Chip On Their Shoulder Americans
Chip On Their Shoulder Americans
The epidemic of Americans with chips on their shoulders claiming micro aggressions, offensive behavior and offensive speech has GOT to stop. Although our Bill Of Rights codifies many rights that Americans enjoy, it does NOT ordain the right “not to be offended.” None-the-less, the hypersensitivity of politically correct “snowflakes” seems, increasingly, to be the ethos of the day. What’s next, criminalizing offensive THOUGHT?… Wait a minute! There ARE some indications suggesting that criminalization of thought actually IS beginning to happen. Recently, for example, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo remarked, verbaitim, that “conservatives have NO PLACE in New York” (emphasis mine). Since he didn’t talk about the actions of conservatives, or the behavior of conservatives, it is apparent that his “unwelcoming” of conservatives must be on the basis that they are likely to have objectionable THOUGHTS. Objectionable thoughts, it would seem, have no place in New York!
But, even short of Orwellian “thought police” scenarios, the “chip on their shoulder” mentality has become astonishingly pervasive. Let’s look at few examples.
Last week the media, liberals and “progressives” throughout the land went absolutely nuts over the supposed “harassment” of a native rights activist, Nathan Phillips, by a Christian student of Covington Catholic High School following a pro-life demonstration at the Lincon Memorial. Since most readers have probably had some exposure to the story, to discuss it, I would first like to disregard a few things about the situation. Let’s forget, for a moment, that for an hour PRIOR to the incident, the Christian students had been harassed by a group of fringe protestors who call themselves “Black Hebrew Israelites” (who claim to be the lost tribe of Israel). These protestors taunted the students with insults (“racists”, “white crackers”, “bodies made of insects” (?), etc.) threats and profanity. Let’s forget also that the supposedly harassed individual, Native American Nathan Phillips, has a long history of criminal convictions including violent convictions. If we concentrate on just what’s on the videos, we see that it is Phillips that walks INTO the group of students, not the other way around. It is Phillips that gets “into the face” of student after student, who are intimidated into stepping aside. It is Phillips that is behaving in a confrontational manner. Now, Phillips has claimed, in subsequent interviews, that he was simply “trying to diffuse tensions” by entering the group of students, but that’s NOT how he appears in the video. His claim that he’s “trying to diffuse tensions” is simply not credible. The vast majority of students get out of his way. However, when Phillips reaches Nick Sandman, one of the Covington students, Sandman doesn’t move. The video clearly shows that Sandman merely stands his ground. He DOESN’T move to block Phillips in other directions. He doesn’t push Phillips away. He simply stands there. During the stand off, Sandman’s expression looks to me like a sort of nervous simper. It looks like Sandman felt compelled to resist being pushed aside by Phillips, but that he was, understandably, uncomfortable in the situation he found himself in. All of this was recorded by a number of cell phone observers.
Following the incident, scores of liberal commentators flew into a rants of condemnation aimed at the Christian students. A writer from the entertainment website Vulture, for example, wrote, verbatim: “I just want these people (Christian protestors) to DIE”. (Emphasis mine). Islamic apologist and cannibal (that’s right, CANNIBAL; look it up on You-Tube!) Reza Aslan wanted to punch Sandman in the face! All of this vitriol because of a supposed insult to the noble Native American. As I mentioned above, it looks to me like Sandman is simply a nervous young teenager who found himself in the unenviable position of being confronted by a much older man of questionable motives beating a drum IN HIS FACE. But, ladies and gentlemen, even if you disagree with my analysis and think Sandman IS being disrespectful, probably the WORST thing about young Mr. Sandman is that he smirked… Smirked!… SMIRKED!… THAT’s it!… That’s what put our nation into a maelstrom of condemnation?… That’s what engendered threats of violence?… That’s what caused all the indignant fury?… A smirk?… A SMIRK?… That’s IT?… A SMIRK?!!!… If so, ladies and gentlemen, it appears that we have LOST OUR COLLECTIVE MINDS!
Now, let’s turn back the pages a couple of months to the bizarre case of Jameek Lowery. On January fifth, Lowery, a paranoid schizophrenic, presented himself to a police station in Patterson, New Jersey, saying he had taken too much ecstasy (MDNA, A very strong “upper”), and that he was “paranoid” and thought people were out to kill him (not an unusual statement from a paranoid schizophrenic). He was sweating and foaming at the mouth. The police immediately brought him to St. Joseph’s Medical Center where he was admitted and died TWO DAYS LATER. Autopsy showed that he had meningitis, a sometimes incurable and fatal infection of the brain. It doesn’t seem that the police did anything wrong, does it? Well, that’s not the way it played out. It seems that, in between ranting and raving, Mr. Lowery asked for water. The police did not provide the water. And, it does NOT appear that the police were displaying craven insensitivity to the poor Jameek. It turns out that there are very good reasons not to have given Lowery water as requested. If given water in his agitated state, Lowery might have aspirated (inhaled) the water and choked. Also, water given orally may make certain kinds of poisoning worse. And, furthermore, having a stomach full of water might delay any emergency surgery that might have been necessary once he reached the hospital. In short, the police did NOTHING wrong. That’s NOT the way it played out, however. Protest groups and our beloved media went absolutely CRAZY on this. Videos of Jameek’s family howling away, and demanding “JUSTICE FOR JAMEEK” we’re repeatedly aired. Protests flared across Patterson. The mayor of Patterson found it necessary to APOLOGIZE to the family and community for Jameek’s “mistreatment”. A number of commentators basically accused the Patterson Police of manslaughter!… That’s right: MANSLAUGHTER!… For withholding a DRINK OF WATER?… WITHOLDING A DRINK OF WATER?… We have again, LOST OUR COLLECTIVE MINDS.
And, for one more example, in a different vein, think back to October of 2017. During a televised interview, the Carolina Panther’s quarterback, Cam Newton, had the temerity to say to female sports journalist, Jourdan Rodrigue, that it was “funny to hear a female talk about routes (football strategy patterns).” Newton apparently meant for his comment to be a sort of backhand compliment to the lady writer for a deep understanding of the game, which he though was not common in women. A bit condescending, obviously, but nothing to call in the National Guard for. NOT so to our hypersensitive nation, however. Numerous commentators claimed OUTRAGE. A major advertiser, Dannon Yogurt, cancelled their contract. Ms. Rodrigue, reportedly had to take time off from work to RECOVER (!) from this massive cruelty. Newton was forced to apologize. Addressing ALL women, everywhere, Newton begged forgiveness: “I hope you can find it in your hearts to forgive me.” Find it in your hearts to forgive him?… FIND IT IN YOUR HEARTS TO FORGIVE HIM?”… Over an unintended slight that was meant to be a compliment?… FORGIVE HIM?… There we go again!… Once again, we’ve LOST OUR COLLECTIVE MINDS!
And, ladies and gentlemen, there are MANY more examples I could include, but I think you get the idea. America’s celebration of “Chip On Their Shoulder” victimhood must stop. We’ve got to put on our “big boy and big girl underwear” and face the vicissitudes of life with at least a modicum of courage and stoicism.