By Richard Eber
Being a conservative does not mean one is totally against progress. As Sonny Bono aptly put it in The Beat Goes On, “The Grocery Store’s the Super Market Now.” With that said the so called cancel culture of today has more than fulfilled the Star Trek tag line “to go where no man has gone before.”
Things have gotten so weird that living and breathing in many quarters (especially without a mask attached) is considered to be a hate crime. To adhere to PC-Woke norms in California, a proper family should likely:
- Abandon their single family home in the suburbs and move into crime infested urbanized Stack and Pack housing in close proximity to government subsidized mass transit systems
- Dispose of their SUV’s in favor of utilizing bikes and buses for their primary source of getting around town. If an automobile is necessary, it should be of the electric variety.
- Insist all members of the household are card carrying Democrats. If kids are exhibiting GOP like behavior such as being independent (non team players) and thrifty, it is best to seek therapy at an early age. This should be at the same time they determine their sexual identities.
- Organized religion should be replaced in households with obedience to the Green New Deal. If Catholics still insist on going to confession, taking a ride in a gas powered vehicle must be worth several “Hail Mary’s”
It is recommended to enroll all family members in a Woke sensitivity course to avoid hurting the feelings of those whom they come in contact with. A new unabridged PC Dictionary must be strictly adhered to. Examples include The Homeless are Outside Urban Dwellers, Perverts are designated to be sexually dysfunctional and robbery is now part of wealth redistribution. Antifa is considered to be a middle of the road philanthropic political group similar to where the Red Cross was once stood.
Of course junkies are drug dependents and law enforcement officers are criminals wearing a badge.
Nothing is what it seems. Everything that I have grown up believing has been challenged and debunked by Cancel Culture norms.
Education and literature are at the top of the list. Banning Mark Twain’s Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn are old news. Now a good number of Dr. Seuss books are considered to be off limits because of alleged racial overtones. Historical novels such as William Styron’s The Confessions of Nat Turner, Pearl Buck’s Good Earth, Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with Wind, and anything authored by Ayn Rand are on the “no fly list.”
My greatest fear is that the works of William Shakespeare will soon no longer be considered to be relevant.
While growing up and later on, I enjoyed all of the literature listed above. At no time did I ever believe these classics belonged in the Dewey Decimal non-fiction section of the library.
Whether this proves me having good taste or gives credence to Woke sensors desire to crash and burn everything that offends them, is a matter of conjecture these days.
What worries me most about today’s so called ethnic cleansing of books are the similarities to what transpired in Nazis Germany in the 1930’s. I have to ask what is the difference between Hitler’s followers engaged in public book burning as compared to attacking poor old Dr. Seuss and the Muppets?
A match?
Separating fact from fiction seems to be chronic dilemma in the world of Woke Cancel-Culture we live in. Blocking historical events is a vehicle used to create a new social order based upon ideological purity. In doing so taking down statues of Southern Civil War heroes such as Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Jefferson Davis have brought slightly less resistance than trying to trash Abraham Lincoln.
Nothing seems to be off limits from these history deniers.
Making Christopher Columbus a villain 630 years after he discovered American makes little more sense than depicting George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison as George Orwell’s “Unpersons” characters in his dystopiannovel 1984.
The Fathers of our Country, who defeated the British in battle while writing the Declaration of Independence and our Constitution, have been placed on the scrap heap of history by the Cancel Culture. Having slaves in 17th Century Colonial times is too serious an offense for their sensitivities.
With Cancel Culture advocates, what occurred in the past is no longer relevant. All that matters is what those who interpret history today believe.
In such a totalitarian environment, our democracy has reached such a low point that in order to prosecute Donald Trump for alleged crimes committed as President; the Progressive Turnout Project PAC has organized a petition drive aimed at incoming Attorney General Merrick Garland. Based upon receiving over 100,000 signatures, he has been directed by The Court of Public Opinion to indict Trump for undefined offenses.
This is how our system of laws works today. Petitions and polls are supposed to determine how justice is dispensed.
It never occurred to these fruit cakes that if Garland was to do as they asked, he would be breaking his oath of office of administering impartial justice. Mob rule characteristic of totalitarian governments would be replacing the rule of law.
Before we get off our high horse it must be realized the Democratic PAC in gathering signatures to present the A.G. were performing this task as a fund raising ploy. It is doubtful their efforts will end up on anyone’s desk. The circular file is filled with similar schemes to raise money for Leftist causes.
Of paramount importance is that opponents of Cancel Culture be them Republican, Democrats, Independents, Green, or Libertarian, Black, Yellow, White, etc., stand up to preserve important American social values.
Somewhere along the line Joe Biden or whoever is running the asylum needs to muster up the courage to say “no” to unilaterally tearing down historical statues. Stop trying to sensor literature and tell people, (especially school children), what they should be thinking.
Is this too much to ask of the greatest democracy ever created? Do we need to dispose of Mr. Potato Head and Aesop’s Tables in the name of appeasing Woke sensitivities?
Nothing surprises me anymore. At this juncture I am afraid to answer these questions for fear that I everything I know and love about me country are soon to be on the Cancel Culture chopping block.
Stop the world, I want to get off!
Republished with Author’s Permission
Richard Eber studied journalism at the University of Oregon. He writes about politics, culture, education restaurants, and was former city and sports editor of UCSB Daily. Richard is president of Amerasa Rapid Transit, a specialized freight forwarder.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official position of Citizens Journal.
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