And Just like that we knew things were not right; a Journey.

How did we get to this place in time that we at right now?

Those who have travelled this long and dusky road know; and their answer will surprise you. It was no accident. We got careless and entrusted our future to people underserving of that trust; they had plans for us that we knew nothing of at the time. We did not keep our eye on the ball. We were preoccupied for too long. Wanting to live a quiet and peaceable life was our undoing.

Then one day we woke up after what seemed to be a twenty year sleep just like Rip Van Winkle to find everything had changed. We had changed as well and knew there was no going back. None of the answers we heard made any sense.

There were forces at work we knew nothing of. They were determined to build a world in their own image and it had nothing in common with the vision in our minds. They were devoted to their cause. They never seemed to sleep. They planned and worked for 24 hours a day for seven days a week. While WE were the ones who slept.

Then we had a flash of inspiration as if it were a bolt from the blue. It dawned that something was very wrong with how we saw the world. What we were told and how it really was were at odds. It was horribly off kilter. Pointers from the past that suggested things were not quite right were brought to mind.

Where did we start to make sense of it? It took years but finally we got to a place where we understood things a whole lot better. It was making sense now in ways it had not before.

We developed a noes for bullshit and an eye for detail. We saw concepts in a new light; we had to relearn and unlearn at the same time.

We slept a lot less. And when we did it was with one eye open. We had to come to terms with a side of human nature we never knew you see.

I like the way CS Lewis thinks. An innocent thing can be spun into a vice in the wrong hands. Just like a vice can be spun into a virtue. Then there are the words that sound too good to be true they scream trouble. The motivation for what these folk do does not come from a good place. You see the dilemma in all of this I hope.

Think of white picket fences what manner of evil does it summon up for you. Your answer will determine just where you stand on the assigned vice versus virtue scale.

Lewis warned about the dangers of outrage of the fashionable kind. This is the crafted for mass consumption type; and every generation is at risk of catching this virus.

Many contract the virus so badly they are barely coherent; and even twitch when they wade forth. Yes it is this bad.

These outrages are the tropes if you will; like white picket fences, white Nationalists, fascists, old white men, Trumpers, Christian extremists, to other; and so forth.

You will know these outrages by the number of times they used; and you might have noticed it is many. Ad nauseum as a matter of fact.

They puff the assigned vices which pose the least danger to society. In other words these are not THE threats; but people are strongly led to believe they are. They are meant as a distraction. Nothing more.

Then they place the assigned virtue next to the assigned vice they are trying hard to sell. This is to ensure the virtue comes up smelling like a rose. Inclusiveness maybe one example of what they promote as a virtue while to other is its opposing vice.

The idea behind all this is to have everyone running around with fire extinguishers when there is a flood; and all crowding to the side of the boat which is already nearly gone under.

When you warned about the idolatry of white picket fences while the real, perverse and in your face kind is brushed over; you just know that you have reached a place where a special kind of stupid is king.