The left has turned its activism into a religious pursuit, with devastating effects on Western society.
We had for many years an amazing rabbi. He was an American whose family came over to Israel during the Six Day War. The Israeli press at the time thought that they were so crazy that they wrote articles about those nutty Americans coming during an active war. This rabbi used to say that he wished that someone could prove to him that there was no God. It would save him a fortune on kosher food, would free up his Saturdays for shopping or traveling, and simply make his life easier. That no one succeeded did not mean that he was not open to the challenge until his dying day. He was the opposite of what in Israel is known as “rosh ba’kir”--literally, having one’s head stuck on a wall. When someone absolutely refuses to listen to reason, he is accused of having his head stuck on the wall.
I thought about this expression when I saw a picture from the recent uprisings in England. A group of protesters were confronted with counter-protesters, some who had signs stating, “Immigrants Welcome Here.” Like many things in public discourse, the sign is somewhat deceptive. Do you welcome immigrants who would knife your daughters? Do you welcome immigrants who will tell you what to wear and how to live your life according to Sharia law? Do you welcome immigrants who take over parts of your cities and make you unwelcome? Everybody likes a smiling, productive, and affable immigrant. That is not where the problem is.
Unlike our rabbi who was open to listening to opposing views and opinions, those on the left have rendered their ears inoperable. You can’t debate them. You cannot reason with them. You cannot compromise with them. And the reason is very simple: they are in the thralls of a modern God-alternative religion. Tuesday was a 25-hour fast day in commemoration of the destruction of the two temples and many other tragedies that have befallen the Jewish people over the millennia. New prayers were added for the pogrom of 10/7 of last year, as this is just one more horrible event in Jewish history. As it was a fast day, one does not eat or drink. Those who could, took off from work. Many spent much of their day at the synagogue where special prayers were said for national tragedies, new and old.
On the face of it, the fast day works against my interests. In order to be strong and alert, I need to eat and drink. Going to work is at least outwardly more productive than sitting on the floor of the synagogue and saying ancient prayers. So why do we do things that would appear to be against our personal interests? The answer is religion. The fast day is not like Yom Kippur which appears in the Torah. Rather, it is a decree of the Talmudic sages and continues to this day. In religion, one often does things against his or her outward interest because the faith demands the same. Not giving charity would save me money, but there is an expectation from God as codified and quantified by the rabbis of how much and to whom to give. One is not surprised when a religious requirement goes against a person’s interests, as the practitioner is striving to connect to something larger, namely God. To note, charity has befuddled evolutionists. One is better off keeping all of his money for himself and his offspring. They finally concluded that charity helps keep a community alive which is ultimately in the giver’s interest. Pathetic.
And thus, when we live in a highly secular age, the cause du jour becomes like a religious experience. Those holding the signs welcoming immigrants will welcome them even from their graves. A few years ago, an immigrant raped and killed a young medical student who was the daughter of the EU officer in charge of immigration. He made sure to say after his daughter’s murder that immigration will continue. And the same is true in the US. Jews for Palestine and Trans for Hamas don’t care that their new friends will slit their throats or push them off of any remaining tall buildings in Gaza. Theirs is a religious experience of “doing the right thing” even if it works totally against their persons and interests. We cannot come to any compromises with people engaged in acts of religious fervor. Just as if someone told me to fast half a day, such an argument would fall on deaf ears. To wit, the IDF rabbinate told all soldiers to eat yesterday due to their military activities and the need for readiness.
The pseudo-religious left are enthralled in an ideology that gives them religious pleasure. Sitting on a road to end oil or protesting for Palestine without knowing where it is supposed to be is a religious experience on par with sitting in the pews and belting out a psalm in an unknown langauge with all of one’s heart. The Marxist ideology becomes their original document, their unerring guide for life and action. Pointing out that immigration both in England and in the US harms the locals, increases crime, causes heightened social tension and lowers wages means nothing. The teachings demand that we destroy our formerly wonderful country. We are bad people for hogging so much good for ourselves and must now share the goods with people who hate their new hosts and have stated that they have come to conquer them. The same goes for abortion, trans, and whatever the subject of the day is. The ideology has taken on religious proportions and cannot be discussed or brought to compromise. The press will refuse to do its job to interview a presidential candidate in order to protect the new leftist faith. It’s my way or the highway on steroids.
Every sentient being knows that overall men are stronger and faster than women. Data support such a conclusion. The fastest woman in the pool would not make the cut for the men’s final for any race you choose. That is the reason women’s divisions were first created. But we now have the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and top-flight researchers and doctors telling us that a “trans woman” is a woman in every way. Of course he is not. But the needs of the ideology will easily steamroll truth and scientific data. When a hotshot astrophysicist said that one day he could be 20% male and the next day 20% female, my kids were stumped. I told them that it was easy to understand. If he tells the scientific truth, he will be shunned. His grants will dry up as will his invitations to the right parties. But if he gives some mumbo-jumbo about changing his percentage of womanhood each day, he will be the talk of the town, the belle of the ball. Keeping relevant and the money flowing is more important than telling the scientific truth that trans women are men with serious personal issues.
Ideological purity is the order of the day. Just as a fellow bringing a ham sandwich into an orthodox synagogue would be shunned, so too any politician or news personality who says that he supports limits on abortion or that guys cannot become gals will find himself out in the cold. The ideological left brooks no heterodox opinions or views. You hold the line on all subjects or you are out. Elon Musk and others said that they were left-center, but today they support Donald Trump because their former position in Democratic and liberal spheres no longer exists. Leftism has become a religion that cannot be questioned.