Under the aegis of Elon Musk, X has become a place where free speech still enjoys a home. While X has given people access to information, like any other platform, it offers an outlet to sewer-dwellers who cannot wait to politicize a disaster, feebly try to score a few points with the self-styled elite, or just revel in the misery of their perceived or chosen enemies.
Such is the case with one Betsy Packard. According to the New York Post, Packard was at one time listed on the University of Kentucky's website as an MFA candidate at the school's College of Arts and Sciences and a graduate instructor. She even had a university email address.
On Sunday, she put up a post on X with a winking emoji that read, “Hurricane Helene…what if GOD is punishing MAGA populations for their hate and hypocrisy? Works for me!”
When X readers took her to task, she was oblivious to the crass nature of her remarks and opted to ratchet up the hate:
“You got hit with an Act of God. Looks like God’s pissed off at you,” she wrote in response to a poster bemoaning the small size of the National Guard deployment following the storm.
“An Act of God hammered you, and you still din’t [sic] hear Him? God is obviously mighty pissed at MAGAs. How can you not see this?” she mockingly asked another user.
She kept up her tirade through the next day before relenting somewhat and writing, “I erred in thinking Americans could read. I said WHAT IF. DO I BELIEVE THIS? No. Did I say I believe it? Nope. But some fools DO believe it.”
Too little, too late, Betsy.
The University of Kentucky said that Packard is not an employee and told the Post:
We were just made aware of this post. We have reported it to the appropriate offices on campus that review questions around conduct.
Such statements are abhorrent and do not reflect our values as an institution. Our thoughts and concerns are with those impacted by these devastating storms. As an institution, we have many members of our community directly impacted by them and are working with them to provide support and resources at this time.
I bring this up to provide an idea of what people of goodwill are up against, not just a monolithic government, a compromised media and academic system, or any of the other entities seeking prestige, power, and cash. Packard's mindset has seeped into every corner of America.
Tuesday, I wrote about Pastor Rafael Cruz's speech at the Chrisitans Engaged Conference in Texas. During his speech, he said that too many people use the phrase "God is in control" as an excuse not to get involved or speak up. One reader rightly asked what my alternative was.
Elie Wiesel was a concentration camp survivor who wrote about his experiences in the book "Night." In one chapter, Wiesel recounts an incident in which three people are hanged, one of whom is a little boy:
“Where is God? Where is He?” someone behind me asked...
For more than half an hour [the child in the noose] stayed there, struggling between life and death, dying in slow agony under our eyes. And we had to look him full in the face. He was still alive when I passed in front of him. His tongue was still red, his eyes were not yet glazed.
Behind me, I heard the same man asking:
“Where is God now?”
And I heard a voice within me answer him:
“Where is He? Here He is—He is hanging here on this gallows...”
There will always be people in the world whose cruelty and/or selfishness know no bounds. The response as the "Church militant" is not to be violent but to be a counter to such people. God was on the gallows. God is in abortion clinics, both in the babies and mothers who have been victimized. God is on the streets, and God is in the aftermath of Helene. (For context, see Matthew 25:31-45.)
Those are the times and places people to activate: to go and do. God may be in control, but that means that people must do as they have been told because God is in control and has put out a call for people to serve. That means stepping out.
It is fairly obvious by now that the government is failing the victims of Helene. The churches, neighbors, and volunteers are not. To go beyond "God is in control" as a comforting phrase, we must go where we can and do what we can. That may not mean traveling to North Carolina with a truckload of relief supplies, but it does mean taking a stand wherever you are.
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