Eighty years ago the Imperial Japanese Navy initiated war by attacking Pearl Harbor. We need to stop and remember the horror of the date that will live in infamy and the struggle that followed. Take time to pause the manufactured chaos and division and remember what binds us together as a nation is at risk by those who foment the divisions among us, largely for personal profit or power.
We also need to remember how we came together as a nation to face our enemy.
Today we stop and remember Pearl Harbor. Tomorrow, we forget and carry on like normal. Therein lies the danger. Society isn’t too far removed from the mindset the Japanese had in 1941. Media is, with a few exceptions, a propaganda outlet and no longer interested in seeking out the truth and serving the public good or bound by at least some semblance of journalistic integrity. We are at a point where Dan Rather retiring sixteen years ago seems like an act of journalistic virtue. Are we really at a point where Dan Rather’s thinly veiled propaganda and behavior is an example of virtue? Sadly, yes. That’s a sign of how far media ethics have eroded to the point of nonexistence.
Just as dangerously, elements of society believe they have the right to engage in violence as a form of protest. This isn’t the Civil Rights era peaceful protest. This is a fundamental belief that they have been systemically wronged and are justified to use violent protest as recourse. Just as dangerous are those who explicitly or implicitly support the violence and call to defund the police. We are now in a society where violence is allowed and defended, and as a result we see cascading consequences.
All but the extreme ends of both sides of the political spectrum have some common ground from which we can start to tackle the problems impacting society. We have areas of true and unreconcilable differences, but by working together on the areas where we agree we build the bonds of goodwill and inch by inch return society to a point where we can disagree without being disagreeable. We need to remember Pearl Harbor, but we also need to remember who we are as a nation and return to sensibilities that do not tolerate threat to individual freedom.
Two things about that:
(1) The Dan Rather story turned out to be more truthful than those of the “Swift Boat Veterans”… but, Rather realized the best move, as you said, was to step aside. The first rule of being in news is to never be the story and it’s not surprising a proud Texan, regardless of politics, was the one who believed that he needed to fall on his proverbial sword.
(2) The biggest takeaway is one that will be lost on many- that it’s people on both sides who are using violence and that should be the “last resort of last resorts.” With that, when people do peacefully protest, we need a culture where we listen to those who peacefully protest so they feel heard when they sit in, march, or hold passionate (but still peaceful) rallies.
We’ve forgotten that part of the equation. Often, during the Civil Rights Movement, peaceful protests were met with violence (often because they knew that if 100 pictures were taken, the one that would be on the front page of the paper would be the 1 retaliation). Ignoring peaceful protests is often more hurtful, even if bones aren’t broken.
In what way was Dan Rather more truthful that the Swift Vets? Rather’s Burkett story was entirely made up, whereas the Swift Boat Veterans were spot on in their criticism of Kerry and his Vietnam record. The entire mainstream news media, with the single exception of one article in the Washington Post which was buried, refused to examine the factual history that was available as verification.
“All but the extreme ends of both sides of the political spectrum have some common ground from which we can start to tackle the problems impacting society.”
Dare to dream. The communists, after not being stopped by McCarthy, went on to indoctrinate, recruit and populate the ranks of government, the MSM, academia, Hollywood, and so on.
They’ve indoctrinated too many Americans with anti-American values. They really feel the govt. should take care of them completely, cradle to grave, with a First World lifestyle they feel they are owed. The communists have sewn racial strife, and flooded our country with illegal and legal aliens who do not share our values as a Christian nation.
And so here we are. Exactly WHAT do I have in common with communists, and those indoctrinated by them? We had to practice duck and cover under desks, in fear of the communists, but now they are here, and actively destroying the country. The problem is compounded by the fact that these indoctrinated converts can’t yet see that the MSM is Pravda level propaganda. At least the Soviet citizenry knew they were being lied to. We haven’t reached that level of consciousness yet.
You mention peaceful protests. That’s not what has been happening for the last few years. We’re seeing anarcho-tyranny, as street thugs, many organized, terrorize the citizenry with impunity, as long as they have the right political leanings. Chavez did the same thing in Venezuela. Remember the big DNC/blm protest/riot last year? Verizon store looted to the bare walls. Cafe Express looted and destroyed. Other downtown businesses had windows shattered, as did stores in the Galleria and Highland Village. Houston was terrorized by marauding gangs of violent street thugs. Hundreds were arrested, despite the Dem. police chief telling his troops not to arrest if at all possible. And then……mass dismissals of those charges by Soros backed DA Kim Ogg.
Have the right political leanings…..it’s a literal get out of jail free card. One wonders if the cops who made the arrests were privately disciplined for the audacity to arrest (D) backed criminals?