Remember the famous scene in A Few Good Men when Jack Nicholson’s character, Col. Jessup, bellows, “You’re goddamn right I ordered the code red!”
Remember the stunned reaction of Lt. Kaffee, played by Tom Cruise?
My recent experience wasn’t that dramatic, but my reaction to an online conversation was pretty close to Kaffee’s. I was reeling over the blurted reply to my dogged questioning; then something else popped on my screen. It was a video of Alex Pretti being shot to death by U.S. Border Patrol agents. That effectively ended my cross examination of a fragile man filled with bravado.
Brad Bull
Unlike Kaffee, I didn’t have a human judge who would declare the offender grossly out of line while thinking he was God’s gift to America.
The conversation began over the post of a friend who is a Never-Trump former Republican but now independent. He shared a New York Times article related to the history of enslavement.
My friend’s posts are frequently maligned by a MAGA supporter whose profile picture appears to be of him and his wife. He is a white male, apparently well-educated, and looks to be in his 60s or 70s. He infamously changes virtually every issue to “What about Biden?” With ellipses maintained as written, here is an only slightly edited-for-space and grammar transcript of a conversation that shows the depravity that infects our society.
(I take on the Left in other articles and will continue to do so. This should hurt to read. Lack of pain indicates overload callousness or an affinity for Nazi ideology.)
Headline of post with link to NY Times article: National Park Service Dismantles Slavery Exhibit in Philadelphia (Independence Hall)
MAGA Supporter (hereafter MS): “Let’s look forward … not backward … all together. (Thoughtful emoji).”
“He infamously changes virtually every issue to ‘What about Biden?’”
Host: You … you want to get rid of Independence Hall?
MS: Only the exhibit is being removed. The glory days of the Civil Rights movement are over … we are now all color blind (Groucho Marx-like emoji)
Me: “Sabotage” comes from those who damage machinery with sabots. “Luddites” oppose technological progress. And now… “Those who don’t learn from the past are… (derivation of MS’s last name).
MS: I learned from the past, but I do not dwell on it … I look forward.
Me: Others have to learn from (the past) somewhere. Your definition of “forward” is “greedy, xenophobic self-interest.”
MS: Delusional.
HOST: I’m curious why you think the rest of Independence Hall, which is a historical exhibit, isn’t “looking back” but this particular portion was, which you think is a reason for us to get rid of it.
MS: First of all … I could not even open the article due to subscription needed. I could only read the first paragraph. I see nothing wrong with removing this one slavery exhibit. I am not passing judgement on the rest of Independence Hall.
“Slavery is old news … let’s move forward.”
Slavery is old news … let’s move forward.
Host: The signing of the Constitution is even older news. Should we remove that as well? If not, what’s the difference?
MS: I said nothing about other exhibits. I am only saying I see nothing wrong with Trump having this one exhibit removed.
Good luck with the weather.
Corrosive ideology? (Thoughtful emoji)
HOST: (I know you said nothing about other exhibits, however): You seemed to indicate that it was OK to remove these exhibits because “we shouldn’t live in the past,” but since all of the exhibits are living in the past, I fail to see why you think it’s OK to remove these, but not the others.
Me: (Without seeing the comments in the meantime, returning to MS’s comment that I am delusional, and addressing him.) Which president of the US do you identify as most delusional?
MS: Biden … delusional and having dementia
Me: Why didn’t you mention some future president? Why are you looking backward instead of ahead? Why did Trump line the (White House) portico with images of and plaques about PAST presidents?
MS: I do not know. You will have to ask DJT. If it were me I would be taking more skinny dips with the female staff in the WH pool like JFK.
Me: There you go changing the subject while still revealing the truth of your character and, thus, the nature of your attraction to Trump. I actually first asked you why YOU are (always) looking backward to Biden. Trump can’t explain that, Dodger.
MS: Yes, I used to attend Dodger games when living in LA. This is a truism.
Me: I bet. There you go again.
MS: Posts picture of Los Angeles Dodgers cap.
“Because Biden was an even larger miscarriage of justice than slavery was.”
Me: OK. But why does such a forward-thinking person want to forget the history of the toxic use of power (by people of all races) to enslave others, but you dwell on “Biden”?
MS: Because Biden was an even larger miscarriage of justice than slavery was.
And there it is. I feel gut-punched as I reread that line. I also feel the encroaching darkness of hopelessness. After that horrible comment, I spent the day watching Alex Pretti being killed. Then I saw a Fox News social media post with more than 10,000 comments. Most that I scrolled by said things like “Great job, ICE!” With all the evidence to be seen and people continuing to spew such vapid hatred, what argument can possibly win the day for civility, sanity, and peace?
I grew up reading Madeline L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. I want to scream “I love you” and that be enough to bring back the beloved “Charles Wallaces” who are my nation, family members and friends who have been taken into the mind-controlling power of “IT.”
Yet it seems, from the evidence of recursive history, this epoch will have no happy ending for this generation. Perhaps for those of us who see the poison our neighbors are drinking, maybe the only thing we can do is heed the wisdom of Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl. In his book Man’s Search for Meaning, he famously identifies three sources of abundant life: Finding meaning through vocation, relationships and — wait, what? — suffering.
It’s not that we seek suffering. But when it inevitably comes, we find meaning in handling suffering with poise and dignity. I feel like my sarcasm indicates I’m not doing as well I need to be. We all must rise into our better angels.
The Right has failed to handle with dignity the suffering they experience in the face of change.
May progressives not fail to smile like Renee “I’m not mad at you, Dude” Good, nor at protecting like Alex Pretti who shielded a woman being brutalized. May we struggle and die with grace that will bloom anew after the passing of the ICE Age.
Brad Bull has served as a factory worker, hospital chaplain, pastor, professor, counselor and writer. One of his earliest memories is of this father applauding in a theater during The Sound of Music when Cpt. Von Trapp shredded a Nazi flag.