I
hate it when the world needs to know what to think and I’m just busy. Lot of chores and worse, filling out all those forms (EIDL, PPP, NYSDOL). I know there are
people who can have a full-time job and write novels on the side. I’m not one
of those.
I
had a completely different blog post planned for today, mostly autobiographical
and I hoped a little amusing. But, as the subtitle to the blog says that this is
about what I’m thinking. And, with riots all over the country, with even several
grown Democrat friends joking with black humor, it was a nice country while it
lasted, it is hard to write anything else. Because, taking a break from
Covid-19, this is all most of us are thinking about. So, you get this
disjointed collection of thoughts because I don’t have time to edit it even a
little (and for those of you laughing because the editing is never good here, you
know what . . . .) And, on top of all of that, I’m pissed off about what's going on and just want to let off steam, without rewriting everything I've said before about the problems with the modern so-called civil rights movement. So, just throwing this
out there -
- If you think it was unimportant that a retired police captain was killed trying to stop looting the other day, you probably aren’t going to like this post. Maybe you’ll care if I add that he was black because that’s all that matters to you. Probably not if you are one of the seven people (I flatter myself) who will read this.
- If you think "Black
Lives Matter" is terrific you probably aren’t going to like this post either. Because
I think they should change their names to Black Lives Don’t Matter to Us Unless
it Pushes Forward Our Agenda, as they have not only the blood of many blacks
on their hands, directly from their inspiration and leadership, but the destruction
of whole neighborhoods where predominantly what are now called (by themselves and the media - almost no one else)
“people of color” live. I hope, but don’t know, that most blacks want this to
stop, and know that it is destroying their lives, livelihoods, and so many
families.
- And if or when some
will die from new COVID-19 cases as a result of these protests, riots and
lootings (Governor Cuomo says they should all presume they have it), something that is probably uncountable, they
have that blood on their hands too, not to mention first responders or medical
professionals who are sickened, injured or killed.
- For several years
I’ve kvetched here, more and more the past two, about the dangers of a
significant and growing part of the culture of the left that has arisen. It is one
that grew out of fine sentiments and a desire to improve the country, as the
left had for many decades done in many ways. But, they have lost their way, and not by a little. And, I'm not even talking about the relentless assault on Trump, whether or not he's an idiot.
- I can’t say all
the left, because I know that many D voters are nice, normal people who just
want to go to work or have kids or grandkids, watch sports or whatever their
pleasures are, but they are very complacent with a growing radicalism that is
dangerous not just to those on the right (and whatever they want to think, that
doesn’t describe me) who they despise or tolerate, but to everyone in our
country, in general. In fact, they can
see it – this doesn’t exist. They will, in fact, in the midst of that, they
will still believe that most political violence is on the right (amazingly).
Well, sure, if you only count right-wing violence, which of course exists, and
don’t count any violence on the left – something we’ve definitively observed in the
media and even government.
- The right-wing has
lots of faults, of course. No one I know, and I suspect not many, are the type
of bigots and just all-around jerks, even criminals, that the new generation of
revolutionaries (and media, in general) wants to brand you if you are just a person
who says “All Lives Matter.” The right has lost almost every culture war up to this point because they should have. As I asked a friend who was just snarling that he
will be proven right that Trump will not relinquish the White House if he loses
the election - do you really think the rioters are right-wingers? Do you really
think the people who rioted outside of Trump rallies were right-wingers, that
the people who interrupted the Kavanaugh hearings (I mean, other than the D
Senators, which was disgusting enough) and other hearings for years now, are
right-wingers?
- Yes, sometimes,
parties just go off the deep end. Sometimes movements do. For years I found the Republicans reprehensible even though I had long been a determined moderate. Right now, this time
in history, the Ds have gone loco. There are no R Senators or congress-persons calling for
an end to – the border, police departments, the now traditional 9 member
Supreme Court (the only correct number is the one where they win all cases), the
240-year old electoral college (so that they win all presidential elections) and
free-speech. You can find crazy people in any party or movement, and there are
crazy, even homicidal right-wingers. The Klan and similar groups do exist. But,
as shown over and over, they are tiny and defanged (unless you call Klansmen getting
beat up while marching "a violent rally," as I’ve seen the media do). The bottom line
is, it’s wrong whatever side does it; the fact that blacks were so long set
upon, beaten, lynched and otherwise oppressed does not justify any such action
today by any group upon any other. Nor does the fact that prejudice and unfairness still exist.
- Sure, it’s nice to
think, well, we can stand some outrage by poor people who have suffered so long
and deal with relentless problems, but, as usual, this movement has little to
do with outrage, and a lot to do with grabbing power, wanton-destructiveness,
looting and general mayhem with “protest” as a cover. And it comes while we are
still in the midst of an economic and health crisis. Listen to Al Sharpton’s
eulogy for George Floyd and you will hear (a la Trump) some self-praise,
gross-exaggeration and not a single word for black cops killed by those
inspired by BLM rhetoric. Not a single word for anyone else who has died, gotten run
over, shot to death, lost their livelihoods, maimed, beaten, etc., during the
several days of rioting.
- When they say you can't say "All Lives Matter," they actually mean you don’t matter, even if you are black, like former police captain David Dorn, shot to death by a looter while trying to protect his friend’s store. Why should they care? David Dorn was not advancing the BLM cause so he doesn’t get mentioned, except in passing (did you know his name? I had to look it up). To BLM, to the media, his death is unimportant.
- What part of "protest" means burning police cars and stations, blocking traffic, destroying
shopping malls? Or running over or killing cops? Or attacking the White House
in a mob? That's not about George Floyd; the officers were quickly fired and prosecution begun, likely without any real investigation.
- No, I really do
not think, for most people who support the “protests,” that this really has anything
to do with George Floyd or blacks (and I suspect many blacks are
appalled by what’s going on – especially if they are watching their neighborhood be destroyed),
although I see that mostly the younger generation and some of the older left
over hippy-generation (even if they weren’t hippies). Because everyone I know,
every single-person, was outraged at the video they saw, got their wish that
everyone involved was fired, even for just standing there and letting it
happen, and that Derrick Chauvin was arrested for murder in the third degree –
that is - without premeditation
and intent, but through
inherently dangerous acts, with no regard for human life. I hope they don’t
start piling on charges like they often do in reaction to the riots. Actually,
I was disturbed that they worked at record speed to charge him in reaction.
Because, just like with a child, or a business-person, if you reward their
behavior, they will continue it.
- I have heard so
many stories right now that it is hard to tell what’s true, as I can’t verify
everything. But, no doubt, stores are burning, people are being beaten, areas
are shutting down. And, why again? Yes, someone was killed by the cops, which,
we don’t even know if it was motivated by racism. Two of the cops who were
fired were apparently Asian. Does that mean Asians also want blacks to die?
But, even if it had been the most racist intended killing in history, would any violence against innocent people – even the burning of one car or store, the beating of one other person - have
been justified?
- The civil rights
movement was increasingly successful in the ‘50s-'70s because Martin Luther King, Jr’s method,
following Gandhi, following the theory of Civil Disobedience championed by Thoreau, worked.
Because the majority of white people wanted an end to what had taken centuries
to accomplish, because they were persuaded it was wrong. Even Malcolm X, whose younger self
might have approved of what’s going on right now, came more to MLK’s viewpoint before he
was murdered by those who would now be called Civil Rights workers (don’t laugh –
the media either hides the fascist movement Antifa as best they can or acts
like they are fighting for civil rights). The modern race warrior has
assassinated King all over again, turning his famous dream of our judging each
other by our characters rather than our skin color, on its head. Now, only skin color matters to the supposed civil rights warriors - hence, the name - Black Lives Matter.
- Why do I think
this is all about other than George Floyd or blacks being killed? Maybe
when I read that the founder of BET, a very wealthy man, thinks there should be
14 trillion in reparations based on skin color (only blacks, not any other
minority, no matter how badly treated) I have trouble believing they really care about George Floyd.
- Ironically, governors
and other politicians, some of whom feel beholden to black voters (there
literally is, no “white” block of voters or “white” caucus in congress, but are
spread over the two main parties), are really only afraid of the loud voices.
They have definitively abandoned less fortunate generally lawful citizens of
any skin color to their fate – and that certainly means abandoned black people
who live in many of the neighborhoods being destroyed. I understand the fear.
But, they wanted to be in charge and have responsibility. Their cowardice and/or
stupidity is unacceptable.
- That chickens have
come home to roost. I don’t mean because of racism. No, I do not believe that
white people (certainly not the ones I know) are racist in the way people were
even a few decades ago. We’ve taken giant strides against racism in this
country, even so much so that Pres. Obama, who has many times fanned the flames of
violent protest (always careful to verbally condemn violence, of course) has said that
it was the best time for minorities in the history of the world. The chickens
coming home to roost is the new racism, the one that says only “Black Lives
Matter” and excommunicates you if you want to say “All Lives Matter” – that’s
literally true, not an exaggeration though it seems crazy by any reasonable
standard. Ask Jim Webb. Ask any politician on the left, all of whom are afraid
to even utter that all lives matter in a general statement. Ask the families of
the dead cops who were slaughtered (including minority cops) by those inspired
by the group.
- Chickens have come
home to roost because so many people said what’s the big deal with Antifa, and
were fine with speakers being assaulted or silenced, or politicians chased from
restaurants as long as they were politicians they didn’t like. I am still – two
years later – stunned by the words of a friend, one of the kindest, gentlest,
most decent people I know, a devoted liberal - that it was okay for people to
surround and intimidate someone because they didn’t like their views. When I
asked if it was okay if that happened to a minority, or a Jew (he was Jewish) of course he didn’t have a
response.
- Chickens have come
home to roost when we conflate violence and looting with “protest.” Chickens
come home to roost when we call shutting down government or interrupting
others’ lives as “free speech,” a notion, which to my amazement, even right-wingers,
usually the victims, have adopted.
- Chickens have come
home to roost when we as a nation go back to a system where what matters is
skin color (that is, now - dark good, light bad – and if you don’t think that
is the norm, ask Joe Biden, who says the words “white men” with disgust).
- Chickens come home
to roost when we accept political rhetoric as fact and it becomes inseparable
from the story. Does anyone even know if Chauvin was prejudiced against blacks?
Maybe he was, maybe not, all I know is no one seems to care. It is automatic
now. He’s white, he’s a police officer. Either would be sufficient. This is
consistent with the approach now that if a black person is killed by the
police, it is automatically murder. It is no different than the sickness on
college campuses and in our political lives that if a woman says she was
assaulted – even decades later – she has to be believed (unless the “predator”
is a political leader in your party, of course).
- Yes, this is how
fascism starts – I think we are beyond starting – not because a Hitler or the
like appears and says hey, I’d like to be vicious and kill people who are
different than me, but because lawlessness occurs, because people see no
future, and two camps fight it out violently until one side is triumphant. And
it starts with efforts at censorship, such as we see at Twitter (I know they
are not officially the government, but they are the main way almost every
public person speaks right now). Michele Malkin can’t say looters should be
shot, and the President is censored for opposing looting, but Colin Kaepernick
can say we need revolution and others are far more explicit without getting
booted. How Twitter and Facebook aren’t just treated as common carriers for
information and misinformation (meaning they don’t get to prefer one commentary
to another), when they are the predominant means of transferring political
messages in our country (maybe the world), I don’t know.
- Yes, we all know
that what happened to George Floyd was a tragedy. I don’t know a single person
who watched the video who wasn’t sickened and did not want to see all of those
cops fired (which happened immediately) and one in particular, but probably
three charged with some form of murder, which also happened at lightning speed.
But, that is now a footnote, nothing, unless you think a news story trumps the
lives and futures of everyone in the country. George Floyd’s brother, Terrence
(oddly, almost never referred to by name, as far as I’ve seen – just “George
Floyd’s brother) has called for peace. If he wasn’t Floyd’s brother, he’d
probably be called an “Uncle Tom” or even a racist. Not that he doesn't want justice, he just knows that the violence isn't helping anyone and not bringing his brother back. Ironically, I would understand if it were him and his family who reacted violently.
- What does the
media want you to believe right now? That if you oppose violent rioting, if
you believe that not only black lives, but all lives matter, you are a racist
or just can’t see past you skin color or privilege. And, believe me, this isn’t
just black radicals who believe this, but after years of indoctrination in
school (a whole other post), many white kids are sure that only black lives matter. I see, from people I
know who are on social media, that young whites are all
about only black lives matter and somehow miss the fact that people are being killed, supposedly in the name of justice.
- One woman in her
young thirties that I know is white with a white husband and two white
children, wrote online that saying “all lives matter” would be like someone
coming to your child’s funeral and saying all lives matter. Now, this is from
someone I generally consider a (far as I know) normal, happy, decent person.
But, she’s dead wrong. Saying all lives matter is not the same as someone
saying all lives matter at your child’s funeral, but saying black lives matter
is like going to an Asian person’s funeral and saying – only black lives matter.
Saying black lives matter is not, as they argue, justified because white people
and cops act like it’s not true, because it’s not true. A few, not millions, or thousand or hundreds or even dozens of unarmed blacks were shot by cops the past year (less than whites shot and far less than cops killed). I don’t do
Facebook, but if I did, and were a friend of this nice person (and I’d probably
be), I expect I’d get unfriended, because I’d respond “No, it’s not. I think
your life matters; I think your childrens’ lives matter and, in fact, your whole
family’s lives matter. Most people don’t care at all if you are white or black –
they care that you are not killed.
- One of the things
that made Gandhi a great man, was when the protests he organized or inspired
became in any way violent, he’d immediately call them off. He insisted on the
moral attitude of followers. In fact, he’d actually begin fasting unto his own death
- until all the violence stopped. And he barely survived it. Do I expect that
of anyone today? No. They shouldn't fast unto death. But, they could start by demanding
non-violence or refuse to be involved.
- What has this “protesting” accomplished? It has made even more people who were not prejudiced or a little prejudiced, more prejudiced. Every time something like this happens I hear it more and more – well, I wasn’t prejudiced, but I am now. I don’t accept that, really, as a good idea, and I don’t advocate it. In fact, sometimes I don’t believe those people are really becoming racist. They are just outraged at the immorality, the selfishness and the stupidity of the so-called protesters.
- I’ve always
believed in ongoing, unceasing, police reform. They are necessary, but,
potentially dangerous. Believe me, I've been subject to angry police on occasion. Each one has both not enough power and too much power, depending on the circumstances. It’s a
dangerous and often unthanked job that we both make fetishes over and condemn.
But, any politician who wants to do away with them – and yes, they do exist –
is out of their minds.
- I’m sure to some
people everything I wrote above is racist. If it makes you a racist . . .
- - to
think that George Floyd’s death was at least manslaughter, possibly worse, but
not justification for burning, looting, shooting, outright murder, or crazed
gatherings in the midst of a pandemic . . .
- - to
think the first amendment right to expression is a critical right, and that
this has to include people I disagree, and even actual racists. . .
- - to
think that Grant Napear being fired from his broadcasting roles on television
and radio for responding to a request as to what he thought about Black Lives
Matter that “ALL LIVES MATTER” is crazy and racist itself. . .
- - to
think the life and happiness of the officers (and their families) who were shot,
run down, beaten, spat on, hit with fire extinguishers and bricks, etc, are
consequential, are each one as important as George Floyd’s life. . .
- - to
think that any group calling for death to cops (or whomever, frankly) is nuts
and probably racist, no different than the KKK or other white supremacist groups,
is abominable. . .
- - to
think that our educational system continues to fail minority children by teaching
them they are victims (increasingly). . .
- - to
think that our educational system continues to act as fascists by insisting
that white kids need to be punished more (you think I am making that up; ask
teachers you know) and teach students that because of their skin color whites
(including, of course, babies) bare guilt for slavery that they had nothing to
do with, or are privileged. . .
- - to
think that people like actress Katherine Heigl who says she will have to tell
her adopted black daughter about George Floyd, is a bad mother, who will
terrorize her daughter and teach her she is inferior, and to not face life with
confidence and joy (despite that she will grow up rich and financially secure).
. .
- - to
think, like Barack Obama (sometimes, anyway; he was at times perhaps the most openly bigoted president in modern
times – not that almost anyone in the media will say it), that we’ve made such strides
in combatting racism in our country and that it is the best time to be a
minority, not the worst – as we hear over and over on television. . .
- - to
think that people shouldn’t be murdered, beaten, stolen from, using George
Floyd’s name as an excuse. . .
- - to
think that neighborhoods shouldn’t be destroyed, and the lives of thousands or
hundreds of thousands of people affected or ruined, in the name of George Floyd.
. .
- - to think that is better that looters (black, white, green – I could care less) get
shot, than innocent people get murdered and their neighborhoods burned. . .
- - to
think that the black leadership that gets the press are terrible for minorities
(I wish everyone would read John McWhorter’s Losing the Race – we can know he’s a real leader because almost no
one follows him). . .
.
. . then I must be a racist. It’s okay,
because if you disagree with those things, I probably think you are racist.
I
could go on, but I know at some point even interested people’s eyes glaze
over. Could have been four thousand words ago. And apologies for the extra bullet points. No amount of being pissed off will cure my digital incompetence.
Frankly,
I don’t personally know anyone who is on the left who thinks the riots and
looting is a good thing (as far as I know), although we can see in the media
and online that some definitively do – but the one’s I know personally seem to detest
it, even some of the more radical bent. But, some also think that the riots are
okay or they don’t focus on the killing and other mayhem. They also don’t think
that the other dogma they’ve been taught and believe and advocate for, has to a
large degree led to these riots, made them okay for so many people. David Dorn’s
name will be forgotten, but George Floyds name will go on.
Some of them I know do not believe in the new left, or would like a much more moderate version of it, but are they afraid to say anything. Corporate
and educational employers are driven by fear of offending the new racists, and
they will chastise, suspend or fire their loyal employees. Employees know this and are, not surprisingly, intimidated.
It
is easier to convince yourself that those who would hurt you if you don’t
submit, are in fact right. When someone is kidnapped, they call it the Stockholm Syndrome,
but it’s simple human nature to try and appease those who would harm you and to even identify with them in self-defense.
And
for me. . . well, I won’t hold my contempt for the racism behind black lives
matter – against George Floyd. That was still a tragedy. Even if he had been
guilty of a heinous crime, what happened to him wouldn’t be lawful nor right. But,
like the overkill with the metoo movement, over-reactions drown out the importance
of any good thoughts. If you don’t think tens of thousands of people having
their neighborhood food shopping taken away or their businesses or dreams
killed, perhaps forever, is important, certainly the beatings and killings that
followed Floyd’s death were much worse than what happened to him, just by the
fact that there were so many more of them. If you don’t think the lives of the others
who were killed are worth knowing about or are far sadder than what happened to
one person (we all know that if it happens to someone we care about, it is different for us), well, that’s your political prerogative, but that’s all it is. It certainly
is neither rational, nor fair, nor good for our society. . .
[Sorry that I wrote the above in more of a rush than usual and had to go back and re-edit this. I'm sure it's still a mess, but did what I could in the wee hours, getting ready to see what outrages the new morning brings us].
