My ‘Tribe’ Abandoned Me in Covid – But I Gained a New One That Loves Freedom
Early in the Covid outbreak, it became increasingly apparent that my tribe, a moderate, compassionate grouping somewhat ‘Left-of-centre’ and always ready to proclaim support for human rights and equality, had a problem with fascism. It was not that it disliked fascism, though its members proclaimed loudly that they did; rather they seemed disconcertingly comfortable in encompassing it.
Being wealthy, college-educated and more progressive than others, they were very clear that marching up and down in jackboots was a bad look. This for them was fascism, and they had seen the black and white newsreels and the raised fists that proved it. But beyond that, it rapidly became clear that they could not actually distinguish fascism from a vase of roses. They saw something commendable in keeping in check those unable to embrace their superior point of view, considering the exclusion of dissenting views a virtue. Best that I explain.
When People Face a Trial
A bunch of wealthy corporate authoritarians and the politicians who had dinners with them decreed that emergency rule was the preferred form of governance. All my progressive friends fell in line. The ‘greater good’ was a cause worth fighting for, and progressivism meant siding with the corporate masters who were, obviously, working for the same. Freedom was a luxury in a ‘global pandemic’ and only deplorables and the ‘far-Right’ believed in ‘freedumb’ now. There was, after all, a global emergency to deal with, and wiser people could see this.
Becoming an outcast of a tribe is not fun, especially when you are then considered to be allied with an enemy, an enemy inferior in morality and intelligence. It was at first depressing watching fellow admirers of Nelson Mandela now admiring home detention on a governor’s orders.
But refuge can be found among fellow refuseniks; a strange collection of those who, mistakenly or not, put truth over compliance – unwilling to comply with stupidity for appearance’s sake. People who would not put on a mask to walk 10 feet from restaurant door to a table, because signalling conformity with authority as a virtue in itself (fascism) was not an acceptable life choice. People who asked questions when those sponsored by a drugmaker told them to be injected. These were people who simply believed that each person had a right to make his own decisions concerning his body and health; bodily autonomy that went beyond correcting a misfortune to include suffering for the principle.
The Politics of Keeping the Right People on Top
My experience of this was in King County, Washington State, USA, a centre of world progressivism. King County’s population is overwhelmingly descended from European and Asian migrants. It is home to the wealthiest suburb in America, and some of the wealthiest individuals. A relatively small population descended from those forcibly brought to America as slaves is concentrated in its lower-income neighborhoods. The county and city governments compensate for this by further emphasising morphological differences between people. Frequent references to skin pigmentation, ethnic history and income defined community events, providing the more fortunate with an ability to feel, and project, virtue.
There are reasons for this ethnic-economic divide. The end of U.S. slavery did not include land reparations, but it did include continued discrimination. As a result, a large and readily identifiable segment of the population remains generally poorer. This is reinforced by an education system dependent on local land taxes, ensuring that wealthy kids in Greater Seattle retained far better opportunities than their less-wealthy counterparts. Coupled with the cost of a college education, this system ensures continued disparity, to the advantage of the wealthy (or progressive) class.
COVID-19 brought two and a half years of emergency powers, with rule by decree, whether legal or not, forcing the closure of small businesses and their replacement by a delivery system benefiting their larger corporate rivals. A move from in-person offices (supporting janitors and food stalls) to work online did the same. Online schooling compounded the advantage of kids with their own screens in their own bedrooms, further reinforcing this advantageous post-slavery inequality.
While low-income people became even lower-income, King County’s progressive class had a really good pandemic whilst magnanimously reminding the unemployed that ‘we are all in this together’.
In time, the Governor added vaccine mandates to sort the wheat from the chaff. That the descendants of slaves and other low-income people were overrepresented amongst those refusing was apparently lost on the masked warriors engaged in anti-fascist rhetoric or painting rainbows on pedestrian crossings. They didn’t need jackboots. And neither, in reality, did the same progressive class of 90 years earlier. All that is required is a sense of superiority and a greater good.
Both Mussolini and Hitler arose from the Left, both were considered progressive, and both had strong support from the health establishment, the wealthy, the Economist and the New York Times. We need to face this and understand why someone a few thousand years ago wrote that there is nothing new under the sun. Having always considered myself ‘Left’ (still do) but thinking fascism stinks, recent years have felt a bit like waking up and finding your village had moved on without you, but you really didn’t want to follow.
Not All Farce is Funny
Fascism is always accompanied by insanity because it requires the negation of truth. So for all its unpleasantness, it can be quite funny watching the lengths to which adherents go once they agree to give up their minds. Try walking the mountain paths high in the Cascades forests and encountering grown masked adults in fresh air, or hiding behind trees in fear of unmasked people. Or watch some heroic defender of society walking down a mountain path poking others with a four-foot stick to keep them at least six feet distanced.
Listen to a father screaming at his children to have ‘situational awareness’ in a playground because unmasked kids were coming too close, or watch council workers dutifully gravelling a skate park and cordoning off slides to stop children playing. Then recall that this was orchestrated by people who actually paid their own money for the college education that unravelled their common sense. However, while funny as individual incidents, such stupidity stinks when on a mass scale. And mass child abuse to assuage the insecurities of adults stinks even more.
Migration
After two years of living with obvious tyranny and orchestrated impoverishment of the less well-off in the name of the local ultra-wealthy, we left with some regrets for leaving a strong minority standing against the tide that we had the privilege to get to know. We migrated a couple of thousand miles southeast through some of the most spectacular, diverse and beautiful country on earth seeking a new tribe, to southeast Texas. A long enough drive to understand that, in the midst of this shallow and dismissive era, the beauty of God’s earth is still paramount.
Rural Texas is populated by people that the Progressive folks of the Northwest call rednecks and racists. We found ourselves in a very ethnically diverse town. It does not hold marches calling for inclusivity, plant meaningful billboards in the front lawn yards stating ‘Science is real’, and ‘Love is love’, or seek to find differences to divide us. It is tribal, but this seems more connected with the locale, rather than education, money or skin color. It is also particularly distinguished by a shared desire to ignore those who dictate. This is its most distinguishing feature, and what used to be called ‘“’enlightenment’.
Circuses still have their place rather than orchestrated ‘celebrations of diversity’, and (fully inclusive) county fairs and rodeos take precedence over Pride marches. People express an independent spirit without denigrating others, and delivery drivers actually stop on a doorstep to chat. Most importantly, people seem less willing to live a lie. Time will tell whether this persists when pressure is increased.
Facing a Future
There seems a growing dichotomy between Americans who consider themselves superior and righteous in imposing their views on others and those who accept that all should primarily control their own lives. History tells us that this dichotomy is not new. It also tells us where each direction leads. One positive arising from the Covid mess was to throw this in greater contrast, laying bare how devoid of truth and reason some dominant narratives are.
We have entered a time when the values we once thought fundamental to our societies are widely derided, as are those who hold them. We see this in the media mouthpieces of those who seek power for its own sake.
The dominant tribe in much of America, and much of the Western world, is a band of supplicants to their cause. They wish to censor, restrict, control and mandate because they have chosen a path of compliance and resent those who did not. There is nothing new in this, in historic terms, and the response is similarly established. Choosing humanity over rhetoric is the best way to prepare for whatever comes next.
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Theatre Seeks Chief Executive Who is Disabled, Gay, “Criminal Class” or “Global Majority” in Job Advert
A London theatre has said it is seeking a Chief Executive who is disabled, gay, from the “criminal class” or from the “global majority” in a job advert – sparking a backlash. The Telegraph has more.
The Camden People’s Theatre, which received £250,000 of taxpayer funding from Arts Council England during the Covid crisis, has attracted anger and mockery on social media over the wording of its job posting for an Artistic Director and joint Chief Executive.
The theatre, a charity, says in its advert that it encourages applications from individuals without formal education or who identify as “working-class, benefit class, criminal class and/or underclass”.
Social media users hit back at the advert, writing on X (formerly Twitter) that the wording was insulting and using “Victorian” terms associated with class.
“Working class being lumped in with criminal class is awful,” wrote one user. Another said it was “offensive to the point of reading like a parody”.
“The classification is reminiscent of Charles Booth’s 19th century poverty maps,” another wrote. Another said “who identifies as ‘criminal class?’ The Krays?”
Conservative MP Neil O’Brien pointed out that taxpayer money was being spent on the £45,000-£50,000 a year Chief Executive job, and asked “what if… being a criminal is bad?”
The theatre also said that applications from members of the “global majority” would be welcomed, which the organisation said included “people of Black Caribbean, Black African, South Asian, East Asian, South East Asian, Middle Eastern, Arab, Latinx, Jewish, Romany and Irish Traveller heritage”.
Candidates who self-identified as disabled would automatically get an interview if they met the essential criteria, the advert said.
Deaf and LGBTQ+ people were also encouraged to apply, as well as those who are neurodivergent, a term encompassing those with conditions such as autism.
Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch this week criticised the term ‘global majority’ – a replacement for ‘ethnic minority’ being pushed by the far Left – calling it “anti-white”.
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Catholic Group Knights Of Columbus Files Lawsuit Against Biden Admin For Blocking 60-Year Tradition
Members of a Knights of Columbus council in Petersburg, VA filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration Tuesday after being denied permission to hold their traditional Memorial Day Mass at Poplar Grove National Cemetery.
The members of the Catholic service organization are suing the Biden administration citing religious discrimination, according to the news release. This denial marks the second consecutive year that the group has been unable to hold the service, which had been a longstanding tradition for 60 years. Represented by attorneys from McGuireWoods, the organization filed a motion for a temporary restraining order against the National Park Service (NPS), challenging the decision.
“The policy and the decision blocking the Knights of Columbus from continuing their long-standing religious tradition is a blatant violation of the First Amendment and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” said John Moran, Partner at McGuireWoods, the release stated. “We urge the court to grant our restraining order and allow the Knights to hold their service this Memorial Day.” (RELATED: ‘Toxic’: Federal Judge Calls Out Discrimination Against ‘Religious Conservatives’ On College Campuses)
Alexa Viets, the superintendent of Petersburg National Battlefield, defended the cemetery’s policies.
“National Cemeteries are established as national shrines in tribute to those who have died in service to our country, and as such any special activities within the cemetery are reserved for a limited set of official commemorative activities that have a connection to military service or have a historic and commemorative significance for the particular national cemetery,” Viets told the Times.
The National Park Service has classified religious services and vigils as “demonstrations” since at least 1986, prohibiting them unless part of officially sanctioned commemorative events. This classification is the basis for denying permits.
“Conducting a special event or demonstration, whether spontaneous or organized, is prohibited except for official commemorative events conducted for Memorial Day, Veterans Day and other dates designated by the superintendent as having special historic and commemorative significance to a particular national cemetery,” the Code of Federal Regulations stated.
Representatives for the Knights of Columbus argue that the recent policy change leading to the denial is new and inconsistent with past practices.
“The National Park Service is way out of line. This is the kind of unlawful discrimination and censorship RFRA and the First Amendment were enacted to prevent,” Byron said, the news release stated. “Hopefully the court will grant the Knights the relief they need to keep this honorable tradition alive.”
A court hearing regarding the temporary restraining order requested by the Knights of Columbus is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, where the court will decide if the tradition can continue this Memorial Day, according to Fox News.
https://dailycaller.com/2024/05/22/knights-columbus-lawsuit-biden-admin-blocking-60-year-tradition/
********************************************Age restrictions on social media are bound to fail
The rush by political leaders to rescue teenage Australians from the evils of social media is a simplistic solution to a problem too complicated to be resolved by good intentions.
While it goes without saying that not all social media is evil, there are sites best left to adults: Research from the eSafety commissioner found 75 per cent of Australian children aged 16 to 18 had viewed porn online. Nearly 40 per cent had first accessed it before they were 13 years old, and just under 10 per cent saw it before they were 10.
So governments across Australia are gearing up to explore banning social media for some young people to protect them from harmful content and the negative impacts of excessive time online. As a start, both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton are on the same page on the issue, after the eSafety commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, recommended an age verification trial 14 months ago.
Albanese said at the weekend every Australian parent was concerned about the impact of social media. “I think it’s the number-one topic on the sidelines of football, netball and school sports that’ll be conducted on any weekend in any part of Australia,” he said.
Albanese has announced a $6.5 million age assurance trial aimed at preventing children from accessing pornography and harmful content as part of its broader response to gendered violence. It will assess the effectiveness of the technologies designed to verify the ages of social media users.
Further, NSW, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia are united in a push for age minimums on tech platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. In fact, NSW Premier Chris Minns plans a social media summit later this year to discuss protecting children from online harm while SA Premier Peter Malinauskas had engaged former High Court chief justice Robert French to explore how his state could ban children under 14 from making social media accounts. The proposal would force 14- and 15-year-olds to gain parental consent.
But going down that road is a fraught undertaking. Not only do the proposals raise questions about privacy, but many will be concerned at what sort of penalty is appropriate and enforceable for a teenager or provider breaking such rules? Besides, surrendering personal information and documents is also open to such abuses as identity theft.
And as Elon Musk’s recent High Court victory over Canberra’s demand to remove offensive material from X following last month’s stabbing at Christ The Good Shepherd Church shows, social media owners do not take direction from foreign governments easily.
As it stands in Australia, platforms already require users to be 13 to create an account, but sign-up systems can often be circumvented. Some overseas jurisdictions, including the EU and some US states, have attempted age verification reforms to control access to some websites; the UK is currently trialling a scheme that only applies to adult sites, not social media. It requires sites to check with banks, mobile providers or credit card companies or requires users to provide ID or upload a photo for facial age estimation.
The pile-on in Australia over protecting under-16s from some social media has exposed the yawning gulf between politicians wanting to ban access to social media and explaining how their proposals will work. There is definitely a national discussion to be had on the impact of social media, but using the age of 16 as a blunt weapon is both blundering and simplistic and sets up reforms for a fail.
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My other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
https://immigwatch.blogspot.com (IMMIGRATION WATCH)
https://awesternheart.blogspot.com (THE PSYCHOLOGIST)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Kristina Pimenova, once said to be the most beautiful girl in the world. Note blue eyes and blonde hair
Bliss: What every woman wants: to feel safe and secure in the arms of her man. Robert Irwin and Rorie Buckey. See 
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