Joe Biden, our demented, deranged, and diminished President, has an interesting verbal tic. For decades he has told tall tales and make believe anecdotes that he thinks will be to his political advantage. From his silly “I was coal miner” to this cynical and vicious “the other driver involved in the death of my wife and infant daughter (in the 1970’s) was drunk,” there is no fantasy too fantastic for him not to utter. Not uncommonly, we know he is lying because he’ll insert the phrase “Not a joke!” The introduction to this article, which is about why so many girls and young women believe they want to become males, is definitely not a joke, as follows.
The time I spent in Kenya in 2002 and 2003 as the volunteer medical director (PA) of a remotely located clinic coincided with the peak of the African AIDS epidemic. AIDS was only one among many hideous diseases- malaria was actually more common- that maimed and killed so many, and never a week went by (sometimes never a day) where there was misery and suffering incomprehensible to most Americans. One horrific belief among some men with AIDS was that they could be cured by having sex with a young female, and the girl really didn’t have any say in the matter. One day, the tragedy of the day was a girl of perhaps 18 who, in one clinic visit, was diagnosed with AIDS, tuberculosis, syphilis, and noted to have peau d'orange on the skin on her breasts, suggestive of an atypical form of breast cancer. Keep this in mind when considering the things that cause us so much angst in our very privileged American lives.
To girls and young women: if you can’t live up to this standard of womanhood, if you’re not hot and sexy, you are a LOSER and might as well “transition” and become a guy.
Sam Brinton (standing) was a Biden appointee as a deputy assistant secretary, Dept. of Energy
As a nation, ashopefully compassionate and reasoned people, we need to understand and admit “transgenderism” is not real. Gender (or sex) is an immutable thing, and can no more be changed than eye color. My eyes are the most drab of colors- brown- and even though society has declared blue and green are the most desirable, mine are brown, and always will be.
That is not to say there is not something called “gender dysphoria.” The word “dysphoria” is of Greek origin and basically means difficult mood. We see the prefix “dys” in a number of medical words (dysuria- difficult urination) and “phoria” is often prefixed with “eu,” i.e. euphoria- a state of happiness, perhaps excessively so. Dysphorias of any type are an emotional state, in which a person typically has poor self-esteem, an inner directed dislike or even hatred, and a general dissatisfaction in life, as if something is seriously missing. These people are inclined to search for an explanation for how they feel, and are exceptionally susceptible to those offering easy answers, to those who are more than happy to exploit them. You can see this by watching predatory televangelists: “Send me a donation of $$$ and you will find everlasting comfort and joy in God’s love.”
There are a number of basic tenets that should be considered when analyzing this thing called “transgenderism,” with four of them as follows. First, it is almost exclusively a concept/luxury found in wealthy societies- people who live in impoverished countries and societies- most of the world- are busy worrying where they will find something to eat or if they will die of a tropical disease, not what pronoun they might prefer. Second, it went from essentially having no historical precedent to what amounts to a cultural pandemic in the blink of an eye, which is consistent with a fad and/or intentional propagation. Third, and relatedly, there are a significant number of upper caste people who profit, both financially and in regards to political and cultural power, by “transgenderism.” Finally, This type of frenetic movement inevitably takes on the characteristics of the harshest of religions: You WILL bow down before Baal and you WILL offer up sacrifices, lest you be destroyed!
A "drag queen" invited to read to children at a Binghamton, NY library
The Roxborough High School football team in a post-scrimmage huddle just before they were ambushed; two stills of the "coon hunters" taken from a video of the deadly incident(full video at bottom)
I would venture to say most Americans have never met an actual, true believer racist white supremacist. I am not talking about someone who doesn’t subscribe to “climate justice” or voted for Trump. I’m referring to white people who truly hate black people and find satisfaction in the oppression, maiming, and even killing of them. I have known, or at least met, a handful of dyed-in-the-wool white supremacists; they are people who don’t believe in the American ideals of equality, justice for all, and E. Pluribus Unum (out of many-one). More to the point, they are deranged losers. In the mid-80s I worked in a Federal prison where there were a few Aryan Brotherhood types, but they were much more violent criminal entrepreneurs than ideologues. When we (my wife and I) lived in South Alabama 2008-2012 our neighbor was a pathetic guy, a lifelong drunk in his 80s, who loved to talk of the KKK glory days of the 1960s (“When niggers knew their place!”). But it is a recent and tragic event in Philadelphia where several black high school football players were hunted down and shot, killing a 14 year-old boy and wounding several others, that got me to thinking about an honest to goodness white supremacist I came to know a little in the late 1970s.
The fantasies of a true Jim Crow racist
This verifiable racist I met in the 1970s was, curiously, a lawyer in Mississippi. His uncle was a long-serving Democrat Congressman, which might explain his admittance to the Mississippi bar. I recall him wearing camouflage clothing and talking about the joys “coon hunting” and “black topping,” the former meaning hunting down and shooting black people and the latter running over them with a car. I am pretty sure he never engaged in his fantasies, thank goodness. He was simply a hate-filled cowardly ass who happened to be born into social and economic privilege.
by Reid Fitzsimons (note: below are images of 12 very wealthy and powerful people who embrace "racial justice" and "diversity, equity, inclusion," yet all have a distinctive demographic quality).
The summer of 2020 was an intoxicating time for the elite and affluent: politicians, academics, celebrities, and corporate CEO’s. George Floyd had recently been killed and urban areas were filled with rioting and violence, and privileged liberals, those who lived in a world of materialism and money, could find meaning, and even adulation, in their otherwise superficial and vacuous lives. They could make grandiloquent pronouncements that they- especially those who never ventured outside their white privilege- were not just opposed to racism, but outraged by it, contrasting themselves with the ignorant masses who, whether realized or not, were all bigots and racists. Yes, the gilded members of the elite class would hop on that bandwagon, declaring Black Lives Matter! and, like the titled aristocrats and feudal lords of centuries ago, believed they could obtain salvation by words and gestures: even better than the of corrupt class of centuries ago, they didn’t actually have to pay for indulgences to pave their way to heaven. The acolytes of this new enlightenment- that America and tens of millions of its citizens were vile and disgusting racists- merely had to repeat trite and predictable slogans, and their white privilege could remain intact at no cost to them.
Adam Silver, NBA Commissioner
Jeff Bezos, CEO Amazon
Bob Chapek, Disney CEO
Going on two years later, what exactly did they get for their sophomoric and pandering rhetoric and support of BLM? First, BLM vilified the police and demanded they be “defunded.” So how did that work out? From 2019 to 2020 we witnessed the largest single increase in the murder rate in all the years it’s been recorded, about 30%, and it apparently didn’t level off in 2021. As always, a hugely disproportionate number of victims were black people and, contrary to the coveted narrative that police enjoy hunting down and killing black people, or that some nefarious “white supremacists” were responsible, the overwhelming majority of the killers were black, and they put an awful lot- 100’s- of truly innocent and beautiful black children caught in the cross-fire in the grave. A price the insulated virtue signalers were more than willing to pay for feeling warm and fuzzy and meaningful.
Sometimes there is little diversity among diversity-equity-inclusion activists
Note: The previous posting discussed the Salvation Army jumping on the “woke” train, so to speak. I sent the link to the heads of the Salvation Army administrative office closest to us, that being in Scranton, PA. I quickly received a friendly and brief reply (below at bottom) from Major Bob Schmig (they use military ranks in the Salvation Army hierarchy. Maj. Schmig offered no comment regarding the topic at hand, and I composed and sent him a follow-up e-mail/letter, which is the main text of this posting. Note that the term Pharisees is used, which defies simple definition but were basically a group of learned Jews around the time of Jesus that formed somewhat of a social/political class and emphasized adherence to the Laws of Moses and oral tradition. They tended to be privileged and numbered perhaps in the 1,000s. They received the animosity of Jesus because he perceived then as hypocrites in the “do as I say, not as I do” realm. In today’s terms, they might be referred in the political world as the Establishment, or more invectively, “the Swamp.”
Greetings Major Schmig:
Thank you for your prompt reply to my e-mail from several days ago, and I appreciate your taking the time to read my article, “The Salvation Army: Let’s Talk About Elitism.” You might have noted I mentioned a time as a volunteer medical director at a remote clinic in Kenya- this was in the early 2000’s and at the peak of the African AIDS crisis. It was a rare day in which a tragedy did not present itself, and I want to describe one so that you might better understand my perspective.
One horrible day we received word that 3 or 4 children were ill because they had eaten rotten fish that had been laced with insecticide and laid about in hopes of poisoning rabid dogs. I dispatched a vehicle but by the time it arrived all but one of the children had died. The one girl that returned, perhaps 7-years-old, was terrified, having witnessed truly miserable deaths of her younger siblings, and we couldn’t determine if she too had consumed the poisoned rotten fish. Nevertheless, though there was no protocol on how to treat such a thing, I empirically induced vomiting (if I recall) and had her drink slurry of charcoal through her tears and sobbing. Ultimately I assumed she hadn’t consumed the insecticide because I don’t think she would have survived regardless of treatment, and thankfully she was okay. Maybe you’ve witnessed and experienced similar events, but having seen so many children die during my time there, I developed a particular revulsion to children dying, perhaps especially black kids.
The current Salvation Army leadership, with the heads of their "International Social Justice" commission on the right
by Reid Fitzsimons
An interesting thing happened to the venerable and widely respected Salvation Army (SA): they were caught, so to speak, in the ether of political “wokeness,” and a lot of disappointment followed. Specifically, they posted on their website a “guide” entitled “Let’s Talk About Racism,” sometime in the Spring of 2021. This was outed, so to speak, by non-traditional media, specifically a group called Color Us United, in October 2021; the resulting publicity led the SA to delete the document in November. As part of their defense, they referred to it as a “study guide…for internal use,” and issued a rather acerbic and juvenile preamble on Nov. 25th: “This statement is in response to a politically motivated group that is trying to force The Salvation Army to conform to the group’s ideology of choice.” Here is a link to the full SA statement: https://www.salvationarmyusa.org/usn/story/the-salvation-armys-response-to-false-claims-on-the-topic-of-racism/
It’s never a good idea to take grandiloquent positions based on snippets from others so, after some difficulty, I did track down the deleted “Let’s Talk About Racism” document, and an associated study guide; it can be found at an internet archiving site called Wayback Machine (https://web.archive.org/). After reviewing the materials I, as a heretofore enthusiastic supporter of the SA, concluded the critics were correct, and that the apologetics issued by the SA were misleading and even self-righteous, and one of the terribly frustrating things about this controversy is that it was entirely unnecessary. So... Let’s Talk About Racism Elitism.
To be a bit acerbic myself, Let’s Talk About Racism is less a thoughtful and serious paper than one written for extra credit by a sophomore college student in a sociology class (minus the Biblical references), a class where the professor is an ageing hippie who yearns to be pertinent while dreaming of the halcyon days from the 60’s of “free love,” i.e. easy sex without responsibility or consequence, days long before “#MeToo.” It is rife with the vocabulary of the progressive word salad, and indeed begins with a specious argument, presented as established fact, that “Race is a social construct.” For anyone unfamiliar with the phrase “social construct,” it a means to diminish or deny what until now has been generally accepted, and is often used in a pejorative, disdainful manner; it is most commonly seen in the world of “transgender” polemics: gender is merely a social construct, and to believe there is a factual or biologic basis for male and female means you are an ignorant moron.
By Reid Fitzsimons (see the image gallery at the end of this article)
Many forces in our culture, which could properly be described as elite and privileged, have begun invoking a mantra- essentially an incantation with trappings of religiosity- consisting primarily of three words: diversity, equity, inclusion. These words especially emanate from the mouths and pens of the "woke" in academia, partisan political circles, corporate-financial-globalist interests, the celebrity world, university students, government bureaucracies at all levels and, increasingly, the military hierarchy. They are vacuous words, of course, used by people who shouldn’t have vacuous minds, but nevertheless tend to frame their thoughts with slogans and chants. I suspect if one of them were asked, for example, “What do you mean by ‘diversity?” the answer might be, ”People who don’t look like me. Diversity is our strength!” Does “equity” imply equality of opportunity or mandated outcomes, regardless of effort? Do those who demand “inclusion” embrace people who have contrary beliefs and opinions, or those they otherwise deplore?
This mantra has been incubating and evolving for many years, but its prominence greatly accelerated with the killing of George Floyd in May of 2020, and the many opportunities his death afforded, such as the power and money amassed by the elite black racialists of “Black Lives Matter.” If a mantra can be considered to be underlying principles, so to speak, then associated slogans are often calls to action, for example, “No Justice! No Peace!” or “defund” the police!” While mantras and slogans can be emotionally satisfying, they really shouldn’t form a foundation for law and social policy, and certainly not by those who are given authority over such things, yet sadly, and often with horrific consequences, they do. With this in mind, let’s consider a sobering historical fact and how it is applicable to today.
Accusing others of Racism in our present political and social climate is an efficient means for a person to find validation and meaning in their lives, at least for the kind of person that needs a bad “Them” so they can be part of the good “Us.” This is not unlike ill-balanced religious zealots who need others to serve as sinners so they can view themselves, in contrast, as Saints. Of course, as with so many things of this nature, word meanings are vague and often remain poorly defined.
In reality, racism is a concept that resists simplistic definitions, but rather it is better explained by category and example, which this article endeavors to do. First, an introductory warning: to anyone reading this who is emotionally and culturally fragile- prepare your fainting couch, because in a few instances the “N-word” is going to be spelled out fully.
Those who are inclined to hurl out the insult of “Racist” typical do so mindlessly, and they largely mean nothing more than anyone who disagrees with them, but if they were able to attach to it some significance, these are some possibilities:
True vile and hate-filled racism: In prior times, up into the 1960’s perhaps, truly vile racism was often public and even proud, but, where it exists today, it’s more of an hidden internet phenomenon among a handful of losers: the mostly mythical “white supremacists.” It is, fortunately, the least common form of racism, despite what social justice activists yearn to believe.
In my 62 years I have encountered this type racism twice. The first was in the late 1970s in Mississippi, where a complete jerk from a privileged family, who somehow became a lawyer, talked to me about “blacktopping the road-” intentionally running over black people. He also talked about the joys of “coon hunting” at night. As far as I know he was (fortunately) a despicable coward and never lived his fantasies.
The second encounter I had was in South Alabama soon after my wife and I moved there in 2008. I went to introduce myself to our new and elderly neighbor, and was asking him about lawn mowers when he spontaneously declared, “I don’t care much for niggers.” He went on to talk about the good old days when “niggers knew their place” and one time they got uppity and had to be driven from (presumably by the local KKK) a town in the area. We came to learn he had been a lifelong angry drunk who, ironically, had a hypoxic brain event soon after, and ended up being cared for by black caregivers.
Biased racism: this is a form of racism that has existed in my lifetime and was somewhat common- an inculcated a belief among certain whites that blacks were, simply, inferior. A perfect example of this type was as follows: I knew a person who owned (in the government backed loan sense of the word) a large amount of farmland in Mississippi, and he had a habit of hiring people as his farm managers right out of central casting for thieving rednecks.
Once, just after the latest manager absconded with pockets full of loot, I asked him if he might consider hiring Archie as the manager. Archie was a black man who had long been a dependable employee and knew farming front and back. He, the land owner, replied succinctly that Archie could not be considered because, “He’s a nigger.” He did not say this with any animosity and indeed he treated Archie and all his black farmhands well. It was simply a belief that a black person couldn’t function as a manager. In his defense, sometime later a woman with an agricultural related college degree applied to be the farm manager. I asked him why he didn’t hire her and his response was a predictable, “Because she’s a woman.”
Observational and descriptive racism: When I lived in East Africa many years ago it was common for kids to run about excitedly as I passed by shouting “Mzungu,” which essentially means “White Person” in Swahili. They were certainly not racist, simply observing that they saw a relatively rare white guy. Unfortunately, invoking a description of race, for example saying in a rural mostly white small town, “I saw a black guy crossing the street,” might be construed by easily offended “social justice” activists as racist.
Progressive politicians, feeling anointed and obligated to somehow shield black Americans from reality, have decreed that using race in describing a suspected criminal, for example, is prohibited. Hence, in some cities it is disallowed to say, “The suspect is a young black male of average size.”
Unfamiliar racism: There was an old widow neighbor (recently deceased) who my wife and I helped quite a bit- we live in a mostly white rural area and she simply hadn’t been around black people much. I was telling her that we were going to bring over from Kenya a black man to attend college in the US, that he was going to spend some time with us, and that she would enjoy meeting him. She said, “I don’t know, I’ve never had a black person in my house before,” a statement that could easily elicit a charge of racism from sensitive activist. Once he arrived she was very welcoming, was quickly and thoroughly charmed by him, and even gave him a hug when he left for school. This man is from a very dark-skinned tribe, and she observed, “He’s the darkest black person I ever saw!”
Note: USAA (United Services Automobile Association) is a membership based insurance company begun in the 1920s by a group of Army officers. Over the decades they grew considerably and branched out into financial services. Some type of military association is required to be a member and they have developed a deserved reputation for integrity and service. I’ve been a member for 37 years, and I (along with my wife) use them for our car and house insurance and many of our banking needs. One great plus of USAA is that it has been operated by serious and competent adults who never gave in to societal and political fads and pressures, until now. Below is a letter to Wayne Peacock, the newly installed CEO of USAA and the first who has never served in the military, in response to a position statement he released fully aligning USAA with the woke social justice activism (that statement can be found at the bottom of the page).
Greetings Mr. Peacock:
I had thought to myself with satisfaction that USAA was one of the exceptional companies that had the strength of character and sobriety to not succumb to the coercion and disingenuousness of the popular culture of the moment. That is, until I found your letter of supplicating mea culpa apologetics when I signed on to my USAA account.
I cannot recall in my lifetime a situation in which there has been unanimous agreement on a value- in this case revulsion at the brutal murder of George Floyd- that was so quickly exploited so as to create division and foster hatred and even violence. The underlying premise, that black lives matter (BLM), is fine as far as it goes, because everyone’s life matters, regardless of race, ethnicity, etc. What we know is that the political and cultural movement known as BLM in fact embraces racism by selectively applying worth to black Americans on a commodity basis, and finding marketable value only when the manner of death can be used for profit: if a black American is one of the handful killed by a white cop, for example, there is titillation; if a black American is one of approximately 6,500 killed by intra-racial violence every year there is something between silence and embarrassment: the former must be exploited, the latter ignored.
A reference to Bruce Jenner receiving an ESPN "courage award."
by Reid Fitzsimons
We live in a rural and decidedly Republican area of
Northeast, PA- our county went for Trump something like 70/30 in 2016. Down the hill is a little town of perhaps
150 people, and in the 8years we’ve been here a house on Main Street has
distinctly displayed several flags, including the US flag, a “rainbow” flag
that contained the words “Don’t Tread On Me,” and one that stated, “Born This
Way;” the flags have weathered and faded over time and have been replaced. I have never seen the person or persons who
live in this house but I assume he, she, or they are homosexual activists of
some sort. I’ve never heard of any
trouble, such as the flags being stolen or anti-homosexual graffiti, but this
is not surprising as the overall conservative philosophy in such matters is
“whatever you do, though it might not be my cup of tea, is yours to do as long
as it doesn’t interfere with the rights of others.”
The progressive left has certain immutable beliefs that
paradoxically often prove to be quite fluid. The above-mentioned sentiment,
“Born This Way,” implies there is a genetic imperative connected to
homosexuality. While I’m fairly certain
there is no established “homosexual gene,” this concept has been a mainstay of
homosexual activism, which disallows any suggestion that a homosexual can
change, therefore any treatments or therapies (“conversion therapy”) are not
only scorned but in some cases have been made illegal. Curiously this is in direct opposition to
what is called transgenderism, the advocates of which declare that scientific
genetics (xx versus xy) can and should be ignored, because concepts of gender
are merely “social constructs,” specifically those created by oppressive
conservative males of European descent. Also, curiously, conversion therapy in
regards to transgenderism is not only allowed but demanded by activists.
I can’t help but think the displayer(s) of these flags
wouldn’t mind a little “homophobic” action, some vandalism or the like- they
are obviously trying to make a statement and I suspect they would like some
kind of confirmation that they’ve been heard.
Ironically for decades “tolerance,” which is plentiful, has been the
catchword of such activists, their ostensible goal, but it is really approbation
that is being sought, and the problem with affirmation/approbation is that it
is an extrinsic phenomenon that by nature requires the participation of
other people. Tolerance is a passive
live and let live thing; approval, and the associated demands of “embracing”
and “celebrating” is active, and herein lies a political and social
dilemma.
