Fresh after the events of Charlottesville, VA I shared a video
from Arnold Schwarzenegger on Facebook with an anti-hate message. You can see that right here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN_YIBr0ELM. I thought that Arnold’s message was pretty on
point and important enough to share in my feed.
I thought to myself, ‘Hey, this one’s a no brainer, who could possibly be
upset at this idea?’ A Nazi just killed
a woman and injured dozens of others by driving his car through a group of
protestors on American soil. I found this to be pretty self-evident
– the concept that the Nazis and the KKK were on the wrong side of
history. Facebook, however, had other
plans…
One person said, “He’s telling Trump how to write a speech, I didn’t
hear him include Black Lives Matter, Antifa, or any other ‘left’ hate group.
Shut-up Arnold, go lift some weights.” Another said something about, “The
liberal agenda knows to destroy America…” A third defended the torch
bearers by saying, “So you are saying that all of the people protesting the
removal of the statue are white supremacists and Nazis? His [Trump’s] point was that not all of the
protesters that didn’t want the statue removed are bad, not that the white
supremacists are not bad.” Other points
were made but I believe that, you – most Gentle Reader, get the gist.
I responded...
No. I’m a
realist, not an extremist. I’m a big fan
of the Rule of Law. I’m not a fan of the Nazi agenda, the white supremacy
Alt-Right agenda, or any other agenda that sacrifices reason at the expense of
the American people. But, getting back
to statues, I am a big believer in thinking about what we choose to
worship. Pedestals are dangerous things. We should be mindful of what we put on
them. Frankly, Indiana Jones was right,
some things “Belong in a museum”.
I too am a
big fan of the democratic process. I am
not a fan of Nazis driving cars into protestors. Bottom line.
Such terror smacks everything that we stand for – or at least it did at
one time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II. Here’s to
hoping that this is still the case. That
we, as Americans, can pull together and work together in realization &
recognition of the scars of our past and step boldly into the future; where we
should find our hope.
Contrary
to most empirical information I can collect these days, I still believe that
America’s best days are ahead. …I hope
I’m not alone.
They heard an entirely different message from Arnold than I
did. I must believe that they are
apologists for Mr. Trump and not Nazi sympathizers, KKK members, or some other cancerous
Alt-Right hate mongers. I don’t believe
that – but, before you scream “There are good people on both sides of this
issue,” I gotta tell ya, historically, the Nazis and the KKK are on the wrong
side of history. Consistently. That’s the “Say what you will about Hitler but
at least the trains ran on time,” argument and it does not hold up. “Heritage not hate!” I hear, as well; this is
usually accompanied by, “Lefties want to erase history!”
Erase history? No, on the contrary, History is vital. We must learn from the past but it is
imperative that we learn the right lessons from it. Lessons that appeal to, as Abraham Lincoln
said, “the better angels of our nature”.
One cannot erase history by destroying a statue just like one can’t kill
an idea by burning a book. But if hate
is put on a pedestal then we have the moral obligation to explain to the
generations that follow us why it is
wrong. The lessons that the modern
Nazis and KKK learned from the history and the lessons that others have drawn from
it are vastly different in scope, and moral credibility.
Senator John McCain recently wrote an op-ed piece for the Washington
Post on. He opens the article by saying,
“Americans recoiled from the repugnant spectacle of white supremacists marching in
Charlottesville to promote their un-American “blood and soil” ideology. There
is nothing in their hate-driven racism that can match the strength of a nation
conceived in liberty and comprising 323 million souls of different origins and
opinions who are equal under the law.” (see: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/john-mccain-its-time-congress-returns-to-regular-order/2017/08/31/f62a3e0c-8cfb-11e7-8df5-c2e5cf46c1e2_story.html?tid=a_inl&utm_term=.c08f54c61629).
Yes, he’s right. I am thankful that there are still leaders who will say it.
It is an odd time in our country right now. We forget to talk to each other. We must remember as citizens not only speak
but also to listen. Of course, we are
not always going to agree but we must think for ourselves – make our points, compromise,
and move forward. Bipartisanship is not
the evil it has been made out to be. We
must acknowledge and learn from the past so that we can step together into the
future – a future where there is no room for hate. As Americans, we owe this not only to our
posterity but to the world.
Thank you, Mr. Schwarzenegger, for this reminder that should not be so complicated of hard to see.
