Hate 101
We hear more and more about antisemitism across the country.
These anti-Semitic public protests, in conjunction with the Israeli military response to the terrorist group Hamas’ medieval and the brutal murders of some 1,400 Israelis and citizens of other countries on October 7th, are largely made up of college students.
On the surface, this thrust of latent hatred of Jews is difficult to comprehend. Initially we ask the question of “Where did this hatred come from?” Since the horrific holocaust of WWII, most of us thought the idea of the hatred of Jews was a thing of the past among our ranks.
We were and have been supportive of the re-creation of Israel in the former Palestine, the historical home of the Jews. The US was the first country to officially recognize Israel in 1948 and has been a friend and ally of Israel since then.
Certainly some of these students are Arabs here on student visas and come from cultures that have no tolerance for members of religions outside of being Moslem.
But most of these students are US citizens. We find it hard to believe that ant-Semitism is part of the influence they’ve received at home. Their parents know the history and the genocide experienced in the last world war and do not spew or condone hatred of Jews within their family units.
So where does it come from?
The answer is unfortunately from certain of their teachers and professors in schools.
It’s part of the ‘woke’ culture where most everyone is defined by whatever the victim group of identity(ies) they belong to.
In our colleges and universities, we’ll call it the Hate 101 class.
Many of our students at all academic levels have teachers who have bought into a hate for this country as espoused by the 1619 Project, Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs.
These hate ” classes” depict the United States as a leading stalwart of oppression, resulting in segregated groups of people who have methodically been oppressed by the government, businesses, and the culture. They leave no room for progress or the progression of history to make the American experience a unique and worthwhile goal of equal opportunity and freedom.
Our Constitution is based on the individual – not groups. The founding fathers were veterans of the Revolutionary War with lofty ideas and ideals of what a capitalistic republic could be. That the individual citizen was intrinsically endowed with certain rights and responsibilities with the government guaranteeing those rights and the freedom to pursue life, liberty, and happiness.
The United States did not begin as perfect. In order to form a union of the 13 states that together rebelled against the English monarchy, southern states were allowed to keep slaves for 20 years after the Constitution was ratified. Men were considered as the breadwinners and women’s roles were considered exclusively as homemakers – and they did not have the right to vote. Prejudice was not outlawed as free speech was allowed to everyone to express themselves.
But as our culture evolved, history tells us of the tremendous progress made over the last 2 centuries in the United States to extend those rights of equal justice, to vote, to equal opportunity for educational and economic success to all citizens.
While citizens have individual rights under our Constitution as amended, everyone is also expected to honor and defend those rights for each and all other individuals. Sort of a golden rule requisite of responsibility.
So, what should we expect from these high virtue signaling teachers and professors who in their short-sightedness try to depict the United States of 1619, 1776, 1850, and 1950 as not meeting the societal expectations of the year 2000?
Using this kind of ignorance, the rest of us are supposed to relearn the United States was founded under hypocritical principles and therefore we should hate it.
These same people now are in the streets supporting a societal culture of medieval times as it currently exists in many Arab countries. A culture where only males have rights, and slavery, butchery, and hatred for the ‘infidels’ is still not only condoned but required.
Let’s be honest. These anti-Semites and Hamas supporters would not live 10 minutes to protest in many of those countries and cultures they supposedly support. The teachers should be teaching that to their susceptible students.
In a theocracy like Iran has, or as Hamas, ISIS, Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups would establish caliphs, our current ignorant protesters and some members of Congress would get their ten-minute trial before a tribunal of clerics then promptly beheaded in some Arab countries. For the women, they’d likely be raped first.
Don’t misunderstand anything said here as anti-Muslim. The United States and other countries have followers of the Muslim religion who are outstanding citizens and love their respective countries – just as we/they count Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Hinduists, etc. among their outstanding citizen ranks.
Those majorities of us who support Israel’s right to exist and defend itself against hatred should not waver.
Our Constitution provides the right to free speech and assembly – even for the ignorant and misguided.
That doesn’t mean we have to listen.
*****************
Have a great and prosperous week.
Hug somebody.
SPIDER Bites
This week’s trivia question: What’s the best-selling Christmas single of all time? The answer to last week’s question of what the hottest planet is: Venus. Despite being the closest planet to the Sun at a distance of 36-million miles, Mercury is not the hottest planet in the solar system because it has virtually no atmosphere. Venus, on the other hand, while being twice as far from the sun has a thick, cloudy atmosphere that traps the sun’s heat and has an average surface temperature of 864 degrees Fahrenheit. Mercury will get to 800 degrees during the day, but plunges to minus 290 degrees at night.
Disney and other major corporations are finding the new “go woke, go broke” adage is too true. When some corporate execs and marketing people listen to social media, they may have thought they were listening to the market but are finding customers don’t want their products when the company entertains and supports the woke ideology. Disney’s stock prices have dropped 50% since it publicly supported the ‘don’t say gay’ lie in Florida. It has lost billions on its last 4 movies and park attendance is way down. Meanwhile, Anheuser Bush is trying to recover some of the major market share it lost with its Bud Light woke fiasco. You’d think those big guns would have all the tools and info on their markets to stay in touch.
Speaking of markets, President Biden’s actions to raise the price of oil and attempt to create a big market for EVs isn’t panning out so well. While EVs represented 9% of the market in the last year, inventories have increased by 506% from a year ago, with EVs sitting on lots an average of 82 days versus 64 days for gas-powered vehicles, according to CarGurus’ recent report. In response to slowing demand, automakers like Ford and GM are cutting production – and workers.
BTW, the amount of energy added to an EV battery is not equal to the amount of energy available to move the vehicle down the road. An EV will use 12 to 15 percent more energy than what is added as some energy is converted to heat, some is necessary to keep the battery at the right temperature during charging, and some is written off to what’s known as “transmission loss.” Want an EV?
Here’s more of being out of touch. President Biden agreed last week that prices are too high but blames companies for the overall 18% increase in prices since he took office. Meanwhile a poll showed 17% of voters supported the Biden economy – Bidenomics. Democratic political strategist, James Carville, coined the so true phrase in the 1992 election: “It’s the economy, stupid.”
One more government marketing failure. The Obama administration helped form the 5 state Great Lakes Wind Corporation to help streamline the permitting process for the huge number of wind turbines expected to be built on the Great Lakes. As of today there are no commercial wind turbines on any of the Great Lakes. Lakeshore property owners, like the folks on Cape Cod, don’t want to look at or listen to them.
According to the most recent poll, 51% of Americans are skipping getting a booster COVID shot this fall. Apparently, people are tired of it and are not afraid of the virus anymore.
Hamas bought some more ‘pause’ time from the Israeli military last week by freeing a few more hostages for soldiers held by Israel. Drip, drip, drip. Hostilities resumed Friday. One of the 20 American hostages was freed who is now a 4-year-old orphan since his parents were killed 10/7 by the terrorists.
I have to mention the passing of Sandra Day O’Conner, the first woman on the Supreme Court.
