Until about two years ago, half of my lineage was a mystery to me. mere guessing and wonderment. The scenarios and possibilities that have run through my head have been, shall we say, entertaining and vast. Why the mystery? My mother’s adoption and sealed birth records. In my mother’s and late Aunt Hardy’s digging and searching lead me to wishing as of 2009, that they had some direction or answers. My adopted family (the Johnsons and the Nolands) have been nothing short of fulfilling. My adopted grandfather (Hayden Johnson) was a fine gentleman, a genius architect, and city planner. He was also a man who was well connected with the shot callers of his day. My mother can recall my Grandfather having cocktails, and exchanging barbs (amidst policy discussions) with the late William F. Buckley in her childhood home. A family of well educated, hardworking and classically liberal people.
My father’s family has a rich history in my namesake. The Warfield’s are old Anglo-Saxon nobility that is traced (through primary sources) as far back as the 11th Century in what is now known as County Berkshire, before William the ‘Bastard’ (as my ancestors would’ve called him) “unified” England. To speed this story along, I always had a suspicion of having Hebrew ancestry. Part of me was always just fascinated by their culture, their heritage, their religion, and how political powers of the East and the West throughout the ages ‘til today have felt threatened by them and have tried to destroy them (to no avail). Sure enough, through my mother having DNA testing, I have enough Jewish ancestry to be given free passage to the Holy Land and two years of free lodging. That revelation has, in essence, given me new eyes to perceive many things.
For one, it has forced me to re-study the relationship between the United States and Israel as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The first thing that needs to be understood when talking to anti-Semites about the history of the Holy Land, is that the Tanakh (the Hebrew Scriptures) are cited and relied upon by scholars as a historical document (despite Atheistic speculation of miraculous events recorded in the narrative). Why talk about this? A “significant” part of the case for Palestine they say is the name of the Land. In that case, if we’re going be concise on this, then the Pro-Palestinian movement would achieve a certain level of intelligibility if they vouched for the country to change its name to Canaan.
Another historical angle claimed by the Pro-Palestinian movement is that essentially “they were there first.” History once again proves to be such an unforgiving wench, doesn’t she? Too bad you can’t cut off her clitoris, or execute her for not covering herself up enough. The truth?! The only historically accurate reason for Islam’s claim to being an ‘Abrahamic’ religion is that Arabs are descendants of Ishmael. If you’re unfamiliar with that historical narrative, look at it again. I guarantee it will add an irony to this conflict that not even the genius of Shakespeare could conjure up. As I was saying, there simply isn’t enough anthropological, scientific, or historical evidence to even make a circumstantial case that Ishmaelites had a presence in Canaan before Joshua and Caleb led the Israelites to the land that they believed Hashem promised to them.
I’m not going to devote anymore space in this article than necessary in terms of religion, but I will say this in regards to Islam: I am not Xenophobic nor am I possessed by Islamophobia. I am, however, a fatalist and a realist. I would say in my humble opinion that proclaiming Islam is a religion of peace is like saying that the struggles of the LGBT community are akin to the plight of African Americans. I want whatever you’re smoking! How convenient it must be to live the life of a delusional fool. Despite how that may appear to the thin-skinned swine infesting social media, I went through middle school high school with a Sunni Muslim family who emigrated from Jordan. They are moral, patriotic, blue collar, and hard-working people who were largely well-liked by everyone. They are probably one of the few families I went to school with that I uniformly liked and have positive memories of.
I judge people by their individual conduct rather than their religion. Many people happen to be fleeting parishioners to the religion they were raised. One of my best friends was a combat medic in the army and was in theater in Iraq. He spoke to dozens of people during his time there and found that many people were Islam by default because they knew nothing else. That is not a thought process that is relegated to the streets of Baghdad.
No one in their right mind will dispute that organized religion has always been used as a shield or catalyst for atrocious things. The most infamous man of the 20th Century, Adolf Hitler, claimed to be a Catholic. In his rise to power he manipulated Catholics throughout Germany. Truth be told, he never held to the sacraments or lived the life that the Catholic Church taught. By that philosophical logic claiming Hitler was a Catholic because he may have on occasion said he was holds as much water as if Louis Farrakhan claimed to be a Jew. Then again it is a two-sided coin. You have an individual’s conduct versus the orthodox/fundamental theology of the religion or philosophy they espouse (“Do they match up?”) There is an exponentially darker and sinister truth to the historical tactics of governments manipulating religious teachings and religious people as a means to an end. I.e., the CIA’s involvement with the Mujahedeen and what that produced.
After addressing the two most fallacious arguments Pro-Palestinians make, my question now is: “Why has the president been so anti-Israel?”
I suppose the teleprompter didn’t remind him to hide his seething disgust and anger with Prime Minister Netanyahu. Not that he’s a perfect leader, but you can’t fault a man for fighting for the survival of his country through a geopolitical goulash of treaties, trade agreements, and the tactics of the international intelligence community.
Why would Obama defecate on a country that our nation restored and helped re-build? His most adamant critics would say he is a Muslim, an intriguing, circumstantial charge given that he’s the only Western leader I’ve ever known of to refer to the Qu’ran as the Holy Qu’ran (when he visited Egypt). I’m not implying that I necessarily agree or disagree with that crowd, I just think it’s something that should be taken into consideration if you are curious about Obama’s personal religion. If I was running for office and I really wanted to win, I’d say I was a humanist if I absolutely had to. That doesn’t mean I’d be obligated to act like that.
I think it’s more sustainable to infer that our President’s Anti-Israeli (and possible Anti-Semitic as they do go hand in hand a lot) sentiment comes from the influence of the now infamous ‘Reverend’ Jeremiah Wright (a prominent voice in the Black Liberation Theology movement). Your two-minute Wikipedia search will satisfy any query to my inference.
With the blind eye that this administration is turning to the state’s increasing infringement on free enterprise, as well as civil and religious liberties begs me to finally wonder: “Is the Jewish vote now anyone’s to take?” If you couple the hard line they’ve taken from the 20th Century ‘til now on Civil Liberties, group that with their individual yearning for fiscal discipline, and religious liberties. They should, by definition be Libertarian. It’s a perfect fit…unless you lived in Dade County in 2000. Bad joke, sorry…
Seriously, though. The DNC has abandoned Zionist foreign policy and seems more than willing to afford a free pass to welcome refugees to abuse 1st Amendment rights they don’t even technically have to incite hatred and persecution of Jews. I fear for the Jewish community; I choose to stand beside them. But let’s sit around and wait for our turn to come around and start talking about our “feelings” and let this conglomeration of misinformation, prejudice, and ignorance continue to fester and grow. After all, that seems to be working just swell.
