Karen: ALL Lives Matter. And there it is. Agreeing that Black lives matter doesn't mean that you support the BLM agenda, and it doesn't mean that only Black lives matter. Say that All Black lives matter if you want, including those killed in the womb and others not killed by police officers.
Zoe: [Writes dissertation on why saying "All Lives Matter" is inherently racist.] Great job, you're really helping Blacks with that, almost as much as that time you turned your profile picture black for a day. Let's cancel Paw Patrol too. That will really make a positive difference.
Karen: I'm not racist. [Quotes statistics that fit her narrative.] Yeah, those statistics are true, but people are upset over the Black people who were recently murdered. Yes, the media magnifies those particular deaths, but it's dishonest to present these statistics without also presenting the other ones.
Zoe: Check your privilege you ******* *****! [Quotes statistics that fit her narrative.] Those statistics are true too, but so are Karen's, and you're being just as dishonest. What's with White people telling White people to check their privilege and then cursing them out? How is that helping?
Karen: Check your ugly ***, you ******* ****! [Posts a Candace Owens video.] This is just so constructive for everyone.
Zoe: Candace Owens is a joke and a **** and so are you! And your defense of Black lives has jumped the shark.
With the recent tumultuous news cycle, I find myself disagreeing with a lot of people on the Right more often than usual, but that doesn't mean the Left is correct either. In fact, in some cases, they are more wrong than ever. The division in this country is becoming dangerous. Libertarians and those in the middle need to step up, but in this polarized environment, moderates are shunned by both parties. John McCain is dead. Lindsey Graham is no longer considered a moderate because he speaks out against crazed Leftists. That leaves us with the likes of John Kasich, Jim Webb, Lisa Murkowski, Joe Lieberman, Susan Collins, Joe Manchin, Mitt Romney... It's no wonder Donald Trump is President. And then there's Rand Paul, who continues to get shit on from all sides.
People are posting absurd things on social media. I don't think I've ever seen so many people posting so many things that are illogical, or nothing more than virtue signaling, or simply hurtful. Both the Liberal and Conservative media are fueling it, as are our politicians. In my humble opinion, most Democrats and Republicans are idiots. Everything has gone off the rails, and I can't even relax and watch baseball. Or basketball. Sports has brought people together. So many of the people I looked up to and wanted to be like as a kid were Black men, and I still look up to them. Michael Jordan is fed up, and he rarely issues anything that can be remotely construed as a political statement. Derek Jeter is pissed off. It means something when guys like that are speaking out. They've been consistent. They've been role models. They haven't supported Che Guevara or called all cops pigs like a notorious subpar backup Quarterback who was 3-16 during his last two seasons in the league.
Most of the worst comments on social media have been from White people, on both the Left and Right. I've had political disagreements with a lot people, and the only times it got really ridiculous were when fellow White men were angry enough to fight me over my political beliefs and White women were hysterically upset and crying over my political beliefs (i.e. "How can you not believe that Brett Kavanaugh is a gang rapist?"). Not surprisingly, that always occurred on the Left. On the Right, the disagreements usually end with them saying something that they think I should believe if I'm a Christian, or something that largely ignores real problems that exist and need to be corrected. I guess it's a small sample size, but I'd rather discuss politics with a Black person (male or female) with whom I disagree on something any day of the week. Those have been some of the best discussions I've had, and they never ended with anyone crying, threatening violence, or deciding to no longer be friends over political beliefs. Certainly, one race of people is no better or worse than another, but it seems like there are an awful lot of crazy White people out there.
Case and point, a White girl burned down a Wendy's in Atlanta. It looks like her White boyfriend helped her. Was it because she downed a delicious $5 biggie bag and later got diarrhea? Nope. It was because a policeman shot and killed a guy, and it happened to be at Wendy's. Black people were filming her saying, "This isn't us." Good. I hope she goes to prison for a long time. It's very sad that Rayshard Brooks lost his life that night. I wish he was still alive. But what's happening now is INSANE. Rayshard Brooks was drunk and fell asleep while waiting in line at the Wendy's Drive-Thru. The cops were called. They came, and they interacted calmly with Brooks for nearly a half hour. When they tried to arrest him, all hell broke loose, and there's plenty of video evidence of the interaction. Brooks decided to beat up the officers, which would not justify him being shot. He decided to take one of their tasers, which would not justify him being shot. The officer who still had his taser tried to stop Brooks with it, but failed. I wish the officers did a better job of subduing and arresting Brooks. Perhaps they weren't trained well enough, or perhaps the physical bar for qualifying to be a police officer should be raised, but for whatever reason, Brooks successfully got away from them, after stealing a weapon (the taser) from one of them. As he was running away, he aimed the taser at the officers and tried to use it on them. An officer then shot him. It's beyond sad and unfortunate, and I wish they were able to apprehend him in some other less violent way, but it was not felony murder, which the D.A. absurdly charged the officer with.
This came at a time in our country where the interactions between the police and Black people is under not a microscope, but a Hubbell telescope. What happened several weeks ago to George Floyd, a Black man just as Brooks was, was certainly murder. There's no question that it was at least third degree murder, and I would absolutely argue that it was second degree murder, which is what the officer in that case was charged with. In fact, with information coming out that the officer who killed Floyd in broad daylight actually knew him and did not get along with him, I think there's a very good case for first degree murder. What happened to Brooks was not murder. If you beat up police officers, take a weapon from them, and try to use it on them, no matter what color you are, you might get shot. Did he deserve to die for a momentary lapse in judgement? No. But put yourself in that officer's place. You have a split second to assess the situation and make a decision on what to do, and your training takes over. You defend yourself. You shoot, and you hope you don't kill him (video showed him trying to keep Brooks alive and pleading with him to stay alive), but there's always a chance that a bullet will be fatal.
I don't see how the murder charge will stick. I don't even know if it will get by a Grand Jury. Expect more riots. The D.A. here is a joke. Just a few weeks ago, he said very clearly (video existed then too) that a taser is a deadly weapon. If someone is trying to use a deadly weapon against you and you use a deadly weapon against that person to defend yourself, that is not murder. That is self-defense. Even if you don't classify a taser as a deadly weapon (I don't, because it generally is not), this was not murder. That doesn't mean racism doesn't exist, and it doesn't mean that cops never murder people. It just means that in this case, there was not a murder, and the reason Brooks is dead is not because of the color of his skin.
While the Left is calling self-defense murder, the Right is worked up about a number of dumb things. One Supreme Court decision stopped President Trump from ending DACA. Without going on for too long about it, to sum it up, Trump essentially can end DACA, but he would need to go about doing it in the right way, which he (unsurprisingly) did not do. My main issue here has nothing to do with the SCOTUS ruling. Why does Congress not make laws anymore? Everything is done with Executive orders and Supreme Court decisions. This is not what I learned from Schoolhouse Rock. But many on the Right are upset with that ruling and another recent SCOTUS ruling, which essentially says that you can't fire someone for being gay. Seems like common sense, right? I even thought the notoriously Liberal Justice Neil Gorsuch (lol) put it well when he wrote the opinion for the 6-3 majority. Sure, it stretches the bounds of a law written in the 60s, and it borders on the court writing law, but at the heart of it, I don't believe his interpretation was incorrect, as long as religious liberty is not infringed upon, as he noted. But religious people should not be upset about this protection. Separation of church and state is important.
And this is where the Left starts asking what kind of garbage religion would fire someone for being gay? Well, I have no problem with any religious organization hiring people who are gay, trans, etc., and I don't believe they should have a problem with that either, except in cases where it is a violation of the religion to have someone like that in a certain position. For example, in most sects, if a Protestant Pastor, Catholic Priest, Jewish Rabbi, or Islamic Imam comes out as a practicing homosexual, that person is going to be fired. And the state needs to leave that to the religious organizations to handle themselves. Non-religious people should not be upset about this protection. Separation of church and state is important.
You know what's not important though? The Confederate Flag. Fuck that thing. Seriously. I hate it. I really do. That was the flag of the Confederacy, representing the states that seceded from the Union and wanted to continue slavery. I dislike that flag with a passion, and I would never display it in my house. I don't understand why so many people on the Right are upset that NASCAR has now banned the flag from events. NASCAR can do what it wants. However, I will absolutely support the right of anyone to display that flag on their own property if they want to. I have friends who do, and I'm not going to stop being friends with them because of the flag. They see it as the rebel flag, and they're not displaying it because they're pro-slavery or in favor of White Supremacy (in which case, yes, I would stop being friends with them). That's fine. That's their decision. But it isn't mine. And if the Government ever tries to make that decision for people, we will already be gaining speed down a slippery slope as a nation. The First Amendment is important.
As for the people taking down statues, I don't really care for the statues of Confederate Generals. Those can go. I think the right way to do it is getting the Government to take them down if that's who put them there, rather than destroying property, but I'm not arguing against those coming down too much. Sure, they do represent history, and we can learn from them, and yes, we shouldn't drop them on people's heads like a pack of idiots, but it doesn't upset me a whole lot to see them coming down. The problem is that it won't stop there. No sir. The crazed Left wants to tear down all of the statues. Christopher Columbus did a lot of bad things, but he did some good things too. He died like 500 years ago. A statue of Christoper Columbus gifted by immigrants does not need to come down now. The statue of President Lincoln breaking the chains of a slave is apparently being targeted to come down too. Somewhere, the KKK is nodding in agreement. Seriously? And then, inevitably, tear down the statues of Washington and Jefferson too, because they owned slaves. No. They founded our Democracy. Yeah, they were flawed too, but I'm drawing the line here. This is nonsense. We're not living in a George Orwell novel, are we? What timeline is this anyway? Is Biff the President?
You see, if you try to erase history, someone will just make up fake history. We need to remember history so we don't repeat it, and so we can celebrate freedom and the end of slavery in America. In all my years of school, I was maybe taught one sentence about Juneteeth. That is a problem. It should be a National Holiday. I don't care if they get rid of Columbus Day and make Juneteenth a National Holiday. However, we cannot let false narratives from The 1619 Project at The New York Times prevail. Former Vice Presidential candidates are now saying dumb things like stating that the United States created slavery (Tim Caine, you're an idiot). People have forgotten that a Former Vice President suggested that Mitt Romney wanted to put Black people back in chains (Fact check: False, Joe Biden). A lot of people believe that the policies of Democrats have helped Black people, but throughout history they generally have not. At least cultural appropriation is acceptable now that friends of the late former KKK leader Senator Robert Byrd, such as Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and Jerry Nadler, took a knee while wearing kente cloths (which were actually worn by slave traders, oops!). They shout about how the institutions are broken, especially in those big cities, where the heads of nearly every institution have been on the Left for decades. They're broken alright, just not in the ways that you think they are. But yeah, there has been systemic racism, and there are some racist cops. But that doesn't mean it's time to defund the police.
Well, I guess it's not fair to paint everyone with a broad brush here. Of the people who are saying to defund the police, some of them actually mean reform the police, which I can find a lot of common ground with and get on board with. Just stop saying "defund" and say "reform." It's very confusing, because there are also people who literally want to defund the police, as in abolishing them, and having no police. Maybe it's a vocal far Left minority, but those people are out there shouting that. And that would be utterly insane, especially if you believe that Black lives matter, which they do. And if you believe this AND you're against the second amendment, you're a special kind of stupid. If someone is threatening to rape or murder you, who are you going to call? A social worker? If you've been raped or someone you know has just been murdered, who are you going to report it to? Justice matters. Yes, we need some reforms, and yes, we need better training, and yes, we can develop hybrid responses to emergency situations, but I'm certainly not on board with getting rid of police altogether. It's no wonder so many gun stores are low on inventory these days. The Second Amendment is important.
Nothing drives gun sales like widespread riots. The peaceful protests are perfectly fine, well, unless you're still very wary of COVID-19, in which case, maybe we shouldn't have tens of thousands of people gathered closely together. But yes, it's their right to do that. However, if you agree with that and you have a problem with people gathering for a church service, or restaurants and other businesses gradually and carefully reopening, or other protests and rallies that you don't agree with, you need to examine why that is exactly. I'm taking to you, worst Mayor in America, Bill de Blasio. Yeah, show up personally to tell the handful of Jews gathered together that they need to listen to you and go home, but then tell everyone how proud you are that your daughter got arrested at one of these riots where a massive number of people gathered. Resign, you anti-Semitic ass-clown.
I'm not thrilled with Governor Cuomo either, whose nursing home policies caused many more lives to be lost to COVID-19, nor am I thrilled with many aspects of how President Trump has handled COVID-19 or responded to racial injustice. And for some reason, quite a few people on the Right have a major problem with wearing masks. I don't have an issue with wearing them indoors when in close contact with people for a while if that can help a bit, but I must admit that some of the places where I've been requested to wear a mask have made zero sense. I went to the Dentist to get a cavity filled, and the Dentist gave me novocaine and then handed me a mask to wear for the next five minutes while the novocaine kicked in, and no one was in the room with me until he came back in and I needed to remove the mask so he could go in my mouth (???). Meanwhile, Joe Biden has gone out of his way to wear a mask even when unnecessary whenever he's been out of hiding, and although much of what he's said has been nonsense, I do agree with him that when deadly force is needed, it's a good idea to try to shoot someone in the leg and not kill them whenever possible.
On top of all the madness on both sides, there's a seemingly large contingent on the Right that has decided that the hill they want to die on, President Trump apparently still included at the moment, is refusing to watch NFL games if the players kneel during the National Anthem. While I don't like it when players choose to do that during the anthem, they have every right to, and it's not the end of the world to me. I can see how it can be construed as disrespect for our country, our flag, and our military, but that isn't always what it means to them. And it damn well isn't going to stop me from trying to enjoy football games whenever they start up again. Hopefully Ben Carson can actually talk some sense into President Trump like he said he planned to, at least to the point where our President isn't railing against things that he need not. President Trump needs to step up and attempt to give a unifying speech. It may not work, but he should do so flanked by Black Conservative leaders who have reviewed and had input in his speech, and the President should then stick to the script. This is what the nation needs right now, because things are devolving every day.
What we don't need is pandering symbolism that actually helps nothing. White people are great at this. Removing Gone with the Wind from the HBO movie library and taking Aunt Jemima off of syrup containers don't help anything, and I can easily see why actual racists would support this, honestly. Gone with the Wind included the first African American actress to win an Oscar, and at least one descendant of the actual Aunt Jemima has voiced displeasure with her being removed from the syrup container, her legacy. All it is is Leftist virtue signaling, mostly to help make White Liberals feel better. And the idiots on the Right automatically go up in arms about these sorts of things. No, I don't see why changes like that are needed, but I don't really care that deeply about it. However, asking where it stops is fair. What's next? Is Blazing Saddles going to be banned? How about Airplane!? What about Bob Dylan's "Hurricane"? White people can't use the n-word, right? Speaking of which, should we burn The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and To Kill A Mockingbird for using the n-word? How did the Left turn it to how the Right used to be when it comes to book burning and censorship, only for different reasons?
Should we stop patronizing places if we don't agree with the views of their CEOs? If the far Left has its way, that's how America will work, until we're finally divided to the point of a civil war. Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy famously spoke out against gay marriage, leading mobs of Leftists to boycott Chick-fil-A and talk about how much he hates gays (he doesn't). Now, he's come out suggesting that White people should shine the shoes of Black people as an act of repentance. Yeah, that will do a lot of good. That's the way to erase racism and hundreds of years of racial mistreatment. Have a bunch of people who largely had nothing to do with the mistreatment shine the shoes of people who may or may not have experienced mistreatment of some kind. For the record, I disagree with Dan Cathy both on his gay marriage stance and his shoe shine suggestion, but you can be damn sure that I will continue to eat those delicious spicy chicken sandwiches. Because that's how we have a fucking society.
The way to eradicate racism isn't to repeat apologies that sound like religious homilies, or to repent of some inherent racism that you may have but not even know about. How about you act like you're not a racist and you treat people like people, regardless of the color of their skin? That sounds like the best idea. Disagree with people, and debate with them constructively, but instead of hating and villainizing people you disagree with, try loving all people. That's how we can make this country and this world a better place.
I shook his hand in the scene that made America famous
And a smile from the heart that made America great
We spent the rest of that night in the home of a man I'd never known before
It's funny when you get that close, it's kind of hard to hate
I went to sleep with the hope that made America famous
I had the kind of a dream that maybe they're still trying to teach in school
Of the America that made America famous
And of the people who just might understand
That how together, yes we can
Create a country better than
The one we have made of this land
We have a choice to make each man
Who dares to dream, reaching out his hand
A prophet or just a crazy God damn dreamer of a fool
Yes a crazy fool
There's something burning somewhere
Does anybody care?
Is anybody there?
Is anybody there?
-Harry Chapin, "What Made America Famous?" (1974)
Note: The photo in this post was taken from a beach in Florida a while back and has nothing to do with any of this. A boat was on fire somewhere in the distance. It's symbolic, like most of the things White people who think they are woke are doing to "help" Black people right now.
