I came of age in the 1960’s, a time of turmoil in the United States (looking back at age 73, I wonder if we are always in turmoil). Civil Rights protests gave way to protests against the Vietnam War. No one questioned the righteousness of our role in WWII, when we helped rid the world of murderous fascist regimes in Germany, Italy, and Japan intent on using their militaries to dominate the rest of the world and enforce their authoritarian regimes on the rest of us. The Korean War had been fought to a standstill leaving an uneasy truce with a North Korea supported by a nuclear armed China. The Soviet Union, our ally in WWII with Russia at its heart, had ambitions to expand its authoritarian Communist principles into the rest of the world and was countered by NATO in a “Cold War” to protect young European democracies and encourage countries in the “third world” to align with democratic values and international rules to prevent another World War, one which might possibly end human domination through the use of nuclear weapons.
But South Vietnam seemed a small, inconsequential country with corrupt leadership and perhaps not worth defending with the full might of our military against a determined anti-colonialist guerrilla army fighting a war for independence, intent on expelling foreign control. President Johnson, who had finally been convinced to support voting rights and integrated schools throughout the South, lost his credibility over his escalations of bombing campaigns and an increasingly unpopular draft that excluded those who could afford to stay in college and maintain a deferral, leading to increasing numbers of deaths and loss of limbs to African American and poorer white recruits from places like West Virginia.
In this climate, many in the WWII generation saw the young protesters and “free love” generation experimenting with drugs and questioning war and inequality as “unpatriotic,” and proclaimed, “America: Love it or Leave It!”
We did love America, but not what our government was doing to the most vulnerable of us at home and in the rest of the world. And this is one way the Republican Party eventually stole the mantle of patriotism from Democrats.
Manipulating language is an authoritarian method of manipulating minds. Dictators and their enablers take control of media and try to convince the people that “War is Peace,” “Freedom is Slavery,” “Ignorance is Strength,” in the words of dystopian author George Orwell in the book, “1984.” Donald Trump grew up in this same world, but growing up in wealth and privilege he took the other side. And he has become a propagandist intent on making the language of equality, justice, and opportunity, in effect, democracy, the enemy.
He and the enablers he has installed following the plan in Project 2025 have made democratic ideals like diversity, equity, inclusion, due process, liberal democracy, environmentalism, worker safety, immigration and asylum, scientific and medical research, etc. into “dirty words.”
It is time that we reclaimed our democratic ideals and our language. The courts are questioning the war against these words and insisting that the Trump administration produce facts and evidence to justify their actions, not hollow accusations. Authoritarian regimes attempt to make people fear standing up for what is good and right and true. It is time we did. I often wear a t-shirt saying “Woke and Proud” that explains that woke basically means to behave with empathy and respect to defend ALL people’s rights. Strangers come up to me to tell me they appreciate the sentiment. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are American values that describe ideals that make our country great. Our government was created to be of the people, by the people, and for the people, not ruled by billionaires for the benefit of billionaires, yet that is what we currently have.
Our government should be working for the greatest number of us, it should be working to make our lives better, to meet those needs that despite our hard work and our best efforts, we cannot secure on our own. We must demand these things in courts, in the media, in elections, and in the streets if necessary. It is time for us to take back our language and our government so that our government and our language work for us. This is patriotism and what makes America great: insisting that our country be the best it can be.
Paul Epstein is a retired teacher and musician living in Charleston
No comments:
Post a Comment