The Cacophonous Din
We have seen several notable white people claim that it is the white people who must change, that whites are the root of all violence and that maybe whites should not even exist. White people are kneeling and apologizing to black "protesters" for their whiteness.
Do not apologize for me.
Do not implicate me in your fear or weakness.
Do not include me in your crimes.
If you have done something for which you feel ashamed or sorry, deal with your own issues, do not presume to transfer your guilt - real or imagined - onto me. Thinking any person should be sorry for their race is the dictionary definition of racism.
We are experiencing a true paradoxical period in which absurdity reveals clarity. The hypocritical actions of our government and society have dropped the veil on the tyranny that lurked behind. It is out in the open now. It's hard not to see that those in power are only interested in enforcing laws that advantage their positions as they ignore them when they do not.
Their willingness to overlook - and even defend - the wanton violence and destruction seen during the "protests" and their condemnation of all police set against the backdrop of four months of virtual national house arrest and the arrests of people who went to a park or a beach brings the tyrannical hypocrisy into stark focus.
A weak society, one obsessed with emotions, symbolism and ritual preening is a society so fragile it runs screaming to the arms of the state every time a school child wears a tee shirt that offends or makes the shape of a gun with their fingers. It is a society that changes the endings of classic fairy tales to avoid the lessons they teach. It is a society ill-equipped to fight tyranny and autocracy.
Much of what society defines today as “virtue” is simply weakness, an unwillingness to say “no” or to point out the absurdity and ridiculousness of certain behaviors. In 1942’s “The Myth of Sisyphus”, French philosopher Albert Camus wrote:
“The absurd does not liberate; it binds. It does not authorize all actions. “Everything is permitted” does not mean that nothing is forbidden…”
But even absurdity has rules.
Society does not need to produce hardened people, it needs to produce realistic people – but at all costs, it must avoid producing soft, weak people who elevate specious ignorance to the same status as practical knowledge. We must prevent the institutionalization of ignorance and deviance.
Individualism means you can be you, whatever that means – but it also means that in order to preserve my individuality, I must be allowed to disagree with you and never be forced by the state to agree or celebrate your position. My individuality and individual rights must never be the price paid for yours. If your “rights” come as a result of the compromise of my rights, what you won is not a right, it is a social construct – a fad.
Watching the decay of our society play out on the streets of our major cities is like watching a two year old throw a tantrum in the middle of a busy mall while his parents stand by and do nothing. Not correcting or punishing him and allowing the child to become the object of scorn and derision of the crowd (even if it is unspoken) and to allow themselves to be seen as weak and poor parents is not an expression of love for the child – love is teaching the child where the limits of behavior lie for a two year old child when in public. Teaching the child how to recognize those limits IS love and a lesson he will carry with him for the rest of his life.
Such it is for those in society who launch into battle with the illegitimate cries of racism, bigotry, hate and discrimination. It is not a sign of respect to ignore such social crimes – for allowing such things to go uncorrected is the true social injustice. Restraining ourselves from correcting these wrongs is not a sign of respect, it is the ultimate in disrespect – for as the uncorrected child never learns, the uncorrected “social justice warrior” follows the same path.
A free person has a moral obligation to resist tyranny, to speak out in opposition any time his freedom is compromised. A free person must speak up when others won’t or can’t. Silence is acquiescence.
History proves that liberty is more frequently lost in silence than in the cacophonous din of crossed swords and clanking shields.