The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/1238334
B-8 Wednesday, April 22, 2020 The Press-Dispatch OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg As in the past, I like to share things my friends have sent me which I think are worth reading. Here's one that I think is worth- while meditating upon. I do not think it has a copyright restric- tion. It has no title but it has ma- ny jewels in it. Three things in life that nev- er come back once they're gone: Time, Words, Opportunity. Three things that should never be lost: Peace, Hope, Honesty. Three things in life that are most valuable: Love, Faith, Prayer. Three things that make a per- son: Hard work, Sincerity, Com- mitment. Three things that can destroy a person: Lust, Pride, Anger. Three things in life that are constant: Change, Death, God. Three who love you and will never leave you alone unless you absolutely reject the Truth: The Father, The Son, The Holy Spirit. I asked God for these three things: To bless you, to guide you, to always protect you. • • • Since we all have time to reflect on im- portant matters in life because of the isola- tion/quarantine or- ders, it appears there have been so many good items appearing on various social me- dia and websites that are truly inspiring and uplifting. It has also prompted a lot of us to connect via Facetime, Sky- pe, video chat, Zoom video con- ferencing, Live stream, Webinar, etc. It's amazing how this technol- ogy has helped prevent isolation and loneliness. It's so wonderful how it has made us connect wide- ly for meetings, conferences, inter- views, even telemedicine. We can share information as though we are in the same room as everyone else, although we might be miles apart. Our grandkids and our children do regu- lar contact via Face- time and Messenger video. It is amazing as young as our grand- children are, they have become quite adept in using these technolo- gies without getting bogged down by the glitches and quirks that creep in at times. They know which steps to take if we temporarily get dis- connected. Mind you, these kids are ages 4 and above, and they already know a lot of the features of the technol- ogy, even the terminologies I did not expect them to understand. • • • Here are some amusing quips My Point of View By Dr. H. K. Fenol, Jr., M.D. Three things Minority View By Walter E. Williams Fixing college corruption Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 America's colleges are rife with corruption. The financial squeeze resulting from COVID-19 offers opportunities for a bit of remedia- tion. Let's first let's examine what might be the root of academic cor- ruption, suggested by the title of a recent study, "Academic Griev- ance Studies and the Corruption of Scholarship." The study was do- ne by Areo, an opinion and analy- sis digital magazine. By the way, Areo is short for Areopagitica, a speech delivered by John Milton in defense of free speech. Authors Helen Pluckrose, James A. Lindsay and Peter Boghossian say that something has gone dras- tically wrong in academia, espe- cially within certain fields within the humanities. They call these fields "grievance studies," where scholarship is not so much based upon finding truth but upon attend- ing to social grievances. Grievance scholars bully students, adminis- trators and other departments into adhering to their worldview. The worldview they promote is neither scientific nor rigorous. Grievance studies consist of disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, gender studies, queer, sexuality and crit- ical race studies. In 2017 and 2018, authors Pluck- rose, Lindsay and Boghossian started submitting bogus aca- demic papers to aca- demic journals in cul- tural, queer, race, gen- der, fat and sexuality studies to determine if they would pass peer review and be accept- ed for publication. Ac- ceptance of dubious research that journal editors found sympa- thetic to their inter- sectional or postmodern leftist vi- sion of the world proves the prob- lem of low academic standards. Several of the fake research pa- pers were accepted for publica- tion. The Fat Studies journal pub- lished a hoax paper that argued the term bodybuilding was exclu- sionary and should be replaced with "fat bodybuilding, as a fat-in- clusive politicized performance." One reviewer said, "I thoroughly enjoyed reading this article and believe it has an important con- tribution to make to the field and this journal." "Our Struggle Is My Struggle: Solidarity Feminism as an Intersectional Reply to Neolib- eral and Choice Feminism," was accepted for publication by A f- filia, a feminist journal for social workers. The paper consisted in part of a rewritten passage from Mein Kampf. Two oth- er hoax papers were published, including "Rape Culture and Queer Performativity at Urban Dog Parks." This paper's subject was dog-on-dog rape. But the dog rape paper eventually forced Bog- hossian, Pluckrose and Lindsay to pre- maturely out themselves. A Wall Street Journal writer had figured out what they were doing. Some papers accepted for pub- lication in academic journals ad- vocated training men like dogs and punishing white male college students for historical slavery by asking them to sit in silence in the floor in chains during class and to be expected to learn from the dis- comfort. Other papers celebrated morbid obesity as a healthy life choice and advocated treating pri- vately conducted masturbation as a form of sexual violence against women. Typically, academic jour- nal editors send submitted papers out to referees for review. In rec- ommending acceptance for pub- The Rational By Dennis Prager Points to Ponder by Rev. Ford Bond Hope is eternal There will be a post-mortem of how the government responded to the Coronavirus; Was it as deadly as feared, did government respond fast enough and did all levels of government respond too harshly? There is no doubt that the na- tion was unprepared for the Cov- id-19 crisis. In recent memory, the nation has been swept by SARS, SWINE, and AIDS. However, at the same time, regardless who you talk to, the question that emerges is "What do you think? " The newspapers and Internet are awash with ideas and theo- ries:" Is the virus a bioweapon; Is the Covid-19 a pandemic hoax; Did the US release the virus on China or China on the US? " The peoples of the world have reason to distrust the media and the political class. The lack of con- fidence in government in our era has its roots in the Gulf of Tonkin incident that was used to escalate the Vietnam conflict. People now realize that the world can turn on a dime—the prophecies of the return of Christ can be fulfilled in a short period. The world situation COULD turn quickly and evil descend up- on the globe. We have witnessed this in our lifetime. Three weeks ago a man stopped by the church, we were talking, and he was in tears—fearing this is the Anti- Christ. I assured him it is not and prayed with him. But his fears were not unfounded. Major world events used to take time to reach a critical stage; World War I was two decades in the making. World War II was 25 years in the making. Korea did not suddenly happen. Vietnam was two and one half decades in the making. Coronavirus was 10 weeks. One thing lacking in leadership on all levels [national, state, and local], was any mention of God, prayer, and repentance. Many minutes and hours have been given by mental-healthcare professionals on how to deal with the stress and anxiety of this cri- sis—but none offered a reassuring word from the scriptures. I have "yet" to hear our elected leaders call the nation to prayer and repentance. Are you saying pastor the CO- VID-19 is a plague from God? No. It is another pestilence in a series of pestilences that have plagued mankind; there will be more. We are anxious and fearful be- cause something is attacking our health that we cannot see—yet we know it is there. Sounds like sin— but I digress. The Western World today gives lip service to a god, but is devoted to pleasure and self-ab- sorption. How should a Christian respond to COVID-19 and the next crisis? This question was answered al- most 500 years ago. In 1527, a deadly plague hit Mar- tin Luther's town of Wittenberg and he wrote a letter to a friend asking whether one should flee from a deadly plague. Rev. Dr. John Hess, replied with words from the heart of a man of God. He replied "I shall ask God mer- cifully to protect us. Then I shall fumigate, help purify the air, ad- minister medicine, and take it. I shall avoid places and persons where my presence is not needed in order not to become contaminat- ed and thus perchance inflict and pollute others and so cause their death as a result of my negligence. If God should wish to take me, he will surely find me and I have done what he has expected of me and so I am not responsible for either my own death or the death of others." However, "If my neighbor needs me however, I shall not avoid place or person but will go freely as stat- ed above." Dr. Hess in essence said, "Once you have done all to protect your- self and others—stand in the faith of God! Can you stand fast in the face of adversity? Jesus told His disciples, "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give un- to you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Embrace peace and serenity Sometimes even The Greatest (1977) needs a pat on the back. Here's to you, America! Sure, we are looking at tough times ahead. And, sure, China, Russia, Iran, and others of their ilk spread horrible lies about us to the world. Yet, we stand strong. America has brought more to the world than most, serving as a flicker of hope in the darkest hours. This time will be no differ- ent. Expect the United States to emerge from this global epidemic as she went into it: a world leader. Still, a good bucking-up right now couldn't hurt. Here are eight cinema reminders of when Amer- icans stood tall against all odds. 8. Tripoli (1950). Who would dare challenge the Barbary pi- rates, the scourge of the Mediter- ranean trade routes? Those up- start, newly independent Amer- icans—that's who. Washington sends in the Marines. They show those pirates a thing or two—and even get the girl! 7. The Fighting 69th (1940). Locked in the War to End All Wars, Europe faces its most des- perate hour. Only one thing can turn the tide of battle: the United States goes "over there." Mired in the muck of the trenches are those hard-scrab- bled mugs from the Bowery: the fighting 69th Infantry Regi- ment. Give it to 'em, boys! And they did! 6. Merrill's Marauders (1962). It took lots of tough fighting to save the free world in World War II. None had it tougher than the American expedition in Burma, who battled the jungle, the heat, disease, and starvation—as well as the bad guys. 5. The Big Lift (1950). In the ear- ly days of the Cold War, the Soviets decide to test U.S. resolve. They start by trying to starve out Al- lied-occupied West Berlin. "No way," says the U.S. Air Force. They break the blockade with an unprecedented, and what many thought would be im- possible, airlift. 4. Retreat, Hell! (1952). As the Cold War heated up, the generals said there was one place we wouldn't have to fight: Korea. If only! No bat- tle was more harrow- ing than the effort to survive the Chinese counterattack at Chosin Reservoir. In some of the toughest terrain and most appalling winter weather any modern army has seen, a U.S. Ma- rine Division is thrown into the fight at the moment when the bat- tle seems hopeless. 3. Apollo 13 (1995). We were not only the first nation to put a man on the moon, we were the first to bring people back without getting them killed. Dealing with a real- life disaster tens-of-thousands of miles out in space requires a team Continued on page 9 Continued on page 9 Star Parker is off this week. The following is a column by Dennis Prager. Why are governments the world over rendering hundreds of mil- lions of their citizens jobless, im- poverishing at least a billion peo- ple, endangering the family life of millions (straining marriages, in- creasing child and spousal abuse, and further postponing marriage among young people), bankrupt- ing vast numbers of business own- ers and workers living paycheck to paycheck, and increasing sui- cides? The reason given is that we must lock down virtually all human so- cial and economic activity in order to prevent millions of people from dying of the coronavirus and over- whelming hospitals. But is it true? Was this lockdown necessary? In order to answer these ques- tions, we need to know how ma- ny people would have died from COVID-19 if we hadn't ruined the world's economic life. The truth is we don't know. And the truth is we never knew. A large swath of the "expert" communi- ty cloaked itself with unscientif- ic certitude, beginning, on March 16, with a model from the Imperi- al College London — the source governments relied upon for the decision to ruin their economies — which projected about 2.2 mil- lion Americans and half a million Brits would die. Almost every national leader, politician and media outlet in the world believed that model. As I ex- plained in my last column, modern men and women have substituted "experts" for prophets and priests. Science is the secular religion, and "experts" are its prophets and priests. In fact, they have greater authority among the secular, espe- cially those left of center, than the pope of the Catholic Church has among Catholics. Whereas popes have invoked the doctrine of "in- fallibility" twice in the history of the Catholic Church, "experts" in- voke it every day among the secu- lar faithful. But on what grounds are we to believe that millions would die without ruining the American — and the world's — economy? Without our being told by an om- niscient God, there is no way to know the definitive answer. But here are some data that cast doubt on those assumptions, based entirely on the only metric that matters: deaths per 1 million. The number of confirmed infect- ed people is meaningless, since so few people anywhere have been tested for the virus, and we don't know how many people already had the virus and never knew it. (Moreover, asymptomatic or min- imally symptomatic carriers of the virus constitute the majority of those infected.) As of yesterday, according to the Worldometer website, the United States ranked 12th, with 71 deaths per 1 million people. (I have not in- cluded San Marino and St. Martin because they have such small pop- ulations.) France's death rate is 229 per 1 million, three times greater than that of the United States, and it went on national lockdown March 17. America didn't go on national lockdown because that decision is the responsibility of states. So, let's take California, the most pop- ulous American state (and there- fore nearest to France's popula- tion). California went on statewide lockdown March 19, two days af- ter France. The death rate from coronavirus in California is 2 per 100,000. Two. Deux. That means France, which went on lockdown only two days prior to California, has more than 10 times the death rate. And Nebraska, one of the few U.S. states that has not locked down — to the intense anger of the state's Democrats at its Repub- lican governor — has a death rate of less than 1 per 100,000 (accord- ing to the Washington Post's daily listing of U.S. coronavirus deaths). What do these statistics say about the efficacy and indispens- ability of a lockdown? To give you an idea of how unre- liable much "expert" thinking is, Heritage Viewpoint By James Carafano Films that remind us why we chant U.S.A. Has the lockdown worked?