Posted on 10/09/2018 6:56:35 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Today’s ill-informed critics of Churchill would be speaking German if he had not led the fight against Hitler.
This week, former astronaut Scott Kelly got himself into hot water with the political Left. How? In an attempt to lament the Republican celebration over the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Kelly tweeted, “One of the greatest leaders of modern times, Winston Churchill said, ‘in victory, magnanimity.’ I guess those days are over.”
This tweet was a problem. Not because it was too conciliatory toward Republicans. Because it quoted Winston Churchill.
Indeed, Kelly soon apologized to his left-leaning fan base, tweeting:
Did not mean to offend by quoting Churchill. My apologies. I will go and educate myself further on his atrocities, racist views which I do not support. My point was we need to come together as one nation. We are all Americans. That should transcend partisan politics.
But, of course, we cannot come together as one nation so long as we engage in the foolish exercise of savaging our civilizational history. Good-faith conversations about American history recognize the multifaceted moral nature of human existence: the fact that George Washington was a slaveholder does not render his status as father of the country moot; the fact that Abraham Lincoln spent most of his career advocating for colonization of black Americans in Africa rather than their full integration into American life does not obliterate Lincoln’s role as the Great Emancipator. Human beings are products of their time — and they are capable of holding viewpoints that resonate down through the ages and the prejudices of their own age. Undoubtedly, a century from now, few will look kindly at even the most broadminded Americans’ views on a variety of issues.
But the process of civilizational development requires us to separate the wheat from the chaff — and to celebrate the wheat.
Take Churchill. Churchill was a bulldog of a human being, stubborn and irascible; he heaped racial scorn on a variety of groups ranging from Indians to Sudanese to Asian tribes. But his racial comments have been taken out of context to slander his achievements during his career. For example, Churchill’s critics have accused him of sanctioning the use of poison gases against Asian tribes (they completely neglect to mention that he was talking about tear gas, not deadly poison gas, in order to keep casualties down); they accuse him of exacerbating the Bengal famine (they refuse to acknowledge his government’s plentiful attempts to alleviate that famine). It’s easier to mischaracterize Churchill’s actions by pointing to his bigoted comments than to analyze his actions in spite of those comments.
But where many on the left are concerned, an ounce of sin washes away a lifetime of heroism. Churchill said mean things about people; this is apparently more important than the fact that he successfully led Great Britain through the most dangerous time in her history, stewarding that tiny island nation not only through Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain, but fighting on alone against the ever-increasing tsunami of Hitlerian power.
The war on the history of the West isn’t merely a difference of opinion, to be glossed over with a few words about bipartisanship. America is divided right now between two groups: those who believe that America and the West are fundamentally good and worth fighting for, despite their myriad historic shortcomings; and those who believe that America and the West are fundamentally evil and racist, steeped in structural power imbalances. A house divided against itself cannot stand; those who care for their homes cannot declare unity with arsonists.
There can be no politically unifying moments with history-twisting harpies — harpies who would be speaking German without Churchill. Anyone who insists on wiping away the legacy of good in the West in favor of cynically blustering about the unique nastiness of the West cannot be included in a call for national harmony.
When a culture begins to disintegrate, irrationality becomes commonplace.
Interesting.
Little chink in the armor there, Kelly?
If anyone has trouble answering the question “Who is a Fascist?”, the best guideline is: “The Fascists are the people who hate Churchill.” It has always been thus.
I had seen previously posted references to a book or books that are considered to be accurate in regards to actual US history.
Does anyone recall the name(s) or author?
Thanks!
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But somehow they ignore the fact that their party supported slavery, Jim Crow laws, and the KKK.
Democrats went to war to be able to own and enslave other human beings, and now their strongest unifying issue is the ability to murder unborn children.
Republicans freed their slaves and stand for life.
A house divided, indeed.
Indeed! In particular whites need to quit apologizing.
Churchill was one of the greatest figures of the 20th century.
Not only was he right about the Nazis, he was also right about Islam being the most retrograde influences in human history.
(And even though his mother was an American he was not a natural born citizen as evidenced by Congress bestowing HONORARY citizenship upon him)
Are you talking about the Revolution where the slave states went to war?
The slave states being: New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire; Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Delaware, and Maryland.
North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia were also slave states, don't forget. But George Washington was not a Democrat.
Never forget what an absolutely monumental accomplishment this country is/was, continues to be! At our very worst, we are still the last, best home of all humanity. :
“The common man eloped with history, and ran off the United States of America. Mr. Jefferson and his friends re invented politics. Carnegie, Rockefeller and Ford took it from there.” Hofer,
Our history is shameful only if we fail to learn from it.
So true.
We know what happens when a country eradicates its’ history.
The democrat party does not like Washington and Jefferson or the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence.
Jamie Lee Curtis is taking a page out of Banksy’s book with an image of the Constitution of the United States being shredded.
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/make-movies-quit-whining-jamie-lee-curtis-faces-backlash-image-shredded-constitution-183719600.html
I heard Columbus, Ohio cancelled Columbus Day activities. Will changing its name be next?
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