Saturday, July 04, 2020

In Dependence

This defiance of authority thing is pretty troubling.
We, as a nation, actively encourage people rising up against tyranny. In Germany during World War II. In Vietnam during the late sixties and seventies. In Tienanmen Square in 1989. In Iraq in 2003. We have this lengthy list of freedom fighters for good reason: We started a country from those very roots. As noted historian and surfer Jeff Spicoli once noted, "So what Jefferson was saying was 'Hey! You know, we left this England place because it was bogus. So if we don't get some cool rules ourselves, pronto, we'll just be bogus too.' Yeah?" We fought a war about that. The colonists here in the English colonies didn't like the bogus rules put forth by the King of England who wanted to be the boss of us, so we said, "No way." And the King of England said, "Way." And that's pretty much how this whole thing got started.
About a forty years after that, England came sniffing around again, looking for trouble and we gave them what for and sent them packing, but not before they burned down the White House. Fifty years after that, some of our own southern states, many of whom had been part of that overthrow of bogusness back in 1776 decided they wanted to start their own revolution. Their plan was more like keeping things the same. "Let us keep our slaves or we won't be part of your country." So Abraham Lincoln was like, "Guys, it's my way or the highway," and the Confederacy picked the highway. Which historically turned out to be a pretty bad choice, but some people kind of resented giving up their owning slaves lifestyle.
And some seem to still. 
There have been some wars since then. Most of them taking place in other countries on other continents where we could feel good about blowing things up in the name of freedom. Part of our reasoning stemmed from our deep-seated need to be the good guys, and the other part was a fear that bad guys like Nazis or Commies might come looking for a fight with us, sooner or later. So we took the fight to them. That worked out pretty well in Europe, but not so much in Southeast Asia. 
Oh, and here's an interesting trend in the soldiers who fought those wars. Initially they were lily white, and the few "colored regiments" they let fight were kept to themselves. The Buffalo Soldiers fought with bravery and distinction in both World Wars. They fought alongside their white comrades in arms, but from a discrete distance. By the time the Vietnam war raged on and on, though the total number of African Americans serving was still a minority, there was a disproportionate number of blacks serving in combat units, and only a tiny percentage were ever made officers. Many of these soldiers were trained at places like Fort Bragg and Fort Benning, named for generals who fought on the losing side of the Civil War. They were, ostensibly, fighting for freedom. 
The first person to die in the Boston Massacre of 1770 was Crispus Attucks. He was a black man. Black men and women have been fighting and dying for this country since before the Declaration of Independence was signed. And while battles are being waged in some corners of the country these days about being oppressed by a strip of cloth placed over the face to prevent the spread of disease, Black Lives are still being lost to the cause of freedom. 
Respect that. Fight with them. We all deserve to be a little more free. 

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