I recently mused on this, I think the earliest piece I did on the anti-Western narratives becoming common in our nation. Back then there were plenty of anti-Columbus types. You had that when I was in college. I've often said my generation straddles that shift from 'Columbus as brave explorer bringing the bounty of Western benefits to the New World' to 'Columbus, slave owning genocidal racist inflicting Nazi horror on a Utopian paradise..'
Truth be told, it wasn't to that second part quite yet when I was in college, or even graduate school in the 1990s. But the roots were there, and on the fringe of scholarship and sociopolitical activism you could see that narrative taking shape and gaining acceptance.
Now, of course, Columbus is popularly seen in the same camp as Hitler or Himmler or Billy Graham or any other Euro-American Christian. Here in central Ohio, there is a small, but vocal and growing, movement to change the name of our capital city. At least one local news network no longer speaks of Columbus, but uses the name 'C-Bus' instead. The old Santa Maria replica that was downtown was taken away years ago, long before my youngest was able to visit. Columbus State Community College joined the city of Columbus and removed its statue of Columbus that once adorned the front of teh main buildings. And across the country cities and states are celebrating 'Indigenous Peoples Day' in lieu of Columbus Day. Just as we're hearing calls to replace Thanksgiving with a National Day of Mourning.
In terms of historical developments, this is pretty fast action. I think one of the great failures of those guardians of our heritage and values was that we confused not assuming worst motives with assuming no motives. In any event, it's likely that in a few more years Columbus Day will be a thing of the past, as well positive references of Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington, and anything to do with America's - or Europe's - history.
Again, I believe the speed with which this has all developed caught most people - even more conservative types - off guard. Many never believed we'd live to see the end to almost everything to do with the Christian West. And not only that, but we'd see them increasingly endorsed by all of the institutions that will mandate and determine what future generations learn about reality.
I think it has been a long time coming. In hindsight, we weren't exactly an 'old time religion' values nation by the time WW2 rolled along. Even WW1. In Europe the jettisoning of the Christian faith was well under way, and in America we were about two generations behind. After WW2 it begins in earnest. My son, a history major - and a pretty perceptive one at that - has said it will be centuries before the world can grasp just how much changed after the two world wars. Literally everything was up for grabs. So the abandonment of the historical Christian Faith and the West, which was already underway, has just picked up speed exponentially. Now we're hearing everything from how to make babies to math to history to justice were all just taints of old bigotry and oppression, and it's time to throw it all away and rethink reality. I think all of this caught the Christian (and likely other religions) world completely flat footed. And I don't think it's done a wonderful job adjusting, becoming more and more a yap dog trotting behind the world, waiting for a few scraps, rather than confronting the world with a better vision.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I've thought similarly many times myself, and my suspicion is that we've been politically managed as a country for a long time. The only thing the political elite (on both sides of the aisle) hadn't accounted for, at least in the last 50 years, was Trump's 2016 election. The lead up to and aftermath of that was eye opening regardless of the person himself.
ReplyDeleteI'm not really a Benedict Option type of person, but I think I'm becoming more of a "Polish resistance" type of person. I remember reading about Marie Curie growing up learning Polish history and culture in schools and having to hide their books when the communist Russian overseers would make unannounced visits. So, I think we need to simply preserve and pass on what we know to be true to our children and grandchildren, especially a living faith, as best we can and pray God blesses those efforts!
Bernadette, God works in mysterious ways as they say. 2016 was suppose to be a slam dunk for Billery and look at what happened. 2020 will never be counted as legitimate election by the voter though history books may record differently. Oh, are some people's noses in a twist because I said that? Before Trump was being the denied the win by the left before he was even inaugurated and 6 years later we still hear the left deny his win. Now they continue to do everything they can to criminalize him so he never holds office again. Perhaps it was a good thing Biden was elected because now we have seen the left crawl out of the woodwork showing us the fruit of their labors. It's out there for all to see. And it is rotten to the core. There is absolutely nothing that would even make me consider to ever vote for a democrat. As a Catholic I would consider voting Democrat a mortal sin.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I don't actually disagree with you, and that is what I meant by "eye opening." I still can't believe how many people not only lost their s&#$ over Trump, but their freaking minds! The left is pretty brazen currently, but I'm not holding my breath for people who should notice TO notice. Some of them are too busy trying to project themselves as "Christian but NOT that kind of crazy over there..." But at some point they'll have to choose their faith or their desired worldly acceptance. I hope they choose Jesus over something dumb like not wanting to be associated with people who are perceived to have liked a certain politician in a given election.
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ReplyDeleteIn Marie Curie's case it would have been Czarist overseers of Russification (as Putin's attempting now with kidnapped Ukrainian children). But the point was the same, as old as Napoleon, Frederick the Great and even the Emperor Julian (who invented the idea): control education and you control the future. And yet, it didn't work for any of them did it?