A couple old reflections for this Veteran's Day

Let's fight to keep what they served to protect

One here, remembering my family members who have gone before from an All Souls Day post, that includes some veterans on the list.  

And here, where I unpacked more my favorite veteran - my late dad, as well as others.  

Also here is a less pleasant one, a post dealing with Catholic BLM activist Gloria Purvis.  In it she claimed a celebrated war hero from WWII was never honored - I'll let you guess why she implies he was never honored.  Yet as readers of the comments section will note, and something I later verified myself, in a war that saw war heroes lifted up and celebrated for any reason possible, he was actually quite honored and celebrated in the day.  Far more than many heroes of the time. 

Whether partisan driven laziness or willful ignorance or whatever on Purvis's part, I don't know.  I'll take a charitable assumption and guess she just wasn't driven to find out the facts ahead of time (which was discoverable on none other than Wikipedia). And those who reposted her post back then with tears and sorrows for our racist nation assumed that she had done the required research.  

But given Veteran's Day as a day to remember those who served, and given that we saw such a repudiation of those like Purvis and their style of leftwing activism that seeks to tear down and besmirch what those veterans served for, it seems a fitting thing to link to on this day of remembrance. 

And just in case we need a reminder for those striving for goodness and virtue against the Left's alternatives:  

L to R: Not a Hero, Hero

Some old reflections on Columbus Day

Here, here, here and here.  It's barely mentioned now.  In fact, here in Buckeye land, this is the time when different outlets point out the effort by some to change the name of our state's capital.  One network - our local CBS affiliate - now refers to the city and city news as 'C-Bus.'  In fact its morning news magazine that was Wake up Columbus is now Wake Up C-Bus.  That's long been an informal nickname in these parts, but usually not for official use.  

Today Columbus is all but gone, and increasingly if the day is mentioned at all, it's Indigenous Peoples Day, or similar.  Of course now we're seeing challenges against everything from Washington and Jefferson, to the Constitution itself (earlier editorial from the New Yorker).

Things are happening fast.  Vichy Conservatives have long hidden behind the idea that bellyaching about such trivial things is just sissy stuff.  They'll wait until the gulags or the gas chambers are in full swing, then they'll start to worry.  Never a great strategy.  And looking at where things are and where they are going, and how quickly they are getting there, should be all the evidence you need for that appraisal. 

As for the Left venerating cultures who did what Columbus is accused of doing or worse?  Need I prattle on about that?  I think by now the reasons for that strange hypocrisy should be clear. 

That was my guess

I posted on the mixed up messaging with Juneteenth here.  For the record, I finally blocked Greydanus at FB because I was tired of the mendacity.  Beyond so much BS regarding not admitting the obvious, he is definitely a white guy who has bought the 'white is evil' narrative.  He will bypass the horrors of many suffering innocents until he can find someone white to post against.  Well, despite blocking him, and because of his perpetual focus on only white crimes, I saw a copy of this in a thread:

As a disclaimer, it didn't include the post itself, and because I blocked him I don't know what he said.  But I'm willing to guess.  Nonetheless, take note.  It's apparently linking to BLM activist Gloria Purvis.  Why now?  If my math is good, it's the 9th anniversary of the tragic mass shooting.  Not exactly a milestone.  So why now?  And in Pride Month no less?  

But that's the point.  The reason I posted my post about Juneteenth was that we noticed a few stories about random civil rights topics this month. A murdered black person from the past here, a falsely accused civil rights activist there, a reminder of the history of slavery over there.  And in Pride Month?  What gives?

That's when it dawned on us.  Having made Juneteenth a thing, the Left can now designate yet another month to the trashing and hashing of the rehashed trash of America's vile sins and evil past.  Couple with those now saying Juneteenth is a day about black culture, and others saying it is Independence Day for blacks, whites can have their own, it's obvious where this is meant to go. 

So once again we are told by those on the Left that if we do something it's because of some lofty, harmonious and unifying goal.  Only to realize a year or so later that this is not the case at all.  Once again it is to tear down and destroy the West, the US and the Christian traditions.  

UPDATE: So Greydanus has stepped in with his reaction to the debate last night. Remember Trump's  celebration of Nazis all those years ago.  And now Trump says he doesn't know if Washington owned slaves.  Of course Washington owning slave is really the only thing worth knowing about him today.  And one of the reasons I blocked Gredyanus, things like sanctification or redemption by Christ or working out one's own salvation have definite stopwatches and time limits.  When I pointed out that America ultimately did right by the Civil Rights movement, he shot back that I should look at how long it took. I said I didn't think there was some time limit for people - much less entire nations - striving toward holiness and doing good.  But for him, yep.  His Catholic Church has all sorts of limits and provisos.  I can't say if he applies the same to transgender mutilation, abortion or black on non-black racism, or continued attacks on the Jewish community by pro-Palestinians since he never dwells on such things.  But this is why I don't follow him any more.  

The reason I don't do Juneteenth

I've only heard him mentioned once this year

Is different from why I never got into MLK Day.  I didn't care for MLK Day because, to me, MLK just became discount Jesus for a nation afraid to invoke Jesus for fear of being called names.  As opposed to whatever official reasons, that was my guess.  And that is why I imagined it wouldn't last forever. 

Since 2020, MLK day hasn't been what it used to be.  When my sons were in public school, they began hyping MLK before the Winter Break that happened at the end of December.  Then into January it was MLK all the way.  That focus would continue through Black History Month.  There were also ample other times in the year to focus on MLK and America's racist identity: Colonial era, the Revolution, the Civil War, Reconstruction, Segregation and Jim Crow in the 20th Century. 

Of course it wasn't just school.  In my ministry days, whenever I heard other pastors preach, it was common to hear them quote or somehow invoke MLK.  Scarcely did a sermon or a lecture or speech pass without at least one mention.  Sometimes he would be the exclusive focus or reference, even when Jesus barely got a dashed off mention.  News reports, college and high school lectures, editorials, documentaries, news interviews on television - you couldn't go three days without hearing of MLK or at least the broader Civil Rights Movement to which he was attached. 

Since 2020, however, that has passed.  There was an attempt to insist we had the whole MLK legacy wrong.  Turns out MLK thought nothing of dividing people into skin color and judging accordingly.  And not a few posts and editorials said MLK was warming to the whole ultraviolence approach to justice.  Which prompted my sons to rename him MLK-Ninja Warrior.  So singing the praises of the Man of Peace isn't as easy now that we realize violence can be a wonderful answer and it is about judging based on skin color. Which is likely why I haven't heard of him for weeks, if not longer.  

Now it's Juneteenth. And in this case you won't see me paying attention to it because, like Critical Race Theory, I have yet to hear a straight answer regarding what it's all about: 

1. A holiday for the black community about black culture and black only and everything, with a fair dash of America's racist past.

2. A holiday for everyone, but whites and others are merely invited, the planning and focus being on blacks in America and blacks in America alone, with a fair dash of America's racist past.

3. A holiday commemorating the historical event of freeing the last slaves in America which should become our real independence day, with a fair dash of America's racist past.

4. A holiday that is important because it was made by blacks alone, and the federal government merely put a stamp of approval, rather than coming up with it itself.  Again, with a fair dash of America's racist past

4. A holiday commemorating the government sending the US army to Texas to inform the slaves that they were free, being the last primary holdout of enslaved African Americans, that should be for all people. 

Until we get an executive decision on what it's actually about, I'll hold off.  Especially since I'm already seeing more and more black Americans preferring a combo of #2 and #3, with a dash of #4.  In one of our local news FB pages, several jumped into the comments to all but say it's about black everything and July 4th is dead to them.  My attempts to explain that without July 4th you don' t have Juneteenth  went about as far as you'd expect.

So nope.  Right now, my gut feeling is that its main purpose is to 1) perpetually keep the sins of America alive as yet another month becomes a vehicle for trashing the Western Tradition and its values, 2) dividing people up between groups antagonistic toward each other, and  3) downplay or outright erasing the heritage, heroes and history of the United States.  

Since I'm not stupid enough or uneducated enough to buy into such things, and there is no clear consensus on what the whole thing is supposed to be anyway, I think I'll spend my time elswhere.

Note what is missing.  What happened to 'a holiday for all Americans'?

Good for them

Be them

Good things can start with baby steps.  A school board in Virginia - Shenandoah Valley Schools - has voted to restore the names of Confederate generals to schools in its district.  The article says this is the first time in US history that a school district has done this.  I don't know how many times it has come up.  The names were changed in the anti-American protests and riots that took place in 2020. 

Of course conservatives hail Donald Trump as a prophet for seeing where destroying the statues of Robert E. Lee would end up going.  But that's not prophetic.  That's common sense and reality.  Anyone who didn't think it would end up being used to wipe out anything in America's and the West's history or heritage was either a fool or a coward or a Marxist.  Hence why Nikki Haley jumping on the bandwagon with the Confederate flags was a deal breaker for me.  Either she was willing to play with forces dedicated to destroying the Western Tradition and American Experiment, or she was hopelessly naive.  

But this is good news.  It will likely come under a withering assault from the anti-Western forces of the Left (let's finally be honest people).  And this would be a good time for citizens of the Democratic West and the heritage of the Western Christian tradition to rally around them and plant their banners around this school district.  I think one problem with standing up to the forces against the Faith and its heritage is the tendency we have of letting those who do so get shot to pieces by the Left. 

Telling

 I have seen this pop up over the last couple days:

It references the continued push to expand sex change procedures on minors while lowering the age of exposing our children to our modern porn sex culture.  It might include the sudden debate over just when celebrating the genocidal slaughter of Jews is or isn't a deal breaker.  I don't know.  I should mention that some of the individuals who posted this are not exactly your hard right of conservative types.  A couple actually shocked me.  

Almost hand in hand with this, I've seen this Rockwell pop up in response (a sort of how far we've fallen reference):

Suggesting that while never perfect, we certainly have lost something with throwing God out the window and into the ghettoes of our society.  Believe it or not, there are Christians who think allowing God and Christ to be removed from our societal stage has been detrimental to our nation. 

Well, as I'm seeing the above images, I then see this linked to from Catholic deacon and film critics Steven Greydanus:

Because to the Left, our past is 100% bad.  One of my sons once quipped that with the modern Left, it's not a case of the glass half empty as oppose to half full.  When it comes to our history, heritage and heroes, the glass is altogether empty, crush by a steamroller, and covered by radioactive waste.  

Deacon Gredyanus swooping in to remind us that no appeal to the past can exist apart from focus on the sins of the past demonstrates one of the Left's main trump cards.  Condemn the past for its sins.  Define the past by its sins.  Declare those all defining sins irredeemable and all tainting.  Anything in the past is therefore tainted by these sins.  Anything the past condoned is therefore suspect.  If you think boys and girls used to exist, or raising kids should be parents' priorities, or judging based on skin color is always wrong?  Well, that what those racists in the racist past said, ain't it?  Therefore, anything and everything from the past is, at best, open to debate.  Including the idea that sexing up our children or altering their underage bodies might be suboptimal.  

In fairness, I should mention that I don't know Deacon Greydanus posted the above image in direct response to the others.  After all, this isn't the first time that a Christian argued for remembering a time of more religious devotion in the past as a positive. Nor is it the first time Deacon Greydanus has swept aside appeals to the past that don't emphasize slavery or Jim Crow.   It just all happened around the same time, and I felt it telling.  

UPDATE: Then again.  Someone explained to the good deacon that not all was bad in the past, and not all is the best in the present.  Let's say, school shootings?  And he responds:

So there you go.  Trying to find the good of the past should always deflect to the bad.  But if you pine for the good but don't embrace the proper politics of today, can faith ever be found on the Earth? 

Ken Burns is what we call White Noise

That is, just another annoying blip in the noisy static.  Apparently he produced a docuseries called The United States and the Holocaust.  If the interview in this article is any indicator, it is the same old same old for many, especially young, Americans.

That is, he's gracious enough to say the United States wasn't exactly responsible for the Holocaust per se, but then proceeds to explain how the United States and Nazi Germany were practically salt and pepper.  He trots out the Jim Crow era, genocide, Native Americans, slavery and antisemitism charges, applied to one country as easily as to the other.  

Apparently at least one episode focuses on the rift between FDR and antisemite Charles Lindberg.  I asked my son, who recently graduated college, about that.  He told me that those of his peers who even had heard of Lindberg, only knew him as some Nazi hero in our Nazi country, vaguely aware that he did something with flying. 

In keeping with our era of hyper-judgmentalism, the series seems wrapped in the context of 'sure we beat the Nazis, liberated the camps, and allowed thousands to come into our country ... but we didn't do it perfectly enough.'  Not like it would have been if our generation was there!  When you have the track record we have, I suppose arrogance is all that's left. 

The funny part of this interview is that one of the producers seems to think they've really blown the lid off of something.  The person talks about how 'uncomfortable' the real truth of our nation and its role in those events makes people in the audience feel, once they see the production. Really?  That's like saying people will be uncomfortable when they learn the secret that slavery existed in America's past.  That's as much a lack of awareness as you can get.

Years ago, when I used to comment on the Huffington Post, I ran into people who believed that the whole of the Holocaust was an American conspiracy, as was the entire war.  By then (c. 2004ish), it wasn't uncommon to run into people online who believed the Nazis were lifted up by the American Military Industrial complex for the sole purpose of inciting a war that the US could then exploit, and use to subjugate the world to our racist, imperialist ways. Compared to them, the saner ones back then dismissed such thinking, being content with the notion that America was no better than the Nazis, and didn't really lift them up as much as inspire them (the old 'the Nazis became racist when they studied the Confederacy' storyline).  

That was almost 20 years ago.  Does Mr. Burns really think people like that have gone away as opposed to multiplied exponentially?  Does he really believe they will be uncomfortable with his documentary?  About the only thing that will make them uncomfortable is his insistence that the US isn't solely responsible for the Holocaust.  That might bother them a bit. 

I don't think we realize just how post-Western, and by extension post-American, we already are.  Harkening back to my oldest son, he said a cool 1/3 of his classmates can barely distinguish between the Swastika and the Stars and Stripes.  Had I not seen examples myself of such thinking over the years, I'd almost be inclined to think he exaggerates.  But I have.  

And we have those useful fools like Burns, a historian I've traditionally enjoyed, to thank.  Because instead of seeing the bleeding obvious, they think they are bravely facing the fan club by exclusively focusing on the negative, endlessly criticizing, and so blurring the line between Nazis and America.  

BTW, all of this is made possible by the Left effectively elevating Western-based racism as the only, all defining, most evil, unpardonable sin in the world. And that goes for anything we thought we did well, like win the Second World War.  This is aided by the fact that by now, about 75% of our recollection of WWII is focused on the Holocaust, primarily as it effected Jewish (and sometimes homosexual) victims; about 10% focused on the Japanese interment camps* in the US, another 10% recalling the use of the Atomic Bombs, over 4% (but growing) the segregation in the US military in WWII, and a shrinking less than 1% on D-Day.   

For most youngsters today, that was WWII. The tens of millions of others killed barely make a drop in the bucket where focus is concerned.  The soldiers?  Except for some minority groups, they are barely mentioned at this point.  I subscribe the the National Veterans Memorial and Museum updates.  It's been many moons since a white male veteran was showcased.   You could be forgiven for not knowing white men ever served in our military if you got your info from that museum.  

But then, when mentioned at all, it's increasingly the fact that they were likely racists in their own white supremacist army.  Hence Burns can acknowledge 'a little heroism' from that time, but those were mere specks of light in the overall darkness that is, and always has been, America.  When that's your narrative, it's not hard for young people to conclude the Soviets might have been the good guys all along. 

*In December 2021, I saw on the news that some Asian American activists are wanting 'Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day' to be replaced by the anniversary of the Japanese Internment camps.  Sort of how Juneteenth will assuredly never be used to replace July 4th.  Again, we're seeing the utter destruction of the West and America, and it's likely a bit too late to stop it.  Thanks go brilliant thinkers like Burns. 

I'm sorry my racism was revealed

Is the gist of this story about the racism of Boston's mayor being exposed.  Really.  She's not saying she's sorry they wanted a Christmas party for only non-whites.  She's just sorry the email went out to white people.  

The whole leftwing idea that the Nazis weren't necessarily bad people, they just race hated and industrially mass murdered all the wrong people for the wrong reasons is stunning to behold.  But because the Left now holds the crown, scepter and orb of our nation, there ain't much we can do about it.

Let's face it, if a white Republican sent a similar email excluding non-whites, the mainstream outlets would relocate their newsrooms to outside that mayor's office for the next week.  As it is, except for the Wall Street Journal and some typically right leaning news outlets like The Post, I found nothing in any MSM outlets about this story. 

Which is why the modern news media is about as worthless as alcohol free whisky.  But more sinisterly, clearly it is about advancing agendas and ignoring inconvenient evils, no matter who is hurt or how.  Which is the next step before tyranny, when these things are happening and there is nothing you can do. 

 

When Catholics are the Left's best friend

Always comes to mind around Thanksgiving, as Catholics everywhere rush forth to pull the rug out from under the traditional Thanksgiving holiday customs and stories.  Remember, one of my core observations is that at any given time, with any topic under the sun, that thing we call 'The Left' can count on 1/3 of all who oppose it to join in a particular cause. 

Now, the Left is easy and pretty open to work with in this regard.  One of its most important tasks is to upend the Western tradition.  Call it evil, wrong, dumb.  Say we have been wrong about our history, our heritage, our heroes.  Anything.  Today labeling it with the unforgivable sin of colonialism, or imperialism, or racism, does the job since in our post-Christian age, forgiveness is passe.  Call something those things and it's as good as saying eradicate them now. 

But if you can't go that far, at least demand change, or say we ware wrong, the heroes were not, we've been lied to - anything that says the civilization we inherited is not real, is based on lies, was bad, whatever. 

Enter Catholics.  I've said the death of America began when we convinced ourselves that America had no right to be a WASP nation in terms of a common culture.  Even a WASP nation trying to assure everyone was free and had equal opportunities wasn't enough.  Apparently though China can have Chinese culture, and Japan Japanese culture, and Iran Islamic culture, and so on, America can't have a particular culture of its own.  

That was the context of learning what WASP meant when I was in elementary school.  There was a dark time in American history when America was a WASP nation - but then God said 'Let there be light', and our first non-Protestant was elected president!  Hurray!  One of the most significant events in American history, or so I learned in the day.  Catholics I knew back in the day, and even now, repeat that celebrated observation with gusto.  Often sprinkling it with allusions to old American Protestant bigotry against Catholics.  

Of course sane thinkers realized it would take no time to move from WASP to WASC, then WASR, and finally WASS real fast.  That's Protestant to Christian to Religious to Secular.  The Anglo-Saxon being a big thing then too, as Italians and Poles and Greeks were considered every bit the ethnic minorities in our country as Indians or blacks.  Of course today, as we chisel away at the remaining 'W' (white) part, anything from west of the Urals is part of White, and that has to go.

But this wouldn't be possible without the help of anyone not in the latest demographic designation that has to go.  And among those are Catholics - conservative Catholics, traditional Catholics, Catholics opposed to modern secular progressivism.  Because though they may despise and loathe and reject the Left's moves to overturn the West and America, they just can't resist at certain times of the year lending a helping hand. 

I first encountered that when I began visiting St. Blogs back in the mid-2000s.  It was heading into Thanksgiving that first year of my visits.  Most of the Catholic bloggers I followed were what you would call right of center.  But all of a sudden, I thought I was reading a secular progressive history book published by Pravda House.  I had no idea how wrong we were about the Thanksgiving story, even though it had been trounced for decades by that time.  I was stunned to see how worthless the Puritans were, or mean, or how those Protestants were really all about the slavery part, but a Catholic led the way.  Or how it was really Catholics who deserve credit for he real first Thanksgiving. 

And all those years ago, even then, I recognized the folly with this.  Is it wrong to go for accuracy?  To tell different sides of a story?  Well, no.  Depending on how you do it.  And depending circumstances. But there is a time and place.  I've said before there is nothing wrong with preaching against gluttony.  But I wouldn't advise it if you're in an anorexia ward in a hospital. 

In another age, if Catholics wanted to point out overlooked details, while not pulling the rug out from under the traditional story, celebration and events, no problem.  But I wouldn't do it now.  Because as I said, the Left is a patient and willing partner.  The only thing important is that you have someone - anyone - saying what America inherited, what we valued, what we celebrated, was wrong.  That's all. We can add the genocide and Nazi and racist filth later.  

That's why it's enough that even people not inclined to agree with the Left admit that some part of America we learned about was a lie all along.  Any part.  There will be plenty of others saying the same thing about other parts of the Western Christian Tradition.  And in the end, there will be quite a ledger of protests to justify the need to burn the whole thing to the ground - all signed by those who in most other cases are fighting like mad dogs to keep that from happening.

If you lose the birdwatchers, you've lost the West

So I saw this.  I had to do a double take. The American Ornithological Society is going to rename birds whose names are associated with Europeans.  That's because of course they are.  European means evil.  Evil cannot be forgiven or allowed to exist.  Evil must be erased and exterminated.  If you're having a hard time getting your head around young leftists cheering Hamas, joining with antisemitic chants, and saying the eradication of Israeli Jews just can't happen fast enough, this should help. 

Remember, there were three fundamental dogmas with the Left, and now there are four:

1) In a five billion year old Utopian world of peace, love, joy and John Lennon songs, the vile Western Christian Tradition alone brought all evil and wickedness to the world, and nothing good.  This is especially true as some of those things we gave credit to the West for changing - like ending infanticide - are increasingly seen as virtues, not vices.

2) All of history is the Oppressed versus the Oppressor.  If you are in that Oppressor class for the moment (depending on the topic at hand), you are seen the way Jews were seen in 1930s Germany.  It can be any two groups - Male v. Female, White v. Black, Straight v. Gay, Sane v. Trans, whatever.  But in all cases the Oppressor is altogether wretched and evil and the cause of all suffering, deserving nothing that he has, but everything he will get.  

3) A growing number of sins, especially bigotry and particularly racism, are irredeemable, all defining monolithic sins that demand the eradication of the sinner.  No forgiveness, no context, no nuance, simply erase. Just ask Columbus, Robert E. Lee, or Thom Jefferson. 

4) Plus, since 2020, the Left has followed its tendency of calling good what it once called evil, and evil what it once called good to the next logical step.  That is, going beyond embracing censorship, judging, dismissing equality to embracing violence for the just cause. Gone is 'violence is never the answer', now it's 'violence can sometimes be a damn good answer.' 

So when you see something like the AOS go all Taliban when it comes to Western history, imagine that in other circles.   I mean, when you think of threats to Western Civilization, birdwatchers aren't exactly what comes to mind.  Yet the easy and calm way in which they say these names must be erased, evil Europeans, scrub evidence of them, replace with appropriate words from not disposable civilizations, should be a wake up call.  That's how ubiquitous and implanted this thinking has become. 

And if that's what the bird watchers are willing to do, then what are those radical activists and zealots in our leftwing indoctrination camps formerly known as universities going to do?  Well, we're seeing what, aren't we.  Even though the press has done yeoman's work trying to sweep it under the carpet, these radical anti-Westerners won't be silenced.  They support the Palestinians, and are happy to see Israel wiped out.  That includes in some circles wanting Israelis wiped out.  That includes, in some quarters, pointing out that it isn't despite the fact that most Israelis are Jews, but precisely because they are Jews.  That's because try as they might, in the minds of the young Left, those Jews just can't sever the ties that exist between them and the West.  And that's all you need to know. 

After all, as the American Ornithological Society demonstrates, there is no room in our modern world for the taint of Western Evil.  And while the AOS may stop at renaming birds, others will happily take it to the next logical level. 

What happened?

When we lost corporate America, we lost the West

As I muse on this year's Columbus Day and/or Indigenous Peoples Day, I have to ask what happened and when did it happen?   In 1992, down in Florida, there was a big Columbus celebration marking the 500th Anniversary of his sailing that famous ocean blue.  There were replicas of the three ships. There was an exhibit in a nearby building.  Lots of information, I purchased some books and paraphernalia I still have.  Dad was with me at that time, so good memories. 

I realize that, by then, Columbus was already a lightning rod for debate.  In fifth grade, the first time I remember learning anything past that little ditty about 1492, we learned Columbus more or less died a broken man and a failure.  We also learned that if he didn't personally do everything evil in the world, his journey did unleash what would be the end of the peoples native to the Americas.  By then that was mostly a negative thing, but we still believed he brought some positives as well. 

In high school it was more of the same.  He did some impressive things, but was also a failure in the end.  The slave trade and the overall persecution of native populations was becoming more and more the focus.  But we still believed the West brought some positives to the world, so it balanced out to a net positive, if we could just find ways to right the wrongs of the past.

By college the debates were clearly swinging more and more to the negative.  The West was still seen as a net boon for the world, and despite increasing focus on the sins, the evils, the slavery, the genocide even, it was capped off with a generic 'but there were still some good things.'  I'd say by college, the appraisal of Columbus was as a man overrated, who unleashed horrible things on a beautiful civilization.  Nonetheless, the courage was still there, and the general benefits of the Western tradition.  So despite the increasing focus on the bad, there was still a thumbs up at the end of the day. 

That was certainly true by 1992.  Partly this was because we were still awash in 'thou shalt not ever judge', and presentism was always a no-no.  Yet now, consider it.  Columbus is not even mentioned in most cases.  Here in Columbus, it's officially Indigenous Peoples Day.  When Columbus is mentioned at all, it is in the same manner in which one speaks of Hitler, or Himmler, or Thomas Jefferson.  Naturally we're also reminded of the growing push to rename our state's capital. 

So what happened?  And when did it happen?  When we first moved to Ohio, there was a replica of the Santa Maria in the Scioto River in downtown Columbus.  I took the three older boys and the family there a few times.  It was a pretty impressive exhibit.  It was there until the later part of the 2000s.  Then it was removed, ostensibly for repairs and improvements.  But it was never seen again.  That reminds me of the statues of Columbus that have been removed, supposedly to be relocated to museums or educational venues. Last I heard they've been disassembled and the parts are in a warehouse.  Or the statues of Robert E Lee that were supposed to be relocated but some say have been destroyed. 

When did we turn that corner of no going back?  Because what is happening to Columbus is merely a small example of what is being done to the West as a whole.  In 1993, Columbus, for all his criticisms, was still seen as a hero to be admired.  A man who did great things and was courageous and bold and took the world to the next chapter in its history, in an overall positive way.  That was 1993.  By 2023, Columbus, when mentioned at all, is spoken of as an irredeemable villain to be eliminated; to be erased from history. So what happened?    

Telling

While watching the OSU game last Saturday (I seldom watch modern TV otherwise), I caught a commercial for Colonial Williamsburg.  Or, should I say, Williamsburg.  The 'Colonial' being conspicuously absent.  I found a commercial for Williamsburg back in 2021 that is pretty much the same (it might be the same, I just caught it once during the game):

Notice there is nothing - no thing - to suggest anything other than some variation on Myrtle Beach or Clearwater Beach or any one of a hundred tourist destinations.  No history.  No Colonial America.  No Revolution.  No historical reenactments. No shot heard 'round the world. No history at all.  If you didn't know, you'd think it was a typical Disney resort, if that.

Compare to this:

That was the type of commercial in the 1990s that I saw when planning our first family vacation.  In 1997 we took our oldest, then only a couple years old, to our first true vacation as a young family.  We went to Colonial Williamsburg, in large part due to the commercials.  It was magical.  It was everything you want your first family vacation to be.  

And the history!  Like the commercial, it was all over the place.  Everyone was in character at all times.  The lessons were broad and detailed, from the ugly and bad, to the more emphasized bravery and the heroism and the sacrifice and the overall debt we owe to our founders.  We went back in August 2001, and it was still good.  A bit hot for my taste (our first time was in late September).  But still fun, and with the three older boys (our third still being a toddler), it was a blast.

The last time we went, however, was in 2014 along with our youngest.  Disappointment doesn't begin to describe our experience.  Many reenactors stood about on their cell phones, paying scant attention to us.  Some were still good, but many didn't seem to care.  The tours were a mixed bag.  The first time we went in 1997 everything was period accurate no matter what the subject. That time?  Some tour guides showed up in jeans and jackets with flashlights.  Much preaching of course.  Naturally the lessons were exclusively negative: focus on persecution of Native Americans, sexism, bigotry and slavery in the 'every plantation and household was a gas chamber' template.  That prompted my second oldest to quip 'how did they have time to fight a revolution, what with all the time spent killing Indians, beating slaves and oppressing women?'.  

Now, to see the commercials, the history isn't even the point.  Ignoring the history, if anything, is the point.  And the newest trigger word 'Colonial' is removed. I have no doubt it's there if you visit.  But if the marketers and advertisers have their way, we'll never know unless we go.   

For decades - perhaps generations - we've been taught to hate the West, Christianity and America, though not necessarily in that order.  There was still enough hold over from olden times to dilute the message, especially for those of us who are around our forties or older.  But for the last couple generations, that is no longer the case.  For many coming into college now, they see Lincoln and Washington the way my generation was taught to see Hitler and Stalin.  And their nation, the United States?  They see it the way we saw the Nazis.   If' we're waiting for them to suddenly turn and start singing God Bless America, I fear we are going to have a long, long, long wait. 

The prophet Trump

I am no fan of Donald Trump.  I have made that more than clear.  My favorite quip when accused of being some MAGA Trump fanatic is that I was actually ahead of the curve.  I didn't like Trump for all those years that Democrats and Hollywood liberals loved the guy and couldn't wait to party with him and ask him for money.  It didn't take him putting an 'R' in front of his name for him to become StatnHiterlTrump in my world.

Nonetheless, I admit the nation was better off going into the disaster of 2020 than it was in 2016.  There came a time when I couldn't drive to the store for bread and not see a new car sticker on a vehicle.  Wages went up.  ISIS was no longer the new normal.  Personal debt began to drop.  And savings were beginning to rise. 

And, to be honest, he nailed the opposition for what it is.  In the great Charlottesville iconoclast protest, he said then that it has nothing to do with Robert E. Lee.  It is the beginning of a Taliban style assault on our very heritage, history and heroes.  It soon would be Lincoln and Washington and anyone linked to the past the Left would erase from the history books. 

And so it is.  NYC is pondering, beyond paying off African Americans for alone ever having had ancestors who suffered, going St. Stalin on a laundry list of statues dedicated to almost any white person from the past including, but not limited to, George Washington.  Just as Trump said. 

One reason I'm convinced people who otherwise couldn't abide Trump supported him, was because he stated the obvious when no other 'conservatives' would.  The Left is an anti-American, anti-Western, and anti-Christian force dedicated to destroying almost everything we have taken for granted.  And it does so by hook or by crook, through mendacity and lies, hypocrisy and utter corruption.  Perhaps he wouldn't say it today.  With Trump, you never know.  But he got it right then, and every day proves Trump right in that matter if nothing else. 

Pope Francis and those rascally Mongolians

So everyone was buzzing about Pope Francis' usual off the cuff remarks.  In this case, praising the history of Imperial Russia, giving high fives to China without qualifiers and, in a shock to many, praising the glories of the Mongol Empire.  

Now, this is standard leftwing boilerplate.  If it's west of the Danube or from North America, then it's a watermarked Swastika.  Otherwise, eh.  It's generally pretty awesome.  In this Washington Post piece, we learn just how cool the Mongols were, as oppose to those backward Europeans and Christians who were all about thinking on how cool the Mongols were. 

When I was in high school and college in the 1980s, the uber-narrative of history was that the world still owed the Western Tradition big time.  Though you could find glimmers of good things here and there throughout the ages, the whole package came together in the West like no other time or place in human history.  The wealth and luxury, the medical and technological breakthroughs, the basic creature comforts we take for granted that would have been science fiction a century before.  Not to mention the full package deal of democracy, equality, human rights, and rule of law. All came together in the West and culminated in the American Experiment like never before.

With that said, in the post-60s and 70s, we were also being called on to revisit the sins of our past.  It wasn't enough to say it was bad we used to own slaves, but isn't it awesome we stopped?  We had to bring back the sins and repent, repent and repent again.  We also had to admit that, at our worst, we were just as bad as any other culture in history.  Likewise, in different ways, those cultures could at times be as good as us.  OK, fair enough.

But by the time my boys entered public school in the 2000s, that narrative was gone. Two decades of a corrupted view of multi-culturalism, injected with leftwing and Marxist sympathies, threw that narrative out the window.  By the time my sons came along, we had long proved the Mormons had to be wrong.  Jesus never came to the New World.  He wasn't good enough.  The Americas, like anywhere outside of Europe/ North America, were perfect and beautiful and filled with perfect and beautiful people.  Think Dances With Wolves.  

The rest of the world was the same.  I recall seeing a children's book about the Aztecs in a children's book section.  Beautiful people those Aztecs.  Peace loving, gentle, innovative, hard working.  A virtual paradise.  Back in 2011, I posted on a book pitched on CNN about how awesome was the Mongol Empire.  When I read my son's high school world history book, it was pretty much that.  Beautiful empires in beautiful cultures and beautiful societies with beautiful people.  Except the West.  That's where the racism, sexism, phobias and bigotry ran rampant, usually with a boorish and backward people who ate dirt and never bathed.  The only bright spot in the West being shout outs to figures like Lenin, Mao, and Marx. 

So not really sure why the shock here. As typical, Pope Francis is simply repeating leftwing narratives and templates since that's where he abides.  Just like his dig early on in his pontificate about America and the Holocaust.  He apparently accepted the old canard about how we could have stopped the Holocaust by bombing a couple rail lines. Easy-peasy.  But no.  Not America. You know us and our racism.  Which is why he has hated January 6th, but has loved BLM. 

One of the core messages of the Left is that the world was nearly a perfect paradise, especially where knowing the importance of population control and animal pleasures are concerned.  But then came the vile Western Tradition, which visited all the evils of the world upon humanity.  So bad is it presented now, that anything associated with white, European and American Christians can and should be reimagined or outright rejected.  Among such things are ideals like forgiveness, reconciliation, equality and liberties traditionally understood. I expect more will be added to the list at the rate we're going.  And I seriously doubt Pope Francis will stand in the way. 

Remember?

 I'd like to forget. 

We didn't realize that as went the towers, so would go the country

9/11 was what Imperial Japan had hoped Pearl Harbor would be, but wasn't.  Within weeks we were beginning to turn on one another.  I had OSU Football tickets for September 15 that year.  Of course I did.  The game was postponed and moved to October, OSU's bye week that year.  My wife and I went to that game in October, warry of any airplanes that might be overhead.  On the way, we heard on the radio news (I always listen to the game news when I go to a game) a story about some pushback against the late Rush Limbaugh.  Apparently he said something about the Democrats going after Bush and it had everyone upset.  That was in October.  A little over a month after the attacks.  The threads were already beginning to fray.

On the day of the attacks I recall the late Peter Jennings slamming George Bush for his absence and apparent inaction.  A criticism that picked up speed in the weeks following.  I also remember race peddler Al Sharpton being interviewed and accusing us of racism for assuming that the attackers were Muslim.  Even though by then much of the information was being driven by what we knew.  Clearly this was going to be what Japan wanted Pearl Harbor to be, not what Pearl Harbor became.

A big problem was that our president was an empty suite.  A man over his head.  When he arrived at Ground Zero and gave a rousing pep rally speech, that ended his positive contributions to the cause.  His 'Our civilization is under attack, quick!  Go shopping!' call muddled the response and confused a nation.  He was clearly not prepared for an opposition party that was immediately more concerned about making sure he didn't benefit politically from the attacks than actually fighting the ones who attacked us.  Recall that, until the attacks, our nation was still wracked with protests, charges of an illegal election, and calls to have his presidency scrubbed since he was not a valid president.  It wouldn't take long for his opponents to recover that priority.  Not to mention his 'It's the Religion of Peace!' moment, which played into the post-9/11 theme that the attacks were horrible, so what did we do to make them hate us?  After all, we had met the enemy, and it was us. 

Within months, it was easy to see things begin to fall apart.  From the AP musing on whether it's appropriate to call the attackers terrorists (a problem we apparently resolved on January 6th, 2021), to reports that the Flight 93 passengers maybe weren't so heroic, or nobody said 'Let's Roll!', it was easy to see the writing on the wall.  American liberalism was clearly more concerned with continuing the post-Cold War deconstruction of our nation than fighting to preserve it. 

Of course the fabled 'New Atheists' made bank on the attacks, being able to be interviewed by journalists with a straight face as they insisted the problems of the world were always because of religion.  Seeing our general appraisal of religion, especially among younger Americans, after the attacks compared to before was like night and day.  

When professor and scholar Ward Churchill made his hateful '3000 Eichmanns' statement about the 9/11 victims, he eventually lost his job.  Which was fine by me.  But I was stunned by the debate in the media.  It was reported as '9/11 victims as Eichmanns who got what they had coming - a polite discussion tonight on the evening news.'  Again, no 'we vow to remember the 7th of December' there.  

Now I don't pretend that this all began with 9/11.  I recall Max Lucado, that smooth Christian writer who rose to prominence with books that presented the Gospel message in very vanilla terms.  When everyone was rushing about saying 'Don't let this change us!  That will let the attackers win!', he had a different take.  He wrote an editorial that said he hopes it does change us.  Our nation's only hope is if it does.  He pointed out that , if we were honest, we shouldn't want things going in the direction they were going on September 10th, 2001.  In hindsight, and with an honest appraisal of all those years ago, he was clearly correct.  By 2023, a growing number of Americans are committed to nothing other than continuing the vision and the goal of those hijackers on that bright Tuesday morning. 

Sorry to be a David downer.  I know this is a time when everyone remembers, and rightly pays tribute to those who lost their lives and those who gave the last full measure of devotion. Nonetheless, this seldom comes up anymore.  It's as good a time as any to state the obvious.  Unless things turn radically and quickly, the epitaph for that day will not be 'a day of infamy'.  It will be 'and that's all she wrote'. 

Kudos to Senator Vance

Once again, we have American Indian activists trying to erase the name of a memorial to a white American of European descent.  Naturally the political Left would be tickled pink to see this happen as often as possible. And perhaps it may have had some traction in another age.  After all, I saw plenty of Republicans express outrage when statues of Christopher Columbus came toppling down here in thee Buckeye State.  Yet I saw none of them actually stop it or do anything to rectify it.  Big talk being a core Republican virtue.

But J.D. Vance - a politician I didn't care for - has stepped up and said no way.  He has gone further by saying it's time to ditch all of these renaming committees that only seem to exist for the purpose of going Taliban on America's heritage and Western history. Good for him I say. 

I am never one to deny when a person I thought was the bee's knees has gone off the rails and lost my respect (I'm looking at you Dr. David Gushee and John Kasich).  But I'm equally prepared to reconsider a negative appraisal if I see the individual in question do the right thing, especially against a powerful opponent and amidst limp-wristed allies.  

Our ministry of lies

There was an old joke a few years ago that went something like this:  If you're offended by the team name of the Washington Redskins, then there's a big chance you're not Native American.  That's because very few polls were mentioned regarding what Native Americans actually thought about the controversy.  When they were polled, we typically found most Native Americans didn't care, or actually liked such names (Washington Redskins, Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians).  

But like black Americans who love America, or women who question feminism, or former homosexuals, or those regretting sex change surgeries, or Muslims who insist Islam has problems, or Chinese defectors who speak of the horrors of modern Communist China - they are the Left's unpeople.  They simply don't exist.  If they get too loud, like African American senator Tim Scott, then it's torrents of insults along the lines of Uncle Tom (or the preferred Uncle Tim), or House N----r, or similar kindly labels.  

Obviously, a sane and mature individual of good will can see fast that these groups, and those in them, matter not a single bean for the modern Left/Media.  Just like the poor.  Ever since the Covid lockdowns, the Left/Media has acted as if no one is poor in America.  I counted on one hand minus two fingers the number of news stories that zeroed in on the catastrophic toll that the lockdowns took on the poor and lower rungs of society.  The media preferred feel good stories about how the latest celebrity or millionaire turned their mansion's foyer into an impromptu putting range to pass time while obediently abiding by the latest Covid mandates. 

Same with today.  Staggering inflation rates, food pantries depleted because people can't afford groceries, rent and housing off the scale, the rising cost of automobiles, young parents unable to afford basic necessities for their babies, record setting credit card debt (akin to what preceded the 2008 collapse).  And how are these handled?  When covered at all, they're tied to some 'how communities can help' or 'here's the silver lining' or 'the good news is!'.  No connecting the dots and suggesting there is anything significantly wrong with the economy. 

Really.  A couple weeks ago, one of our local news stations demonstrated this nicely.  There was a commercial for a special city-wide fundraiser to help raise money for parents who can't afford diapers (over 50% unable to do so per the commercial).  Then the first story following the commercial was how one of the economic indicators looked awesome, mostly because of a rise in manufacturing due to government spending on infrastructure.  Things are looking promising for Bidenomics, or so they said.  And the immediate story after that was how local agencies are coming together to help people in the area who are unable to afford food for their families due to inflation.  Why does the press present such a threefold 'people are unable to live - economy is looking awesome! - people are starving' story template?  Because a liberal Democrat is in the White House, that's why.  Let's not make it difficult people.

Again, the Left - and perhaps due to the growing number of editorials and posts extolling the virtues of Marx and his ideals, we can start calling a spade a spade - doesn't care.  It cares not if blacks are murdered by the truckload on an annual basis.  Women and girls raped only matters depending on who does the raping.  Hispanics killed?  The poor starved?  Or the fate of anyone in any such designated group?  It cares insofar as they join the coalition to destroy the Western Democratic tradition and the Christian Era.  Or if their suffering can be exploited to do so.  Otherwise?  See the Unperson mentioned above. 

That's why it's heartening when you see stories like this, though not surprising.  A group of Native Americans are suing to have the name Redskins restored to the Washington team. 

The family of the eponymous Aunt Jamima brand was outraged when their matriarch's name was erased from the product that made her famous.  Likewise, the family of the founder of Land O'Lakes was equally upset that the famous image of an Indian woman on the packaging was erased.  Because, according to them, it was put there by the founder due to his love for and admiration for Native American people.  

In the case of the linked to story, those Native Americans who were polled, who expressed support for such names as the Redskins, and were flagrantly ignored by the Left/Media because they were of no use to the destruction of American heritage, are fighting back.  Good for them I say.  

The Native Americans portrayed by the modern Left today never existed.  They aren't even fan fiction.  They are more fever dream fantasy fiction on acid. But the real Native Americans were a rich and fascinating culture that should be studied, celebrated when deserving, and listened to.  And not only those who resent and hate the West and would join the Marxists and work for its destruction. But the other ones as well.  We'll see how this goes.  I'd be shocked if the Leftwing media covers it, but you never know. 

Our current American divisions in one Twitter Post

 Here:

There are two basic approaches to America.  Either America has always been a great country despite its sins.  Or America has yet to be a good country because of its sins.  

The Left has convinced a growing number of Americans, especially younger ones, that next to America, there have been few truly evil societies in history.  Ours  is a racist, genocidal, imperialist nation where the evils of racism, oppression, bigotry and genocide are as much in our national DNA as they were in the DNA of the Nazi Party.  

Part of this has been monlithing such sins a racism.  Was a time when we understood racial bigotry was bad.  More than one American had fought against racism since before America.  By the time I came along, racism was clearly a societal no-no.  You drop the N-Word in school and it would be off to the principle's office in no time.  Though you probably wouldn't have been expelled, had the cops called, or saw the media descend on your school like an armored division.  Probably just given a warning and a talking to.  

But racial bigotry was merely one of many such foibles.  And it was certainly varied.  It was understood that to tell a racially insensitive joke, while certainly evidence of the lingering effects of socially accepted racist thinking, was not the same as seizing control of a central European country and mass murdering ethnic minorities in gas chambers.  Perhaps you could argue it might lead there, but it wasn't the same. 

That is no longer the case.  Racism is simply the worst, all defining, unforgivable sin that even Jesus could never forgive. And there are no levels to it.  Seize that central European country or drop an N-Word in a 20 year old email, and you're now a racist.  Period. End of statement.  You could have cured cancer or rescued twenty kids from a burning building.  Now you're merely a racist, and that's all you'll ever be.  Not a human, an American, a father, or a sister.  Racist.  

To that end, and based heavily on the Left's push for a world of endless group identity, America is nothing but racist and, therefore, nothing but irredeemable.  It's history is one of racism, where every black American lived in the equivalent of an America shaped death camp, and every white American had privilege enjoyed from being racists 24/7.  End of template. 

Hence, there is no good in America's past.  There was only racism, or sexism, homophobia, or whatever you wish to focus on, depending on the group in question.   While Haley's is clearly a politically spun recollection, it isn't false.  Those were things more than one American would have valued across the demographic board, hence America worked to end such injustices on its own.  Nobody had to invade and conquer America to get the US to give women the right to vote, or pass the Civil Rights Act.  Yet Ms. King acknowledges none of that.  She could have said 'Yes, those things are missing and we could use them again, however there were also problems back then ...'.  Or something to that effect.

But nope. It's straight to the bad. Only the bad.  Not faith, not country, not family, only racism in our racist nation filled with American racists. 

Note also that nothing Nikki Haley said prevents one from acknowledging the sins and failings of the past.  Which is a good thing.  Goodness knows we are the generation that defines itself by eternal finger pointing at those who came before.  But Ms. King's response all but wipes those virtues aside, as if to say yearning for those cannot happen but that we focus exclusively on the sins of our nation.  It's either acknowledging sins, or ignoring them by embracing the best.  Almost as if the purpose of continually focusing on the sins of the past is specifically for the purpose of getting us to forget the best of the past.  

The growing importance of our half of the year

Several years ago, during one of our family chats, we mentioned the idea of 'our half of the year.'  It was mostly a lark.  Just one of those silly things. But as things began unraveling fast over the ensuing years, and the calls to eradicate the West and its heritage and historical moorings grew, we started to reference the idea more and more. 

Some time later, I posted about the idea.  Even then we mostly just smiled when we said it, understanding the point, but not really taking it seriously.  Until the last couple years. 

Now we're seeing transgender activists declare from the rooftops that we absolutely should perform sex change surgencies on minors down to 14 years old for now.  And, as a bonus, activists are becoming loud about telling parents to step aside and let state actors alone guide the kids in these decisions.  Quite a departure from only a year or so ago. Which is the warning sign.  When things don't appear able to be stopped, and lies can be lied in shorter amounts of time, your nation is on a bad trajectory. 

For instance, pride month this year has been nauseating.  On the morning news channel we watch while getting ready, in one half hour section of the broadcast, there were no fewer than five stories about something LGBTQ, including two dealing with the horror and terror of the growing ant-LGTBQ hate attacks. One other was a sort of focus feature on a Trans activist, and two were promoting various 'Pride' events in the area.  Except for the obligatory Trump, Jan 6 and Weather stories, nothing else was mentioned in that top half hour. 

And as John C Wright correctly notices, we're past the point where the Left feels obliged to defend itself or explain its viewpoints.  It simply declares the next truth and turns the media out as some digital secret police to attack, besmirch, malign and in any way discredit anyone who dissents.  Thus we have here, where a press outlet unironically posts an editorial about blacks outraged over seeing white people on Juneteenth banners.  Something Deacon Steven Greydanus actually defends here. 

Which is why, come tomorrow on June 25th, we claim the rest of the year as our own.  The first half of the year is the half with months dedicated to topics allowing the infinite hashing and trashing of virtually everything that came from west of the Urals.  Not that those months have to be used that way.  But over the years they have become used that way more and more.  So far, that's not the case for months in the second half of the year. 

The 25th is chosen because it is 6 months until Christmas which, thanks to Madison Avenue and Wall Street, is still a thing.  Oh, it has virtually nothing to do with the Christian holiday, and a large swath of Americans say this is a good thing.  Heck, there are plenty of Christians, including Catholics, who appear glad the whole Jesus thing has been relegated to a Church service on Sunday but removed from the greater national stage. 

Still, for us the anchoring events and seasons are still there in this second half of the year.  Our third son's birthday is first, coming only days after the 25th.  Then Independence Day, which is, so far, still a thing.  Then our youngest son's birthday and the anniversary of the moon landings later in the month.  Then August, the dog days, and our second son's birthday.  Labor day kicks off school and the 'Fall' season - still a favorite.  Though at this point we don't do all we used to, it's still a season that seems to tweak nostalgia and memories for bygone days.  October is Halloween month, though we've diminished all the gaudy from years gone by.  Preferring a more harvest/rural approach.  Our oldest has his birthday (so did my late grandmother and so does my childhood best friend) then as well.  We also use Columbus Day to remember and celebrate our past. November is Veteran's day and Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving is still a thing despite growing activist calls to eradicate it.  Wall Street is busy fumbling about trying to divorce Thanksgiving from the holiday shopping season kick off.  When it finally does, expect Thanksgiving to go the way of Columbus Day. Of course after that is Christmas, and Catholic though we are, we celebrate the weeks leading up to it, combining it with advent, until we reach Christmas proper.  Then to the best of our abilities it's as many of the Twelve Days as possible, which stretch over my mom's birthday in early January.  

Then it's back to the post-Western half of the year.  There are plenty of celebrations there as well.  Birthdays, anniversaries, holy days and of course Easter.  Father's day is the last of the big days in the first half of the year.  But again, it is during the first half of the year, like we've seen this year, we are increasingly inundated with anti-American, anti-Western, anti-white, anti-Christian, anti-male, anti-reason, and anti-virtue movements quickly seizing control of our nation.   

It's a bit like sitting in the Michigan section at an Ohio State football game.  You might be able to root for the team, but the other fans will sometimes drown you out.  Of course even when you are in the Ohio section, you'll have your dissenters, just as we will through the rest of the year.  But at least they are the minority voice.  As of now.  

And that's how we see the importance of the second half of the year more and more with each passing year. 

The Righteous Gentiles of Juneteenth

 Are, like the Righteous Gentiles of the Civil Rights Movement, pretty much non-existent. 

Something missing here

You know who the Righteous Gentiles are.  They are those non-Jews who risked, and at times lost, their lives trying to rescue Jewish victims from the clutches of the Nazis.  Throughout the world in Jewish circles, they are held in the highest esteem.  There are memorials, tributes and celebrations of them across the board.  For the Jewish community, especially the survivors of the Holocaust, they were always seen as the heroes they were.

I notice, however, that in our modern Civil Rights era, there are no 'Righteous Gentiles'.  There are no white people who ever seemed to contribute to the aid of black Americans.  Tributes for civil rights activists are almost always centered on African Americans.  Any mention at all about anyone non-black American is glossed over.  

Something about that bothers me.  Like Juneteenth.  The attempt, of course, is to eventually push this to replace July 4th. That wouldn't be a problem if it was celebrating what it was: Basically the government did good by sending Union troops down to Texas to enforce the liberation of the remaining slaves.  But that's not how it's portrayed.  Like the Google image above, apparently the black Americans of the day magically freed themselves and that's why we celebrate.

Some years ago, I watched on our streaming service a documentary about the making of the movie Harriet. Obviously it was about Harriet Tubman, apparently focusing on her work within the Underground Railroad.  Now to be clear, I never saw the movie and perhaps the movie itself is no problem.  But if the documentary was to be believed, you'd never know white people had anything to do with the Underground Railroad.  To watch the documentary, the only role white people played were those whites hunting down runaway slaves or betraying them.  

That's a big problem I have with the civil rights movement today. Something doesn't go down well when I notice that there is a purposeful attempt to ignore, downplay or deny any positive roles played by white people in the history of our country where the fight for civil rights is concerned.  When I see things like that, I imagine we aren't supposed to be educated about these events.  Rather they are to be exploited for other, unmentioned, agendas. 

BTW, an excellent example is this NPR piece.  Under the photo, it mentions the arrival of the Union Troops on June 19.  That is it. Nothing else in the piece alludes to the actual event or who was involved.  In fact, it seems to go out of its way to explain why Juneteenth is not at all a celebration of the actual historical event which led to Juneteenth: 

"We are not celebrating the history of Juneteenth. We are celebrating the symbolism of Juneteenth," said Leslie Wilson, professor of history at Montclair State University in New Jersey.

Because to do so would necessitate celebrating the individuals involved, and goodness knows we can't have that.  Or as this piece in McPaper makes clear: White people have no business being included on images for Juneteenth, which isn't only about black people. 

Heh.  If it wasn't based on racism and the desire to destroy Christian Western civilization and its virtues of liberty, equality, and life, it would be funny.  Everyone runs about screaming 'it ain't about black people' and then they turn about and insist it's for black people.  That's literally where we are as a country.  They can say opposing things in the same breath and it's true or you're a racist.  

“"Juneteenth GVL would like to apologize to the community for the presence of non-black faces on two flags representing Juneteenth. We acknowledge this mistake having been made and will correct the error quickly.”