Albuquerque Journal

Top crime victim today seems to be common sense

- www.DianeDimon­d.com; e-mail to Diane@ DianeDimon­d.com. Diane Dimond

What the hell is going on in this country? When did we, the majority, stop speaking up for ourselves? Crimes against common sense seem to happen every week, yet most of us stay silent.

Or is it that the media only highlight those who scream the loudest, leaving the impression that what they demand must be implemente­d?

The most vocal citizens today are the self-righteous members of the so-called “woke” pack. You know, those who see themselves as the arbiters of all social and racial justice, and if you don’t believe as they do you are the enemy.

The ideals of critical thinkers seems to go, virtually, unremarked upon.

So I ask here, since when did it become acceptable for politician­s to order police to abandon their station and allow demonstrat­ors — some armed with guns — to occupy square blocks of an American city? Seattle’s mayor has explained away her occupying force as a “summer of love protest” group.

Does no one worry that this takeover of downtown Seattle might end badly or spread to other cities?

It is every citizen’s constituti­onal right to assemble and peacefully protest. But who in their right mind thought joining those recent, massive street demonstrat­ions in the midst of a life-threatenin­g pandemic was a wise idea? And now that we see a rise of COVID-19 cases in several states, many of the woke, bizarrely, point the finger of blame at opposition party politician­s for not halting the spread of the disease.

Do we lack the common sense to see the coronaviru­s spike is our own doing?

The Cancel Culture that exists today pushes aside all clear thinkers who dare express an opinion or ask a clarifying question. All white people are racist, the rich are criminals, all police are bad, they say. Even television cops are to be condemned. TV producers of “Live PD” and “Cops” crumbled to demands and cancelled their programs. The main police-dog character on the kid’s cartoon “Paw Patrol” was targeted for eliminatio­n.

Think of the negative effect all this anticop fervor will have on both children and future police recruiting.

Yet, disagree with these new revolution­aries, determined to make the rest of us bend to their beliefs, and you are bitterly attacked and ostracized.

Author J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame nearly fell victim to the Cancel Culture squad recently when she chided a headline that read, “People Who Menstruate.” She accurately pointed out it is women who menstruate. Well, that brought howls of condemnati­on from the LBGTQ community and reminders that some people who have transition­ed from female to male still have a monthly reminder of their assigned birth sex.

Since when does a tiny minority of a population get to decide how the rest of us think or express ourselves? Isn’t their hyperbolic response to contrary views exactly like the bullying they so frequently rail against?

And, OK, I will ask — why isn’t it OK to stand up for all humanity and state the obvious that “all lives matter?” That statement does not denigrate black lives, rather, it places black lives on the same high platform as all others. I am weary of the word play and the twisted meanings given to innocent statements.

And, finally, let’s consider the recent move to destroy our history, as if it, too, could or should be erased. Protesters have demanded countless statues of Civil War leaders – including the emancipati­on president Abraham Lincoln – be removed. Likewise for monuments depicting conquistad­ores who colonized the American West. Did some of those historical figures act in ways we consider abhorrent today? Absolutely, but pretending history didn’t happen is to bury our heads.

If you follow their line of thinking then we should stop teaching students about World Wars I and II since atrocities took place. The horrors of Hitler’s program against Jews should never be mentioned. The Vietnam War, the civil rights struggle of the ’60s and Kent State all had decidedly ugly aspects. Do we ignore those events because rememberin­g might make someone uncomforta­ble?

Students of this country’s history know the shortcomin­gs of our system. Nothing is perfect, and adjustment­s are underway. But considerin­g radical ideas like disbanding law enforcemen­t, criminal takeovers of inner cities and controllin­g others’ conversati­ons is just plain foolish.

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