{"id":693,"date":"2022-01-04T14:46:59","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T19:46:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/?p=693"},"modified":"2022-01-06T09:13:44","modified_gmt":"2022-01-06T14:13:44","slug":"the-salvation-army-lets-talk-about-elitism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/?p=693","title":{"rendered":"The Salvation Army: Let\u2019s Talk About Elitism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-3 is-cropped\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"326\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/conservativeproletariat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/sa-leadership-3.jpg?resize=500%2C326&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"700\" data-link=\"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/?attachment_id=700\" class=\"wp-image-700\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/conservativeproletariat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/sa-leadership-3.jpg?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/conservativeproletariat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/sa-leadership-3.jpg?resize=300%2C196&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"326\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/conservativeproletariat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/sa-leadership-2-1.png?resize=500%2C326&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"701\" data-link=\"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/?attachment_id=701\" class=\"wp-image-701\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/conservativeproletariat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/sa-leadership-2-1.png?w=500&amp;ssl=1 500w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/conservativeproletariat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/sa-leadership-2-1.png?resize=300%2C196&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"474\" height=\"474\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/conservativeproletariat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/sa-international-social-justice-heads-1.jpg?resize=474%2C474&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"702\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/conservativeproletariat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/sa-international-social-justice-heads-1.jpg?resize=474%2C474&#038;ssl=1\" data-link=\"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/?attachment_id=702\" class=\"wp-image-702\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/conservativeproletariat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/sa-international-social-justice-heads-1.jpg?w=474&amp;ssl=1 474w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/conservativeproletariat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/sa-international-social-justice-heads-1.jpg?resize=300%2C300&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/conservativeproletariat.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/sa-international-social-justice-heads-1.jpg?resize=150%2C150&amp;ssl=1 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 474px) 100vw, 474px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><figcaption class=\"blocks-gallery-caption\">The current Salvation Army leadership, with the heads of their \"International Social Justice\" commission on the right<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>by Reid Fitzsimons<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An interesting thing happened to the venerable and widely respected Salvation Army (SA): they were caught, so to speak, in the ether of political \u201cwokeness,\u201d and a lot of disappointment followed. Specifically, they posted on their website a \u201cguide\u201d entitled \u201cLet\u2019s Talk About Racism,\u201d 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 \u201cstudy guide\u2026<em>for internal use<\/em>,\u201d and issued a rather acerbic and juvenile preamble on Nov. 25th: \u201cThis statement is in response to a politically motivated group that is trying to force The Salvation Army to conform to the group\u2019s ideology of choice.\u201d Here is a link to the full SA statement: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.salvationarmyusa.org\/usn\/story\/the-salvation-armys-response-to-false-claims-on-the-topic-of-racism\/\">https:\/\/www.salvationarmyusa.org\/usn\/story\/the-salvation-armys-response-to-false-claims-on-the-topic-of-racism\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s never a good idea to take grandiloquent positions based on snippets from others so, after some difficulty, I <em>did<\/em> track down the deleted \u201cLet\u2019s Talk About Racism\u201d document, and an associated study guide; it can be found at an internet archiving site called Wayback Machine (<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/\">https:\/\/web.archive.org\/<\/a>). 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\u2019s Talk About <s>Racism <\/s>Elitism.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To be a bit acerbic myself, Let\u2019s 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\u2019s of \u201cfree love,\u201d i.e. easy sex without responsibility or consequence, days long before \u201c#MeToo.\u201d It is rife with the vocabulary of the progressive word salad, and indeed begins with a specious argument, presented as established fact, that \u201cRace is a social construct.\u201d For anyone unfamiliar with the phrase \u201csocial construct,\u201d 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 \u201ctransgender\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--nextpage-->\n\n\n\n<p>A cousin to \u201csocial construct\u201d is \u201cconspiracy theorist,\u201d an ad hominem-style attack used to discredit people with a different opinion of any issue at hand: if someone believes that the corona virus originated at the lab in Wuhan, China (which seems increasingly likely), then they can be dismissed as a \u201cconspiracy theorist.\u201d Neologisms, accusations using ill-defined words, diminishment of others via ad hominem insults, are all part of the bread and butter of elite \u201cwokeness,\u201d and are all used in the SA\u2019s \u201cLet\u2019s Talk About Racism,\u201d to some extent, however pseudo-benevolently.<br><br>Cultural elitism- be it among corporate CEOs, religious leaders, Hollywood or music celebrities, or just plain white-bread rich people or privileged college students- is characterized by a belief that <em>they<\/em> exclusively possess knowledge that is unavailable to the socio-economically unwashed masses, and that their great commission is to share it with the small-minded ignorami. Their enlightenment may be disseminated via position papers, statements of core values, \u201cstudy guides,\u201d as in the case of the SA, or simply bumper stickers and yard signs. In fact, the internet is filled with templates and instructions on how to write \u201cDiversity and Inclusion Statements.\u201d In the end, they all sound pretty much the same, with the SA version differing only by making a number of references to Scripture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the unifying characteristics of the enlightened elite is that their work is done, salvation for them is at hand, simply by feeling outraged and informing the unenlightened plebeians they are sinful and wrong, and demanding that someone should do something: \u201cdefund\u201d the police, ban books and words, tear down statues, fire museum volunteer guides en mass because they were predominately white or, in one case, unearth a bolder because 100 years ago someone referred to it with a racist epithet. In 2020, a young mother spoke the forbidden phrase \u201cAll lives matter\u201d and was shot dead by an offended party. You see, consequences of words- and actions  inspired by those words- don\u2019t matter: the only concern of the elite is that they can feel good about themselves, and receive approbation from their like-minded peers (and perhaps make some money in the process).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;After opening with the decree that \u201cRace is a social construct,\u201d the SA document goes on to use the word \u201cWhite,\u201d in various incarnations, 119 times, including whiteness, White Communities, White Americans, White Men, and White Youth. Indeed, there are entire sections and appendixes on \u201cwhiteness.\u201d In the midst of all this, found in the associated study guide (and perhaps other places- the primary paper is a very long 67 pages and the study guide adds another 13), the utterly banal statement, \u201cThe only race is the human one,\u201d along with the predictable declaration that racism can be so entrenched that you have no idea you are a racist: you are a sinner and don\u2019t even know it! So the SA paper begins with denying the existence of race, then spends dozens of pages talking about whiteness, blackness, brownness, and \u201cpeople of color.\u201d And, by the way, the concept of being colorblind is racist:&nbsp; \u201cColor-blindness is often dangerous because while we may not claim to see color, we don\u2019t address the race-based stereotypes of beauty, fame and intelligence which often support a supremacist ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s Talk About Race\u201d has some fine print in the form of footnotes, resources, and references. Not surprisingly the SA, being an ostensibly Christian organization, many are associated with the Bible and other religious tomes. Their secular sources, however, are both interesting and disturbing. The following are listed in the first few pages, and across the board an objective person could reasonably describe all as part of the elite racialist caste:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"has-inline-color has-very-dark-gray-color\"><strong>Blair Imani<\/strong> (born Blair Elizabeth Brown; for a point of reference she \u201cidentifies\u201d as queer, black, bisexual, and Muslim); <strong>Michelle Alexander<\/strong>; <strong>Rima Vesely-Flad<\/strong>; <strong>Jemar Tisby<\/strong>; <strong>Angela Onwuachi-Willig<\/strong>; <strong>Zuleyka Zevallos<\/strong>; <strong>Ibram Xolani Kendi<\/strong> (born Ibram Henry Rogers).<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s Talk About Racism\u201d would more appropriately be termed a manifesto than a guide, and the SA using sources such as these to support their crusade would be like publishing a \u201cguide\u201d to Judaism based upon the odious Protocols of the Elders of Zion (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Protocols_of_the_Elders_of_Zion). Or perhaps, a liberal small town newspaper profiling a conservative candidate for school board by primarily using quotes from her vindictive ex-husband and his current nasty girlfriend, with whom he was having an affair when married.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Many years ago I was the volunteer medical director (PA) at a remote clinic in East Africa. My tribe, so to speak, was the Luo, a people so dark skinned as to be truly black. One night I was walking to my cottage and suddenly came upon a friend named William, an elderly gentleman working as a watchman. I said something like, \u201cYou startled me, I didn\u2019t see you.\u201d William replied, \u201cMr. Reid, I saw you coming from a long distance.\u201d He went on to make a statement both simple and profound: \u201cI am a black man, and you are a white man.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It requires a combination of hubris, vanity and temerity to declare to a group of people what they <em>do<\/em> think or what they <em>should<\/em> think based on such factors as skin color and ethnicity; in fact, this largely defines bigotry. I recall a recent statement by our current President during a radio interview with a predominately black audience that (if you don\u2019t vote for me) \u201cYou Ain\u2019t Black!\u201d Regarding the white and \u201cwoke\u201d elite, it\u2019s almost as if we\u2019ve gone 500 years into the past with the purchase of indulgences from the Catholic Church, a major factor that led to the Protestant Reformation. By spouting out words and phrases such as \u201cdiversity, equity, and inclusion\u201d or \u201csocial justice\u201d (or putting up BLM signs in their suburban landscapes) they are, in their mind, protecting themselves against accusations of \u201cracism.\u201d And perhaps, if this goes along with donating (as it is) other people\u2019s money to elite racialist organizations, they <em>can <\/em>succeed in buying cultural redemption and salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I mentioned above that this controversy with the SA was entirely unnecessary. Among the defenses of their \u201cguide\u201d was, \u201cThe truth is that The Salvation Army believes that racism is fundamentally incompatible with Christianity, and we are called to work toward a world where all people are loved, accepted, and valued.\u201d Not to sound too cynical, but an appropriate reply to that would be, \u201cWell, duh!\u201d Hubris, vanity, and temerity in action: no one who professes to be a Christian believes otherwise; the SA elite certainly are <em>not <\/em>special in this, though obviously they think they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While we certainly don\u2019t need the farcical pretense that race doesn\u2019t exist, what is much more pernicious is the mindset- and industry that supports it- that racism, real, or more commonly imagined, must be propagated and at the forefront of all cultural interactions. The woke elite, whose raison d'\u00eatre, regardless of skin color, depends on furthering racism, and those who tacitly or actively support them, such as the SA and their \u201cLet\u2019s Talk About Racism\u201d lesson, really need to become a quickly passing fad, like the pet rock. There in fact are negative, and even fatal, consequences of projecting on to people, based on skin color, beliefs in perpetual victimhood, personal fecklessness and dependency, emotional fragility, and easy outrage. Paradoxically and tragically, these consequences most commonly are suffered by \u201cblack and brown\u201d people. Personally, I\u2019m all for \u201cI am a black man, you are a white man,\u201d and go on from there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>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 \u201cwokeness,\u201d and a lot of disappointment followed. Specifically, they posted on their website a \u201cguide\u201d entitled \u201cLet\u2019s Talk About Racism,\u201d sometime in the Spring of 2021. This was <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/?p=693\">...continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[3,7,10,5,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ynMC-bb","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=693"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":706,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/693\/revisions\/706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}