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Showing posts from February, 2021

Solomon and Christ: A Reflection

by Hiram R. Diaz III In 1 st Kings, David’s son Solomon builds a Temple for the Lord. And upon its dedication he prays that the Lord will hear the prayers of his people forgiveness and grant them their petition. Solomon prays – “…Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you this day, that your eyes may be open night and day toward this house, the place of which you have said, ‘My name shall be there,’ that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the plea of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen in heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. […] “When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, a

Propaganda 103: Repetition

by Hiram R. Diaz III   In popular political rhetoric, it seems, the word propaganda signifies information, supportive of one’s particular party and/or individual goals , that is a complete fabrication. This is not how I have been using the term in my articles. Instead, I have followed the standard definition given by Encyclopedia Britannica. They write – Propaganda is the more or less systematic effort to manipulate other people’s beliefs, attitudes, or actions by means of symbols (words, gestures, banners, monuments, music, clothing, insignia, hairstyles, designs on coins and postage stamps, and so forth). [… ] Deliberateness and a relatively heavy emphasis on manipulation distinguish propaganda from casual conversation or the free and easy exchange of ideas. Propagandists have a specified goal or set of goals. To achieve these, they deliberately select facts, arguments, and displays of symbols and present

Propaganda In Sci-Fi Clothing - "Bliss" [A Film Review]

by Hiram R. Diaz III Last week, I sat down to watch Amazon’s newest film Bliss. I tried my hardest to not prejudge the movie, but ha ving watched several other Amazon major productions, I had a feeling that this film would also fall under the broad category of leftist propaganda. It isn’t merely that the majority of the entertainment industry is far left in its political orientation, 1 or that a lot of what they produce is greatly influenced by whether or not they offend and, therefore, do or don't make   money in/from Communist China, 2 or that Jeff Bezos has a very questionable relationship with China that seems to compromise America’s Department of Defense, 3 but that they have also recently been creating explicitly anti-American and anti-Christian trash. For instance, Amazon’s series The Boys , is not a criticism of narratively incoherent superhero tropes, as some would have you believe , but  as Brian Goddawa correctly

Correcting Orwell's Vision

 by Hiram R. Diaz III Are We Living in Orwellian Times? Many people today are comparing our time with the one described in George Orwell’s  Nineteen Eighty-Four . Like Orwell’s Big Brother state, “Big Tech” companies are actively trying to destroy free speech that is critical of mainstream media and government official approved “news.” For instance, Google has attempted to erase history, 1  is carefully removing legitimate sources of information from its search results because they differ ideologically, 2  falsely labeling those sources as “fake news” 3  or falsely identifying their content as “dangerous and misleading.” 4  Not only this, but “Big Tech”/”Big Brother” has been increasingly overstepping their boundaries with respect to the personal data of their users. We are all being spied on, 5  and many of us are changing our behavior to avoid being banned/shunned/judged by others and “Big Tech”/”Big Brother.” 6 Given all of th