When I started this blog so many years ago I thought the title would be a signal that not all you read can be believed and even what you see is hard to believe. But today I stand shocked and struck down. I have been cultivating in my head a post that I hoped I had time to write tomorrow morning, trying to be level headed and challenge those that think the answer to the ignorant violence of the Nazi marchers is to vandalize and destroy the monuments you hate. Spray painting statues and pulling them down is no way to protest. We can talk about how a community wants to remember its history. I actually have a lot to say about remembering the ugly past we as a nation must not forget and talking about how some people see that as a heritage. I don't believe we should build monuments to traitors, but I also understand that the Civil War was a war fought by a country that was a new experiment that struggled with where do the rights of the people lie. Slavery, was a disgusting component of the war leading our modern sensibilities to reduce the discussion to that but it was much more than slavery that led farm boys to take up arms against the federal government. So when a southern looks at Stone Mountain or a Robert E. Lee statue, I have no idea what they are thinking but I can't assume they long for a time of slavery again. Some people do. Some of them marched in Charlottesville. Many others think of a nostalgia that they understand is complicated. A time and place that we can't understand fully. To them the heroes of the confederacy might be like the uncle who drops his pants in the living room at Thanksgiving and never fully zips up after the meal. He is embarrassing, he is wrong, but he is still your uncle.
I also wanted to say that it is okay to criticize the President of the United States for not denouncing the Nazis right away. I was part of the angry calls for him to stand at a microphone and attack those that spew such hatred and some doing it in his name. Name them for what they are, not the wishy-washy both sides. So he did, and I saw many say "that's not enough". Let's face reality I thought. This guy is not intelligent and highly emotional. He reacts like a toddler or a drunk guy in a bar. So even when he reads a statement I don't believe he believes it, but I wanted to say the act of calling them out was a step in the right direction. But I can't defend that move any more. Because this afternoon he took it all back.
While telling us how smart and excellent his statement on Saturday was, where he said that the hatred was on many sides, he decided that the left was just as much to blame as the right. That he couldn't condemn the Nazis because he didn't know the facts. Well Mr. President the facts are simple. A group of people marched in an American city calling for the death of blacks and Jews. They carried weapons and torches, the beat on and chased away people at prayer and yes, there was an anti-fascist demonstration that attacked the Nazis. That is true, but you see when someone threatens to eliminate you I think it makes sense to respond with anger. But here is the thing. Today the President said
“You had some very bad people in that group. You also had some very fine people on both sides,”
No, no you don't. There are no fine people on the side of the Nazis, none. If you call yourself a White Nationalist, if you chant "Jews will not replace us" and "Blood and Soil". You are not a fine person. If you call a woman murdered by one of your minions "a fat slut" as the internet voice of the groups that gathered did of the young woman, Heather Heyer, the you are not a fine person. If you think that you are superior to other humans because the circumstances of your birth, you are not a fine person, and if you believe that only you and those who think like you have a place in this country you are not a fine person. Mr. President can you fine me one fine person. If only he were more like Abraham arguing for Sodom and Gemmorah in the Torah, looking for 10 righteous people. But for the President it isn't about finding 10 righteous people. It appears some part of him believes that many minorities are inferior, criminal, dangerous and he attacks them and has for as long as I have known of his existence. Today, the President of the United States called some Nazis fine people. Let that sink in. A woman is dead, the worst of the worst are emboldened, and our President is attacking the media instead of the terrorists who descended on a small town with the intention of causing mayhem. This is wrong. This is simply wrong.
I also wanted to say that it is okay to criticize the President of the United States for not denouncing the Nazis right away. I was part of the angry calls for him to stand at a microphone and attack those that spew such hatred and some doing it in his name. Name them for what they are, not the wishy-washy both sides. So he did, and I saw many say "that's not enough". Let's face reality I thought. This guy is not intelligent and highly emotional. He reacts like a toddler or a drunk guy in a bar. So even when he reads a statement I don't believe he believes it, but I wanted to say the act of calling them out was a step in the right direction. But I can't defend that move any more. Because this afternoon he took it all back.
While telling us how smart and excellent his statement on Saturday was, where he said that the hatred was on many sides, he decided that the left was just as much to blame as the right. That he couldn't condemn the Nazis because he didn't know the facts. Well Mr. President the facts are simple. A group of people marched in an American city calling for the death of blacks and Jews. They carried weapons and torches, the beat on and chased away people at prayer and yes, there was an anti-fascist demonstration that attacked the Nazis. That is true, but you see when someone threatens to eliminate you I think it makes sense to respond with anger. But here is the thing. Today the President said
“You had some very bad people in that group. You also had some very fine people on both sides,”
No, no you don't. There are no fine people on the side of the Nazis, none. If you call yourself a White Nationalist, if you chant "Jews will not replace us" and "Blood and Soil". You are not a fine person. If you call a woman murdered by one of your minions "a fat slut" as the internet voice of the groups that gathered did of the young woman, Heather Heyer, the you are not a fine person. If you think that you are superior to other humans because the circumstances of your birth, you are not a fine person, and if you believe that only you and those who think like you have a place in this country you are not a fine person. Mr. President can you fine me one fine person. If only he were more like Abraham arguing for Sodom and Gemmorah in the Torah, looking for 10 righteous people. But for the President it isn't about finding 10 righteous people. It appears some part of him believes that many minorities are inferior, criminal, dangerous and he attacks them and has for as long as I have known of his existence. Today, the President of the United States called some Nazis fine people. Let that sink in. A woman is dead, the worst of the worst are emboldened, and our President is attacking the media instead of the terrorists who descended on a small town with the intention of causing mayhem. This is wrong. This is simply wrong.
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