What\u2019s too far to go?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In San Francisco, a school board voted to rename multiple schools with possibly objectionable names \u2014 including schools named after Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and the current Senior Senator from California, Dianne Feinstein.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We keep cancelling people \u2014 meaning vocal masses attempt to negate one\u2019s entire life contributions because of a singular aspect, sentence or deed\u2026 J.K.Rowling, John Muir, John Wayne, and now Dr. Seuss. Note the inanimate are equally nonexempt; see Eskimo Pie<\/em> and Mr. Potato Head.<\/em> Business institutions are also becoming questionable, with increasing calls to remove or at least rename entities such as Five Guys<\/em> (burgers) or moving co., Two Men and a Truck.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The voluminous voices seem to expect people before to think like people now \u2014 concluding they were bad; we are better. There is little grace in awareness of evolution of thought. In fact, if cancelling continues to be an accepted barometer of historic morality, I wonder what we<\/em> will be cancelled for decades from now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Please hear; we want to respect all people. We want to teach the generations that come. But too often as of late it seems the abrupt impulse to tear down is insisted on in place of incisive, mindful teaching. We tear down moments and monuments. We tear down even people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, the places we\u2019ll go\u2026 have we gone too far?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s be sensitive to what\u2019s outrageous. Let\u2019s also be honest about what\u2019s not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Allow me to quote the oft outrageous Bill Maher, not one typically quoted here due to perceived disrespect. What I uncannily appreciate about Maher, no less, is his intolerance of the intolerant, albeit with a typical, bitingly-sarcastic bent. Note his recent rant on HBO\u2019s \u201cReal Time\u201d (with editorial attempts to remove any denigration):<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCancel culture is real. It\u2019s insane. And it\u2019s growing exponentially. And it\u2019s coming to a neighborhood near you. If you think it\u2019s just for celebrities, no. In an era where everyone is online, everyone is a public figure\u2026 is this really who we want to become?\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Think about everything you\u2019ve ever texted, emailed, searched for, tweeted, blogged or said in passing. Or now even just witnessed. Someone had a confederate flag in their dorm room in 1990 and you didn\u2019t <\/em>do<\/em><\/strong> anything? You laughed at a Woody Allen movie? Andy Warhol was wrong. In the future everyone will not experience 15 minutes of <\/em>fame<\/em><\/strong> but 15 minutes of <\/em>shame.<\/em><\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n 62% of Americans say they have opinions they\u2019re afraid to share. 80% of Americans \u2014 young, old, rich, poor, conservative, liberal, white, minority \u2014 <\/em>all <\/em><\/strong>hate the current atmosphere of hypersensitivity. Yet everyone hates it, and no one stands up to it because it\u2019s always the safe thing to swallow what you really think and just join the mob.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So if someone asks you if Justin Timberlake owes Britney Spears an apology for not being a perfect boyfriend when they were teenagers, just say \u2018yes.\u2019 Easy\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018The Mandalorian\u2019s\u2019 Gina Carano is a person I\u2019d never heard of\u2026 She made some Nazi analogy \u2014 who doesn\u2019t these days?! \u2018You\u2019re like the Nazis\u2019 is the new \u2018I don\u2019t like you.\u2019 And it\u2019s always ok when Trump\u2019s the Nazi. <\/em>That<\/em><\/strong> disqualifies her?\u2026 By the way, you can\u2019t work in Hollywood if you don\u2019t believe what we believe. Yeah, in the 50\u2019s that\u2019s exactly what the left complained they were being told.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And the week before it was Chris Harrison\u2019s turn in the barrel; he\u2019s the host of \u2018The Bachelor\u2019 and is \u2018stepping away.\u2019 Stepping away to \u2018educate\u2019 himself on \u2018a more profound and productive level than ever before.\u2019 Oh, good. Good\u2026 and if I thought I couldn\u2019t count on \u2018The Bachelor\u2019 for moral guidance, I don\u2019t know if I could go on. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, he\u2019s not stepping away because he\u2019s the host of a televised snake pit where 32 female contestants are trapped in the sorority house\u2026 it\u2019s because he wouldn\u2019t throw one of them under the bus when it came to light that in college she attended a \u2018Dress Up Like We\u2019re in the Old South\u2019 party, which is not a type of party we should be throwing, in that it winks at a civilization built on slavery, yes. But apparently in 2018, millions of people were still doing it. And mature people understand humans are continually evolving \u2014 as opposed to \u2018Wokeville\u2019\u2026 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s Chris Harrison supposed to do? Build a time machine, go back to 2018 and knock the mint juleps out of their hands? Maybe while he\u2019s time traveling, he can have a word with that [bleep] Abraham Lincoln who\u2019s now cancelled in San Francisco \u2014 and they\u2019re thinking about it in Illinois. Yes, \u2018The Land of Lincoln\u2019 might cancel Lincoln\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Friends, how do we deal with what is no doubt a growing, glaring problem? From my limited vantage point, the \u201cmob\u201d is active. They are loud. What I don\u2019t believe they are, however, is the majority. \u201cVocal\u201d and \u201cmajority\u201d are not synonymous. One is known most for its volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There must be a wiser way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oh, yes\u2026 the places we\u2019ll go\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Respectfully\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n AR What\u2019s too far to go? In San Francisco, a school board voted to rename multiple schools with possibly objectionable names \u2014 including schools named after Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and the current Senior Senator from California, Dianne Feinstein. We keep cancelling people \u2014 meaning vocal masses attempt to negate one\u2019s entire life contributions because of … <\/p>\n
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