Month: September 2017

*sigh*

If I hear one more redneck rant about how football players kneeling during the National Anthem is disrespectful to veterans, I am going to start the next American Civil War single handed.

Let me be clear, as a veteran, I will tell you flat out that I take NO OFFENSE whatsoever to football players kneeling to protest injustice. I fought for their right to do this. We are a nation founded on civil disobedience. Our breaking from England was a massive act of civil disobedience.

If you are so upset about football players kneeling, by all means, boycott the NFL. But, have the guts to admit that it is because YOU are upset, not because you actually think veterans are being dishonored. Quit hiding behind us and quit using us to justify your anger.

I am dishonored by people who do not believe that their fellow Americans have a right to protest what they see as systemic injustice. If you want to take the politics out of sports, quit playing the National Anthem prior to the start of the game.

The anthem started being played during, and later before, sporting events to gin up enthusiasm for WWI recruitment. That, in and of itself, is political.

I do believe that some of you cannot admit that what actually upsets you is that people of color are getting “uppity” and forgetting “their place” in society. If we are a society that respects the right to protest, then we must respect the right of these sports figures to kneel in protest.

Oh, if you really want to do something to honor veterans, I would suggest that you should lobby Congress to quit voting down EVERY SINGLE BILL designed to benefit veterans. Then, and only then, might I see you as having a moral argument behind your outrage.

Until then, you are just a bunch of assholes.

I started this blog in an attempt to be a reasonably objective observer of our modern times. I stopped for a while. Something about it rang hollow in my head.

I finally figured it out. I am not an objective observer. History is, and always has been, subjective. I am a subjective person.

We are currently debating whether or not Nazis should be tolerated in American society. I need to repeat that for my own self. We are currently debating whether or not Nazis should be tolerated in American society. I am having trouble wrapping my head around the entire concept.

Don’t get me wrong. I know this country has a racism problem. It is practically built into our foundations. It needs to be addressed and redressed.

But, that being said, the idea that we should, in any way, tolerate Nazis in America is beyond absurd. Over and over, people have talked about how certain protests dishonor veterans. I will address that in another post.

Let me talk about dishonoring veterans, our nation’s WWII war dead, and any other single person in this nation, or in the world, who sacrificed so much to end this scourge. At least they thought they were ending it.

Nazi-ism not only did not end, but, it seems to be flourishing in the new climate that is Trump’s America. I am left with a hollow feeling in the pit of my stomach.

So much so, that I must remind all of you what Nazi-ism really stands for.

WARNING: WHAT FOLLOWS IS VERY DISTURBING.

This is Nazi-ism:

This is Nazi-ism:

Does this hurt yet?:

I know (at least I hope I know) that these images are hard to view.  That is the point.  This is what Nazis do.  This is who Nazis are.  They are not good people.  They are not misguided.  They are an evil that has no place in the world.

They cannot be tolerated.  The Tolerance Paradox states that a tolerant society cannot tolerate intolerance.  It is insidious.  It infects.  It must be ended.