Due to my doctoral studies and some other factors, I have been unable to write on some things like I would desire to. However, I do believe that there needs to be some updating to a lot that has been going on recently, and I feel some things need be said.
What really sparked this is the recent firing of an actress, Gina Carano, who was fired for a meme she posted on her personal social media comparing the "cancel culture" to the way Jews were harassed in Nazi Germany. It was labeled as "hate speech" (a term which really has no meaning nowadays honestly) and she was fired from the cast of The Mandalorian. I have not watched this show, although I am actually an avid Star Wars fan and have seen every episode of similar series (notably Rebels and Clone Wars, two excellent animated series that were on air a few years back - I own the complete series of both on DVD now), but up until it became "woke" (more like doped) I had heard good things. I may go back and watch some of those episodes just to check them out for myself. Bottom line, Carano was actually making a valid point - the "divide and conquer" strategy that Fauci and other leftist goons have launched in response to this whole COVID mess has much in common with the way Hitler and his Nazis operated things in the Third Reich and the territories it conquered. For instance, when Ukraine, Poland, and Belarus, as well as the Baltic States, were invaded and occupied between the years 1939 and 1941, the Nazi strategy via the Einsatzgruppen SS murder squads that followed the Wehrmacht troops was to prey on local attitudes against Jews, Gypsies, and others, and then foment pogroms based on that stir-up of old prejudices. The tragic fact of that however is that those who would participate in such pogroms - Ukrainians, Poles, Lithuanians, and others - would later be targeted themselves once they served their usefulness. This is not discussed anymore as "woke" leftists seem to despise history, and many schools don't even teach history anymore because it is a product of some non-existent phantom vice called "White privilege" (which still has yet to be defined, as now even non-Whites such as Candace Owens are accused of it). So, what does this Nazi-inspired "divide and conquer" strategy have to do with Gina Carano and why she was canned? Let us discuss that now.
Back during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons, there were mayors and governors (notably Gavin Newsome in California, Lori "Uncle Fester" Lightfoot in Chicago, Gretchen "Ubersturmfuhrer" Whitmer in Michigan, Ralph "Blackface" Northam in Virginia, and both Andy "Big Fredo" Cuomo and Bill DeBlasio in New York) as well as the "medical expert" Dr. Anthony Fauci (a sad, strange little man with a Napoleon complex honestly) encouraging people to report Thanksgiving family gatherings, maskless people in stores, etc., in order to "fight COVID." Oddly, this even led to arrests of innocent people whose only fault was wanting to enjoy the holiday with their families. In watching a movie called Swing Kids about German youth who liked good music in Nazi Germany and were penalized for it, I recall a scene where Christian Bale's character was encouraged by his Nazi teacher to report and turn in his own father for just voicing an opinion that disagreed with Hitler's war policy. The Gestapo showed up at the man's door and took him into custody, and as history has documented, many people who experienced this were never seen by their families again. The modern Left, which claims to be "anti-fascist" and against "hate speech," seems intent to employ Nazi-like tactics against those it disagrees with - disagreement for the Leftist today has become the new unpardonable sin (I can hear the whiney hiss of Greta Thunberg now - "how dare you!"). The new Goebbels of this revised Nazi rubric is not one person but several - some of their names include Jack Dorsey (CEO of Twitter), Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Facebook), Bill Gates, and other multi-billionaire elites who have self-appointed themselves the arbiters of truth and censors of what they dislike. They are as nefarious and ridiculous as Joseph Goebbels was, and wield a lot of unmerited power they otherwise would not have if free speech were truly valued. So, Gina Carano is right, and by "cancelling" her via firing, they have proven her point. That now leads to a couple of other points I wanted to address in relation to this.
First, what was once considered "radical" is now considered "normal," and I want to cite a specific example I came across recently that illustrates the point. A couple of years ago, I worked at a company as a contractor, and one of my co-workers was a sweet and talented girl in her early 20's that for security reasons we'll call Marie (not her real name). Marie is a gifted photographer, and actually was a beautiful but artsy young lady who at that time was shy and had very little involvement in political issues (on her social media then, she listed her political views as "nobody's perfect," which I can respect). I had a great admiration for this young lady, and followed her work on social media. However, in the past few months, something radically happened to her that really defaced the person I really believe she truly is, and it was ugly. To begin, she actually shaved her head and made herself just ugly - her hair was actually beautiful the way it was. Then, her rhetoric became very offensive and caustic - she began to use the "mf" word a lot, and a lot of her pictures ended up bordering on the obscene in her posts. This later was reflected in her political rhetoric - she made the usual nonsensical claims that she "hated America" and one of her other friends actually said on a post during the 4th of July to "f... your Independence Day!" Not only America though, but she expressed particular vitriol against Christianity - she accused Christianity of "destroying civilization" and "enslaving indigenous peoples" as well as other garbage, and said how "grateful" she was at not being part of a church anymore. That deluded diatribe - which has the impressions of Howard Zinn and Saul Alinsky all over it - showed how truly ignorant this young 22-year-old kid was of true history. She failed to understand that without Christianity, there would be no hospitals, universities, or even civil rights. She also failed to understand that rather than destroy civilization, Christianity actually enhanced it by preserving the best of the cultures it evangelized - I doubt if many people would know about Plato if it wasn't for dedicated Christian monks preserving his writings. You see, the evangelistic mission of the Church is not just for the conversion of the individual, but for the positive transformation of society. As Aquinas and Bonaventure taught, it was the impartation of supernatural grace into a culture that elevates it, heals it, and perfects it. Pre-Christian cultures possessed many good things, but only when the light of Christ shown into them were those things developed to their full potential. Another aspect of Christianity's impact on culture is the respect of life and individual dignity - true feminism, which recognizes a woman as a human being worthy of the dignity and value she has as a human being, is a cardinal virtue of Christianity. Also, Christianity made life worth living for so many people - thanks to things such as better education and the ability to use one's talents to better one's life, even the poorest of people can have the opportunity to rise above their circumstance. Although I disagree with him theologically, the televangelist Mark Chironna once said something that sums up this well - "your present position does not determine your future potential." Why? Because the Gospel does have transformative power! The transformative power is a fruit of supernatural grace too, as that is exactly what supernatural grace does. Marie and her friends are even recipients of that to a degree, although they tend to bite the very hand that stretched to give it to them. Let me rephrase that and say it again - even the non-Christians (and in this case, even anti-Christians) benefit from the fruit of Western Civilization that has its roots in supernatural grace due to the exercise of Christian virtue. Therefore, far from being detrimental to civilization, Christianity actually enhances civilization. So, my advice to Marie and her friends (as well as many more like them) is to re-read history, appreciate it, and perhaps they may understand that if it wasn't for the transformative power of the Gospel on a societal scale, they would be a whole lot worse off.
A second thing I wanted to address in relation to this is what "racism" is, in particular what is now touted as "systemic racism." Rather, I would like to make the point that this word, which is bandied about by so many "woke" jackasses as a weapon to shut down those they disagree with, has lost much of its meaning. Is there such a thing as "systemic racism?" Historically, yes - the "Jim Crow" laws of the past were a form of systemic racism, as was the very things that created atrocities like the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust. But, the real question is does it exist in American society today? My answer to that is complex - no, but not yet. The reason I say "no" is because for the most part, Blacks and other minorities are entitled to pretty much the same rights and privileges that everyone else possesses - a Black man can ride in the same bus as a White man, eat in the same restaurants, use the same bathrooms, etc. If this phantom called "systemic racism" does exist, it poses a difficult question for those who like to holler so much about it. By "systemic" for instance, it means the apparati that are in place which govern the society - things such as the academy (universities), entertainment (sports, Hollywood, pop music etc.), the media, the government, and the scientific community. If someone makes the charge of "systemic racism," then it begs a question as to who is in charge of the systems themselves then, right? For the most part, all of these "systems" are controlled by the political Left, so if we make that charge, then it means that the Leftists who tout the systems and control them are the racists then, right? On this, I would defer to people who have dealt with that idea specifically, such as conservative commentator Ben Shapiro, who originally (and astutely) brought that point up, as well as author/documentarian Dinesh D'Souza, who actually did the footwork on researching the true origins of the Democratic Party (as a teaser, what he discovered does not look good for them). Read and watch what they have learned, and it will be enlightening. That leads to my second affirmation that "systemic racism" does not exist yet. What that means is that the new arbiters of truth - the ones controlling the systems themselves - are growing increasingly more racist on two levels. On one, there is now a demonization of people they consider "White" just based on skin color, but now "Whiteness" is no longer even about that - Black conservatives such as Candace Owens and Ben Carson have been accused of having "White privilege" (again, whatever that is supposed to be) although they are clearly not White. This weird and insane classification makes no real sense, and it is clearly baseless. So, in a sense, the ones who decry "White privilege" may themselves be the true racists, although God forbid you say that to them! On the other side of that, this mentality is racist against Blacks and other ethnicities in general in that it basically wants to reinforce what is negative in their communities at the expense of the positive - the radical organization Black Lives Matter has even come out and said as much. And, that leads me to a couple of final thoughts on this before I wrap it up.
First, let me be very clear in saying that racism is real - no one denies that - and any form of it is unacceptable. Whether it is directed against Blacks, Whites, or anyone else, racism is racism, and it is evil and should be rejected. The reason is simple, and again is rooted in a basic Christian principle. God created mankind in his image, and in reality there is only one race - humanity. There are a diverse number of ethnicities (and Blacks are one of them - an ethnicity, not a race) within the human race, but despite shades and tones on the outside, each is still indisputably human. We therefore have no right, and there is no merit to be found in, condemning someone over a shade of skin. Those who commit that evil - be they the Ku Klux Klan or Black Lives Matter - are violating a basic tenet of human dignity. And, that leads to a second point.
Secondly, people are evaluated on individual merits rather than physical appearance or shade of skin. A person is accountable based on their own actions and decisions, and not on some fictional predetermined genetic traits that have not even been proven to exist. A person who commits a bad action, regardless of what they look like, is judged by that action and not by their blood or skin color. And, there are good and bad individuals within all ethnicities. Likewise, a person's potential, intelligence, and individuality should not be limited by the color of their skin - every human being of every shade and color has the potential of learning, growing, and action upon their own decisions, and that is called merit - while it is true that some groups are more successful at some things than others, it does not mean the whole group is stereotyped based on the actions of individual members of it. Although Blacks are often painted as criminal risks, there are as many Whites who have done stupid and evil things as there have been Blacks. Likewise, there are substantial numbers of successful people in all ethnicities - it all depends on how they used their own gifts and talents to get that success, and has nothing to do with their skin tone or genetics. That is why this affirmative action and "political correctness'" crap needs to stop now. Again, it is time we observe the merits of the individual rather than either relying on stereotypes or stupid notions of identity politics.
I could say a lot more on all this, and probably will in due time, but you get the idea. "Cancel culture" simply needs to be cancelled, and we need to stop using racial identity politics as a standard for life in this nation. This means that we must unilaterally reject both the Ku Klux Klan as well as Black Lives Matter, as they are both two racist sides of the same coin of bigotry. Honestly too, there is little distinction between the rhetoric of Adolf Hitler and Louis Farrakhan - one is as much a racist and a fascist as the other, and both need to be rejected. But, that rejection should never be in the form of a "cancel culture" mentality - people can have opinions, even when they are wrong, and no one can "cancel" a person's opinion. So, let the Kluckers and BLM thugs rage, but also let's not give them unwarranted attention - ignore both groups of bigots, and in time they will see they have no relevance for the majority of normal, decent human beings who just want to go about their business and live their lives in peace. Thanks for letting me share today.
