Are You Proud Now?
I’ve been a lifelong listener, watcher, and news junkie. When I was 13, I remember listening to talk radio, thinking about the issues of the day. I cried the day Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. I likewise cried when Bobby Kennedy was killed. The Yom Kippur was in 1973 almost did me in.
History comes into it. My Dad was fascinated by history, especially the Civil War and World War II in Europe, so I became just as fascinated. Winston Churchill said, “Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.” So I studied both eras extensively and still do.
All of this leads me to the events of January 6 in the American Capitol. I was profoundly shocked by what happened. As a matter of fact, I’ve stayed off social media since because it triggered my PTSD.
I’ve been reading reports from various legitimate news agencies, upon whom I’ve relied for decades. I’ve read reports from the FBI and the Capitol Police. I’m appalled that the people who led the attack have been allowed to fester and stew in their basements and their underground.
The groups involved in the attack included white supremacists (you can see the Confederate flag in the photo above and throughout the siege). Neo-Nazi groups were there, as were other militia groups who think they have the right to overthrow the US government.
The FBI, as reported by NPR, said individuals in some of these groups believe that only one percent of the colonists in 1776 attacked and overthrew the British. Well, that’s right and not right. In any war, a small number of the total population fights. But that doesn’t mean only one percent of the population deemed it necessary.
Thinking back on the Civil War, the Southern states relied heavily on slave labor for agriculture, while the North had a wealth of industry. When an agrarian society comes smack up against industry, it has to give way. The South lost because not only were their ideas just wrong (which even Thomas Jefferson and George Washington, slave owners, acknowledged), they lacked the ability to produce their own goods, including military goods. They lost.
In Germany, a small number of hateful men decided they wanted to create a world where only perfect people lived. They went about it by destroying the lives of millions of those who didn’t agree with their vision — Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, those with physical/mental complications, gypsies, and scores of other groups were sent to concentration camps. The Nazis lost because they were following a demented man who was a dictator but evil, manipulative, and just plain wrong.
There’s a saying, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Apple trees will always produce apples. Angry leaders will produce angry followers. Those who follow Neo-Nazi thinking, white supremacist ideas, evil men, and ideas cannot win. They may seem to win for a short time, as Hitler and Lee did, but in the end, they cannot win. Those ideas have failed in the past and will continue to fail. Why? Because they’re just wrong.
Don’t give up hope. Things will ultimately get better.
