan site MiceChat with a rumor column on August 13, 2019.  This time, however, he came back with a post very similar to his early posts - filled with backstage drama and corporate inner workings, very critical of the decisions of the Walt Disney Company.

In the column, Lutz outlined the internal concerns over the performance of Galaxy's Edge, the new Star Wars land, and pointed to the likely causes. In particular, Lutz pointed to the choices made by Parks Chairman Bob Chapek to remove the third ride from the land (a unique C-ticket transportation ride), the large space dinner theater restaurant, and the live action characters and droids from the land. These cuts combined with the bungled preparations and over correcting for crowds put Disneyland at an attendance level down 1.8%. In a year when everything was supposed to be at its peak, the blame seemed to be placed at Chapek's feet.

That column sent shockwaves through the Disney organization.  Just as his columns did in the transition from Eisner to Iger.

Last week, things really hit the fan with the posting of Gary Snyder's article, The [DIS] Influencer, on Medium.  Snyder purported to pull back the curtain completely, revealing Al Lutz to have been largely ghost written by Disney company spokespeople.  According to Snyder, Lutz has not ever written anything for MiceChat and had not been writing since 2002.  Those columns, the columns in the Save Disney time, those heavily influential, critical columns were the product of a ghostwriter planted by the Disney company.  This plant was alleged to be the plan of Zenia Mucha, the Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Communications Officer for the Walt Disney company.  Mucha allegedly used this ghostwriter to orchestrate the transition of Robert Iger into power as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.  Further, the column would be used to direct fan anger into specific areas that the Disney company would like it to go (and presumably distract it away from areas that it would not).

The news sent the Disney online community spinning.  Trying to out other posters as corporate shills.  Trying to track down an answer from TP2000/Troy Porter, the alleged ghostwriter.  Discussion on the topic on the forums on MiceChat was shut down.  But the community came to the realization that everyone should have online - unless you can ask the writer in person, you have no real proof that anyone who writes on the web is who they say they are.

You have no idea of their biases, unless they let them show.  You have no idea of their influences.  You have no idea what is going on behind the scenes.

Plus, Disney has long been known for perusing the online forums for essentially free market research.

The final nail for Disney came from a former accountant.  Sandra Kuba, a former senior financial analyst, reported that she had met with the SEC to report Disney for overstating revenue in the parks and resorts division by billions of dollars by exploiting weaknesses in the company's accounting software.

This again does not come as a surprise to those paying attention.  There were definitely allegations of graft and money laundering in the construction of Shanghai Disney.  Plus the budgets of attractions are getting to the $100 hammer points.

Couple all the above with a tepid D23 expo over the weekend, and Disney is not coming off well.  Throw in a spat with Sony over the rights to Spider-man and even the most die-hard fans are starting to notice.

As a die-hard fan, this is all a bit tough, but not all that surprising.  We are definitely at a point again where Disney is reacting but not really stretching itself.

Maybe it's time for a new pair at the top?  A new Roy and Walt, Eisner and Wells.

This will be something I'm keeping my eye on.

I Don't Even Know Where To Begin...

Wow, Report Just Out! Google manipulated from 2.6 million to 16 million votes for Hillary Clinton in 2016 Election! This was put out by a Clinton supporter, not a Trump Supporter! Google should be sued. My victory was even bigger than thought! @JudicialWatch

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 19, 2019

On the comments by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen labeling the idea to buy Greenland as absurd - They were "nasty.  I thought it was an inappropriate statement.  All she had to say, 'No, we wouldn't be interested.'"

"You don't talk to the United States that way, at least under me.  I thought it was not a nice statement, the way she blew me off."

On the Jewish vote - "I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty."

Doubling down - "In my opinion, you vote for a Democrat, you're being very disloyal to Jewish people, and you're being very disloyal to Israel and only weak people would say anything other than that."

Facing criticism for these comments (and the fact that 71% of Jewish voters vote Democrat) -

“Thank you to Wayne Allyn Root for the very nice words. “President Trump is the greatest President for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best President for Israel in the history of the world...and the Jewish people in Israel love him....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2019

.....all Jews, Blacks, Gays, everyone. And importantly, he’s good for everyone in America who wants a job.” Wow! @newsmax @foxandfriends @OANN

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2019

On the trade war with China - "I am the chosen one."

On the Medal of Honor - "This was a big day, Medal of Honor.  Nothing like the Medal of Honor.  I wanted one, but they told me I don't qualify.  I said, 'Can I give it to myself anyway?'  They said, 'I don't think that's a good idea.'"

On the recession -

The Fake News LameStream Media is doing everything possible the “create” a U.S. recession, even though the numbers & facts are working totally in the opposite direction. They would be willing to hurt many people, but that doesn’t matter to them. Our Economy is sooo strong, sorry!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 21, 2019

I mean, I'm seriously at a loss.  I don't know why I get surprised, but I continually am.

This week seems to be a bit over the top in crazy and ego stroking.  From overstating his victory, to Jewish loyalty to him, to repeating claims that compare him to the King of Israel, the second coming, and the chosen one, to joking about giving himself a medal of honor, to blaming the media for any potential recession.

Is he off his meds?  Is this signs of feared dementia?  Seriously, what's behind this uptick.

Yesterday's post was meant to be thought provoking about how some Christian groups can jump to identification of the Antichrist and the potential blindspots that accompany such identifications.  It was not meant to be proof regarding Trump.  He seems determined though to race to the bottom.

At this point, how can approximately 35% still support him and approve of his presidency?

That kind of blind loyalty benefits no one.  At some point this egomania should concern us.  It should be a red flag.

I mean, is he purposefully trying to tank the job, so that he won't get re-elected?  And there's still a substantial portion of the voting population is determined to make sure he is?

It really does baffle the mind.  It's hard to imagine what the future will say about this time.

Perhaps they will be as much at a loss for words as I am.

The Antichrist

Throughout church history, certain Christians have been looking to identify the Antichrist in their lifetime.  They remained so convinced that Christ's return has to come in their lifetime, so the Antichrist has to be among them.  The thinking would go, the world is so terrible, the end must be soon.

To that end, a list of the proposed Antichrist candidates have included Yassar Arafat, the “Beast” super computer of the European Union, Jimmy Carter, Bill Gates, Mikhail Gorbachev, John F. Kennedy, Henry Kissinger, Benito Mussolini, Nero, Pope John Paul II, Ronald Reagan, Pat Robertson, David Rockefeller, Anwar Sadat, Saddam Hussein, Willy Brandt, Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, and perhaps, most recently here in America, Barack Obama.

For eight years, we heard of how awful Barack Obama was.  That he was the Antichrist out to take away all Christian freedoms.  The fear of the things he would do.  Particular attention was paid to the near religious fervor that his political rallies had.  The "church" seeing how "those darn atheists" could be deluded by the Antichrist.

And then, nothing really happened.  He was so evil, but now, not so much.  We can still complain about him, but he's not the Antichrist.  We move on.

And that got me to thinking, are we truly going to recognize the Antichrist when he comes?

Benjamin Corey apparently has been wondering the same thing.  In his article on Formerly Fundie he works through the biblical prophecies regarding the Antichrist and points to how they can reach a startling conclusion - our current President Trump.

There's a definite thread here.  Look at the way President Trump has been able to delude parts of the church.  To persuade them into following and supporting him.  

Look at the prophecies:

• The Antichrist will be the leader of a nation that is a military superpower with the ability to trample and crush the entire earth.  - Daniel 7:23
• The Antichrist will be a man who is exceptionally arrogant and will be known for giving boastful speeches. - Daniel 7:8; Revelation 13:5
• The Antichrist will be someone known for making a lot of public threats against people. - Revelation 13:2, Daniel 7:4
• The Antichrist will come from among 7 tall “hills” that each act as a “head.” - Revelation 13:1, Ch. 17 
• The Antichrist will cause people all over the globe to be filled with wonder and “follow” him. - Revelation 13:3
• The Antichrist will be a political outsider with despicable character and a contemptuous personality who wins an election that no one expects him to win. - Daniel 11:21
• The Antichrist will give speeches where he speaks “great things” and then about things that are even “greater.” - Daniel 7:20
• The Antichrist comes to power through collusion with a secret alliance who uses disinformation to help him win - even though he has a minority number of supporters. - Daniel 11:23
• The Antichrist’s rise to power will seem like a miracle that God performed, tricking people into following Satan instead of God without even noticing. - 2 Thessalonians 2:9
• As president, the Antichrist will immediately find ways to make himself and his friends richer - and he will do it in a way that no president had ever done before. - Daniel 11:24
• Once in power the Antichrist will reveal that his heart wants to make alterations to the “appointed times” that are in current laws. - Daniel 7:25
• The Antichrist will make fake news popular and will be a chronic liar.  His followers will believe his delusions because they hate the truth. - Daniel 8:25, 2 Thessalonians 2:10
• The Antichrist will reward those who are completely loyal with powerful positions and lucrative real estate deals. - Daniel 11:39b
• The Bible says that we’ll be able to spot the Antichrist because he will give an arrogant public speech in the middle of his first term where he boasts of “great things” but also uses God’s name as a curse in the same speech. - Revelation 13:5-6
• The Antichrist will draw strong support from many Christians as if they are willfully blind and outright delusional. - Matthew 24:24, 2nd Thessalonians 2:10
• The Antichrist will spend his first term in office having an ongoing feud with the leadership of the nation on his southern border. - Daniel 11:25
• The Antichrist will be so angry at the king to his south that he will decide to intentionally inflict harm on that ethnic group in retaliation. - Daniel 11:28, Zechariah 11:16-17
• The Antichrist will be furious over “rumors and reports” that come from the east and north, and will fly into fits of rage as the reports surface. - Daniel 11:44
• The Antichrist will appear to receive a wound he can’t recover from, but will survive to put down the first attempts to remove him from office. - Revelation 13:3
• The Antichrist will have the nation’s most powerful religious leader influencing the country for him.  This leader will try to convince Christians that the Antichrist is “God’s pick” and that we need to support him. - Revelation 13:11-12
• The Antichrist will see himself as being above everyone else, as if he had no need for God.  He will eventually elevated himself as the God and King of Israel. - 2nd Thessalonians 2:4, Revelation 17
• The Antichrist will worship the god of board walls.  - Daniel 11:37-38
• The Antichrist’s most devoted followers will wear a sign of their allegiance to him on their foreheads. - Revelation 13
• But the people who truly know God and remain faithful, will firmly “resist” him. - Daniel 11:32

With Corey's analysis, there is a definite through line that can be drawn from each of these prophecies to President Trump.  It's fairly convincing and somewhat disconcerting.

You should read the article and see how each of these fall into place.  There are facts in there that 

But ultimately, do I think Trump is the Antichrist?

No.

For one, too many people dislike him.

In reality, the prophecies are like Rorschach tests - we see in them what we want to find.  Corey is able to pull some connections together, but there are some real stretches in there as well.

What we should do is remember that the Antichrist will come to deceive us all.  That he will be able to persuade and to draw to him many that would be considered faithful.  That he's not coming in opposition to the church, at least not initially.  

We should learn from the reasons why we have identified people as the Antichrist in the past.  That they may lead political rallies that look like Billy Graham Crusades.  And that they will be able to seduce men and women of the church with political power, putting aside character and morality for position.

Perhaps then, we can recognize him and resist him when he actually arrives.