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Midnight in the Republic, Volume 4
“In one of my antislavery campaigns in New York five and thirty years ago I had an appointment at Victor, a town in Ontario County. I was compelled to stop at the hotel. It was the custom at that time to seat the guests at a long table running the length of the dining-room. When I entered I was shown a little table off in the corner. I knew what it meant, but took my dinner all the same. When I went to the desk to pay my bill I said, ‘Now, landlord, be good enough to tell me just why you gave me my dinner at the little table in the corner by myself.’ He was equal to the occasion, and quickly replied, ‘Because, you see, I wished to give you something better than the others.’ The cool reply staggered me, and I gathered up my change, muttering only that I did not want to be treated better than other people, and bade him good morning.” – The Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, Page 331
[Emphasis added]
My, how times have changed. But then again, Mr. Douglass was concerned about equality and liberty for him and his people within the American Experiment. His cloak is worn today only as camouflage by those forces intent on grinding the American Experiment into the dirt. As seen at Powerline (Through Douglass’s Eyes), the deception is only in the visual:
By contrast with the stupidity and ignorance of the cultural revolution that stares us in the teeth, Douglass’s eloquence, subtlety, largeness, and insight are enough to make one weep.
“Largeness” indeed. (In reality and not just by comparison to the smallness of Obama’s (ala Frankenstein’s) Monster that now terrorizes the streets of many a city. Small, intellectually, is all it really could ever be. But I digress.) But the anti-American forces behind today’s movement are still making effective advancements for their evil…and clearly not sane…cause:
I confess to being nonplussed as to why America is allowing itself to be bullied by people who are at best ignorant and hateful, and in many cases not in full possession of their faculties. … But it is disheartening that in the war between the sane and the insane, America’s educational institutions can’t find the wit or the courage to stand with the sane.
But insanity rules the day. Witness the Lincoln County, OR, commissioner “who mandated that face masks are required, but only if you’re white” (@rightangles). Then, to amplify the stupidity and ignorance of the whole situation, this was rescinded not because it was clearly racist but because the reaction to it was “racist” (@spin):
“We are shocked and appalled at the volume of horrifically racist commentary we have received regarding this policy exception,” that statement said in part. “The expressions of racism regarding the exception has created a ripple of fear throughout our communities of color. The very policy meant to protect them is now making them a target for further discrimination and harassment.”
That brings us to this morning’s post by @flicker that forewarns the near future where companies blacklist individuals for perceived political incorrectness…and extend the punishment to their families:
If I wanted to leave Gab tomorrow … and start a lemonade stand I wouldn’t be able to obtain merchant processing for it. Simply because my name is Andrew Torba. If my wife wants to start a business she won’t be able to obtain merchant processing because she lives at the same address as me and would be flagged by Visa.
This is obviously very concerning. We have done nothing wrong. Gab is and always has been a legally operated business. … My personal credit score is in the 800’s. I pay my bills. I have a wife and daughter to provide for, yet we are all being punished and defamed because someone at Visa has it out for me.
We were told that Visa has someone camping on our website watching our payment processing. As soon as we get a new processor up they find out who it is on their end and contact them.
(It may be a good time to be at least somewhat “hidden behind a fake name.” NOTE: Don’t feel the need to bend to the pressure of the stoolies in our midst on this issue. But I digress.)
It will be interesting to see how this kind of thing is greeted by the public and the market for the businesses who chose to play this game. Does half the country cancel their Visa card and move to a platform (existing or new) that is more…well, pro-American (or at least not overtly anti-American)? While the social fabric of the nation continues to rip apart, does the country also proceed to divide into two separate entities occupying the same landmass? A year from now will the two sides be shopping at separate politically specific grocery stores and gas stations, seeing separate politically specific doctors and dentists, carrying separate politically specific credit/debit cards and using separate politically specific bathrooms and drinking fountains? Progress in this anti-intellectual era sure does have a familiar stench to it.
This is not the stuff that generally results in a “healing.”
Welcome to the era of conspicuous American anti-intellectualism…with Visa and the Ivy League leading the way. Welcome to the abyss.
EDIT: (See also Volume 1, Volume 2, and Volume 3)
Published in General
I feel as if I’m living in a bad dream and want someone to wake me up. I keep trying to maintain hope that somehow, in some way, people will come to their senses before it’s too late. Is that a foolish wish? Good post, Philo.
Remember when 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, and Anthem were cautionary tales, not “how-to” manuals? (H/t Instapundit)
Indeed. But make sure you are current on your anti-depressant medications.
Susan, its hard to figure how deep the rot really is. I suppose the election will give us a pretty good answer. All I can say is my friends can barely be civil since they know I’m not a CNN liberal. I avoid politics, but they know I question their worldview and they have reached the point where they can no longer tolerate it. One long-time friend literally screamed in my face because I admitted I would vote for Trump (he was drunk and apologized the next day). Another has turned a cold shoulder because she dropped off a Black Lives Matter sign and I won’t put it up at my house. She, by the way, works in law enforcement and has a mixed-race child, but is sympathetic to “burn it all down.” The emotion is seething here in Portland. Today I sign papers to sell my home I’ve lived in for 23 years. I find it hard to see how Portland doesn’t go into decline now that police budgets are cut, taxes have been raised again, and property will not be protected from the mob. This once clean, vibrant, beautiful, fun city will be in decline at least for awhile. What made me decide to leave – and this is not easy – is the hatred shown during the “protests.” The “kill all cops” and “silence=violence” and other signs. I thought the liberals were a bit nutty, but harmless. I’m pretty sure I was wrong.
All of your experience that you describe is horrible, @johnberg. I’m so sorry that your life has been disrupted in such despicable ways. People are losing their humanity; they are losing their minds. I can understand your decision to move–so very sad.
BTW, I love the photo of the dog for your avatar!
Philo, good post. I have a comment about one phrase:
It looks more like conspicuous intellectual anti-Americanism to me.
Well, I meant what I said at the time that I said it. In the context of what I was thinking, I could also go with “conspicuous anti-Americanism” but, given the examples of VISA and the Ivy League, I would leave the “intellectual” part out as it clearly does not apply.
Via Instapundit:
A lot of intellectuals are anti-intellectual. It’s especially a problem in the education industry, but not only there.
As much as I don’t like to do it, I will give the H/T and link to Patterico’s Pontifications for this one (Sometimes the Crocodile Eats the Appeaser First):
[Emphasis added]
Continued…
…Continued
More:
Turner, 29, resigned from Kindness … criticizing Kindness for what she termed “performative activism” — meaning that Kindness touted the movement on social media but didn’t do enough in real life to expand its community beyond white culture. She also pointed out a lack of diversity on the company’s board of directors, which until this year, was all white.
Turner also posted a video to her blog, railing against the former CEO’s tears as well as Harrington’s expression of “sadness” regarding her resignation.
“The weaponizing of sadness and tears is infuriating,” Turner said in her viral video. “It is one of the more insidious factors of white supremacy and whiteness. And it is used as a tool and as a tactic to make me feel in this Black body that I have done something inherently wrong to bring this sadness upon you.”
On her Instagram account, Turner asked her 4,520 followers to continue calling out not just Kindness but other yoga studios. “This is a rallying cry for every white-owned yoga studio to step the (expletive) up and be better,” she wrote. In a post called “action steps,” she provided Harrington’s email and phone number and requested that people not only ask Harrington to “provide reparations” to his minority teachers, but to cancel their yoga memberships.
[Emphasis added]
It will never be enough. You will be made to care.
That’s pretty good. Demand performative activism from everyone, and then when people perform, destroy them for engaging in performative activism.
It’s good work if you can get it.
Yet another edition of the “daily cascade of insanity from the Left”:
You worry about 1929 because of 1941.
And yet we will hear again that this is not a Flight 93 election.
I went to look up the “official reason” for the exemption of blacks from wearing masks and it made no sense.
“According to guidance from the Oregon Health Authority, businesses should take into account that requiring people to wear face coverings impacts everyone differently, including people of color who may have heightened concerns about racial profiling.”
Why would wearing a mask during the pandemic cause a black person to be profiled? Like I said, it makes no sense.
And apparently in addition to the whites who were objecting (and accused of racism) there were blacks that complained that an exemption like this just made things worse. Ya think?