{"id":764,"date":"2022-06-12T19:32:02","date_gmt":"2022-06-12T23:32:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/?p=764"},"modified":"2022-06-12T19:32:02","modified_gmt":"2022-06-12T23:32:02","slug":"country-club-activism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/?p=764","title":{"rendered":"Country Club Activism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
By Reid Fitzsimons<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve posted a few commentaries previously about a financial and insurance company called USAA. It is a Fortune 500 enterprise that was founded 100 years ago to serve the insurance needs of military officers. In it\u2019s day, USAA was perhaps the most respectable company of its kind: it was that prized auto mechanic, competent, always honest, and you never have to wonder if he\u2019s trying to get over on you. Sadly, like so many corporate entities run by white and wealthy aristocrats, the CEO of USAA declared himself to have found \u201csocial justice\u201d salvation, and became yet another tiresome former \u201csinner\u201d who, were he a religious zealot, would have said he saw the light of Allah or Jesus or whatever and came to view non-coreligionists as soiled people, worthy of scorn and contempt: \u201cI am so much more righteous than everyone else!\u201d<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally USAA was the<\/em> financial and insurance ally of military service members and veterans, but as it moved to the extreme left they came to use abuse and exploit the prestige inherent to its member base to further their country club activism. Hence, when the integrity compromised CEO put out a Memorial Day message, I responded on the USAA member forum, then responded to a reply, as follows:<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Empty Words From USAA<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is an amalgam of black racialist elites and the wealthy and largely white establishment aristocracy. BLM is a vocally and unapologetically anti-American organization. Its demands have been associated with the violent deaths of 1,000s of black people- this is not hyperbole but statistically evident- and the founders and leadership of BLM been repeatedly caught using donations to fund personal luxuries in crass forms of corruption. USAA unequivocally supports BLM and, as a representative of the USAA CEO (Wayne Peacock) told me in August 2020, USAA will never back away from that support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
Statistically, the majority of these increases were among black people<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The other day USAA CEO Peacock issued a Memorial Day statement. The problem is, of course, that any statement speaking of reverence for the many who have given their lives in defense of America are hollow words when coming from the mouth of Wayne Peacock- evidently with support of the USAA Board: one cannot venerate the hundreds of thousands of Americans who have given their lives for the traditions and foundational values of America while at the same time standing behind people who actively disdain and detest those same values and traditions. USAA uses the integrity and courage of service members, veterans, and those who have sacrificed their bodies and lives as marketing tools, means to maximize profits, and in doing so dishonors them. It wasn\u2019t always this way- until recently USAA sincerely stood behind America and those who defended it through the centuries, now USAA stands behind selfish and privileged people who deplore and divide America and Americans, yet are more than happy to exploit it for personal gain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I truly hope in my lifetime- I\u2019m a 38 or 39 year-old member- USAA redeems itself and again stands for honor, integrity...and for our country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

40 yr plus member<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frequent Contributor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To Mr. Fitzsimmons,<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Re:\u00a0 BLM<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I disagree with your statements about Black Lives Matter.\u00a0 It is not a radical elitist movement.\u00a0 After seeing numerous nationwide harmful and deadly events directed at Black lives, I feel it is an important issue in our country.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Things seem to happen repeatedly to Blacks that are not done to Whites.\u00a0 Things have not changed in many ways since the 50s in all States.\u00a0 It is not isolated to the South.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So I wonder why Mr. Fitzsimmons is angry at USAA about BLM.\u00a0 It is a noble cause.\u00a0 I hope USAA supports it.\u00a0 I am a 50 plus year continuous user of USAA insurance and many years user of multiple products.\u00a0 I am a White supporter of BLM from the South.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sincerely, Concerned Citizen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
George Floyd\/BLM associated rioting in 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I appreciate your taking the time to respond to my post. Obviously we don\u2019t know anything about each other except we are both long-time USAA members. Quickly, beginning about 20 years ago I began doing volunteer charity gigs in East Africa and Central America, spending between 5 and 6 years living in impoverished locations and communities. In Kenya in 2002 I befriended a young man, 17 at the time, and continued our relationship; I think he viewed me as somewhat of a surrogate father. In 2018 my wife and I went through significant effort and expense to bring him to the US and support him while he attended college in a small Southern city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our Kenyan \u201cson\u201d is very dark-skinned, and though we never bought into the endless claims that America is an inherently and pervasively racist country, we were<\/em> anxious about him being on the receiving end of racism. In his 3 \u00bd years here, he has experienced two events: fairly early on, as he was walking to catch the college shuttle, a couple of young white bubbas drove by and yelled \u201cgo back to where you came from!\u201d More recently a fellow student, who was doing poorly and soon thereafter dropped out (our \u201cson\u201d was among the top students in the entire college, perhaps the <\/em>top student), stated, \u201cWhy don\u2019t you go back to Africa!\u201d Curiously, this<\/em> person was a black American. Otherwise our \u201cson,\u201d who is very much a gentleman, has been welcomed and treated with graciousness and kindness wherever he\u2019s been in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think long ago the vast majority of Americans embraced the simple, yet profound, belief of Martin Luther King to judge a person not by the color of their skin but the content of their character. Sadly, there are those who cynically need to perpetuate, and even foment, the idea of racism because it has become a means to their wealth and power, and in many cases ego identity: America is a horrible racist place but I am better than all these deplorable people; I am wonderful and enlightened! <\/em>People who are materially wealthy but spiritually poor (I\u2019m not talking about religion; I am an agnostic) and need to fill a void. This was aptly demonstrated two years ago when the CEO of USAA, Wayne Peacock, sent a mass e-mail to USAA members filled with all the predictable rhetoric about how he has seen the \u201csocial justice\u201d light and we, the ignorant masses, need to follow him into woke new world of equity, diversity, and inclusion. These words are completely disingenuous, but they allow weak people to feel good about themselves without the need to actually do anything except make demands of others. In the case of USAA, it\u2019s also a strategy to distract from the increasing decline of this once venerable company from it was, to the ethically and integrity challenged company it has become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our gentleman from Kenya was raised in poverty, misery, and despair unimaginable to most Americans, and I think he sometimes has trouble correlating his life experience with the frequent grumblings about the hardships we face as Americans when we, almost across the board, enjoy a lifestyle of wealth and comfort truly unknown throughout history. I find myself ambivalent: have too many of us chosen to use our wealth not<\/em> to uplift others but to yearn for even more and foster a sense of entitlement and victimhood? I don\u2019t know; most people in my social circle are fairly charitable and appreciate our many advantages, but I fear those who control the public discourse have a vested interest in keeping people dependent, angry, and divided, especially along racial lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years ago the CEO of USAA sent his aforementioned self-serving and adolescent pontification in which he chastised the members (and America overall) for being racists and not even being aware of it.\u00a0 Included in his manifesto was talk about having \u201cconversations\u201d about racism and \u201csocial justice.\u201d\u00a0 Having \u201cconversations\u201d has entered the lexicon of extremists trying to sound reasonable, and in fact means \u201caccept what I say without question, I am right and you are wrong, and there will be no discussion.\u201d Wayne Peacock has never permitted, of course, an actual \u201cconversation\u201d because he is the poster boy of the privileged class of moral cowards and bullies: those who covet affirmation and attention and obtain it by maligning others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, I certainly don\u2019t agree with your reply, but I do appreciate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
I was a little reluctant to use this graphic, but it is grotesquely and sadly reasonably accurate, depending how \"close to\" is defined: consistently the percentage is in the low 90s. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Reid Fitzsimons I\u2019ve posted a few commentaries previously about a financial and insurance company called USAA. It is a Fortune 500 enterprise that was founded 100 years ago to serve the insurance needs of military officers. In it\u2019s day, USAA was perhaps the most respectable company of its kind: it was that prized auto ...continue reading →<\/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":[10,2],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5ynMC-ck","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764"}],"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=764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":768,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/764\/revisions\/768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservativeproletariat.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}