Respiratory droplets, produced when a man is sneezing (from here).
The current quarantine called ‘social distancing’ has been imposed on us in order to minimize the transfer of the coronavirus from one person to others. We are trying to prevent many from becoming ill and even dying from the disease. The sooner the wave of infection begins to recede, the sooner businesses can reopen and a semblance of normal daily living can resume.
COVID-19 seems to have come almost out of the blue to ravage the entire world. No one can declare immunity from its spread. A sense of panic has seized us, leading folks to hoard commodities like toilet paper, hand sanitizer, food, and cleaning supplies. It has forced us to stop assembling at school, church, shopping centers and many work sites. Incomes have been sharply cut or reduced, those fortunate enough to be able to telework sit at their computers at home rather than communing to a job, and children amuse themselves with electronics or find something to do outdoors.
Our lives have literally been turned upside down! No plague in earth’s history has created such an upheaval. Why has it come? That is a good question wisdom seeks to answer. Perhaps we need to look at the same Bible we threw out of our national life in 1963 and see what God says. While He doesn’t specify this particular plague, He does say that when we do not obey what He has given us as His word and flaunt our national sins in His face, God will warn us and use plagues to do it. It appears COVID-19 is that vehicle right now.
We need to stop playing the political correctness game and tell it like it is. Two sins God hates are the shedding of innocent blood and all sexual practices outside of marriage.
In the United States alone we have aborted at least 61 million babies since the Roe v. Wade decision was handed down in 1973. Innocent babies with no voice to defend themselves have been sacrificed on the altar of convenience. Distorting the meaning of life and when it begins, abortionists mislead women to believing that the baby within them is just a blob of tissue easily discarded to avoid the responsibility of mothering that child when born.
That rationalization is in direct violation of Commandment six that says, “Thou shalt not murder.” Nowhere in God’s word does He condone the killing of innocent human life. Every soul is priceless in His sight, for He says that God knows each child at the moment of conception. He forms that baby in the womb; the mother is the vehicle for its nurture. God planned it that way, but we have legalized going against God’s order. Are we now tasting God’s abhorrence of our sins?
Not to be minimized is a second sin that God hates and calls an abomination. That is the sin of sexual perversion in all its forms. Genesis 1:27 says that God created humans as male and female, blessed the first pair and told them to be fruitful and multiply (have children). As such, God treasures all people just the way He made them and intends for them to marry: one man and one woman to create a home for children that will be born in that union.
Today sexual aberrations of every variety and kind are practiced in society. The divorce rate in the United States is out of control as partners violate their covenant “‘til death we part.” In fact, many young couples don’t bother to marry at all and just live together. God calls that adultery.
An increasing number of young people shun marriage for other forms of sexual practice, hence, the acronym LGBTQ to differentiate the forms. God judged all sexual practices outside of marriage when He said in Commandment seven: “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
Typically, we think ‘adultery ‘means that one or both partners in a marriage break their marriage covenant to have sex with another person or persons. They are unfaithful to their promise at the altar, but the word adultery has a broader meaning. To adulterate something means: “to corrupt, debase, or make impure by the addition of a foreign or inferior substance or element “(Merriam-Webster on-line dictionary).
Our bodies as created by God are to be treated with respect and sanctity. When someone has sex with another person in any relationship other than marriage, they adulterate the intended use of their body. They debase it. I Corinthians 6:18 says, “Flee immorality. Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body, but the immoral man/woman sins against his/her own body.” God hates ALL immorality in any form.
There we have it in a nutshell! Our nation is guilty of committing murder through abortion and of embracing the gamut of sexual perversions and distortions. Those of us who call ourselves Christian or conservative need to ask God to forgive our nation for these two gross sins against Him. We need to repent as people who claim to be God’s children and ask Him to forgive us and stay this awful plague. He says, “If My people who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive them, and will heal their land.”
We live in serious times! We cannot afford to assume everything will resume to normalcy and life will go on as before. We need to shoulder our responsibility as moral, sane human beings, repent for our nation, and seek God’s forgiveness. Perhaps God will stay the scourge that’s on us and spare our lives and our country. We must act NOW! Will you?
— Posted by Tom Salmon for Doris, a fellow member of the Prince William and Manassas Family Alliance
Prince William-Manassas Family Alliance 
I never say that God does anything bad but simply that he permits Satan to do things and of course all evil comes from Satan!
And of course when bad things happen they happen to the best people as well as the worst!
@Martha
It is an awkward distinction. God is not the author of evil, but He is in control of everything that happens. I guess we need to remember that Romans 8:28 does not promise that we will not suffer. It only suggests that our suffering will ultimately be better for us than if we had not suffered.
So… let me get this straight… we are all suffering God’s wrath? I thought that was happening when Trump won in 2016… and we have been paying this penance since. As I have been saying for all these months.. we have not yet experienced the worst of Trump…. and by what you suggest here, it’s all part of God’s wrath.
@Doug
This is Doris’ post, but I don’t think Trump actually has much to with it. It seems to me you are trying to turn Doris’ post into an ant-Trump post.
Doris is condemning two types of sins and calling for repentance. Trump has committed adultery, Nevertheless, as president has condemned abortion, and he has not supported the LGBTQ agenda. Therefore, while Trump has not exactly been great with respect to these two sins, he has not been a disastrous president. Not sure what you are concerned about.
Nothing apparently. He’s just my imagination…
@Doug
You do seem to be stuck on him. May as well give up. He seems to be happily married by a gorgeous and charming lady. Just don’t think you are his type. 😉
I’m not really partial to magazine spanking either, regardless who is on the cover.
Tom, Doris,
Instead of stating God or Evil is responsible for coronavirus or any other joy or sadness we will experience in life, I believe we have been given life as a blessing.
While some will make choices that are foolish in the sense that they waste their limited time on earth in meaningless pleasures, or in the instance of abortion, the result is they may miss out the joy of caring and watching a child grow from a helpless baby into someone hopefully who will choose to emulate good rather than evil of lifes experiences.
Granted each baby born will experience better or worse lifetimes.
In other words, I prefer to choose to believe that there is a purpose in allowing both good and evil to exist.
If you discern an out of the box thought about living in a perfect world without the madness and folly choices we make or are faced with in life, , it would be kinda like living like the move “Groundhog day.”
Or think of what we are now experiencing with the coronavirus quarantine, kinda boring maybe having to stay home and away from your loved ones who don’t want to chance infect you?
Regards and goodwill blogging.
.
@scatterwisdom
Don’t necessarily disagree. I think you are sort of referring to Romans 8:28.
Nevertheless, we all need to consider Hebrews 12:4-11. Our sins cripple us. They make us less able to anticipate and deal with problems like COVID-19.
Think about the Black Death. The poor were treated poorly. After the Black Death, labor became scarce, and Europe slowly cleaned up and became more orderly, less hospitable to rats.
Tom,
Good choices of Bible verses.
As for Black Death reference, it reminded me of sadly how the USA mostly reacts when crisis occurs rather than wisdom to prepare in advance.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
Maybe, just maybe this virus was a natural phenomenon due to animal and human interaction somewhere in the world, and maybe these viruses are part of nature, but just maybe your God allows these viruses to happen, the abortions, sexual diseases, mass shootings, terrorist acts, accidents, wars, hunger, cancers and natural disasters to happen regularly because maybe this is designed to keep populations down. And just maybe all these disasters are good for the planet and maybe done to ensure the ultimate survival of the human race.
Just a thought as these events are accepted and not classed by society as murder by God but accepted by science as criminal acts and decisions by humans or events through nature and natural means therefore God is seen as good, but this is contrary to the mass murders by his own hand in the Old Testament and of course that makes God bad.
@sklyjd
You may wish to check out my response to Scatterwisdom => https://familyallianceonline.org/2020/04/03/why-covid-19/#comment-1175.
God is not the author of evil, but He does allow His creatures to do evil. Why? I think he wants us to experience the consequences of our own foolishness.
Because the people of USA been fighting with each other instead of caring for each other, we were more unprepared for COVID-19 than we should have been.
Was that Trump’s fault? No. Think about what he has had to deal with for the last four years, constant harassment. Consider what happened during the previous administration. The Obama administration was determine to transform America, and it was not about to let the Constitution get in the way.
We have spent too much time fighting over the public treasury, squabbling over special rights, and enforcing political correctness. Our government is suppose to protect our rights to live our own lives in peace, not to make us believe nonsense and teach children things their parents don’t believe.
Instead of living and let living, too many have tried to use government to justify themselves and their sins. In the process, they have made it very difficult for our government to perform its basic functions. Hence, we now have to shut down our country to stop the spread of a virus, and we don’t know how long this will last.
Was it not Trump who said ‘It’s going to disappear. One day it’s like a miracle – it will disappear’ save the economy rather than the people, after all business is above everything and after 3 or 4 weeks shut down he thinks it is back to normal, he is a business man not a leader, the rest of the world is not blind or deaf.
Due to slow action your country leads the world in the quantity of people infected with the virus.
“Our government is suppose to protect our rights to live our own lives in peace, not to make us believe nonsense and teach children things their parents don’t believe.”
That statement says it all, children need to learn scientific facts not be indoctrinated with historical ideological beliefs. Your ideal world is to get rid of scientific facts from the classrooms, close down neuroscience, biological and medical research labs and preach faith. “Rise up Christian soldiers” and revive the old crusades. Do you really believe this will bring you more peace?
Very well stated. Far be it from me to be critical of another’s religious beliefs (political beliefs are WAY different) but my issue with religion is that it’s great… taken in moderation. It should provide balance in some level of acceptable moral character and social interaction. The problem arises when religion becomes dominant to the point that it objectifies life through wildly diverse Biblical interpretations… and passes judgement on others. But.. that’s just me.
@Doug
See my reply to sklyjd.
@sklyjd
It seems to me you are missing some things.
1. To save people, Trump issues guidelines to shut down our economy.
2. On a per capita basis, we the USA are doing okay responding to the pandemic.
3. You actually think any government will not propagandize students? How gullible do you have to be to believe that?
4. You have been so propagandized you believe things about me I have never said. My ideal world has nothing to do with the nonsense you spout.
Trump is wrapped in his own re-election (and himself). He’s actually thinking that IF the deaths and new infections peak and begin to slide he’s going to remove the stay-home and start the economy back up. He’s also got a number of Americans thinking that as well.. likely you, too, given you follow his antics. Here’s the reality…. if the casualties drop, the scientists will attribute that to all the Americans cooperating by staying home and social distancing. Trump will declare some sort of “mission accomplished”, he alone has saved the world nonsense, and push the economy and people back to work… then the virus starts up again. The reality is… even if the deaths and infections are zero by the end of the week… we have 18 months before any sort of vaccine can be introduced. This social distancing and stay-at-home will not be over until that time. He tries to jump start the economy he will also jump start the virus. This thing isn’t over.. because Trump declares it’s over.
@Doug
I don’t read minds, and I don’t know the future.
Flattening the curve does not prevent people from getting the virus. It slows the rate, preventing hospitals from being overwhelmed.
When can we can go back to work? When we have sufficient tools to quarantine those who are contagious instead of quarantining everyone. Don’t think that will take 18 months.
Point 1 and 2. Trump could have saved more lives if he had been on the ball. As you guys tend to worship him and he does no wrong in your eyes I will not go into that anymore. If you could reign in your brothers and sisters from attending church services your response may even be better.
Point 3. Governments do not go into public schools in Australia to propagandise nor do they in most other developed countries to spin their rhetoric to children, because they would be instantly booted out. It appears this phenomenon of pressuring young students into ideologies of religion and politics within public educational institutions or being indoctrinated in their homes is accepted and ingrained in the American way of life.
Social media may hammer the ideological messages to students and everyone else on line, but at least there is mostly some balance and choice with nutters and rational people from everywhere in the world so you have a wider range to help you decide what to believe, totally unlike the targeted indoctrination of children by fanatical family members and priests.
“My ideal world has nothing to do with the nonsense you spout.”
Point 4. Of course your ideals would be far more complicated than I spouted, however you have an intense Christian brain that much is obvious and I have no reason to believe atheists or any other religions and secular science would not get a look in if your ideal world eventuated. Right?
@sklyjd
1 and 2. I don’t bother defending myself. I don’t debate whether I am perfect. That is not an argument anyone except God can win. So if you want to accuse me of worshiping Trump, I don’t care. When you have to go there, you have already admitted you cannot make a legitimate case for your position.
3.
This is an old trick with semantics. What the other guy is doing is propaganda. What we are doing is science, truth, secular, factual and so forth. When the Nazis and the Communists run the public schools, they do the same thing and spout the same nonsense. That is why parents, not politicians, need to decide what their children learn.
4. See response to 1 and 2.
“you have already admitted you cannot make a legitimate case for your position.”
I do not need to make a legitimate case for my position on Trump, because it is well established by most everyone on the planet what he has said and done.
“When the Nazis and the Communists run the public schools, they do the same thing and spout the same nonsense.”
You may be right, so who should run the schools then? If your schools are so easily over run by Communists, Nazis or some other extremist political ideals it is up to the voters to sort it out at election time. You must understand that democratic countries that are truly free such as ours have a system that does not allow such radical politics into any public establishments. Our left and right parties are made up of mostly moderate politicians and we stick closely to the centre, our voters make sure of that.
As far as I know many Christians in your country can home school their children so the parents have the option to teach the child their beliefs and ideologies or whatever else to their hearts content, so what are you worried about?
@sklyjd
You don’t need to make the case because you are in the majority. All you are doing is proving that majoritarian tyranny is just as wrong as any other type of tyranny. The majority thought burning witches okay.
Who should run the schools? Teachers. In a free society, people with the expertise set up businesses, and they advertise for customers. The customers decide, with their money, which businesses deserve their money.
Ballots are okay, but voting with money is more effective.
The majority in political terms such as the Westminster system we use in Australia means that the governing party or an individual is either voted in or out. I do not know how it works in your federalism and republicanism system but Trump is out of favour with most countries on the planet for one reason or another, therefore if this makes a tyranny simply because you disagree with majorities that is your prerogative, but with a system of democracy we actually reduce the chances of tyranny and dictatorships by minorities.
The majority wanted to burn witches because they were indoctrinated into the Christian ideology and that ideology was manipulated by superstitious fanatical Christians who fed the masses misinformation and lies that gave way to fear and mass hysteria, similar to what has happened in some African nations in this current century. Quite a bit different from a majority in other terms don’t you think?
Teachers do decide how to run schools and if you are meaning the content that is taught to students that does happen here, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) is an independent statutory authority that includes teachers along with many others.
If of course you are alluding to teachers running private schools in place of public schools that is a totally capitalist system and then simply most of the poorer people would not be educated. Nothing is free, however our public educational system is as free as it can be. I for one was unable to afford to pay for private education for my daughter, however she had an education that was actually found to be better or equal to what some of the private schools were offering at $10,000 per year.
@sklyjd
Very few worship the majority. The foolish think the majority wise when the majority agrees with them and ignorant when the majority disagrees.
Trump is the president of the USA. Is Trump trying to please the rest of the world? Not so he would win an election. So?
The New Testament does not call for the execution of witches. The Old Testament associated witchcraft with practices such as human sacrifice, infanticide, in particular.
Your ACARA is a government organization. Either politicians ultimately run it, or it is unaccountable. In any case, your ACARA does not seem to be accountable to parents. When parents don’t have primary responsibility for their children, that is a huge problem.
Would the poor be educated if the government did not run the schools? Literacy in the USA was over 90 percent in the American colonies in 1776. The public school system did not take off until the 1830’s.
We also have the alternative of subsidizing private schools through educational vouchers or some such scheme. Politicians should not be trusted to decide who teaches children. It is too easy to bribe politicians with campaign donations, some sort of electoral support, or who knows what else.
Literacy was not 90% in 1776 here in the colonies. First off.. to even imagine making that statistic one has to defined exactly how “literacy” is defined now vs. 1776. Reading, writing, “rithmatic” was not a universal guide for literacy. Over the years I’ve check this online and there is no universal agreement on “literacy” in 1776. But what was the case is that there was a defined separation between “literate” males vs females of the day. One such stat said 80% of men and 50% of women. But again.. what was considered literacy back then? Some Americans could read and not write anything than their “mark” being an “X”. Many couldn’t do simple math.. yet could read. Many soldiers of the day did write home, hence they obviously knew how to write… but penmanship was not often guaranteed. Writing home meant someone at home could read what the soldier wrote… or his letter could be read to the significant person… usually an “illiterate” female… spouse, girlfriend, etc. Also.. even in today’s world.. having basic literacy does not mean being educated. Keep in mind also, becoming literate in 1776 generally had a cost to it unless the family member passed it on. Money, barter, or rendering a service… the cost of private education for the “not rich”. The rural areas were less literate than urban areas. What’s interesting is Thomas Paine’s writings were often the “best sellers” of the day… suggesting a large number of people were literate enough to read… and/or many were being read to.
My whole point here is that one cannot accurately just present “90% of colonists in 1776 were literate” when there are way too many variables that can influence any such claim.
@Doug
So, we cannot measure literacy?
We certainly cannot measure it back in 1776. You have a time machine? Doesn’t seem to make sense using contemporary definitions of what constitutes literacy in our times and apply to any other past time in history.
@Doug
Well, I suppose you are right. I suppose it would not be realistic to expect most people these days to understand “Commonsense” and “The Crisis Papers”.
My remarks made no comparison to the then & now of literacy but rather the difference between the then & now on how literacy is defined (not measured), to address your claim of 90% literacy in 1776.
@Doug
See https://familyallianceonline.org/2020/04/03/why-covid-19/#comment-1226
We need a “Winston Churchill”, not a “Josef Goebbels”.
@Doug
So, you don’t think we need another president like the one who did not want a bust of Churchill in the Oval Office?
All that matters is a president who can actually unite, not lie out his ass and lose all credibility, defy/deny science for his own bias/agenda, and be a leader and not an incompetent ignoramus. I could care less what bust is in the Oval Office.
I’m not kidding here, Tom… love the guy all you want… but when the body count reaches “a point” and this goes on and on… Trump supporters are going to have a difficult social time.. if they thought they were being singled out before, l wait until they see what develops. Find another Republican to latch on to.
@Doug
We are not partisan here. You want to debate an issue? Be happy to do that? You want to hate on Trump? I don’t even see the point. To get people to vote differently, we have to get them to change their position on the issues.
Issues be damned, Tom. We are well past “issues” here. We are in the midst of a declared national emergency and our leaders, picked by an incompetent, and hence themselves are incompetent, ill-experienced to the job in which they were picked to do, denying the scientists in order to achieve a political position for the re-election or their boss…. the whole thing sucks, Tom. Then an inept Sec. of the Navy berating the relieved carrier captain in a speech to the crew because “it’s made a big controversy in Washington” total nonsense.. I mean.. the entire administration is totally bonkers. Arguing with Fauci and Birx over science the laymen in the room know nothing about, just to promote policy??? (Right-wing death threats against Fauci???)
Body count’s going to 10,000 today, Tom. For the last three years.. a lot of that with you… I’ve said all along the man himself is flawed for holding the office. The day is fast approaching where you are going to have to reconcile within yourself a difference between your political preferences and that of supporting a person who will carry them forward that isn’t Trump. Or not… and what happens, happens. We are also well past Conservatives vs Liberals… or even big government lovers and less government lovers.
@Doug
Stop panicking. Turn off the so called mainstream news. Those people are highly partisan, and they detest any Republican president.
COVID-19 is a viral disease. In a nation with 330 million people, 10,000 is a relatively small number of dead. If that number scares you, you may as well give up driving.
We need to get the economy back up and producing the things we need. We also need to learn an important lesson. We need to retain the capacity to make things — manufacturing — within our borders. Write your congressman and let him know you want a plan to end the shutdown and a plan to make US manufacturing more competitive.
Reblogged this on THE LIMING REPORT and commented:
Thanks to “Citizen Tom” for important insights into the reasons for the current plague upon the earth.
Please note that Doris is the writer of this post.
Tom.
“Very few worship the majority.”
I would say a few more than the minority, wouldn’t you? Of course we do not always get what we want and we complain but that is the only way it can work, unless you are wanting communism or dictatorship political systems etc. And you get no choice at all.
“Is Trump trying to please the rest of the world?”
No, quite the contrary, but it could have been a good place to start if you are looking to win an election.
As with everything in the Bible, slaves, murder, punishment, adultery etc, it is all open to interpretation and manipulation but the fact is witches were burnt at the stake in the Christian God’s name.
ACARA has teachers who speak with parents, this is a normal situation where parents meet teachers at the end of each 3 month term and discuss their children and their views of the education being provided. Teachers have a pretty good view of what parents want for their children.
Literacy has been dealt with by Doug and at first look the 90% you quoted for the year 1776 I thought was a typo and should be 9%
From the sound of it you have to many corrupt politicians, and if teachers were to run schools would this stop corruption?
Sklyjd… did I catch somewhere in all the words back and forth that you are Aussie? Might I inquire as to your gender… although I suspect it’s male.
@Doug
Brave new world? Got to find out the proper pronouns?
Yes Doug I live in Australia, have done for 15 years and I am a male. Most of my life I lived in New Zealand, however i was a 4 year old immigrant to NZ with my family from the UK. I guess you are an American and a male and as you are superman 🙂
Yeah.. in my imagination I am a superMAN.. and not a superGIRL. (I attempt to explain the use of that avatar here.. findingpoliticalsanity.com) Good to see Tom has somehow attracted a follower with some sensible articulation. 🙂 Don’t worry about not knowing much about politics… no one here does either. We are all smart and intelligent, it’s our wisdom that makes us different. I tend to think Tom lost whatever wisdom he had and he thinks I never had any wisdom to begin with. But in religion I seldom challenge as to each their own. He knows his Bible.
I do recall the actor Reeves, however in NZ at the time I do not believe we were lucky enough to get the TV series, and in fact as we were at the arse end of the planet I do not believe we even had any TV’s until the early 60’s.
It is a pleasure to read both your comments and those of our host. You are both knowledgeable, and as you say Tom knows his Bible and I include he knows his own political preferences very well but may very well have also misplaced some of his wisdom:)
I am a strong realist and obviously an atheist. Politics, especially US politics and many religious issues are really above my pay grade, however religious issues are mostly referenced to the one source, the Bible. However Biblical issues and the related political issues can often become as diverse as you can possibly get between Christian theists.
Would love to visit your country and New Zealand someday… but I am running out of “somedays”, such as age is. I would get intrigued watching your toilet swirl down in reverse and wonder how you all got civilized in spite of having your electric wall switches turn on and off in reverse. But being an American I would melt for the chicks with the accents.
How you and your family doing down there with the virus? Has it hit there badly?
I am sure you will get the chance to visit when we are allowed to travel again Doug. Sure enough old age creeps up on us and at a certain point travel insurance will not cover us. However I have seen some really frail people travel to the other side of the planet and back again. As we are basically upside down on the planet I expect it is likely the reason why the wall switches are in reverse….yes?
NZ I think has done a great job of containing the virus cases, their Prime Minister was quick to react and currently I believe only food shops are open in NZ. Unlike our Prime Minister who acted slowly, but he is a Trump groupie so I will say no more. Apart from that I believe it is basically under some control now. Thanks for enquiring but my family is a brother in Sydney, only one daughter who is in NZ and myself in Biggera Waters on the Gold Coast are doing fine, I don’t go to far but still have neighbourly chats, do the odd job for a few dollars and of course continue to drink plenty of cold beer.
Good you and your’s have done well avoiding this bug.
Maybe when we get this virus taken care of we can remove the one in the White House as well. 🙂
@sklyjd
You actually don’t know much about American politics. I wonder how much you know about politics in your country. Start with the basics. What is the purpose of government? It isn’t to shape other into little robots just like “me”.
If you want to put an outfit like ACARA in charge of the instruction of your children, that is your problem. You have no special wisdom that gives you the right to tell everyone else what to do. Even being in the majority does not give you that right. Being in the majority does not even make you any wiser.
The essential difference here is that I am not interested in forcing you to educate your children my way. I understand there is usually more than one way to get the job done, and that is often difficult to determine the best way. However, when government starts twisting the arms of the people it is supposed to serve, that is a bad sign.
What percentage of people were literate in 1776? Since no one was gathering stats, my guess is as good anyone else’s.
When we talk about the percentage of people who could read, what are we talking about? We have to define our terms. Since I never defined 90 percent, that percentage did not mean of anything, but it was good for sarcasm and not as absurd as 9 percent.
So what were the literacy rates in 1776? Here are some references. Considering all the money we throw at education, we don’t do much better than those folks did in the 18th century. Since we put government in charge, however, it was inevitable we would waste a lot of “other people’s money”. Happens almost every time.
https://fee.org/articles/education-in-colonial-america/
https://readcenter.org/literacy-rates-improved-since-1776/
https://freakonomics.com/2011/09/01/were-colonial-americans-more-literate-than-americans-today/
https://academicpartnerships.uta.edu/articles/education/brief-history-of-literacy.aspx
https://colonialquills.blogspot.com/2011/06/literacy-in-colonial-america.html
Very true Tom, I do not know a huge amount about politics, however if there is one thing I do know and that is everybody is never going to be happy and will moan about something.
Governments are always going to be loved and hated and I would put money on the fact that you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all of the people some of the time.
If ACARA was not shaping the education system for us somebody else would be and regardless of who that may be there will always be complaints. Like I have pointed out before their is an option to home school for people who reject the standard systems.
I am also of the mind that too many parents who are unqualified but claim to know all about educational standards would be a burden on the education system as each child is different and have different needs. A standard that fits as many as possible to some extent is all that can be done with such large populations. For individual requirements the home school or special tutoring is available.
As for your links, the population in early America was much smaller and all things were run through a more personal village type of system where it was who you know rather than what you know and where many services and goods were swapped between families rather than bought. Nothing is as complicated with smaller populations, hence this passage sums it up:
“Education in early America began in the home at the mother’s knee, and often ended in the cornfield or barn by the father’s side.”
And this passage sums up as to how we have developed today in most countries:
“More recently, the importance of literacy has shifted, focusing less on the fundamental acts of reading and writing and more on functional literacy – whether a person’s educational level is sufficient to function in modern society.”
People and systems are adapting or evolving to their environments as nothing on this Earth is static. I do not think you can compare the 18th century literacy rates, educational standards, work and social life with this century to make a point.
@sklyjd
Supposedly, Abraham Lincoln said the above. Don’t know, but please observe this possibly, you can fool most of the people most of the time.
Do the wise risk their money upon the wisdom of the majority? No.
To the extent our society works, it works because we don’t have a bunch of busybodies bossing us around about every little thing. Instead, we let people make their own decisions. Then we each have the option of imitating what seems to work and suffering the consequences until we get it right.
Homeschooling is a lot of work. For most people, homeschooling is not a good option, and it disingenuous to pretend it is. All you are doing is advocating a system that make people pay twice (or more) if they don’t do it your way. Meanwhile, you pretend to be so understanding.
🙄
Until Emperor Constantine ended the abuse, early Christians were similarly abused. As a sign of loyalty, they had to make a sacrifice to the emperor, declaring the emperor their Lord or god. The more courageous Christians refused, and many were martyred. Meanwhile, most Romans (that wise majority that cannot be fooled) blamed Christians for the stubbornness.
You want to worship the government, I cannot stop you. Because no government would be worst than a bad government, my Christian beliefs require me to respect and obey public officials. However, when the commands of public officials conflict with those of God, like those early Christians I must refuse to obey.
What about literacy in the American colonies? Have we evolved? Or do we just publish a lot of cheap nonsense? I wish it were otherwise, but most people don’t spend much time studying anything useful.
Literacy is what it has always been. Can you read what someone has put on paper and figure out what they are trying to tell you? What someone calls “functional literacy” is just a fancy way of saying that before we can say what percentage of a population is literate we need to define what we mean by literate. In addition, the emphasis on “functional literacy” suggests that we require some level of literacy to be functional in today’s society whereas 1776 Americans could get just fine by without being able to read. Given the popularity of the Bible in 1776, that approach probably oversimplifies matters.
America’s Bill of Rights speaks specifically of freedom of the press. Think about that.
What you are circling around in trying to say… functional literacy is the old “reading for comprehension”.. which is the closest to “problem solving” as education ever gets. Now we need “critical thinking”.. the more advanced “problem solving”. No one teaches that in any school I am aware of in America.. at any educational level.
Home schooling is just an extension of “parenting”, Tom.. and as we all know, not enough people who end up becoming parents can marginally parent at any level, much less having any sort of skill in the educational concept of “home schooling”.
@sklyjd
Circling around? You are using words for emotional effect. The point of functional literacy is figuring out what level of reading comprehension is needed. That is, what sort of documents is it necessary for is to read and comprehend?
I think we have already established you don’t know much about America. So, the fact you don’t know of any schools in America that teach “critical thinking” or “problem solving” is not surprising or relevant.
What about homeschooling? Homeschooling produces results competitive with government-run schools. There are some excellent teachers, but being an education major is nothing to brag about. Being a teacher does not make anyone a good parent. If parents turn their children over to the government, they are just shamelessly abrogating their responsibilities.
What you are forgetting is that the vast majority of parents love their children. They will work as hard as they can for their children. Therefore, instead trying to take over parental responsibilities, government should help or get out of the way. As it is, government-run schools infringe on religious freedom, cost too much, and reek of unresponsive bureaucracy. Their only so-called virtue is that they are supposedly secular — actually atheistic — but that’s what you seem to like about them.
@Doug
Oops! Thought I was replying to sklyjd. Guess you do know something about America. Critical thinking or problem solving? That’s a different question.
That’s where it starts, Tom… first you start believing in Trump.. then consciousness begins to fade.
@Doug
Look up what it means to have an obsession.
Given your loyalty to Trump I am sure you know the definition. I’m obsessed with trying to save the country from an imbecile… one defiant word at a time. Fortunately the fellow himself will bring his own undoing.
Hey.. I need a couple more N95 masks here. Can you send me any?
@Doug
I am loyal to Trump because I believe he cares about our country. I am loyal to my family, friend and neighbors because I love them. I am loyal to my Savior and His teachings because He loved me first.
Do I agree with everything Trump does? No. Trump is just a human being. I don’t expect him to be perfect. So, when you launch one of your pointless tirades, I just wonder why you bother. You don’t have any complaints that amount to anything.
In November we will have an election. Like everyone else I will try to vote for the best candidate. Instead of complaining, why don’t you support a candidate you think better?
Right now I’d vote for Pence. How’s that for desperation for getting rid of the current guy.
@Doug
Desperate? No. Meaningless. Pence will be voting for Trump.
“but please observe this possibly, you can fool most of the people most of the time.”
That comes down to the perception of what is foolish or not.
I apply your quote to all religions, in my atheist opinion most of the people have been fooled all of the time, but fortunately this is slowly changing.
“Do the wise risk their money upon the wisdom of the majority? No.”
I disagree, this is a statement of conjecture, for example, the majority of the population want entertainment and surely I do not have to identify the investors who have risked their money in this.
You are right about society to some extent within some areas of human lives, however society primarily works with co-operation, and with a co-operation of more than two people you will naturally have a majority that take the lead decision making. Of course if the minority come up with a better idea and some of the majority agree there will be a swing reversing these positions.
This primitive but simple understanding of decision making is inherent in human nature, this is an evolved social skill that is also a major survival skill because the majority in the early days would likely slaughter the minority if an argument eventuated or not. This in time along with human morals evolved further preventing unnecessary bloodshed and helped to ensure survival of the human race.
“my Christian beliefs require me to respect and obey public officials. However, when the commands of public officials conflict with those of God, like those early Christians I must refuse to obey.”
You do not have to be a Christian to reject public officials when it comes down to the law, violence and murder. The christian slaughter is exactly what life was like in the bronze age, as you would understand from the Bible life was short often due to violence. It is not clear that Christians have any foundation to refuse to obey public officials today, because regardless of what the Bible instructs Christians the majority of the societies they live within must be respected.
@sklyjd
Have not noticed any especially successful, peaceful, atheistic societies. The Pagans were essentially atheists and warlike as all get out. The Nazis and the communists set up totalitarian police states. So-called modern democratic states have set up public schools that suppress knowledge of God, indoctrinating the young to spout the same falsehoods you insist upon endlessly repeating.
The most atheistic of the modern democratic states increasingly cannot do anything well. The busybodies within them spend too much time grasping for power, all the while telling everyone just how good they are and how awful their opponents are.
Mankind is fallen. Christians don’t claim perfection. You want to point the finger at us, yet you cannot provide any reason to believe you are better. Instead, you twist and distort what we believe.
Go back to the point of this post. COVID-19 is punishment from God. Punishment of all of us. In fact, the Lord punishes most those He considers His own because they should know better. When a society glorifies abortion and sexual perversion, we all have responsibility, not just a few.
Pertaining to your last paragraph… your belief system of guilt and divine retribution makes you a morose person, Tom…. unless it’s just a blog persona.
@Doug
This is Easter. We celebrate this day because our Savior rose from the dead. We celebrate because our Savior offers us both forgiveness and eternal life as a gift.
But your last paragraph… where’s the hope when being punished? The Lord giveth and He taketh away.
@Doug
Did your parents ever punish you?
Sorry forgot this bit.
Language and literacy has evolved along with the new generations of humans. What we do not think is functional is functional to the young. When we baby boomers are all dead and gone I believe the smooth and eloquent longhand writing will become a long forgotten skill, only to be seen as an option on computer word processors. As it is, you Americans have butchered Her Majesty’s English over the last hundred years anyway 🙂
@sklyjd
Must be wonderful to be a perfect Aussie.
I never had especially good handwriting. Just wrote well enough to take notes. Had a Chemistry professor, however, who left his classes dumbfounded. He wrote the notes he wanted us to take on a chalkboard faster than we could write them down on paper.
Frankly, the American mainstream media seems to hate this country. So, they don’t represent us well. So, I cannot blame a foreigner for having a bad impression of the USA. Shrug! Not much I can do about that.
“A perfect Aussie” Down in this part of the world I believe I am as perfect as anyone can possibly be, however I may be a bit biased 🙂
From our view and possibly most of the developed world there would be two main issues that people cannot get their head around about American people. Those are the amount of deaths due to a lack of gun control and the voting in of Donald Trump. I feel these two issues have undermined the respect that you used to enjoy.
I usually use the English spelling and I am sure Shakespeare would have been very vocal about how the language has changed since his day.