This is a guy with 5.4 million followers. He’s an astronaut. He’s a patriotic American. And he’s so worried about people thinking badly of him … his identity is so wrapped up in social f’ng media … that he’s lost himself in the Game of You.
Do I think that Winston Churchill was a flawless guy? Of course not. He’s got a lot to answer for, in words and deeds. AND he is deserving of high praise. AND he was an inspirational leader, deserving of many many requotes. Not BUT, but AND. What do I mean by that? Read this great Rusty Guinn piece on The Power of AND to get my point.
This is also a good time to highlight another Rusty Guinn classic, maybe my favorite piece that he’s written, The Two Churchills.
Here’s the bottom line. We are all smart enough to hold more than one thought in our brains at the same time. We are all wise enough to make up our own damn minds. And most of all this:
Your autonomy of mind and spirit cannot be taken away by the State, the Oligarchy or the Mob. But you can give it away.
Don’t.
It’s not so much that we aren’t smart enough to hold two thoughts in our brains at the same time, it’s that identity politics has resulted in a modern political standard of views on race, gender, etc. TRUMPING ALL. Any deviation (no matter how minute) from the progressive view on these issues is not a disagreement, not a different view – not even an acceptable flaw – but proof positive that you are a racist / homophobic / fill-in-the-blank monster to be excoriated and excommunicated. And this insane standard applies not just to people today, but to historical figures, as the norms, context, experiences and standards of their day are not one bit exculpating – you either are perfect by today’s standards or denounced (with the caveat that this pretty much only applies to white men – hero astronauts included – all others get varying degrees of dispensation).
Even more pervasive than the very public examples we have of what you’re describing, Mark, is the chilling effect that prevents people of good will from engaging in even semi-public discourse, lest they find themselves on the wrong end of the Mob gun.
I am that person as I continue to withdraw from social situation / conversations as no matter how calm and respectful I remain – in liberal NYC – I find myself under attack as a person – as a human being just for presenting these or similar views / any non-liberal orthodox political views. As you (channelling Yates) would say – the political gyre spins stronger.