Any automatic presumption of ill intent poisons our minds, and those who loudly insist that our national history and character are irredeemably bigoted and destructive—a lesson that has been taught at every level of our educational systems for many decades—have now produced an enormous subset of Americans who seem to hate their own country and wish it only harm. This incredibly one-sided presentation of our country’s past, which strives to present even the most heroic and generous actions of America and Americans in the worst possible light, has produced an army of cynical and disillusioned citizens who are ready to believe every unsavory accusation leveled at our nation.
This impulse has, inevitably and unfortunately, trickled down to the personal level, although it is probably baked into human nature from our cave-dwelling days to assume the worst regarding others as a basic survival mechanism—particularly if we are under stress. Given all the terrors and catastrophes, both real and imagined, that have been heaped upon us in recent years, it is little surprise that so many Americans are ready to ascribe the worst possible motives to those with whom they interact. Multiplied by hundreds of millions of people, this accumulation of corrosive daily suspicions is an onerous weight upon our national spirit, one that twists our minds toward condemnation and away from empathy, understanding, or simple forgiveness.
Consequently, we now live in the golden age of brutal personal attacks disguised as debate. Few seem to anymore want to bother discussing issues based on evidence while seeking common ground; it is now standard procedure to instead flay any individual who contradicts your cherished ideas, which results in a lot of insults but little enlightenment.
Worse yet, any speech or written word that fails to validate the official narrative of never ending injustices committed by an intrinsically unfair country full of uncaring people will be immediately labeled hate speech, and those who continue to disagree with the premise that America is a terrible country are roundly condemned as bigots. The ineluctable outcome of these unfair conclusions is a circular adventure in illogic: Any attempt to defend oneself against accusations of hatred or bigotry is—Abracadabra!—incontrovertible proof that hatred or bigotry is the underlying motivation of the speaker or writer.
Our nation, its history, and its people are guilty until proven innocent, but innocence for America is, of course, impossible in the minds of those who have been educated to detest our country. It is both frustrating and impossible to argue with blind haters who are impervious to the the possibility they are misunderstanding our nation’s history and misjudging its people based on the propaganda foisted upon them by educators who were themselves miseducated.
Given the sheer impossibility of winning any argument with smug fanatics, the only recourse available to those who wish to avoid wild-eyed personal attacks is an obsequious acquiescence to the mob coupled with rigorous self-censorship, which goes far to explain why the most outlandish and destructive ideas and individuals are allowed to wreak havoc without any meaningful challenges. Ignorance that is allowed to roam free and easy tends to spread like a cancer and harms us all in the end.
Political power, the Communist Chinese leader Mao Zedong once stated, grows out of the barrel of a gun; today this power results from sustained, cruel, and vociferous character assassination. Bullets are passé when snarky and misleading social media posts, carefully targeted lawsuits and prosecutions, or even some scurrilous innuendo at the office water cooler can kill a career or ruin a life.
The most spiteful, disillusioned, and uncompromising among us have been able to exert an unprecedented and unwarranted influence over our national dialogue, and this bitter reality both skews and silences the voices of ordinary Americans. Reasoned discussions about the ways in which we differ need not necessarily divide us. In a nation as diverse as ours, we must be able to respect the full range of opinions, values and beliefs— but this is very rarely the case anymore.
The frustrations of Americans (myself included) with the impracticality, immorality, and implausibility of so much that passes for thoughtful public policy at the state and federal level cannot be any longer denied. Thankfully, the “heckler’s veto” that has impeded so many desperately necessary discussions regarding the many challenges facing our nation, which is common everywhere from our college campuses to our major corporations, might be finally losing some of its power.
When so-called Sanctuary States moan about the pain caused by the influx of officially-encouraged illegal immigrants, brave souls are pushing back against the extremists running our public schools, and the ongoing pain at the pump finally begins angry conversations about the stubborn refusal of the Biden administration to drill for our plentiful domestic oil, one can sense that a citizen revolt is in the air.
Although advocates of censorship, who are forever trying to label inconveniently free speech as dangerous disinformation, are today desperately trying to suppress dissent, the plain fact remains that the vast majority of Americans are, according to multiple polls, extraordinarily dissatisfied with the direction of our nation and are rejecting the many misguided policies that are simultaneously bankrupting our nation, destroying our daily happiness, and emboldening our country’s foreign enemies.
Change is coming—and soon. The only remaining question is in what form it shall come.