Vancouver resident Ann Makar explains why people with her beliefs are frustrated with the unfairness and intolerance they perceive in the dominant culture
Editor’s note: Opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are those of the author alone and do not reflect the editorial position of ClarkCountyToday.com
I’m in the camp of people who value truth and clarity and support freedom, personal responsibility, and parental responsibility, while others are more concerned with climate change, scientism, secular humanism, earth worship, socialism, safe space-ism, the ideology of gender fluidity, critical theory of all sorts, and other ideologies. I believe children should be taught to be colorblind in the way Martin Luther King, Jr., and other Christians have long proposed.
We are told that public employees are not supposed to share their religious ideology, but it seems unfair that so many people are imposing in public, taxpayer-funded schools, including among children in pre-school, graphic so-called comprehensive sex education, the gay lifestyle, the ideas of gender fluidity and gender expression, and other ideologies mentioned above, not only on children but on those of us who reject these beliefs, which we honestly believe to be harmful. We find the dominant, post-Christian culture in the U.S. to be unfair and intolerant. It demands that we affirm and celebrate ideologies with which we strongly disagree. We don’t demand that of others!
Many people seem to think it’s important that children lose their natural innocence as early in life as possible. I’m in the camp of those who believe that modesty and chastity are very good and that encouraging sexual experimentation is wrong. Virtue should be encouraged.
Governmental bodies have increasingly taken on the role of a parent, and this bodes poorly for society. It seems that public schools have supplanted secular humanism and other ideologies, the input that many children used to receive from family and faith communities.
Maybe people don’t realize that one of the most effective ways that groups such as Communists, for example, ensure their control is by driving wedges between children and their elders, the latter being portrayed as old-fashioned “killjoys.” This same activity has taken place in the U.S. for generations.
There ARE people who benefit from emotionally separating children from their parents and grandparents. Two groups who benefit financially are Planned Parenthood and those involved in selling gender transition and mutilation and all the treatment entailed for the rest of the life of the gender dysphoric who undergo “gender-affirming care.” Maybe gender dysphoria in young people should be considered an adverse childhood experience (ACE).
One can understand why people with my beliefs are frustrated with the unfairness and intolerance we perceive in the dominant culture. We do NOT advocate harming or shaming people with different beliefs but do not find that attitude reciprocated. Many are afraid to speak in opposition to the dominant, post-Christian culture, since doing so could jeopardize their livelihood and personal safety. I think we call this “viewpoint discrimination” or “being canceled.”
If you find my comments offensive, please know that my intent is not to offend, and I sincerely would like to understand in what ways you are offended by what I’ve stated. I value truth and clarity.
Ann Makar
Vancouver
Also read:
- Letter: ‘There will be consequences’
Hazel Dell resident Bob Zak criticizes Democratic lawmakers for advancing ESSB 5181, arguing it undermines parental rights and defies biblical principles. - Op-Ed: La Center Schools — Committed to families and their children
In a public letter, the La Center School Board and Superintendent Peter Rosenkranz affirm their commitment to supporting families and honoring both state law and community values amid state-level scrutiny. - Letter: Mayor blames others on homelessness problem in Vancouver while she has enabled a lawless encampment zoneVancouver resident Peter Bracchi urges city leaders to enforce laws and end permissive policies that have allowed unsafe encampments to overrun public spaces near the Share House.
- Letter: ‘Look it up for yourself’Camas resident Anna Miller encourages skeptics of Elon Musk’s claims about government waste to do their own research using official resources.
- Opinion: Defending the indefensibleNancy Churchill argues that Washington’s lawsuit against a sheriff cooperating with ICE reveals a deeper political agenda that puts public safety at risk.
Hello Ann,
I am not offended at all but uplifted.
Edward
Ann, 1) I’m NOT offended; 2) the “official plan” is to get rid of people that think the way you do and that agree with you, 3) I agree with you.
I agree with you whole heartedly, Ann. This nonsense of more then 2 genders, etc, has taken hold in the last five years and it is just insanity. I applaud your letter!
I DISAGREE! It sounds like you want to slowly introduce your religious beliefs once again into mainstream with the goals of making it mainstream. We’re seeing what those kinds of promises look like. Republicans are slowly but persistently taking away every right they don’t like from women and replacing it with some of the most cruel and vile alternatives. And its all based on their religious beliefs! You’re sugary tone hides the true consequences of what you’re saying. You want to once again use a religious book to force others to live by your standards.
Look at Trump. He’s controlling americans such that they vote against their own best interests. He has religious people committing crimes for his own benefit and then walks away from them leaving to fend for themselves. Its called a cult. We’ ve been there and will never again allow religion to control the masses.
Thank you for your civility. Please give me a specific example of how my beliefs negatively impact society. You stated that Republicans (many of whom do not practice Christianity) want to take away rights from women. I believe they want to protect the most basic right of the many thousands of unborn girls and women who are threatened by abortion. I believe they want to protect girls and women from coerced abortion (coercion to abort is extremely common) and from sex trafficking. I believe they want to stop the flow of fentanyl and other dangerous drugs entering the US and also want criminals to be held accountable.
In the US, Christianity has not controlled the masses. Thank God for religious people who fought slavery in the 19th century and who insisted that African-American people be educated. Thank God for religious people who founded hospitals. May God bless the USA!
Oh john,
Must every comment you type have something to do with Trump as one of the causes?
Please do us all a favor and give your fingers a rest until you cite some legitimate examples of the atrocities you cite.
Your opinion(s) matter just as much as others but, without solid talking points, it sounds like you have a self-imposed limitation on valid information.
Take care of yourself…
John, Republicans support parental rights and private property rights. This helps men, women, and their heirs.
Our society has suffered way too much violence at the hands of people who oppose traditional values, at the hands of those who support secular humanism and post-Christian ideologies.
Hey Ann,
Being offended or not, is a personal choice.
For us to understand why folks make the choice to be offended could take a century or more to determine the root causes.
At the end of the day, they made that choice and they own it. Not you, them.
I applaud all who courageously and honestly speak critically of issues that are proven to erode the household and scar children, to stand against the subliminal molestation
(e.g. adult clown reading hour and sexually explicit public school library books) that is occurring to adolescents younger than voting age. Sad and tragic it is…
Grown adults agreeing that body mutilation and a lifetime of medical care afterwards is a terrific idea absolutely makes my heart hurt. I don’t take offense with their opinion on the subject but this ideal of “feeling” and “everyone needs to agree that this is normal” is incredibly abnormal behavior. Special mental care is needed for this waywardness; not specialized medical procedures.
I’m not offended at all by folks that use words like socialism and communism in a sentence though they have no idea what a socialist or a communist actually is. At least you didn’t use the term “woke”, probably because of all the religious beliefs out there, Christianity should be the epitome and the example of “wokeness”.
Ann, thank you for speaking about truth. We seem to have become a society of people that are fine with speaking something called “my truth”! TRUTH is an absolute standard by which all reality is measured. And if it isn’t true, it’s a LIE! But somehow we have ended up w/ what – 52 genders. It appears that some type of satanic delusion has taken over this country and if you don’t agree somehow you are hateful and must be verbally/physically attacked. I look around and I see violence, chaos, hatred, etc. and it occurs to me that we are absolutely living in Romans 1 and 2 Timothy 3. The main ones that would call someone a hateful bigot or intolerable don’t see that they are only calling out themselves because they can’t abide someone that has a differing opinion. And they can’t engage in a coherent discussion. It’s amazing-the blindness!! I see no problem with people agreeing to disagree. even though No amount of surgical procedures, mutilation or intervention is going to change a male into a female and vice versa. A person can refer to themselves as anything they wish but truth still prevails and we can’t force anyone to play along with these delusions. As far as “critical theory of all sorts”, I’ve only heard of critical race theory so I don’t know what the “all sorts” means but I could have missed a lot of things. But even those that try to deny the history of this country don’t need to teach CRT – just teach the whole History of this country – the good, bad & the ugly! And it’s still going on. We have dumbed down the public to the point where traitors of our country have co-opted the word “patriot” and they are anything but! Some were even veterans of our Military, which is even sadder! Or those calling themselves “Christian Nationalists” – please! Call yourselves what you really are and Christian has nothing to do with it. I could go on but we can discuss over coffee 🙂 Thank you for sharing your thoughts in a manner that allows sane people to discuss, have differing opinions and still like each other at the end of the day.
Well stated Nela. I, too, look around and am dumbfounded. There is no such thing as more then two genders and it is what it is. Males and females. Period. However, as you stated, people can choose to identify however they want- does not mean anyone should have to agree or be forced to acknowledge anything other then male/female. Children shoudl be left alone to be children. The attack on men is beyond sad. Being masculine and strong is somehow now wrong? The attack on women being feminine and wanted their own sports, bathrooms, etc is mind boggling. I could also go on and one but.. I defer to the coffee date. God bless and may things turn around. I sure do miss my childhood!
Blessings to you Wolfie in this New Year! It will be you, Ann & I for coffee 🙂 Hey Ann, let’s figure this out once the temp rises to at least 50 and the wind dies down! Hey Wolfie, I forgot about the terms “toxic masculinity” and now “pregnant people”. When will this madness end?
Ann Makar,
While I do agree with most of your ideas, the “Color Blindness” ideology is a form of “being canceled”. To negate or be blind to someone’s color might say to someone who has experienced oppression, racism, or any ism, that your experience means nothing because I do not see it. All of us directly or indirectly are guilty of perpetuating “unfairness and intolerance” as perceived by others. To call out perceived interpretations of someone’s actions, based on assumed intentions can be another form of unfairness/intolerance, in my opinion.
I wish that we could find a middle ground to have these uncomfortable conversations with each other on non-violent platforms. My Teacher sat with prostitutes and tax collectors to show them a different way towards eternal freedom. He did not judge or condemn, he loved. It is a fine line between the letter of the Law (which condemns) and the Spirit of the Law (love/grace), which saves.
We ALL have biases. Some of these are valid and based on our experience of the truth and some are based on an incorrect perception or affected by personal bias which may be a response to an experience of trauma from something similar in the past. Both are valid, in my opinion. But there is no way for me to accurately judge those situations without long conversations to get to know the whys of their belief system.
Invitation to understand (love/grace) is way better than the confrontation of wrongness (condemnation/judgment), also in my opinion. While I am no expert in this area, my fix-all is to go to my closet, get on my knees, and talk with Someone who has the answers. That method always works…