Despite all the aggravation it causes me to watch it, I still keep tabs on the mainstream media, recently referred to by President Trump’s Senior Policy Advisor Steven Miller as the “ex-treme media.” Extreme is absolutely right. For two days after the violence in Charlottesville, I heard the Extreme Media do nothing but chastise two groups they believe share responsibility for the conflict that took place there last Saturday. One group is President Trump and his supporters. The other group is anyone at the event whose politics were not clearly left of center. The bias against the right has always been evident in the media, and has reached an unacceptable level. Left leaning politicians, celebrities, and the extreme media are on a crusade to erase American history and vilify those on the right. There is so much wrong with how this situation has been interpreted and perceived it seems impossible to give it adequate attention. There’s a lot of muck to trudge through so let’s get messy.
Let me start with a personal rant: I lament the fact that I even feel the necessity to insert a statement here declaring, for the record, that I am not a White Supremacist. Nothing in the following writing would indicate to any reasonable person that I condone racism or Nazism. Like President Trump and many other Americans who support law enforcement, immigration reform, and the President’s policies, I am sick and tired of having to repeatedly convince others that I am not a racist or fascist. Well guess what: I’m not providing the all too common “I’m not a racist” disclaimer here because I shouldn’t have to. Anyone who would apply that overused and now almost meaningless label to this writing is probably beyond understanding anyway.
I applaud President Trump’s statements today holding both sides of the Charlottesville conflict accountable. Most infuriating is this: holding Antifa, Alt-Left, Anarchists equally responsible for the violence is being portrayed by many as the equivalent of supporting Alt-Right, Neo-Nazi, White Supremacists. Clearly both sides at the conflict were not devoid of their share of intolerant dirtbags looking to pick a fight with the other side. It is also a reasonable assumption that both sides also contained their share of peaceful demonstrators looking to exercise their First Amendment rights.
The hijacking of what may have otherwise been a peaceful demonstration by extremists on both sides is what makes the event sensational. Yet, through the hype and chaos of the event, it is nearly impossible to determine who started the violence. Though the violence perpetrated by the wacko Far-Leftists at the conflict had just as much potential to result in a homicide, it just happens that the only death resulted from the actions of some nutjob on the Far-Right side. This is something the Trump-hating Extreme Media in particular is thriving on and eating up like candy. They are capitalizing on it because, to them and their supporters, it is validation of their claims that President Trump is Hitler, his supporters are Deplorables, and they are collectively leading America on a path to some White Supremacist, dystopian future.
The extreme media would have you believe the far-Right is fully responsible for the conflict because they showed up with torches and bats. Nevermind the fact just as many far-Lefters showed up equally armed. Never mind the fact those on the Right may have had reason to consider their safety prior to the event after witnessing the unprovoked attacks on Trump supporters by the Far-Left in San Jose, California (among other places). Never mind the fact the Far-Right group went through proper legal channels to conduct their protest and exercise their First Amendment right (just as Milo Yiannopoulos had). The frequent unprovoked violence committed by those on the extreme Left, like that seen at Yiannopoulos’ scheduled appearance at Berkeley, seems to be completely ignored by the Extreme Media.
In fact, most of the people I see placing all the blame on the Right have considerably weak, emotionally-driven arguments for doing so. Most of these arguments are based purely on the following logic: Nazi’s were evil people responsible for millions of deaths, and there were Neo-Nazis at the protest; ergo all those who stood right-of-center in the Charlottesville conflict are White Supremacists and automatically bear full responsibility for the violence. This oversimplified view of the situation is dangerous. I may think Nazis and KKK members are despicable human beings, but I am objective enough to evaluate the situation based on the facts we currently know and not just on my own intolerance for their wretched beliefs.
It’s easy to put blinders on and jump on the Nazis-are-evil bandwagon. After all, no one can justify Nazism and White Supremacy, or argue against the totalitarian evil the Nazi’s stood for and perpetrated against millions. Neither can one deny the presence of many White Supremacists at Saturday’s event; nor ignore the damage many of them undoubtedly caused. But it takes real moxie to speak plainly as President Trump has, and not oversimplify the existing problem as so many other politicians have. But then again, that is the difference between President Trump and other politicians. He won’t ignore a problem or remain silent for the sake of retaining votes. He is not afraid to be openly honest, even if it means publicly taking a potentially unpopular stance. Yet, instead of this being recognized as an admirable trait, he is often demonized for it.
If you equate Trump’s statements with support for White Supremacy, shame on you! President Trump’s statements are based completely on the facts and evidence currently available to him. Anyone can clearly see there were extremists on both sides who came for a fight. To say so is NOT the same thing as leaving the far-Right blameless, nor does it proximate sympathy for the cause of the far Right. Furthermore, President Trump and his supporters cannot help it if that is how the KKK and Neo-Nazis interpret his words. Who cares what the KKK or David Duke thinks anyway? Consider the source. This is the United States; we hold people equally accountable for their actions regardless of race, sex, religion, or political affiliation.
The Leftist librocrits claim to be such tolerant and understanding people. If this is the case, why do they put the Trump voter on the same social level as David Duke and the KKK? Is it because we share a common desire for a border wall to be built? Why can’t these noble progressives distinguish between someone who wants reasonable border control, and someone who would prefer to eject all non-Whites from the United States? Instead, most of them are ready to believe President Trump said that all immigrants are rapists and he supports White Supremacists. The inability or unwillingness of these so called progressives to differentiate between two clearly dissimilar groups shows that they have more in common with the ignorant groupthink of Nazis than they realize.
I cannot finish this piece without mentioning my disgust over the unabashed criticism of the police in this matter. I’ll keep this short and to the point. The media, having repeatedly demonstrated their ignorance of police work, have no right to criticise, nor feign shock over, what they describe as police “inaction.” Police Chiefs order their officers to stand down when they know they will not receive support from political leaders for taking appropriate action. Had Charlottesville PD squashed the violence, videos of “fascist” and “militarized” police officers donning riot gear would have gone viral and Chief Al Thomas would be chastised for condoning rampant excessive force. Political leaders, more concerned with their image and votes, would have joined in the condemning of police action. We’ve seen it before on both sides of the political scale.
The second the protest turned violent, CPD should have been allowed to deploy tear gas, stinger grenades, rubber bullets, bean bag rounds, chemical agents, and baton strikes. CPD’s “inaction” is a direct result of a culture which is overly critical and ignorant of police tactics and demonstrates overall lack of support for law enforcement with regard to use of force. Police are doubly hit with criticism in this situation, receiving blame for letting casualties escalate on the sides of both the far-left and far-right; neither of which, by the way, are traditionally supportive of militarized law enforcement to begin with. As is often the case with law enforcement agencies, it was a no-win situation for CPD; born out of a no-win culture for cops.
The most frustrating political difficulty President Trump and his supporters face is this: the overwhelming majority of us are not racists by any means and yet it seems as if we must constantly struggle to convince the Left our motives are just. We know we are good people with valid concerns for our safety and the future of a nation we are proud to be part of. Yet, for our values, we are reduced to a “basket of deplorables.” We are fed up with it. The frustration seen in President Trump today is completely understandable. For his attempts to hold both sides of the Charlottesville conflict equally accountable (based on clear evidence), he is deemed to be a Nazi sympathizer. Absurd.
~AD
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It’s shocking that the media allowed the distinction to be made between the looting anarchists and protesters at the inauguration but broad-brushes the statue protestors as all white nationalist!