History has shown us time and time again that a zealous minority who is willing to use violence and terror can defeat a passive majority who is unwilling to resist. We are seeing that same thing happen here with the riots against free speech and the destruction of "inconvenient" historical monuments. To paraphrase a saying "at first they came for the extremists, and I did not help because I wasn't an extremist. Then they defined me as an extremist and there was no one left to help me." Or something like that.talltex wrote:Once the groundswell starts, there is no way to predict where it will end. Sixty days ago, none of this was realistically on the horizon--there were some protests and rhetoric about symbols of oppression but not much action. In one evening, all that changed because of Charlottesville. Within one week, cities all over the country are in the process of removing statues and monuments to try and avoid problems. It won't stop--even when all the Confederate monuments and symbols are removed--this will only encourage MORE of the same actions focused on any other issue they decide to go after next. You can't put the genie back in the bottle, and now that a few groups have seen how successfully they can bend the media and public officials to their will, they will be much MORE aggressive. I saw a story a few days ago where a Preacher in Chicago is already calling for removal of any statues or memorials to George Washington because he was a slave owner. Are we going to demolish or rename the Washington Monument and the Jefferson Memorial?? We are going to see an attempt to "sanitize" the history of our Country by this movement, rather than using it as a teaching and discussion opportunity that MIGHT bring some people together, rather than driving our country further and further apart, but I think that chance is no longer possible.
Orwell would be disappointed to see that his warnings have been ignored.