Leftists Destroy On Micro, Macro Levels

 

Some years ago, I worked for a popular semi-national outdoor retailer. We had mostly great and knowledgeable people working there, people who knew the outdoors. It wasn’t worth it for most customers to go across the street to the truly national big box retailer to save a few cents on this item and a couple of bucks on that one, as its employees were unable to provide the service (and passion) that ours did. We took our jobs seriously and did them well, but we also had fun. We wore “I-Rads” (basically a high-tech walkie-talkie with earbuds) to communicate with each other, so we could help customers faster. At the time, we had a custom mix of music play softly over the store’s public address system and through our I-Rads, as well.  We had impromptu “guess the artist contests,” and joked around quite a bit, never crossing the line or engaging in profanity or “hate speech.” We had nicknames like “Stubby,” “Big E,” “U-Man,” “TC,” and “Purple Haze.”

Unfortunately, over time, the family atmosphere gradually dissolved as successive waves of failed corporate retreads were brought into upper echelons of our corporate management as we, too, grew ever larger, as if they could succeed in the outdoor retail industry when they could not in the industry from whence they came. Corporate Speak took over. We spent more and more time on conference calls, talking of “best practices,” “takeaways,” and “KPIs,” and less and less time serving our customers…even as we discussed the importance of customer service at length in our backroom management meetings.

 Political correctness was stressed above all else. We had many training sessions and interactive role-play exercises to make sure we wouldn’t offend anyone in “marginalized communities.” We were not allowed to use the I-rads for anything but business, the business now being more about trying to sell extended warranties and sign folks up for credit cards, and less about outfitting people for a great outdoor experience. These new management teams kept chipping away at our individuality, as our individual rights went away, too. (The store manager at the time I left the company had an MSNBC News Update App on his cell phone. I felt that was illustrative. He knew about as much about hunting, fishing and camping as AOC or Rep. Jerry Nadler.)

Whether they were all leftists or not, I don’t know for sure, but, like all leftists, they were hypocrites. I won’t waste the time to tell the stories here, but they were legion. And they would often smirk at inappropriate times, such as when making an associate feel bad or small. Yet, when someone made a good-taste joke or pun, they would often say, “It’s not that funny, is it?” Over time it became clear that, like all good leftists, they disdained humor, that life-sustaining anomaly of homo sapiens. Big corporations-- and those who run them—often disdain humor because therein lies true individuality and control. And often, more than a little truth. They hate humor because they fear it, as they hate and fear anything that can interfere with their own power or give those over whom they rule pleasure that they themselves haven’t previously sanctioned.

In the span of two or three years, we went from humming Bob Seger and Brad Paisley while servicing our burgeoning client base…to internalizing the last line of Al Stewart’s 1970s masterpiece, Roads to Moscow: “…and the steely, Russian skies go on…Forever.”

The corporate geniuses couldn’t figure out why our customers disappeared, as well.

Why do I tell this tale?

The same thing is now happening on a national level, to America as a whole. Leftists have taken control of our government and our institutions. These hypocrites tell us to do as they say, not as they do. They are continually chipping away at our individuality and our individual rights. They are arrogant but incompetent. They are smothering creativity, thought, speech and productivity under a vast leaden blanket of critical race theory and political correctness. They turn vibrant colors into dull greys, even as they see Black and white everywhere. And they generally disdain humor.

The company I worked for eventually filed for bankruptcy. It was purchased for pennies on the dollar and is now headed by an anti-Trump zealot.

Think about that for a minute.

It’s not that funny…is it?

Trump's "Baseless" Claims

 

Former President Trump spoke to the North Carolina Republican Party convention for 90-minutes on June 5^th, repeating his “totally baseless” claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him. Meanwhile, the media was focused on if the billionaire and ex (?)-president had put his pants on backwards. Really. They even fact checked the notion. Turns out, the claim that The Donald had his pants on incorrectly was “totally baseless.”

Virtually every news story or article on the 2020 election notes that Trump believes the election was stolen from him—and his supporters—and promptly labels that belief “totally baseless,” “utterly unfounded,” “completely without evidence,” “totally debunked,” or some such similar dismissal. The truth, however, is that those very dismissals are totally baseless and utterly without merit. The media makes baseless claims that the Supreme Court threw out multiple cases of alleged election fraud, but that is a flat out lie. The Court simply refused to hear them.

 

The Washington Post/New York Times/MSNBC/CNN/ABC/CBS/NBC/etc.:

“Trump has made baseless claims that the economy grew while he was in office. In addition, he has made utterly unfounded claims that his policies led to record low unemployment rates for women and minorities. He has made widely debunked claims that he strengthened the American military, led the nation to energy independence, had high turnouts at his political rallies, and was kicked off of Twitter. Moreover, he preposterously alleged that Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin were effective in treating the coronavirus. He followed those crazy statements up by taking credit for overseeing several new vaccines for preventing COVID-19, “and in record time.” The former president also believed he was the victim of a “Russia-Hoax” perpetrated by the “fake news media” that supposedly disliked him. Lately, he asserted that Nancy Pelosi likes ice cream, the Earth is round, and that grass is generally green due to a process called “photosynthesis.”

Fact checkers are busy working on these numerous implausible Trump claims.

What will the Mad Orange Man come up with next? Whatever it is, you can bet it’s a lie.

 

Professor Claims American Universities Too Right-Wing

 

       Insanity much? Talk about your “Nutty Professor!”

                       The real problem with the “modern American university” is that it “is a right-wing institution,” according to Asheesh Kapur Siddique, an assistant professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

      In a recent article for that august journal of current events, Teen Vogue, Siddique wrote, “The right’s dominance of academia and its reign over universities is destroying higher education, and the only way to save the American university is for students and professors to take back control of campuses.”

                       Siddique says that university boards of trustees are “stacked with members from corporate backgrounds” and, therefore, lean right. Yes, like those heading corporations such as Coke, American Airlines, Nike, Amazon, Google, and Twitter?

                       To say this is a preposterous statement does not begin to do it justice. Everyone, even the French, can agree that American higher education is entirely owned and run by far left idealogues. Survey after survey shows that 90-97% of the professors themselves admit to being liberal/progressive/left leaning. Virtually the same percentage admit they vote exclusively for Democrats. Virtually the same percentage of political donations made by those employed by the vast majority of universities go to Democrats and Democrat-supporting organizations. Multiculturalism, cancel culture, “wokeism,” identity politics and now critical race theory are ubiquitous on college campuses. Students are not so much educated as indoctrinated. SAT and ACT scores are out. Social justice warring is in. Conservatives are either not invited to speak on campuses or chased off of them if they dare to show up.

                       Stating that the “real problem” with American universities is that they are right-wing institutions is akin to saying the “real problem” with the Holocaust was that it was so pro-Jewish. Or that the real problem with the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is that it was comprised of Northern, black-loving abolitionists. (Or that the real problem with ABC’s “The View” is that the hosts are too erudite and articulate.)

                       Siddique is simply employing an extreme version of a common tactic of those on the left: projection-- accusing their opponents of being what they in fact are. In this case to stymie efforts by some parents and conservatives to reign in the ever-increasing dominance of Marxist propaganda and anti-American sentiment on college campuses across the fruited plain.

Good Writing In Short Supply

 

If any of you have had the misfortune of reading print rags such as The New York Times or The Washington Post lately, or online abortions like Slate, Salon or The Daily Kos, you know that the English language is being abused, butchered and ironically used to attack the concepts of free speech and reason. Others have noticed the decline in standards as well, some believing that many readers no longer possess the attention span necessary to absorb a long sentence, or that they just don’t care.

It is possible to write with reason and passion, logic and emotion, style and structure. Indeed, the best and most persuasive writing may well have all of these elements. P.J. O’Rourke in his prime was an example of this. Today, authors such as Mark Steyn, James Lileks and Steve Rushin use their command of the language to entertain, amuse and illustrate. Rushin, who writes primarily about sports and culture, has the uncanny ability to make readers laugh heartily at one paragraph and feel a lump in their throat and a tear in their eye with the next.

Conversely, the left can’t write. At least not well or with good humor. Which makes sense. Leftists are an angry lot. Victimology and entitlement don’t lend themselves to rationality or pleasing prose. Ideologues and preachers of propaganda typically aren’t reflective enough to enlighten anyone.

Good writing is like good art. You know it when you see it. And feel it. And believe it.

Progressives demand that “Black” be capitalized, but “white” remain all lower case. They demand that we use the “preferred pronouns” of people who identify as “non-binary.”

As Churchill once said, tongue in cheek, after being chastised by a lesser light for ending a sentence with a preposition, “This is precisely the sort of pedantic nonsense up with which I shall not put.”

Ernest Hemingway once encouraged aspiring writers to be honest. “Papa” said, “Write the truest sentence that you know.” I will endeavor to do that now.

The truth shall set you free.

Someone should mention that to the legacy media.

Washington And Lee University To Change Its Name?

 

Washington and Lee University may change its name—well, both of them—in June when the school’s Board of Trustees meets to decide the matter. The renaming controversy has surrounded the school for some time now, with many students and some faculty demanding a change while others wish to keep the current name of one of the oldest colleges in the country.

In 1796, George Washington donated 100 shares of James River Canal Company stock to the school, stock that he had received in recognition to his selfless service to his country. It was one of the largest donations to any educational institution at the time and remains part of the institution’s endowment to this day, contributing to the University's operating budget. Upon bestowing this gift, Washington stated that higher education should prepare students for personal success and public service, while also unifying diverse communities of students and teaching them to live in harmony. That is an admirable goal, but, sadly, the opposite of what colleges see as their mission today.

Four months after Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, the school’s board of trustees invited Lee to become president of the college. They did so believing that his dedication to principle and duty would inspire students and faculty alike.

 Lee explained his motivation for accepting the presidency in an 1865 letter to his wife: "Life is indeed gliding away and I have nothing good to show for mine that is past. I pray I may be spared to accomplish something for the benefit of mankind and the honour of God." In another letter written the following spring, he noted: "So greatly have [educational] interests been disturbed [in] the South, and so much does its future condition depend upon the rising generation, that I consider the proper education of its youth one of the most important objects now to be attained, and one from which the greatest benefits may be expected."

Lee instituted undergraduate courses in business and journalism, introduced modern languages and applied mathematics, incorporated the law school, and expanded offerings in the natural sciences. In short, he transformed the school into a modern university. He also emphasized the importance of student self-governance by putting the students in charge of the honor system the faculty had previously overseen. He proclaimed: "As a general principle you should not force young men to do their duty but let them do it voluntarily and thereby develop their characters." That principle helped to engender a campus culture that fostered honor, integrity, and civility. (All of which are sorely lacking on today’s campuses, directly because of the incessant leftist indoctrination.)

Upon Lee’s death on Oct. 12, 1870, the college had significantly enhanced its financial footing and grown its enrollment, thanks to Washington’s endowment and Lee’s guidance. At that time, the faculty requested that the trustees rename the college, originally called Augusta Academy and then rechristened Washington Academy, to recognize Lee’s contributions. The trustees agreed, changing the name to Washington and Lee University. Let us hope that the school’s current Board of Trustees respects the contributions of both men, and the scope of history, and leaves the name as is. But don’t count on it.

In today’s climate, the school will likely be renamed “Marx and Engels University.”  Possibly “Farrakhan and Sharpton University.”  “Schumer and Pelosi University?” “The College of Tlaib & Omar?”

Or, perhaps, in deference to our friends in the LGBTQ Community, “The College of Mary and Mary?” 

****************************************************************

Postscript: Since this piece was written, the college has decided not to change its name at this time. Hallelujah!

 

Blue Lives Murder

 

In the face of mounting criticism from law enforcement organizations, Amazon defended the sale of anti-police apparel on its online marketplace, saying it wants to provide customers "with the widest possible selection" of goods, according to a recent article on TheBlaze.

 In explaining why the company still sells apparel marked with the slogan "Blue Lives Murder," an Amazon spokeswoman told the Washington Free Beacon: "We do not endorse the content of any particular book, video, or product.” I see.

Amazon added a statement reading, "We understand that some customers may find some products objectionable, and we provide customers with a variety of ways to engage and express their views, including through product reviews.”

I’m sure the giant multinational e-commerce and technology company also sells “Fauci Murders,” “Cuomo Murders,” “Planned Parenthood Lives Murder,” “Democrat Lives Murder,” “Antifa Lives Murder,” and “Black Lives Murder More Blacks Than All Other Races’ Lives Put Together” apparel, as well. No?

Wonder what those product reviews would be like?

 

Cultural Climate Change: The Real Existential Threat

 

The confluence of multiculturalism, intersectionality, and extreme wokeness has led to its own rapid climate change. And this one is far more certain, much more concrete, and eminently easier to spot. It is cultural climate change…to the nth degree.

We are once again seeing preference given to people strictly on the basis of their skin color. Black Lives Matter, All Lives Do Not. Racial preferences abound in college admissions practices. Black? You’re in! Asian? You’re out! We are now, once again, segregating dorms, graduation ceremonies, and just about everything else, based solely on immutable characteristics such as skin color. There has even been talk in some states and localities of giving race-based preference for COVID-19 vaccinations.

Everyone must participate in the Big Lies, or risk ostracization, loss of employment, or worse. Repeat after Dr. Fauci, “COVID-19 is an existential threat, therefore we must all hide in our homes and cover our breathing apparati. Only a vaccine can set us free again…sort of, maybe.” Repeat after the mainstream media, Deep State, and the Biden administration, “There was no fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Anyone who believes that is a nutcase and should be prevented from speaking in a public forum…if not prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.” Repeat after the mainstream media, “Trump colluded with Russia. He is a Russian asset, a plant. He is an existential threat to democracy and this nation that we all love so dearly. And Russia massively interfered in the 2016 presidential election, probably enabling Trump to win.” Repeat after the education establishment, Big Media, Big Tech, Big Entertainment, and the Biden administration, “The U.S. is, and always has been, a systemically racist nation, overtly hostile to peoples of color, the LGBTQIA Community, and anyone not a white, cis-gendered, heterosexual Christian male.” Also repeat after the education establishment, Big Media, Big Tech, Big Entertainment, and the Biden administration, “It is our moral duty to allow every person of color, every non-Christian, everyone from any marginalized group to leave their own country and seek a new and promising beginning in the United States, without exception, that they might have a chance at a better life.”

I fully expect to see, in the very near future, formalized preference for Womyn, peoples of color, and members of the LGBTQIA community at amusement parks, in post office lines, at lunch counters, for cancer screening and baptisms, at boat launches…and probably everywhere else.

You sense it. You feel it. You know it. This type of climate change is real. And damaging. As are all forms of institutionalized racial preference and discrimination.

 

 

Jeopardy!

 

Fans of the popular "Jeopardy!" quiz show were dismayed recently when none of the contestants were able to answer a clue based on elementary knowledge of U.S. History. The show in question, hosted by "Big Bang Theory" actress and neuroscientist Mayim Bialik, saw contestant Robin Lozano choose the “Quotations” category for $800 during a round of Double Jeopardy. Bialik then gave Lozano the clue…from an exceedingly famous piece of historical oratory, stating: "'Government of the people, by the people, for the people' is from the end of this brief but powerful speech.”

Seconds passed and then some more…until the final buzzer sounded without any of the contestants offering so much as a guess at the solution to the clue.

The correct answer, of course, would have been, “What is the Gettysburg Address.” Given the pathetic state of history education in the U.S. in recent years, the fact that not one of the contestants knew the answer should not have been shocking.

We will soon see a “Jeopardy!” host ask contestants, “What is the capital of the United States?” only to be answered with, “What is California?” The query, “Who is known as the father of our country?” will generate the reply, “Who is Puff Daddy?”

Similarly, the interrogatory, “What are the three branches of American government?” will be responded to with, “What are the FBI, CIA, Capitol and Bicameral?”

“No, Justice, none of those are correct. And there aren’t four branches of government.”

Etc.

           We are all in Jeopardy.

Commonality VS. Disharmony

 

The founders knew that commonality was a great benefit to the Republic. It brought harmony and stability. That is why the 1795 Immigration Act specified that new Americans “be attached to the principals of the United States” as “this leads to good order and harmony.” They wished to make certain that we only brought in immigrants who loved America and would put America first—you might have heard of that phrase-- and would screen out all others. Today's Democrats seem to want to screen out only those who would put America first and let in all others. It’s hard to imagine a bigger change than that…or one so obviously destructive to the nation and those that wish to come here because of their love for the freedom and opportunity it has traditionally stood for.

Democrats obsessively focus on identity politics for similar reasons, and champion those who try to break our society apart, such as those who looted businesses, burned cities, toppled statues, and threatened all who dared to get in their way during last summer’s “mostly peaceful” riots. They know the nation’s demographics have changed so much that they can now cobble together a bare majority of people from identity and special interest groups-- people who have no affinity for America other than its largess-- and win national elections. Or steal them. (Screw you FaceBook, Twitter, Instagram, CNN, et. al., if you think you can dictate what everyone else is “allowed” to believe, think, or say.) The demographic tide moves inexorably in their direction, because of their own actions. They will do anything to get power over you and I…and keep it.

And that tells you all you need to know about them.

How we react to their calumny will tell them all they need to know about us.

             

Facebook, Big Tech Genuflect To China

 

Facebook-- and the other social media giants-- exhibit preposterous and revolting virtue-signaling gall while cow-towing to Communist China and its military, not least by banning all references to the “Wuhan” or “Chinese” flu on their platforms due to their “racist” and bigoted nature. These monumental frauds and charlatans often claim to be all about morality and charity, and openly despise supposedly money-grubbing Republicans, yet they will do/allow/tolerate anything if they believe it is to the benefit of their own bottom line. If they are not the “focus of evil in the modern world,” they are aiding and abetting those that are. If they had a shred of decency/morality/integrity/humanity, they would be beyond ashamed. If they were really concerned about making the world a better place, they would “cancel” themselves.

It seems the billion-and-a-half Chinese—and the sales market they comprise-- are all they really care about…even after telling us that there are far too many humans now, and that this is inevitably leading to planetary destruction.

China’s carbon footprint, the largest in the world? Island-size plastic offal-heaps in the ocean, courtesy of the Middle Kingdom? Countless “artificial islands” being built in the South China Sea to be used as military bases with which to dominate sea lanes and threaten its neighbors? The imprisonment and torture of Uighurs? Tossing baby girls into the trash for decades like spent/used condoms under its “one-child” policy? Meh. No big whoop. What are you so excited about?

Yet these same entities until recently flat-out banned speculation that the COVID-19 virus may have somehow originated in a Wuhan lab that was studying coronaviruses at the time. People, President Trump included, were reprimanded, fired or sued for evening daring to utter the phrases “China Virus,” “Wuhan Flu,” or “Kung Flu.”

China may have engineered COVID-19 as a bioweapon. What is certain is that it is becoming much more technologically proficient, mostly from stealing information from the U.S. And that it is growing its navy at an astounding rate. It has simultaneously become increasingly smug and belligerent.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin purportedly said, “The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.”

Tragically, it appears he was correct.