Reflections on D-Day and America 2021

 

As I reflect on this day in history and the people who supported and participated in the invasion to take back Europe, I believe we’d do well to reflect on the resilience and sacrifice of that generation. It seems to me that in three generations we’ve lost something. I’m not certain I know exactly what we’ve lost. I do know what I observe.

Over the past decade I’ve observed: people who seem to be offended so easily as to appear they’re searching for anything to be offended by; a perversion of science for political gain (not new) by not only its consumers but by the reporting media and the scientists; a willingness to accept mediocrity; a growing belief in the need for immediacy; an educational system that not only fails to provide knowledge but fails to teach critical thinking; higher education that talks about diversity but doesn’t actually practice it; an alarming increase in the belief of and reliance on external agency; a lack of respect and understanding for history (the good, bad and the ugly); an inability or unwillingness to tolerate stress; a willingness to blame inanimate objects for the behaviors of individuals; a growing belief that one is owed more than one has earned; and, many who have argued against the binary nature of human beings now using a binary approach in arguments they make. It occurred to me as I’m typing that we lost (or are losing) our resilience and tolerance for sacrifice, that we’re also becoming reductionistic. Perhaps that’s it. We’ve entered a period of reductionism. Everything is too complicated. Where we had one, two, or three choices we now have so many that we’re exhausted by it all. But I know it’s not that simple. To boil it down to reductionism is reductionistic.

It makes sense that we’d want simple. It’s easy. It is predictable. We’re built to develop simple heuristics. It’s very adaptive. Unfortunately, simple just isn’t in our nature; especially when we have free time. And yet even when we acknowledge our messiness, we try to solve problems (big, messy problems) by altering one factor we think might be a lynch pin? Are we this naïve? If we treat the symptoms of an illness but not its cause we’re just waiting for it to run it’s course; either because we know it’s time-limited or it’s terminal. We’ve become so weak, ignorant, naïve, offended, overly sensitive, closed-minded, uncaring, pick your adjective, that we’re going to treat our problems with palliative care rather that rolling up our sleeves, being honest about the messiness and working toward fixing a big, messy problem we created and allowed to fester? My fear is that we will. We’ve lost what the greatest generation had. I’m worried that if we don’t start soon to regain what we’ve lost, we will pay a much greater price.

Critical Race Theory: Insidious, Racist, Marxist

 Critical Race Theory (CRT) has been around in other forms for a very long time. What frightens me is that it has made its way, as a THEORY taught as fact, from post-secondary education into government, and now into secondary and primary education. It is now being used to develop educational curriculum, government doctrine and will I predict be codified in some form. During this same time, we've see a decrease in respect for our nation from some of its own citizens, the loss of positive tradition such as The Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of our national anthem. An education system that teaches equity is owed rather than the constitutional promise of the right to pursue happiness, etc., and, the importance of and respect for hard work. The removal of history from public places (even racist history) to remind ourselves of our accomplishments and our sins. The belief that everyone (or maybe just a few) deserve "basic income" from the government. The changing of language to divide, silence, and demean the freest most generous country the world has ever known. And an education system that seems focused on   teaching "what to think" rather than "how to think". I think I see a pattern.

It is interesting to me that folks who talk on CRT never bring up the fact that CRT is an outgrowth of Critical Theory which in turn is based upon Marxist doctrine (Frankfurt School). CRT is different from classical Marxism in that it elevates Identity (race, sexuality, gender, etc.) rather than the Worker and believes power (the oppressor) needs to be overthrown from within (subversion) as well as from outside (protest/riot). It also teaches that one's reality (narrative) is to be developed and understood solely from one's personal experience rather than personal and shared experiences of all people coming together in a consensus. I would call this an anarchic approach to reality. I think I see a pattern

Forced hibernation over the past year was good for me musically. I found a new band, Jinjer, and I want to quote a lyric from their song, "Teacher, Teacher": "(Chorus)...When their prejudice let us down, We stand firmly on our ground, Don’t let their school make a fool of you, Because the teachers may be fools too..."

I will not allow myself to be fooled. And I will suffer no fool.

 TLDR: CRT = Identity politics = Cultural Marxism