Feeling Like an Ex-Pat in My Own Country

 The term “ex-pat” is short for ex-patriot, an individual living and/or working in a country other than his or her country of citizenship, often temporarily and often for work reasons.  Ex-pats, while usually having chosen and enjoying their life abroad, still very much consider themselves citizens of their homeland and generally experience some level of homesickness for it.  They often get together with other expats from the same country to celebrate traditions of their homeland or otherwise enjoy aspects of their homeland that are missing in their current country of residence.

In today’s world I often feel like an ex-pat in my own country.  While many of my fellow citizens feel similarly, I am sure that many others are not really aware of the depth of irreversible change that is taking place, and which will leave us with not an improved America but with a very different country entirely. 

The progressive Left agenda is more than just some typical political posturing and gamesmanship.  Today’s progressive and socialist Left would like to see America as we know it completely dismantled and re-established as some sort of socialist utopia.  America is already changing its character and essence into a truly different place, and that is why many are feeling like homesick expats – strangers in a strange land homesick for their homeland.

I am not talking about some nostalgia for an America of yesteryear.  This is not a desire for an America that never changes or does not work to cure its deficiencies or constantly evolve.  Rather, it means a desire for exactly that America – the America with the core values that has allowed it to ever evolve forward, closer to the ideals of its founding and its Constitution, the ideals that have allowed it to be the beacon of freedom to the rest of the world for the past 245 years.

So many of what one often cites as characteristics of America and as those things which make her unique and great are being cancelled and replaced by very different characteristics.  Those new characteristics or values are encouraged by the Left along with their handmaidens the mainstream media and big corporations.  These changes are all interrelated and while each alone affects some aspect of America, when all become intertwined they eat out America’s heart and soul.

What is being cancelled and how is it being replaced? I have created two charts which only begin to suggest the changes that are occurring.  These charts suggest some of the characteristics of America and its people that are being cancelled – the characteristics of the America that I and other expats here are homesick for. 

Of course some, especially the woke Left and their minions, are thrilled to see these many changes.  Others of us are terrified as we see these many interrelated elements creating a new America, one without our traditional freedoms and values, one that will require an authoritarian structure for whom most of us will be required to relinquish our individuality as we essentially become its slaves. 

While the below charts only scratch the surface of the upheaval that is taking place in America, they perhaps give a sense of its extent.  America is not evolving or growing but being destroyed in order to serve some sort of reimagining by the Left (reimagining being the appropriate word here because this has all been imagined before – by every failed or failing socialist or Marxist regime that has ever existed). 

As I look about me and see a very different America emerging, I realize that I am an ex-pat in my own country.  The problem is, I did not choose to move here, I don't like it, and I cannot go home.

Individual and Societal Characteristics in America Today

Part 1:  Aspects that emanate from something external to the individual (e.g. inherent/constitutional rights, the State, the mob)
Being Cancelled	Being Encouraged	Examples/Effect of Change
Inherent Rights (rights that belong to the individual and cannot be taken by the State)	State granted rights (The state owns the right and can choose to grant it or how to grant it and can take it away)	E.g.: Entitlement programs or amount of those programs: housing & rent assistance, social services,
Rules that apply equally to all	Rules apply depending on the situation and who is involved	E.g: Leaders not following own rules; favored victim classes excused from what are legal violations for others
Regulated borders	Open borders; immigration laws not enforced	Loss of identifiable and unified country; no control over who enters and why
Choice	No Choice (in goods or beliefs)	E.g.: Certain points of view cannot be posted on social media, are disinvited from college campuses, are fired because of beliefs
Equality (Equal opportunity for all, but results might not be equal)	Equity (Equal results for all)	Requires some form of discrimination to achieve the desired result; the State (as opposed to the individual) determines what the result will be; eliminates motivation & competition
Uniqueness of Individual	Group identity	Causes dissention as groups are defined as victims or oppressors; labels people based on external characteristics
Rights require responsibility	Rights without responsibility	Entitlement and little motivation to work or to contribute to country, society or the greater good
Meritocracy	Mediocrity	Socialism.  Destroys the Individual and fulfillment of one’s abilities
Acknowledge and learn from history (good & bad)	Cancel and deny history	Judgmental; repeat old mistakes; denies respect, pride, understanding for how the country overcame negatives and for those who came before
Freedom of speech and thought	Cancel or limit & attack opposing ideas/theories/suggestions	Stymies the ability to progress with new ideas and innovations; does not allow challenges and suggestions that can improve theories
Decisions based on fact and logic	Decisions based on emotion and self interest	Irrational and inconsistent outcomes; often not best for the country as a whole or for the greater good

 

Individual and Societal Characteristics in America Today

Part 2:  Aspects that are internal to the individual and contribute to the individual’s values and approach to life
Being Cancelled	Being Encouraged	Examples/Effect of Change
Selflessness	Selfishness	Loss of belief in something greater than self; little respect for human life; no concern for the greater good
Faith in something beyond self	Self-gratification is prime consideration and glorification	While superficial appetites are gratified (e.g. gender fluidity, sexualization of women and children, legalization of traditional vices), there is an emptiness in the soul; decline of religion
Respect for elders and experts	Everyone is an expert, believing they are as knowledgeable as anyone on a subject and so can and should be able to run it	Hampers ability to learn because no belief that the one from whom one is learning is any more knowledgeable than the self (or their ability to Google)
Individual responsibility	Victimhood	Blaming others for one’s pain and predicament does not allow for personal growth, does not allow one to move forward as an individual
Rewarded for one’s own labor	All share in rewards even if they did not contribute	Contrary to the moral of the children’s store of The Little Red Hen, this encourages laziness and mediocrity
Self-reliance	Reliance on State	Diminishes the ability to take pride in and feel rewarded by one’s own accomplishments; creates dependency on State and underclass of those who are dependent
Acceptance of reality of imperfection with goal of every improving towards (unattainable) perfection	Belief in possibility of utopia	Everyone’s utopia is different and all utopias require authoritarianism
Critical thinking	Superficial solutions to problems while questions, deep thought demeaned	Without critical thinking individual cannot realize own true and full potential

 

 

Thoughts Provoked by Prince Philip’s Funeral

 

As I was watching Prince Philip’s funeral yesterday, I was struck by what a beautiful display it was of Tradition, Faith, and Family.  These are the bedrock that holds us together, that makes us whom we are, that gives us strength, especially in troubling times.  These exemplify core principles that allow society as well as mankind to grow.  And these foundations for a healthy society are rapidly disappearing if not gone in America.

America used to be a land of Tradition, Faith, and Family.  Now those values are derided by the Left.  What the Left does not understand is that with those values comes a tolerance and a respect for others, as well as a stable society able to address its shortcomings and better itself.  Those principles do not hold a society static but give it the power to grow.

               Tradition

Tradition is defined as “the transmission of customs or beliefs from generation to generation, or the fact of being passed on in this way.”  But the goal of the Left seems to be to completely cleanse America of the customs and beliefs that built her and made her great.  (Note I do not say perfect, but the beauty of America is that she aspired to a perfection and addressed the problems that stood in the way of that aspiration.) 

But now we have Cancel Culture which, in collaboration with identity politics, is a horribly destructive process.  The goal of the Left seems to be to rid the world of any trace of America and her traditions.  The Left has designated “winners” and “losers” in their identity labels.  If one is not a member of a favored identity group, they are being trained to deny and apologize for their heritage – for their customs and beliefs.  We have heard that White people are evil as are Christians or political conservatives. 

Just yesterday Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters told protesters in Minnesota to "get more confrontational" if Derek Chauvin isn't convicted of murdering George Floyd. (We’ll save the discussion of how this is a direct threat on that trial’s jurors as well as our concept of a fair judicial system with verdicts based on facts, not emotion or political agenda.)

This threat came on the heels of CNN’s Chris Cuomo saying “White people’s kids need to start getting killed” so there can be police reform.  And a Mercer Theology Professor writing and publishing a prayer in which she asks God to “please help me to hate White people.”

Yes, Whites, along with other unfavored identity groups would happily all be cancelled if not killed by true Left believers.  This while they select other, favored groups, to receive benefits denied to Whites simply because of the color of their skin.  Haven’t we been here before?  Racism is racism and, while this country has had a history of racism, it has also, because of its customs and beliefs, not to mention its form of government, been able to address those problems and move forward without turning around and destroying some other identity group.

               Faith

Faith is defined as “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.”  Generally, this means one’s God or religion or more generally a belief in something greater than oneself.  It is based on “spiritual apprehension rather than proof.”  But now it seems that the predominant focus is not on others or something beyond oneself, but rather simply on the self and making that self feel good.

We have self-love, self-care.  We have access to all sorts of material pleasures, all designed to make the self feel good.  Church attendance is at an all time low.  Respect for others (something every legitimate religion teaches) is becoming non-existent:  that is probably most reflected in the ease with which so many take the life of another as both a way to solve problems and a way to make oneself feel good. 

The Left’s new religion of “Wokeness” of which a part is their proclamation that this is some sort of humanitarian effort, is just the opposite.  Take one trip to the border to see the “humanitarian” efforts of young children so crowded (into what once when far less crowded were called cages) that they cannot even leave their “beds” (which are nothing more than a cover as they sleep on the floor).  How humanitarian is it when the Left’s border policies encourage child traffickers, coyotes whose greed often gets the border crossers they are “escorting” killed, or the huge increase in drugs which will end up destroying the lives of so many?

With the dismissal of Faith comes the end of true humanitarianism.  With the dismissal of true Faith comes the religion of self.  And we see that flourishing now as the real motivation of many in power as well as many of the Left acolytes is simply their own pleasure and power.  Faith gives a person, a family, and a country strength.  Its absence puts that country on the road to destruction.

               Family

Family is both “a social group made up of parents and their children” and “a group of people who come from the same ancestor.”  The family is the basis of all civilization and the family group, because it shares ancestors and customs, will include the elements of Tradition and Faith as those have developed within that family history. 

The Family – parents and children – is the basis for broader groups.  Families form tribes or villages.  Villages form towns.  Towns form cities.  Cities form countries.  What each of these groups will have in common is a similarity of Traditions, customs, and Faith.  They will not be identical, but they will be tolerant and find a way to live with one another to achieve goals that are common to their individual customs and values.

That is what America used to be.  But that is being destroyed as the Cancel Culture Left and its hate for seemingly everything that is, also is attacking the family.  Children are no longer a part of a family’s history and future; rather, they are simply something of convenience to be disposed of if they are inconvenient.  That includes not only early abortion, but late term and even post-birth abortion.  The current administration has just made fetal tissue approved for far more scientific studies.  That fetal tissue in large part comes from aborted children; demand for that (and thus for necessary abortions to provide it) will now increase.  And we’ve already mentioned child trafficking, and here we will include child pornography as more evidence that children are for many nothing more than a convenient furtherance of their own self pleasure

But the Family is also under attack in other ways.  Somewhere between 40 to 50 percent of marriages end in divorce in this country.   I suggest that is because of the loss of Faith and Tradition that make the sanctity of marriage less meaningful and condone ending that union when it becomes inconvenient or interferes with one’s personal pleasures.  And there is no question that the children of destroyed marriages suffer in so many ways.  Again, what is happening to the Family in this country is the result of a culture of self-love as not just the dominant but indeed the only important value.

               In Conclusion

Holding Tradition, Faith, and Family dear does not mean that a society is static or bound by intolerances of the past.  Great Britain, with it strong traditions, is not the same country that it has always been; it continually evolves yet maintains its Tradition, Faith, and Family.  Those foundations give a society the strength to evolve.

Those who care about this country should take a minute to reflect upon what we are losing as we allow the Woke Cancel Culture to ride roughshod over our Tradition, Faith, and Family.  The road we are on does not have a pretty ending, and, when we get there we will have lost something beautiful.

Silence – of the Lemmings

To my friends and others who did not support Donald Trump’s reelection bid and were so vocal until Jan. 20 of this year, but since then have gone silent:  What happened to you?

While Donald Trump was president every day all you could do was make ugly statements about him and his supporters.  You couldn’t wait until Joe Biden and his “unity” took over.  All would be well.  And you all rejoiced when he was sworn in, taking that time to also get in some final digs at President Trump.

Then…..silence.

No daily support for the actions of Biden and his administration like the daily tirades when Trump held the office.  Not even a whisper of support, or of opposition to what he is doing.

Do you know what he is doing?  I realize that the mainstream media (who through the voice of CNN just this week admitted that their goal had been to remove Trump from office but now they have moved on to other targets) has not reported much of anything about what Biden and his administration are doing.  But bits and pieces do come to the surface. 

You were so delighted when he was sworn in.  Are you equally delighted by the border crisis, the record number of daily crossers and the surge that increases daily, or the money such as 60 million per week to house unaccompanied minors that might otherwise be spent on American citizens and legal residents? 

Are you content with the fact that in effect we now have two different justice systems:  one for those favored by the Left and one for those despised by the Left?  Are you delighted by the ongoing riots in Minneapolis and Portland?   And how do you feel about that unity that doesn’t exist and that seems to be defined as simply silencing anyone whom this administration does not like?

Are you delighted by Biden and the Democrats’ tax and spend bills that will put your children and grandchildren in debt forever?  And by the fact that rather than helping legal residents of this country, much of our tax dollars and other resources are going to those here illegally or to strengthen borders of other countries? 

Are you content with cancel culture raging?  With corporations deciding what you should think, and if you don’t behave as they wish (their wishes being the same as those of the Left) they will take action against you.  That action may be cancelling the All-star game to the detriment of a large minority population; it may be requiring you to attend some sort of racial justice training where you must admit your blame for being who you are if you are not among their chosen racial groups. 

Speaking of racial groups, are you OK with benefits, jobs, even medical care being meted out based on race with Whites being summarily excluded?  How about the fact that Disney and other large entertainment providers will now not even consider scripts that do not include the preferred quota of specific ethnic groups?

Are you OK with reparations?  With infrastructure that includes benefits that have nothing to do with the traditional definition of infrastructure?  Are you OK with executive orders that limit your Constitutional rights and freedoms?  What about packing the Supreme Court in order to make it just a political rubber stamp for the Left?

I know that if Donald Trump were doing one iota of what President Biden and the Democrats are doing that you would not be silent, especially because the media would be drilling into you every day how horrid it was and filling you with so much hate that it had to spill over.

So I have to assume that one of two things is true:  either you are perfectly OK with fundamentally transforming America from the Democracy that it is to a Socialist country in which your freedoms will be greatly diminished and the power of the government greatly enlarged, or you simply have no idea of what is going on. 

Alexander Solzhenitsyn in his “Warning to the West”, noted that following turmoil a very dangerous state of mind can arise in which people will give up and give in quickly in the belief that it will bring about national unity. 

Let’s remember that, as some Left-leaning media (including NBC and CNN) are now admitting, they stirred up fear beyond what was necessary.  CNN admits its goal was completely anti-Trump.   So, after four years of fear mongering and of having the media daily drill down on what they decided was crisis after crisis, it may not be a wonder that many of you believed some wonderous unity would appear if you voted against President Trump.

Perhaps what you are thinking is that some sort of blessed silence exists.  Afterall, the media make it seem that there are no problems anywhere, and especially not in the current White House or the policies of the Democrats.  But, in the words of Solzhenitsyn, “I would not wish that kind of blessed silence on my worst enemy.  I would not wish that kind of national unity on my worst enemy.” (Speech to Americans, June 30, 1975).

So, if your silence is because, out of relief from the mostly media manufactured turmoil of the past four years, you are no longer paying attention believing there is some blessed unity and peace, please wake up and pay attention.  Let people know what you think.

If your silence is because you are fully supportive of the Leftist Socialist agenda, then why are you not daily asserting your delight?  I would like to hear you speak out about how and why you find that is something worth supporting.  I cannot understand why anyone who truly understands what socialism is can support it.  I would argue that you may be “woke”, but you are not awake.

The Socialist agenda is being implemented at such an accelerated speed that there is daily less and less hope that America, once the greatest nation and beacon of freedom to the world, will soon be much more than some historical relic that no longer exists. 

You who did not support Trump, your voices were loud and frequent for four years.  But now the cat has your tongue.  And if you don’t speak out soon, the America that allowed you to speak your mind will be gone and you will become nothing more than one of the many lemmings following the Left to the detriment of you and all those you will leave behind as you fall to your death in the sea of despair that is the ultimate result of socialism.  It is those who seek power through this transformation to Socialism who are leading you to your and your nation’s demise.  Please wake up.

Of Communists, Artisans, Conformity, and Freedom

 A few years ago when I was taking a Russian class we were studying vocabulary associated with apartments and their furnishings.  My teacher, who had grown up in Soviet Russia, was able to draw on the board a perfect diagram of a Soviet apartment in which most Russians lived.  Unofficially called Khrushchyovka, they were all alike:  same entry, same location of kitchen and main room, same hall to bedroom, same basic furnishings, even the same location of the mat on which to put your snow boots.  The only difference was whether or not a particular apartment had more than one bedroom (something that the State decided for the individual residents).

This of course was part of the Soviet Communist plan to change human nature from individualistic to communal.  Essentially, communism destroys individual initiative in its effort to make the individual a cog in the greater governmental machine.  The individual mind and soul ultimately become fully subject to the Communist State.  And conformity is a necessary part of losing oneself to that “greater good.”

The other day a friend was looking to replace some floor tile from about 20-plus years ago.  The tile had been hand-crafted.  After visiting not only the original source but similar vendors, one tile shopkeeper explained to her not only how such tile was made but that the reason it is no longer made, the reason such artisanship is dying if not dead, is that now the demand is for mass-produced items that will all be identical. 

Somehow this seems to put us in a similar place as the Soviet apartment dwellers.  No unique, individualistic style available.  This is underscored when one flips through a decorating magazine.  Everything is rather impersonal and certainly mass produced.  Not unlike the Soviet apartments where one could feel equally at home in a neighbor’s apartment as their own, when one looks at contemporary and popular decorating design, there seems to be little room for individual style.  One might easily adapt to a neighbor’s house as their own.

The major difference seems to be that while the Soviets were forced to accept this dehumanization, this removal of individuality, contemporary Americans are seeking it out.  But why?  What is the appeal of giving up one’s individuality to simply become one of the mass-produced humans?  Why would one voluntarily give up individuality for conformity?

This question is not limited to how one decorates one’s surroundings.  We see everywhere a disinclination to stand out as oneself.  And if one does, one is often bullied in one way or another into conformity. 

Of course, it is always easier to conform.  It is easier to simply follow what someone else has decided for you. But it also means giving up your individual humanity – that which makes you unique and whom you are.

Growing up in the 50s and 60s I and my peers did anything we could to break from conformity, from a predetermined pronouncement by some other of what we should think and how we should act.  It allowed us to become more fully whom we each were meant to be.  Artisans not only flourished but were appreciated, as was individual creativity and individual thought.  Making one’s own decisions is a very special form of freedom that is perhaps not well appreciated in America today.

Today, individual thought, and especially thought which counters the views of someone else, is considered unacceptable.  Groups, especially those in power, feel that it is perfectly OK to silence those with opposing views until they are willing to conform.  And too many seem more than willing to do so without giving any thought whatsoever to what they are doing.

I realize the pendulum swings, but why would we allow it to swing back to the limiting place of conformity?  Do those who conform and demand that others similarly conform to their politically and socially correct agenda realize what they are doing?  Not just to themselves, but to our society as a whole?  I think that President Kennedy said it well:

If we want to maintain our freedom, if we want to not stagnate, if we want to be all that we can be, then we must retain our individuality and with it our humanity and our very freedom to be the unique self that we each are meant to be.

Here is an example of the Soviet Khrushchyovka apartment blocks and interior plan, home to most Russians during the Soviet era:

Is anyone there? A Rant.

 

I am watching my country and all that it stands for disintegrate around me.  I do not understand why so few others seem to notice or to care. 

I recall not that long ago when everyone was strident about nearly everything that was going on.  The media was of course then encouraging the discontent and the hatred.  Then the media told us that all would be fine once Biden was elected.  I guess people listen and accept what they are told.  But look around – one glance should assure you that the media is not always right (or honest).

Of course, unlike the daily crises created by media commentators when Trump was elected, today much of what is going on is not reported or, if it is, even crises are so downplayed as to become just a big nothing.  But eventually they begin to leak out.

But people, look around you.  Hate and intolerance are on the rise.  Immigration is a mess and a crisis (even though the White House does not want us calling it that).  Cancel Culture is rampant.  Victimhood is idealized.  Radicalism is applauded.  And those who believe in traditional American values, the U.S. Constitution, and our basic freedoms have graduated from being “deplorables” to being “Neanderthals.”

Biden and his people insist there is no crisis at the border.  But even the mainstream media now at least have to mention that there might be a problem.  Ya think?!  We have the Obama/Trump “cages” now called “facilities” at full capacity.  We have unaccompanied minors being shipped across the country without any real inquiry about to whom they are being delivered, a definite gift to child traffickers.  We have mobs arriving at the borders wearing Biden tee shirts and demanding immediate fulfillment of his promise to open the borders.  DHS is anticipating a 20-year surge of illegal immigration. 

The Biden administration is looking to transform the southern border into a rapid-processing site where foreign nationals can arrive and expect to be quickly released into the U.S. interior.  In contrast to Trump’s historic lows in illegal border crossings we currently are arresting daily historic highs of illegal immigrants; rather than return them to their country or to the other side of the border to await legal entry, we simply release them to go where they please.  These new immigrants, both legal and illegal, will likely receive benefits that were once restricted to citizens and paid for by tax dollars.  In some instances, the Biden administration provides incentives to favor hiring of new immigrants (legal or illegal) over Americans. 

What this crisis gives us is de facto open borders.  An open border, in contrast to a closed or a controlled border, is one that allows free movement of people across with little or no restrictions.  Borders between the states are examples of open borders.  Most countries, however, at a minimum control the borders which delineate the boundaries of the land that encompasses the country.

I understand that there are some on the Left who desire open borders.  But at present the United States has immigration laws that, in a variety of ways, control both the number and characteristics of those who enter this country.  Yet, these immigration laws and the policy and reasoning behind them are for the most part currently being ignored or overridden by executive order along with executive inaction.  

Whether out of altruistic or sinister motive, or simply due to lack of logic and understanding, the Biden administration has effectively opened our borders to any and all who would enter.  At the same time Biden has closed our capitol, filling it with military to protect the administration and lawmakers from imagined threats. The irony is that we desperately need that military protection at our country's borders, but no one is noticing.

Beyond the border crisis there is the current belief, being fostered by the Left, progressive politicians, as well as big tech, that is is perfectly OK to silence, cancel, censor those people and beliefs whom the “woke” find offensive.    Does no one understand that this goes against the very core of American culture: the ability to hold and speak diverse views? 

We applaud people who share their “traumas”, but only if those who do so are sharing in a way that fits with the woke.  Thus, the White House applauded Meghan Markle’s self-centered tale of victimhood but seemed unable to comment on the ever-growing number of women accusing Gov. Cuomo of sexual harassment. 

And speaking of those accusations, when required to speak about Cuomo, the Left and its media prefer to focus on the growing number of “MeToos” rather than the hundreds (or is it thousands?) of elderly who died as the result of Cuomo’s early Covid orders, orders that he then covered up along with the death numbers.  The Left would prefer not to begin a discussion about those deaths because it is likely that it will then lead to revelations about at least 4 additional Democrat Governors who acted similarly.

Speaking of Covid, it has become abundantly clear that the handling of the pandemic by governors and others was driven by politics and not science, no matter how much they claim otherwise.  Similarly is the handling of the vaccinations, and the processes of re-opening, returning to schools, etc.

Athletics are also reopening, but with new rules that essentially destroy women’s sports.  In addition to Biden’s effective discrimination there, we see nearly every action that he takes in the name of “equity” having a discriminatory effect, usually against those groups that are out of favor with the Left. 

Moreover, the actions of this administration seem to be taken so as to check off some box on the “woke checklist” without any real thought or understanding of the effects of those actions.  In addition to the above I point you to the “Equality Act” and its other sections beyond the evisceration of women’s sports (the Act also exempts itself from the Religious Freedom Act when it comes to forcing its agenda), or the latest Covid relief bill (a 1.9 trillion fulfillment of Leftist dreams that have nothing to do with Covid and which are paid for by our tax dollars) or the Voting Rights Bill (that essentially destroys the likelihood of election integrity). 

I point you to the proposed mandatory curriculums such as training in the biased and discriminatory Critical Race Theory and promotion of the Left view of sexual orientation and gender identity, along with training and promotion of guilt simply for being White and conservative.  Reparations are definitely on the table.  And I encourage taking a look at the radical agendas of most of Biden’s appointees and hires.  Their pronouncements of hate speak volumes about Biden’s promised “unity.”

Now I do understand that there are those who favor the radical agenda of this White House.  But I find it hard to believe that the majority of Americans are as radical as this agenda or care so little about America as one who supports it must. 

I know that there are many who voted for President Biden solely because they did not like President Trump (or at least the President Trump that was portrayed by the media; I suspect that many have no idea of what Trump actually did while president or the many positive effects that his actions had on this country, especially minorities, as well as on the world).  But do these people have any idea what is going on, and if they do, are they really OK with it?

I want to knock on every American’s head and ask “Hello – anyone home?  Do you know what is going on?”  Because the silence is deafening.  And it is not only a silence of any disagreement; it is also silence of any in agreement (except of course from the vocal woke Left).  Just silence.  Is no one looking, listening, paying attention, thinking?  

With Covid vaccinations we hear more and more talk of “herd immunity.”  Actually, I think we are already a herd – of lemmings headed to the sea.  And yes, another phrase comes to mind here:  “Ignorance is bliss.”  I hope that those who are not paying attention are enjoying that bliss now, because the radical changes taking place unchecked under this administration will ultimately leave us and our country with nothing but despair.  

A Very Sanitary Future

 

The future.  It is often portrayed as so very perfect.  So clean.   Yet also so sterile and sanitized.

The sanitation has begun as cancel culture tells us what to think and how to behave.  Eventually we can become like the automatons that we see in futuristic portrayals.  All on the same bland even keel.  No ups, no downs, no extremes of emotion. People are calm.  They say only the right things.  They have only the correct behavior.  And they have no joy.  No humanity.

Today there are things you can’t say.  There is history that must not be taught.  There are books that cannot be read.  Our world, and especially the world of our minds, is being sanitized.  Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn, To Kill a Mockingbird are stories that if anything create an awareness and perhaps empathy for the Black experience in America.  Yet those books are cancelled because they use language of the times and are true to the times.  Dr. Seuss has now been cancelled.  I find it hard to believe that every child who was given a Dr. Seuss book to enjoy, to giggle at, and in the process to learn something of phonetics, I refuse to believe that those children because of that experience were turned into racists.

Soon our stories will be fully sanitized and will all read something like this: “They met.  They fell in love.  They died.”  No detail allowed - it might offend someone.  No joy, no sorrow, nothing to learn from.  Just a few words on a page, sanitized and approved.  (Those who are familiar with Russian history will of course think of the Soviet establishment of socialist realism as the only acceptable aesthetic for authors who were given basic mandatory plots to follow.  Any deviation was banned, sometimes along with the authors themselves.)

We learn from that which has not been sanitized.  Great literature teaches us about our humanity, about the human condition.  History teaches us about where we went right and where we went wrong, thus allowing us to not repeat the same mistakes.  Information, even information that might offend one or many, can spark thoughts, innovations, excitement in the human brain and the human soul. 

It is information and the spark of inspiration that it provides that allows humanity to progress.  Information feeds our natural curiosity.  It is as essential for our being as is food.

Human emotion is a part of us, both its positive and negative passions.  It cannot be banned; allowing us to be conscious of it means that we can learn about and from it and perhaps even control our own individual demons.

Once upon a time I wrote a poem about an Eagle and a Pigeon.  I don’t think I understood the significance of it then but let me use its spirit here.  The mighty Eagle soars and dives.  I don’t know how an eagle feels when it dives, but I do know that when it reaches the bottom it often gathers sustenance that allows it to soar again.  Our minds, indeed our whole being, when allowed to be open, are like the Eagle, soaring to great heights of joy, diving into sadness and depression, learning from both and indeed living as we humans are meant to live, full of spirit, emotion, reason, and passion. 

Yet with the onslaught of cancel culture we are becoming more like carrier homing pigeons.  Kept in cages, their route is always direct and level and predetermined by someone else.  Even the message they carry is not theirs but is instead written for them.  The pigeon does its job, but with how much joy or personality?

People are not perfect. Nor are they level and unthinking or unfeeling.  Their ugly parts cannot be banished and indeed it is the contrast with the ugly that allows us to experience our greatest joys.  Much as we might try, while we might be able to sanitize a city for a day, we simply cannot fully sanitize the imperfect being called human.  We can force the humanity onto the level and predetermined course of the pigeon, but sooner or later the individual human spirt needs to soar.

The sanitized future may look lovely.  A “perfect world.”  But it seems more and more like that perfect world, cold and devoid of emotion, requires us to sanitize our very selves so that we no longer exist.  We still have the ability to soar and to dive like the eagle, but every time a thought or a word or an action is banned from our access, we move a little closer to the pigeon.

 

Dumbing Down in the Name of Equity

Education.  It used to be a place where students would not only gain instruction in both general and specific topics.  It was also most importantly where students learned to question and to reason – to do the critical thinking that is necessary not only to expand one’s own mind and reach one’s own potential but is also necessary to understand others in society and to work together with those others to move society and mankind forward.

That is not education today.  Today we only allow students to learn that which meets the approval of a woke culture under its false promise of “equity”.  Questioning what is taught is frowned upon if not overtly disallowed.  No room for new or independent thoughts.  No tolerance for diverse views.

Consider the following examples (just a few of many available): 

·        A Virginia school district has cancelled Dr. Seuss for “racial undertones.”

·        Boston Public Schools are suspending Advanced classes because too many students in them are White or Asian (no evidence that the student makeup is based on any sort of discrimination).

·        English teachers across the country have cancelled Shakespeare as well as Greek classics because of “racism, homophobia, classism.”

·        Tom Sawyer has been cancelled due to racism.

·        Schools regularly condemn, punish, expel students for expressing un-approved views such as anti-abortion beliefs, Christian beliefs, conservative beliefs.  Students are sent home for wearing patriotic clothing displaying such things as the American flag.  A student who called conservative Black spokesperson Candace Owens a “Black trailblazer” was subjected to a schoolwide email condemning the student as racist.

·        The names “Abraham Lincoln” and “George Washington” have been removed from schools in California.

·        Schools are replacing traditional American history with the 1619 Project curriculum.  Written not by history scholars but by biased journalists, the 1619 curriculum “aims to reframe the country's history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of the United States' national narrative.”  It teaches that our entire country is based on a hatred of Whites toward Blacks.  It denounces the actual proven and factual history of our country as false and racist.  The premises of the 1619 Project have been shown to be erroneous.

·        More generally history instruction has taken a turn whereby America is seen to be an evil creation of White supremacists.  Students learn they should have no pride in their country.  White students are told they should be ashamed of their whiteness and feel guilt simply because they are White.

·        Critical Race Theory training, something that is notably both racist and inaccurate, is also a central part of public-school curriculums.  It focuses on instilling the belief that Whites are racist and that White supremacy is a continuing and systemic problem that cause a power imbalance and a subjugation of Blacks.  Basically, it teaches people of color to hate whites and teaches Whites to feel guilty and ashamed of who they are.

·        Teachers and professors who speak about differing perspectives or encourage students to discuss varying views on a topic are often censured or fired.

·        The hard sciences are not excused from the wokeness of the cancel culture.  Math has recently been accused of promoting White supremacy; demanding showing of work (thinking) or demanding correct answers is by some educators considered to be racist. 

·        Similarly, there are proper viewpoints that students are instructed to take about a variety of scientific theories.  Consider global warming:  while there are many theories about causes, effects, solutions, etc., many students are taught only the perspective of the Left-Green New Deal advocates while being told that questioning it or considering other perspectives is just plain wrong.  Science does not progress when it cannot be questioned just as the human mind does not grow when it cannot question.

·        Beyond the academics, the cancel culture reaches into extracurricular and other activities associated with education.  Students are taught that biological sex is subservient to gender identity.  Students are taught sexual concepts that are not scientifically accurate as young as kindergarten and are encouraged to choose and change their gender at will and without parental consent or even parental knowledge.

·        Women’s and girls sports currently are being eviscerated by the mandate that biological males are allowed to compete as women.  This essentially destroys the fair playing field and places women in a very real no-win situation – a situation that is both demeaning and destructive to their motivation.

These are just a few of the things that are going on in our educational institutions today.  This is happening at the behest of the Left and the woke and with the full blessing and assistance of the Biden Administration. 

This is a travesty, a tragedy, and simply unfair to the minds and souls of our young.  By not teaching students to think and reason, and by denying to those who can the opportunity to excel, we are dumbing down our educational system, our students, and in the end our entire country.

Education is supposed to be “the act or process of imparting or acquiring general or particular knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.”  This definition includes what I believe is the most important thing that any educational system or process can teach: the powers of reasoning and judgment, better known as critical thinking.  It is in that area that I believe the majority of educational systems in this country are utter failures. 

Today’s educational model does not teach critical thinking; moreover, it does not allow it.   Too often students are discouraged from questioning.  They are fed subject matter material, told to accept it, learn it, prove they heard what they were told by regurgitating in on tests.  Any aspect of critical thinking has been replaced by instilling a specific Leftist agenda and value system into the minds of our young. 

Students need to be exposed to more than one viewpoint, to alternate ideas, diverse authors, differing theories.  They need to be taught to solve problems, not just accept answers lectured to them.  They need to be taught how to analyze and assimilate facts and theories and viewpoints in order to discover and support their own conclusions. 

By not teaching or allowing students to question the information they are given, schools today deny the students the raw materials from which they could discover the joy of critical thinking and use it to realize their own full potential.  Not only does this not raise their thinking beyond a very basic level, it also creates the perfect environment for instilling minds with propaganda rather than knowledge.

The ability to question is necessary to preserve the freedoms of democracy.  Without questioning, when questions and diverse ideas are denied, democracy itself is being denied.