Seldom do I not
know what I want to write. I almost never sit down in front of a computer and
wait while hours pass and nothing pops to mind. In fact, I usually have the
words flowing before I turn on the device. But this has taken a long time to
write and I still don’t know what I want to say exactly. But I have to say something.
Two weeks ago,
the 15 year old son of my friend took his own life. The young man’s name was
Braxton Caner. His dad is Ergun Caner, college President, Apologist, author, minister,
former Muslim, etc.
He is, before all
that, husband and father. He is a brother and an uncle. He is my friend.
Five years ago, a
storm arose around him. I won’t go into it here, not because I am afraid to,
but because it has been five years and the depths have been plumbed...again and
again and again.
Five years ago it
was making headlines and thousands were discussing it. But after five years,
the players filtered down to the core group who began this facade in the first
place. The same old voices, spewing the same old hate, (they’ll say they attack
Ergun out of “love” but it takes about 30 seconds of seeing their tactics to
throw that out the window) pulling the same old tricks... like total strangers
showing up at churches where he would speak, standing up and disrupting the
service. They get themselves thrown out, then Tweet about it like drunken frat
boys. Meanwhile the puppeteers they desperately want to impress guffaw from
behind their monitors. I know of a few churches where if a stranger tried that
sort of disruption, they’d be tazed until they smelled burnt hair.
Five years of
this and they are as hateful as they were on day one. Now...for the first time
since this began...they are running scared.
They’ll never admit it. They are already in full damage
control mode. But it’s going to be impossible to contain the damage this time.
Because this time...even atheists say they went too far. http://freethinker.co.uk/2014/07/31/the-suicide-of-a-preachers-kid/
The situation is this... “Baptist pastor” (italics added for
cynicism) J.D.Hall has been a capo in the Calvibot crime family (my personal
nickname for those secretly pulling the strings of Caner-hate) for a while now.
He has gone after Ergun for years, and his tactics have become more vicious,
more evil, and more unregenerate in nature with each passing day. Last month,
he crossed the ultimate line. He began attacking Braxton Caner...Ergun’s 15
year old son. It was terrible. It was despicable. It was creepy, especially the
comments about Braxton’s 15 year old girlfriend. (As father of a 16 year old
girl, I can tell you that if that were my daughter, J.D. would have already
been dealt with.) It was an obsession fueled by hate and it was sickening. At
no point does a grown man, a “pastor” (knowing many real pastors, I struggle
attaching that title to this “man” but he is one, none the less) say to
himself, “I’m harassing a BOY on Twitter. Perhaps this is wrong and I should
stop?” No sir. Instead, J.D. wears on
Braxton. Going so far as to insinuate that his parents are divorcing.
(Something he entirely pulled from his backside) and inviting Braxton, through
Direct Message, to “email me if you want to know the truth about your father.”
Really? Again, if that happened to my daughter I’d email J.D. some photos of
the friends of my family. The big hairy friends with similar last names and Mob
ties. But I digress.
This was a
psychological blitzkrieg on a 15 year old boy. It wasn’t the first time J.D.
tried to wedge Brax against his dad. It was just the most evil.
Tragically, on July 29 of this year...just two weeks ago
now, Braxton ended his life.
Within an hour, the masterminds of the Caner-hate were
online, pretending to be sorrowful and demanding that we all behave as THEY
want us to. “Nobody should attack anybody else...ESPECIALLY those who have
‘called Ergun to repentance’ i.e.: the
ones who hate him the most. Interpretation: “We really screwed up this time and
crossed a very big line and this is bad. Now don’t any of you say anything
about that, or else.” Imagine this being spoken in the voice of Don Corleone.
The gall it took to demand that those who pushed this matter
to this brink, now deserve to be protected from scrutiny is amazing.
But not really...
They realize that
this turns the tables, and it exposes them. Nobody cares about their
allegations about Ergun now. The whole world sees a boy who took his life and a
PASTOR might have helped push him to that point. One of THEIR pastors. Rut-Roh!
That’s why they have circled the wagons.
That’s why I’m writing this. That’s the point I’m getting
to. Here goes...
First, I will state my position on J.D. Hall clearly. It is
this:
I believe J.D. Hall cyber bullied, and
harassed Braxton Caner ruthlessly, and without limits, in a effort to harm his
father Ergun. Given the content of those tweets, his BLOG about the FIFTEEN
YEAR OLD BOY (that in itself is enough
for a 3-day pass to a psych ward for a thorough eval, in my opinion) and
subsequent RADIO SHOW about it, it’s obvious Braxton was the Voodoo doll J.D.
was using to harm Ergun. Every word was intended to inflict maximum damage.
Every insinuation, every accusation, every condemning, hurtful, evil tweet.
Death by words...140 characters at a time. J.D. doubtless DID NOT intend to physically kill Braxton. Maybe
worse...he wanted to kill his heart. He wanted to kill his spirit and thus kill
the heart and soul of the man he hates obsessively...Ergun Caner.
I believe that
given the FACTS of JD’s actions one cannot avoid drawing a line from his
actions to Braxton’s suicide. The only reasonable argument is how bold a line
do I draw? A pencil line or a thick, black, magic Marker?
It would be foolish to say “This is entirely J.D’s fault!”
but I believe it is at least partly his fault. Braxton left no note, so we’ll
never know how big a part this played. But think about what MIGHT (and I admit
this is conjecture at this point) have been going ‘round and round in his mind.
Not only did JD harass Braxton, he accused his girlfriend of despicable things
as well. How did Brax feel about the girl he was in love with being wounded by
this man? Did he...at 15, and maybe not ready for this sort of evil
attack...feel it was somehow his fault? Did he feel he let his dad down
somehow? Did he think maybe this was never ever going to end? I don’t know.
We’ll never know. But we DO know what JD hall did, and we can see it had SOME
effect. Only a fool would deny this.
Second, I decided this morning, that I am not going to
involve myself in this anymore. Not because there isn’t a cause. Not because
I’m not fuming and so angry I can’t see straight. Not because I’m less
outraged. None of that is true.
But because after watching the Hall supporters over the last
two weeks, I see what an unregenerate soul really does. How it really behaves.
In my opinion, these people hold their hatred for Ergun and for any who love
him, (whether they support him in the prior allegations or not) in a higher
regard than they hold love for God. Love for Man. Or love for a deceased boy.
They don’t see a shattered family, a broken-hearted dad, a devastated mom, and
a bewildered little brother. They see blood in the water and fresh meat on the
carcass. And they are just waiting for the crowd to die down so they can swoop
in and start picking. They’ve already begun...
Over the weekend, they began the move I knew they’d make all
along. They tried to make this Ergun’s fault. They said as much. If only Ergun
had given them what they wanted...this would never have happened.
I can’t even put into words what this makes me feel. If your
soul can feel nausea...that’s what I
feel for them now.
I realized after watching their tactics this weekend, that
fighting with them is pointless. Countering them is fruitless. Nothing matters
to them except self-preservation and destruction of their enemies.
Nothing.
They don’t care about a family who has to try to deal with
the single worst thing a family can face.
They don’t care about the grief that the man they detest is
feeling every blistering second of every day. They don’t care about the mom or
the brother or the team mates or the friends. They just want to hurry up and
get the quarry stuffed and mounted so they can crow about it and move on to the
next one.
They are soul-less.
It’s not that I can’t fight them. I’m a smart guy with an
acid tongue and nothing to lose.
It’s just that it isn’t worth it. They aren’t worth it. There is nothing amongst them to redeem.
Nothing to fight for. No decency to appeal to. No soul to save.
They don’t think
they’ve done anything wrong.
You can’t help a person like that. It’s a fools errand.
So this morning I decided I’m not going to try.
My one and only action will be to daily remind the world of
the facts we DO know...
“In the days leading to Braxton Caner’s suicide, “pastor”
J.D.Hall of Sidney Montana...an alleged adult...harassed and bullied Braxton
online and on a radio show. While I can not definitively lay all the blame at
JD’s feet, only a fool misses the connection, in my opinion.”
I knew Braxton. I have a few sweet memories of him, so this
hurts more than just the street-level gravity of the events. ...which are
horrible enough as it is. This is the fourth young person in my world who died
too soon. One was a family member. It’s been two weeks and I can only now,
barely begin to shake the gloom from this.
I just can’t bring myself to engaging these evil people.
They aren’t going to change. God will have to intervene. I would not want to be
them when He does. Any of them.
This is all I’ll say on the matter. For the first time in 7
years of blogging, I will not permit comments on this. I’ve said my piece and
I’m done with it. Argue elsewhere.
Here are some more links for other’s input.
God’s Speed Brax.
