op-ed
I am angry with BLM and ANTIFA. And I am much wearied of the communists, socialists, and anti-American college “teachers” nesting in our schools. These blatant traitors, who at tax-payer provided colleges, spew hatred and indoctrinate na茂ve and gullible students with their pretentious twaddle and distortions. These constantly allege long-standing American atrocities and actions that “prove” America to be evil. These shameless liars and gainsayers distort history and allege that we are a disgraced nation responsible for all of the world’s poverty and much of its misery.
Surely America has its problems and needs improvement. But this callous propaganda goes far beyond honest, fair, and healthy criticism. It is a false and malignant portrayal of America as a completely evil empire. Americans of every stripe should say “enough” to this shrill and vacuous clamor. They inflame and then justify the ongoing rioting, burning, and looting that has become an everyday obsession in so many cities. More distressing are the liberal news-media, apostate clergy, political hacks, and common thugs who praise and promote mayhem and aberrant behavior.
Every white American stands accused by BLM and ANTIFA of fostering an ongoing and relentless national persecution and mistreatment of gays, people of color, and poor folks in general. ANTIFA in particularly with its privileged, affluent, and snowflake provocateurs, condemn traditional American values and always pander to humanity’s basest of instincts. All the while, they allege an affinity with and understanding the needs of all the poor and disadvantaged. They assert that only the benevolence and enforcement of an all-powerful government can bring equality and “social justice” and lift the masses from the misery wrought by America’s misdeeds. But is this so?
Some are certainly disadvantaged or even destitute due to no fault of their own. But neither is it the fault of America or some latent and intentional bias toward people of color or minority ethnicity. Some of the plights of the poor are due to chronic and severely debilitating illnesses or injury. Sometimes poverty is rooted in the death or desertion from the home of the primary wage earner. Marital upheaval or teenaged unwed pregnancies often result in the impoverishment of the woman and small children. Occasionally, financial distress is rooted in a severe economic downturn or employment loss due to obsolete job skills. I have also seen financial difficulty connected to the physical, mental, or emotional wounds of war or from the ravages of some natural calamity.
In all such legitimate causes, the consequent poverty should humble us and evoke our sympathy and support for necessary government assistance for these needy. More importantly, such providential poverty certainly ought to elicit broad and generous private benevolence toward those in need. Any such help should be without racial or ethnic consideration.
But that said, little is ever said regarding an obvious, but inconvenient, fact. Where is the acknowledging the multitudes of white and traditional Americans who also know what it is to be poor and disadvantaged? Moreover, “poverty” is a relative term. Countless groups around this brutal and oppressive world would do anything to be “poor” and living in America. There is an incredible gulf between being poor in America and being destitute in much of the world.
Many of us are aware that benign and temporary poverty often enables the learning of some good things. I speak of the opportunity for character development, which is of much value and makes us better people. For example, growing up poor in some tiny coal-mining “patch” forced one to know first-hand what real life is all about. Where better to learn of the necessity for hard work, the value of family, gratitude, sympathy, appreciation for little things, and what is essential and enduring and that which is but trivial and passing?
More importantly, the poor seem to understand better that there is always a “right and wrong.” Many of us who grew up in this area of southwestern Pennsylvania did accept some “givens.” These were beliefs that we felt were essential for living safe, free, and successful. These principles were correct even when we didn’t measure up to those beliefs. When we “messed up,” we realized we needed changing…not the “absolutes.”
I don’t recall that we thought that the government owed us an income or had a right to “redistribute” what we had worked for by oppressive taxation and senseless regulations. We never thought our “rights” meant that we had no restraints or a license to be vile or abuse others. We never imagined a time young thugs would pillage, rape, assault, and even murder innocent people and justify such behavior. “Justification” for all this because they are black, low class, or disadvantaged.
Even worse, we never imagined a day when appointed judges, liberal clerics, the news media, and wealthy celebrities would excuse such behavior. We thought that “evil” was the real culprit and that the blame should be on the guilty. Appropriate and just punishment was to be exacted from the doer of the crime and not blamed on society. All this was without regard to a person’s skin color or place of origin or how empty his wallet.
We may have done wrong, but we did know that wrong was wrong. We were glad to be Americans. Homes, churches, and schools united in expressing this gratitude. Pity us if you will. But make no mistake. Many of us are fed up with the distortions.
Will Nicholson is pastor of the Grace Baptist Chapel in the village of Little Summit in Dunbar Township. He has earned graduate degrees in Bible and Education. He is a life member of the Disabled American Veterans and a native of this area.
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