Cancel Culture is NOT a Thing... Correction Culture IS

Cancel Culture Is NOT a "problem"
It's Not Even a "thing"

Correction Culture IS!

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A dear friend sent me this to review. I did, thoroughly, and then responded...

 

Hi Mike. Would you please do me the favor of watching this video. A friend just sent it to me and both my husband and I agree it brings a balanced perspective to the problem of “cancel culture”. https://youtu.be/ugwezczQM-8

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Dearest Friend,

The Washington Redskins... I always wondered a) how they could name the team that in the first place, and  b) what kind of insensitive person can stand on the belief that it's 'no big deal'. It's a fact that "redskins" is a derogatory term. Just because it's an old name is no justification for its existence. There is real pain caused to real people that that name represents. Just because 'some' people are use to it doesn't change that fact. Would the Chicago N*ggers be a suitable name just because they were named in the 1930s? How about the San Diego Religious Idiots? Is that close enough to home to matter to you? Changing the name "Redskins" is not cancel culture, it's CORRECTION culture and it's about damn time.

As I watched the clip intently, I accept that Senator Hawley has every right to believe what ever he wants, but there's a difference - he's not an electrical engineer, or counter help at Starbucks... he's an ELECTED political official. He has to answer to ALL of his constituency, and he’s clearly missing the fundamental point where his elected duties as a US Senator and his personal faith are concerned.

The simple premise that we should NOT co-mingle church and state is just common sense. Yet simply uttering this age old concept is always taken as an attack of some sort. It’s just not. It’s not ‘the radical left’ (which is an oxymoron), it’s not the liberal media, it’s not AOC or Michael Moore or Bill Mahr… it’s just not. Key words Hawley uses often in this video are echoed through the conservative circles. Words like 'woke mob’, 'not intimidated', 'under attack' and my favorite... 'the war on'… these are words that come from conservative media. These are NOT things that me and my liberal friends sit around and talk about. Simply put, it’s just not a ‘thing' to us. The injustice to those marginalized IS - and it doesn't have to be specifically us for us to care about it. This 'war on' language is only fear and blame ginned up by Fox News and outlets like them. There's no war on anything but injustice from where we sit.

If you have conviction in your beliefs, then how on earth can ANYone marginalize you for them? They're YOURS, period! Biblical values are NOT under attack. It was once a hush hush thing to even suggest that you question the existence of god, or lean toward hinduism or being a muslim… but in a free country, that right has existed all along. You talk about 'woke'... that is what people are finally woke about - you CAN question the power and those societal limitations are finally being questioned. Those with differing points of view are finally speaking up and we as a country are FINALLY living up to the "Freedom" we love to go on and on about. I remember as a youngster that I would NEVER be open and honest about my questions on faith - let alone say it out loud or discuss it openly - it made me a sinner and I was likely to be hit by lightning. But now, things like prayer in school and revisionist history and blatant racism are being questioned openly and in many cases corrected as they should be.

This gets particularly sticky when elected officials start to preach from their position of elected power. No one is silencing anyone - they are simply reminding those that want to inject faith into the government that they speak now for only a percentage of their constituency rather than ALL of them. Conservatives are MENTAL about the constitution, except when it comes to this point when they turn around and shout FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHTS! But at the same time, feel that Colin Kaepernick should be fired and verbally assaulted by the President no less, and then black balled for his peaceful protest where he is exercising HIS 1st amendment rights while Rush Limbaugh gets the medal of freedom - just wow! You can’t have it both ways. Conservatives try to contend that sports is no place for a political statement... but ignore that government is no place for a religious statement. The difference being that the later was the intent of the forefathers and the former was practically mandated.

Freedom FROM Religion is Just as Important as Freedom OF Religion in a TRUE Democracy.

As a non-believer for decades, I can assure you that neither me nor any other liberal I know cares one little bit about other people’s beliefs - UNTIL those people try to inject those beliefs into my government or public policy or put it in public spaces that I pay for with my… with OUR tax dollars. No one is sitting around drawing up plans to eradicate religion or anything like that. I think how I want to think, you think how you want to think. What’s not to like? But conservatives insist on putting the 10 commandments on the courthouse steps which is just wrong because it's a public place and there's no reason any one faction of the population gets to exploit that space to further their agenda. How do you think Fox News would respond if muslims wanted a statue of Mohamed in the same space? Their tiny heads would simply explode. Free speech is ok as long as it's MY free speech!?... um... nope! That's not how democracy works.

Politicians like Mr. Hawley here are confused about their reach in this area. And when he gets up on the pulpit while congress is in session, though he's good looking, smartly dressed and well spoken, he is NOT representing ALL the people in his district, he’s only representing those that voted for him and THAT is no bueno! That’s tantamount to Trump vilianizing Blue States when he's supposed to govern the ENTIRE nation... forgetting completely that within those blue states are a large segment of the population that voted for HIM! By contrast, on the other side of the aisle, AOC, the conservative's public enemy #1, just urged all her constituency to give liberally (pun intended) to the Texas disaster relief fund and raised $2,000,000 over night…. that's blue money for the reddest of all red states. Whether you like her or hate her, she’s doing the right thing while Mr. Cruz supports insurrection and takes a vay-cay in Cancun while his state is in a deep freeze disaster. So while Mr. Hawley injects faith into his political policy, he represents only a specific faction of the people in his district and that is NOT a democracy. THAT is how people become marginalized.

The constitution was a magical document - but not perfect as proven by the fact that it's been amended 27 times! Changing the name of a sports team, or taking down a statue in a public park on federal land of a KNOWN racist and traitor and insurrectionist, is not “cancel” culture... its “CORRECTION” culture... and just good manners from where I sit. If you want to erect a shrine to General Lee in your back yard - have at it. But NOT on public land. We, as a society are finally "WOKE" to the fact that we made a mistake… and now we are correcting it, just as decent people do. People like General Less should have never been glorified in the first place. It's a knee-jerk reaction to racists that STILL can't believe they lost the civil war and just can't or WON'T except it. Kind of like a president who justifies insurrection because he can't except the fact that he lost the election - by a lot - and held up by 50 states and 62 frivolous law suits thrown out. BOTH need to be corrected.

The War On... (state latest fear here) Puleez!

I choose to say happy holidays, not because I’m making a statement or starting a WAR on Christmas or Kwanza or Festivus… but because I’m never sure what faith, if any, the person I’m talking to is. So without assuming anything, and to be polite, I say happy holidays. The 

war on' SPIN is coming from the right when Fox News says that simple act of consideration is really “a WAR on Christmas!”…. it so is NOT! Yet that’s what conservatives now call it, thanks to Sean Hannity and his band of merry morons - like we don’t have enough to concern ourselves with, he has to just make stuff up, and conservatives just repeat it until they believe it. If you want to know how a liberal thinks - turn off Fox (for ever) and just ask a liberal directly! You'll see that we have no such plans to wage war, we're just being polite.

The simple fact of the matter is that we are not all believers (only around 75% are depending on the poll you’re looking at) - and even among believers, there’s a large percentage who are not 'practicing', and a further dozen or so other factions that divide that pie by the different views they hold. As an elected official, you can’t possibly be a force for good for ALL the people if you effectively ignore 25%+ of the population in your district. This is why the founding fathers went out of their way to NOT include ‘faith’ in the constitution.

As a Society - We Grow - We Evolve. It’s Unavoidable.

You can NEVER go back to the ‘good ol days’ (well, good for white straight christian men anyway - everyone else, not so much). The march of time is always forward. Those who have been marginalized over the years have had enough, and like in ANY society, government or organization, the marginalized WILL rise up and let their opinions be heard. What you’re witnessing now is the rest of the population finally agreeing with them - well, most of them anyway. There's not MORE gay people these days, just more people admitting it because we are a free nation. There's not MORE non-believers, just more people admitting it because we are a free nation.

Correction culture is as inevitable as the march of time and it’s about time from where I sit. No one is stopping you or anyone from believing or gathering for worship or teaching your kids your faith or views or even your own version of history. No one, no matter what Fox News tells you. But when the government mandates that my kids have to look up to statues of racists, traitors and insurrectionists while they play on the jungle gym in a public park, I take exception to that. If islamists want to erect a giant Koran at the court house, I would have to take exception to that. When they mandate the teaching of revisionist history in public schools or exclude black history in history class, I have to take exception to that. When they try to make me or my children say the lord’s prayer in a public learning institution, or ANY prayer for that matter, I have to take exception to that. And I would hold that same view if I was a life long believer. Separation of church and state limits NO one’s free speech, it just limits the government's control over it, which, in turn, ensures a true democracy of, for and by the people - ALL of them!