It isn’t often I post a rant, at least not here. I will occasionally rant when making a comment on one of the Wall Street Journal forums or at one of the various blog/news/opinion sites. It isn’t my usual form of commenting. But every so often a blog post, comment, Tweet, e-mail, or face-to-face discussion will trigger a rant. This is one of those times. I must warn you that this rant won’t necessarily be in logical order and will be tinged with emotion. Rants in general tend to be so, and mine are no different. Here we go...
[rant]
I was pondering a topic worthy of posting, wondering if I should delve into my being reduced to a “stick figure” judged entirely by the color of my skin, such skin color being the sole defining factor of my “beliefs, biases, and prejudices”. The content of my character doesn’t matter, just my skin color. How screwed up is that?
My life experiences no longer matter, nor do the people with whom I associate, or my political leanings, or my actions, or my work. Because I am white I am automatically a racist, a “white supremacist”, and I must atone for my supposed racism be it explicit, implicit, subconscious, or imaginary, and I must do so in a fashion someone else has decided for me. I have been judged guilty for no other reason than I am a white heterosexual male of Northern European descent. I haven’t abased myself before those who deem themselves ‘woke’, those who believe themselves of superior wisdom, knowledge, and foresight and I will not be considered worthy of them until I do.
They have a long wait ahead of them because I will not bow to the deluded visions of the willfully ignorant and indoctrinated ‘true believers’ of what has become something akin to a politically active religious cult.
I do not bow to the ‘enlightened’ when their actions are contradictory to their stated goals. None of what they want from me or anyone else ‘not them’ will eliminate or reduce racism or any other “-ism” that is their cause du jour. It doesn’t bring people together. Rather, it divides them, generates intolerance, hatred, and prejudice all in the name of correcting some wrong, real or imagined, or for some elusive and twisted idea of equality.
They seek equity which has nothing to do with equality, though you might have a tough time convincing them otherwise. Equity is nothing we want as it is nothing anyone should inflict on others.
They seek to silence those who do not bow to their beliefs. (See cancel culture.)
Some of them feel any actions they take upon the “unwoke” are justified, including violence. Some have even suggested “deprogramming” for the unwoke (Katie Couric being just one of them doing so in public). Others have gone so far as to suggesting re-education “camps” for their opponents. (We’ve seen these before. Does the Gulag Archipelago ring a bell? How about Sobibor, Dachau, Bergen Belsen, or Auschwitz? For a previous generation of willfully ignorant and indoctrinated ‘true believers’, these “camps” were a solution to a very similar problem as they saw it.)
Do I think they would go so far? Ninety-nine percent wouldn’t...but that remaining one percent wouldn’t think twice about doing so. Certainly 20th century history has proven that more than once.
I have some very firmly held beliefs, these beliefs being derived from my upbringing and my experiences, some from those whose experiences and knowledge far exceed my own, and from a couple of thousand years of history, with a focus on the past 600 years. From those sources I have come to see what works, what doesn’t, and more importantly, why. I have seen that history does indeed show us what will come again if the lessons it teaches are not heeded.
What I see from many of our ‘woke’ brothers and sisters is nothing new, despite what they might believe. It was seen in Russia starting prior to World War I. It was seen in Italy starting in 1919 and in Weimar Germany around 1925. It was seen in China in 1949 and again in 1966. It was seen in Korea in 1950, in Vietnam in 1956, and in Cambodia prior to 1975. Nothing our present day ‘woke’ have been taught or are doing is unlike what has been done in those other times and places.
Getting back to the main theme of my rant, it seems everything is being examined by the ‘woke’ for any hint of racism, sexism, and whateverism, then denounced when ‘someone’ finds any such hints, even if they aren’t there. The subject of such scrutiny is either canceled or pressured to change into something unrecognizable. The two latest victims of this deluded scrutiny?
Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head.
I kid you not.
To quote one of my favorite politically incorrect movies, Johnny Dangerously: “This is fargin’ war!!”
This ridiculous crap must come to a stop. It serves no useful purpose, causes hate and discontent, and fixes nothing. It’s only purpose is to destroy, period.
As such, there are two questions that must be asked.
The first: Cui bono?
I know who.
The second question is: Do you know?
[/rant]
