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Paul D. Miller

6 Jan, 9 tweets, 2 min read

https://twitter.com/albertmohler/status/1346925742639226891

This rings hollow unless it's accompanied by a recognition of, and repentance for, how we got here. Trump's defenders, like Mohler, defended, justified, and explained Trump till now but draw the line at rioting. Maybe the road that led to the riots needs reexamination.

https://twitter.com/albertmohler/status/1346925742639226891

To put it another way, if you argue, as Mohler did, that Christians should vote for Trump with full knowledge of Trump's character and record, then you own the consequences. Pleading ignorance ("I didn't know he'd incite a riot") rings hollow because we warned this would happen

People who study politics and history for a living *knew what Trump was* from the beginning. He's a demagogue. We are not surprised by this and we warned you about it *years ago*. Trump has never shown much regard for the constitution, and today was only the latest proof.

General knowledge of history and society is an important part of developing prudential wisdom, wisdom that is essential if you're going to speak out and give advice about politics and society. You can't just say "worldview" and claim expertise

Theologians do not have special authority to speak out on political matters. The opposite is often true because they spend comparatively less time studying the data, the minutiae, the historical precedents that help us understand how human societies work.

Some who defend Trump don't pay attention to those things. They invoke vast, abstract ideas-that Trump will stop CRT and cultural Marxism and intersectionality or something, while ignoring the real, specific, concrete harms he is doing to our body politic

The defense of Trump boils down to a wager that conservative judges are worth the risk of whatever damage Trump might do in any and every other field of public policy. That was always a shocking wager because of what we knew about Trump from the beginning.

Now the question is, are you willing to bet the Constitution on that wager? The peaceful transfer of power? The continuity of government? Because that is what is at stake, which is what I have been trying to say for years.

Trump is an anti-democratic nationalist demagogue who threatens the American experiment in free government. Do you get it yet? Do you think there is anything defensible here? Do you recognize the path we traveled to get to this point?

Because if not, we'll travel it again.

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Paul D. Miller

@PaulDMiller2

9 Jan

"You're not allowed to condemn one bad thing unless you condemn all bad things in the order and with the intensity I prefer," is another bad take.

I've seen a lot of "If you didn't condemn the riots last summer, I don't want to hear about the Capitol riot." For the record, I did condemn the riots (and the police brutality) last summer. But so what if I didn't? So what if we choose different battles to fight?

I used to get upset when people didn't care about my pet issue--the war in Afghanistan--as much as I did. It took me years to make peace with the fact that most of you don't care and never will, even though it is literally a matter of life and death. It still hurts a little, tbh.

Read 4 tweets

Paul D. Miller

@PaulDMiller2

9 Jan

https://twitter.com/dandarling/status/1347923778811080705

When I studied terrorism in South Asia, I ran across a lot of literature on "de-radicalization." One thing I recall is that de-rad program were most successful when they were locally driven and involved religious leaders. In other words....

https://twitter.com/dandarling/status/1347923778811080705

Imams who didn't believe in terrorism were the best at teaching young men to not be terrorists. They taught a version of Islam that did not lead to violence. These programs worked better than government-run programs or attempts at "modernization" whatever that is. That means....

Applying that insight to today: Christian pastors have a special responsibility and burden. They have a unique role in "de-radicalizing" the people in their pews. They need to teach the difference between Christianity and Christian nationalism.

Read 7 tweets

Paul D. Miller

@PaulDMiller2

21 Dec 20

I see folks are ranking Star Wars again. So let me step in here and help you out.

Here is the definitive ranking of Star Wars.

Now, to do this right, we can’t just rank the Skywalker saga. We have to include the spinoffs. The cartoons. The TV series. Yes, the holidays specials. We’re going to do pretty much all of it, folks.

I will not be ranking animated shorts: Forces of Destiny, Galaxy of Adventures, Blips, Rollout. I’m going to skip the Droids and Ewoks cartoons (1985 - 87) and most Lego Star Wars content. We have to draw a line somewhere.

Read 38 tweets

Paul D. Miller

@PaulDMiller2

16 Nov 20

@ostrachan

Hi @ostrachan. With respect, I'd like to push back on a few things you say here.

https://twitter.com/ostrachan/status/1328413157325410304

It is not true that "99 percent of people" recover from COVID. I think you mean 99 percent *survive*, but even that's iffy, since the case fatality rate changes over time in different circumstances.

But counting the mere fact of survival is a poor measure of this disease's impact. Some number of people struggle with long term illness after passing the critical stage. This can be a debilitating, even disabling illness for some people.
who.int/docs/default-s….

Read 9 tweets

Paul D. Miller

@PaulDMiller2

9 Jun 20

Black lives matter.

That there is any kind of debate about this phrase is sadly telling about the state of American democracy.

Some organizations using the phrase "Black Lives Matter" advocate remedies I don't agree with.

But I don't have to agree with every org and every advocate to affirm the important and obvious truth that Black lives matter.

Don't "defund the police." That's unrealistic and dumb and counterproductive.

Retrain the police, and possibly disarm the police of lethal weapons.

But also recognize that police are necessary for law and order.

Read 21 tweets

Paul D. Miller

@PaulDMiller2

22 May 20

Aspiring to be a "public intellectual" or "thought leader" is another way of saying "I want to be famous for being smart," which is ironic because it isn't very smart to want to be famous.

I mean, consider. Wanting to be famous for thinking hard is just obviously prideful--and pride cometh before the fall. You walk around with a target on your back, just begging the twitter mob to catch you saying something dumb or hypocritical or incorrect.

And most fame is mostly unearned. How many public intellectuals really have a true lifelong record of insights and contributions to public discourse? How many are just people coasting off one or two decent books or a sweet deal as a columnist somewhere.

Read 6 tweets

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