Posted on 11/08/2025 3:03:42 PM PST by Heartlander
My family’s story is woven into the fabric of America’s immigrant tapestry. On my father’s side, his grandparents emigrated from Germany in the early 20th century, only to face beatings and discrimination for speaking their native tongue during the World Wars. They learned quickly to hide their accents in public, mastering English while building lives in the northern U.S. amid economic struggles. Yet, they persevered, creating happy, prosperous homes and becoming proud Americans. My grandparents carried that forward, instilling in my dad a deep appreciation for this land of second chances.
My mother’s roots trace back to Ireland, with ancestors who fought and died alongside the Union in the Civil War, battling to end slavery and preserve the nation. Her father, a Naval surgeon, was stationed in Puerto Rico when she was born, so she learned Spanish before English. Her childhood was a whirlwind of global travel—living in Greece, exploring Europe—before the family settled back in the U.S., where she met my dad. Their union was a beautiful blend of cultures, and they raised us to embrace diversity without division.
Today, I’m happily married, and we’ve raised a son who’s fluent in Spanish—not from classes, but from years of playing travel soccer with teammates from Mexican and Central American families. We formed lasting bonds with their parents over sideline chats and post-game barbecues. Politically, I lean conservative, but I’ve got plenty of liberal friends. We rib each other about politics, sometimes spar heatedly, but always end with a beer and an agreement to disagree. I didn’t vote for President Obama, but I was thrilled to see him elected as our first Black president in 2008. I naively thought it signaled the end of racism—a milestone where we’d finally move past color. Instead, I watched divisions deepen under his administration and worsen since. What started as hope turned into a fractured society, where race became a weapon rather than a bridge.
This brings me to the heart of what I call “The White Gaslight”—a insidious form of societal manipulation where white people are systematically demeaned, labeled as inherently racist, and made to question their own reality, all while the accusers engage in blatant racism themselves. Gaslighting, as we know it, is that psychological tactic where someone makes you doubt your sanity. In this cultural context, it’s telling white folks they’re the problem because of their skin color, culture, or history, while ignoring facts that contradict the narrative. It’s racism dressed up as anti-racism, and it’s tearing at the soul of America.
Consider how education has become ground zero for this gaslighting. In schools today, teachers instruct white children that they’re inherently bad because of their skin color. “White privilege” is hammered home as an original sin, something they can’t escape or atone for. Kids are taught that whites have no culture, or if they do, it’s tainted by oppression and colonialism. Any attempt to celebrate European heritage—be it Irish festivals, German traditions, or Italian cuisine—is dismissed as “appropriative” or “problematic.” Meanwhile, other cultures are exalted, which is fine in principle, but not when it comes at the expense of shaming one group. My own background? My German ancestors were persecuted here, yet I’m supposed to feel guilty for “whiteness” as if it’s a monolith. This isn’t education; it’s indoctrination, fostering self-loathing in young minds who should be learning unity.
The slavery narrative is a prime example of this distortion. White Americans are constantly told to be ashamed of their ancestors’ role in slavery, as if every white family owned plantations. But history tells a different story. Slavery was a global evil, practiced across continents for millennia, yet America is uniquely vilified. What’s ignored is that the U.S. is the only nation where hundreds of thousands fought a bloody civil war to end it—over 360,000 Union soldiers died, many from families like my mother’s Irish kin who bled on battlefields like Gettysburg. Millions of white immigrants, including my father’s German relatives, arrived long after slavery’s abolition, seeking refuge from poverty or war.
They built lives through hard work, not exploitation. Yet, the gaslight persists: “Your whiteness makes you complicit.” It’s ahistorical nonsense, punishing people for sins they didn’t commit while erasing the sacrifices of those who fought against them. Even more hypocritical is the notion that Black people can’t be racist because they lack “power.” This double standard is gaslighting at its core: racism is redefined as prejudice plus power, conveniently excusing bigotry from minorities while condemning whites solely based on skin color. I’ve seen it play out—comments like “All white people are racist” go unchallenged, but reverse the colors, and it’s a hate crime. This isn’t equality; it’s revenge disguised as justice. It divides us further, pitting groups against each other in a zero-sum game where no one wins. My diverse friendships from childhood prove racism isn’t innate to any race; it’s a human flaw we all must combat. Telling one group they’re immune while another is guilty by birth is the very definition of racism.
This gaslighting extends to America’s very foundation. Critics decry the U.S. as irredeemably evil because of slavery, ignoring that we’re the nation that pioneered its abolition on such a scale. Britain and others ended it through legislation, but America spilled rivers of blood in moral conviction. The Constitution, flawed as it was, laid the groundwork for progress—the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, the Civil Rights Act. We’ve stumbled, sure, but we’ve advanced farther than most. To teach kids to hate their country for its past sins while overlooking its triumphs is to breed ingratitude and division. My family traveled the world; we saw oppression elsewhere. America isn’t perfect, but it’s a beacon because it allows self-correction.
At the root of this is left-wing politics, which has morphed into a cult of self-loathing narcissism. These folks believe they’re superior precisely because they hate—hate their country, their skin, their gender, their traditions. It’s a twisted virtue-signaling: “I despise America, so I’m enlightened.” If white, they flagellate themselves over “whiteness,” proclaiming it toxic to prove their wokeness. They reject their gender, embracing fluidity not out of genuine identity but as a badge of moral superiority. White male Christians? The ultimate villains in this narrative, scapegoated for every societal ill. This hatred makes them feel “great”—better than patriots who love their flawed nation, better than those comfortable in their skin or faith.
Ironically, this mindset thrives in the very system they seek to dismantle. America grants them the freedom to protest, speak, and assemble—rights they’d lose under the authoritarian regimes they sometimes romanticize. Yet, they demand censorship for dissenters: deplatform conservatives, silence “hate speech” (defined as disagreement), and cancel anyone who doesn’t toe the line. It’s narcissistic because it’s all about them—their feelings, their virtue—while ignoring the collateral damage. Communities fracture, families divide, and progress stalls. My liberal friends and I can debate because we value free speech; strip that away, and dialogue dies. I’ve lived this American dream: from military bases to soccer fields, surrounded by diversity that enriched rather than divided. My son embodies that—fluent in Spanish, friends from everywhere—proving integration works when we focus on shared humanity. But the white gaslight threatens it all, breeding resentment where there should be reconciliation. It’s time to turn off the dimmer switch and see clearly: racism against any group is wrong, history should unite not shame, and loving your country doesn’t make you a bigot—it makes you grateful.
We can honor the past’s pains without erasing its progress. Let’s pledge allegiance not to division, but to that indivisible nation with liberty for all. Only then can we heal.
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Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
Good job!
Thank you for your American story
I will never understand where the hate comes from
Sounds familiar! I’m the youngest of seven kids and my dad was also AF (he retired in 1971). I loved being a kid during that time.
Excellent post! Thank you.
There will always be people who sell hate for a living.
“I’m a proud black man”, said the black man.
“I’m a proud Asian man”, said the Asian man.
“I’m a proud hispanic man”, said the hispanic man.
“I’m a proud white man”, said the racist.
Excellent writing...Something everyone should take to heart...
Bkmk
No one can control what color or sex they are born with so to blame anyone because of their color is an evil created by people who want to divide us and to create chaos. Period.
I’m the third of seven kids. My dad was in the army. He retired in 1970. I loved being a kid during that time. So did all my brothers and sisters. It was a blast for everyone. We remember it fondly.
Thanks for putting that together.
Few people today understand the hatred German Americans faced, especially in WW1, but WW2 as well.
AF brat & retired Air Force here. Went to high school in a small, mostly German-origin town in Southern Illinois. I used to walk a mile or so home from school and used to stop to talk to a very elderly German couple who were often in rocking chairs on their front porch. They were quiet at first but eventually we carried on conversations. A local kid later told me with some surprise that those two hardly ever talked to outsiders after the rough treatment they had during the wars. This was 1961.
Army brat here. Three different junior/middle schools.
I will never understand where the hate comes from.
Neither will I.
I understand how the Wrath propaganda works but I’m still surprised how many are controlled by it.
Correction-— “said all heritage BIGOTS”. “Racist” could be applied to all on your list, and possibly be true as a source of belief. To ignore bigotry in all the other and only attribute the source of the bigotry in white people is a well known often heard claim from the Left. Used throughout the 1920’s by Communists in the US and the rest of the world. There are certainly true racists in all of the groups on your list.
Over many years substituting “racism” for bigotry is a tactic, and tediously repeated by the idiot media. They are not the same.
How about starting with Islamofascist globalists (found in ll the demographics on the list) and go from there. For clear factually provable behaviour of a gutter “religion” that is throwback historical empire building movement stuck in the 7th-8th Century. Learned behaviour- bigotry and racism centralized in a “religion” regardless of heritage developed by the “one last “true” and only religion” which commands death to the unbelievers.
“You Have Got to Be Carefully Taught” (From “South Pacific”):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPf6ITsjsgk
Personal observation ... Blacks are approximately 14% of the U.S. population ... yet in advertising today both print, TV, etc., they are way over balanced ... Whites and Hispanics both well in the majority are underrepresented. Much of this occurred post George Floyd ... you know the Prince of Fentanyl.
It is carefully taught, as has been found in history.
They probably also figure blacks are suckers and will buy more if ads cater to them.
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