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Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Racism in a Song

I just watched President Trump give his speech in Missouri explaining the need for tax reform including business and personal tax cuts.  When the speech was over, the streaming service on which I was watching started to play The Star Spangled Banner.  Our national anthem was denounced earlier this week by some on the left who called it "neo-Confederate".  Even though both the music and lyrics were written at least 50 years prior to the Civil War, the left now tells us that it was actually an attempt by modern-day Confederates to keep alive their positions after the actual Confederacy lost that war.

I have to say that I listened more carefully to the words of the anthem, than I have in a long time.  It's all about someone wondering if the American defenders of Fort McHenry have managed to hold out against the naval bombardment of that fort by the British navy during the War of 1812.  The fort was on an island in the harbor of Baltimore, Maryland, and the only way those on the short could tell if the US forces in the fort had survived the bombardment was to see the American flag still flying over the fort at sunrise (or as the writer calls it, "dawn's early light").  There's no mention of North or South.  There's no mention of slavery or race.  There's no mention of any divisions within the USA at all.  Simply put, there's no way to find any racist or neo-Confederate language in the Star Spangled Banner at all.

So how is it possible that the left is now denouncing the national anthem?  Do they think that we are all just so dumb that they can say anything and we will accept it?  Actually, as I write that sentence, I guess the answer to it is YES.  After all, just think about how many otherwise intelligent people watched Antifa thugs smash heads and bodies while telling us that they are just fighting Nazis and then accepted those statements as valid.  For people who saw the videos of the various beat downs inflicted by Antifa, it was a question much like the old joke, "who are you going to believe; Antifa or your own lying eyes?"

We cannot simply decide to ignore reality and accept lies.  We cannot throw away America's history just because the far left thinks it will help their cause.  Idiotic and phony charges of racism cannot be allowed to influence our behavior.  We need to fight real racism, but the constant sightings of non-existent racism by the left must be ignored and then stopped.  Charges that divide us for suspect political purposes must be rejected.

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