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Harold Ohayon
A Wandering New Yorker

The Poisoned Fruit of Failed Education

These are bleak days indeed.

Cities across the United States burn and smolder, ravaged by the fury of the mob.

Stores, both large and small, lay looted and gutted.

Rioters run amok, blinded by rage, calling all who oppose them ‘racists’, ‘Fascists’ or ‘Nazi’.

What a sorry state of affairs.

While the initial protests brought to light several issues that desperately need addressing, such as police reform, attention is now honed solely on the carnage and mayhem being fomented in cities across the country.

The act of protesting is a noble endeavor indeed, one of the sacred rights enshrined in the United States Constitution. However, this practice has been twisted and misconstrued over the last several months, morphing into a violent tool at the hands of populist rage. And the rhetoric is openly heating up.

The terminology used to demonize those who have qualms with the protesters is quite disturbing. Terms such as ‘Fascist’ and ‘Nazi’ are used so often that they hardly carry any nefarious weight anymore. Gone are the days when labels held context and meaning, instead being used today by malcontents and agitators in the hopes of getting under their opponents’ skin. If everyone you disagree with is dubbed a ‘racist’ or ‘Nazi’, what use do those terms have anymore?

It is also disparaging to see the historical illiteracy being exuded from these crowds. Hysterical protesters and malicious rioters claim they are living through an age of utter oppression, harking back to the days of slavery and Jim Crow. The ridiculousness of these comparisons cannot be overstated enough. America in 2020, with all her faults, is nowhere near as bad as these protests like to claim she is. Are there social issues that need to be addressed? Yes, surely. Can the country be better tomorrow than she is today? Of course. But such development and progress will not come from those making such historically tone-deaf comments.

How did we get here? In large part because of the failure of the American education system. It has been known for quite some time that America ranks low on the list in terms of global academic success ratings, and the nonsense being spotted at these riots serve as a reminder of the consequences of a lackluster education. Surveys have shown that two thirds of Millennials in the United States have no idea what Auschwitz is, while around half of those asked don’t know that the Holocaust claimed six million Jewish lives. Amazing, since Millennials are the ones that are so quick to use terms like ‘Hitler’, ‘Nazi’ and ‘Fascist’ to demonize their political opponents.

Another example of the failure of the education system is this bizarre idolization of Karl Marx and his failed philosophy. Go to any ‘protest’ city and you will see Communist iconography flaring about. Several of the leading members of the BLM movement are avowed Marxists. But one is left wondering if these ideological zealots know anything about their beloved prophet. Karl Marx was a truly repulsive and reprehensible individual. He was rude and off putting, and his personal views were monstrous. He was viciously anti-Semitic, and he also held racist views about black people. It is curious, then, that many Marxist supporters are currently laying waste to cities across American under the banner of ‘anti-racism’.

It is easy to use bombastic labels to dehumanize your opponent. Such methods hit people viscerally, instigating gut reactions and provoking instant responses. But now is not the time for such childish behavior. People need to resist their baser instincts if we are to progress as a country and evolve away from the mess we see before us. One way to help this come to fruition is to stop using asinine terms like ‘Fascist’, ‘Nazi’, ‘racist’ or ‘white supremacist’ against any and all people you disagree with. There are, without a doubt, Neo Nazis and racists in America today. But they are not widespread and ever present. They are mocked and ridiculed by the majority of the population, and they hold no power whatsoever. This tactic of trying to use loaded terms to rile up the crowds in order to achieve political aims is dangerous, and we are currently witnessing what comes about from such a method.

Are we to take these hysterics seriously? Should be listen to the rants and raves of those who bastardize history to vilify their opponents? Surely not, for doing so would be madness. Those destroying their communities see Nazis everywhere, yet they wouldn’t be able to tell you who Adolf Eichmann or Heinrich Himmler were. Even worse, these lunatics screaming from dusk to dawn have even vandalized World War Two memorials, commemorating those that fought and defeated actual Nazis and Fascists. But to the historically illiterate, such details do not matter. These perpetually offended and eternally aggrieved rioters call everything under the sun racist, yet they demonize and deface monuments to those that fought to free the slaves from the horrors of the Antebellum South. The rage of the mob seldomly operates in a rational way, and this unfettered anger continues to fester and spread throughout the streets of America.

Dialogue must be had, political reforms must be undertaken, and the people must be heard. But only if grievances are addressed in a matter befitting a civilized society. We are one people, under one flag, indivisible. We need to see each other as equal citizens, brothers and sisters living in the same community. It is for this reason that we must tune out the shrieking and hollering of those rampaging through our cities. They offer no solution, grant no quarter, and hold no olive branches. They raise the banners of totalitarian revolution in one hand, while grasping Molotov cocktails in the other. These are not the peacemakers we need. We must not let these radicals drag our nation into the abyss. If left unchecked, we will soon find ourselves in a dystopian nightmare that will be quite difficult to wake from. We must shake ourselves awake now before there is no going back. And history, real history, has shown what comes from those who dehumanize their opponents, use violence to silence their critics, and who wave those ever fluttering red banners of revolution.

About the Author
Expat New Yorker living in the Land of the Rising Sun: Trekking to random parts of the globe, debating countless things under the sun, and attempting to learn to cook Korean food.
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