Friday, October 7, 2016

PCG's Trumpet Radio Live on the Charlotte Riots and the Presidential Debate

Since 1992, if not earlier, PCG's leaders have promoted a false prophecy of "race war." They teach that in the near future African Americans will launch a wave of riots against the white majority. This paranoid attitude influences how they view and discuss relations with the African American community.

Wanting to know more about PCG's reaction to the protests and riots in Charlotte I listened to the following broadcasts of Trumpet Radio Live, hosted by Dwight Falk and Grant Turgeon.
Here the situation is only beginning. It is mentioned for the first six minutes.

At one point Michael Brown is mentioned and Black Lives Matter protesters are lambasted for citing that shooting. Falk states that Brown robbed a convenience store, had smoked marijuana, and attacked the police officer who shoot him.

It should be noted that marijuana is utterly irrelevant regarding the fatal shooting of Michael Brown.
In other words, just because marijuana was found in Brown’s system does not mean he was high at the time he was shot to death by a police officer. It doesn’t even necessarily mean he recently consumed cannabis. Such false assumptions often lead to claims that marijuana use is directly linked to criminal behavior. While some studies have found higher marijuana use among criminal offenders, the presence of THC [the active ingredient of marijuana] in their systems is often circumstantial, rather than a contributor to the behavior itself. 
Even if Brown was high or had recently used marijuana, there is little evidence to suggest Brown would have been more aggressive or confrontational when approached by a police officer because of it. In fact, if Brown were high, a number of recent studies suggest that marijuana would have made him much less aggressive. (Nick Wang and Matt Ferner, So What If Michael Brown Had Marijuana In His System When He Was Killed?, Huffington PostAugust 18, 2014.)
He also insisted that the police officer was cleared. But what actually happened was that a grand jury ended the investigation. A grand jury is not a jury. A grand jury does not hear evidence for and against a defendant but only from the prosecutor. A grand jury does what the prosecutor tells it to do. A grand jury by design is very favorable towards the prosecutor and does what the prosecutor tell them to do. It is extremely rare for a grand jury to say the case should not proceed. These things are not explained.
Here the discussion becomes more detailed. It is mentioned that some rioters tried to throw an unconscious journalist into a fire but the police stopped them. It is constantly insisted that the police are restrained and are barely able to hold the rioters in check.

It is insisted that the protesters are wrong about some of what was said condemning the shooting of Scott.

At one point Turgeon mentions that he watched Sean Hannity on Fox News which broadcast for an hour discussing the situation in Charlotte without any commercial breaks. He states that Hannity was lambasting President Obama for not doing enough to stop the riots. Considering how far to the right PCG leans it is unsurprising to notice that a person this high up within PCG's ranks should be getting his information from there.

Back on April 4, 2013 PCG's Jeremiah Jacques discouraged PCG's writers from overly relying on Fox News as a source for their articles since many people seeing this will assume (correctly) that PCG is right wing and ignore them.
Fox News is less “conservative” than it is “republican.” There is a great stigma associated with it among many people. Many who consider themselves moderate or liberal get instantly bristled by it. Beware of the way people recoil away when if we cite it. We should almost always try to balance it out with another source. If we quote it alone, people will assume an ideological slant. (Jeremiah Jacques, April 4, 2013.)
Clearly that advice is not being followed here.

Now I do not condemn PCG for being right wing. But it is important to note that they are right wing because this explains many of the political stances they choose to make.

Listening to them insist that the protesters are wrong I cannot help but wonder if that drives some of their denunciations of Black Lives Matter protesters. Since their motivations are ignored then what happens must seem irrational and to have almost arisen from nowhere. But there are reasons why things like this have occurred over the years. These things do not just happen.
Here Falk and Turgeon mention the first presidential debate. At first it is mentioned that politics is such a burden but as they discuss the debate it is quite clear and unsurprising where their sympathies lie.

It is mentioned that CNN did a poll in which Clinton won but then they mention an Internet poll that said Trump won.

It is insinuated that the moderator was politically biased in Clinton's favor even though he has been listed as a registered Republican since 2003.

Fact checkers are presented as politically motivated. At one point Falk feels compelled to insist that Trump's comment that Clinton had been fighting ISIL for all of her adult life was merely "a flippant comment" that was not supposed to be taken literally.

Turgeon said that Trump criticized Clinton well but said he should have criticized her about Benghazi and the emails more. Considering that nine investigations of Benghazi failed to find anything against Clinton it is doubtful that line of criticism would have worked for Trump.

They then talk about how utterly horrible and dreadful it is that some members of the Democratic Party should dare call some people racist. It is hard to take their criticism seriously considering how the organization they belong to, PCG, has historically condemned interracial marriage. In 1967 the US Supreme Court ruled that US authorities had no right to restrict interracial marriage and yet PCG's leaders have audaciously tried to impose this onerous burden on their followers.
  • In 1997 PCG also published a booklet by the late Ron Fraser entitled South Africa in Prophecy which in Chapter 3 insisted that interracial marriage was sinful and against (PCG's) God's will.
  • In 2014 PCG published a booklet for singles entitled Single-Minded for God which stated that single PCG members are to date within your race. It is also mentioned that PCG's unaccredited "college," Herbert W. Armstrong College, has a policy against interracial dating. This may be seen in the following quote:

    "Be sure that, as at God’s college, you date within your race— even online dating. In most cases this is obvious, but sometimes it isn’t. If you have any doubts, please talk with your minister before you do any one-on-one dating—although group dating, with three or more people of different races, is encouraged. (p. 50.)"
  • In 1997 PCG begin distributing pirated copies of Mystery of the Ages, a book that also condemned interracial marriage as sinful. This got them entangled in a drawn out court case with WCG which they lost but as part of an out of court settlement with WCG they paid $3 million to purchase the copyright to Mystery of the Ages and other writings by HWA. PCG greatly reveres this book that condemns interracial marriage as sinful.
Considering these things it seems quite absurd for persons from such an organization to complain about people calling other people racist. Condemning interracial relationships is racist.

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