To the Editor:
Second Opinion: Part II if II, Dave's Manifesto. September 22, 2021.
I Never Cared..Now, I Care.
...You've given all the tolerance you have to give. This is no longer your problem, it's now my problem. I still have time to fix it, but I had better step on it. - Tolerance is not something you bestow. It is something you are. If you were unable to "fix it" when it WAS your problem, who are you to issue ultimatums regarding duties and timetables for me to fix it? This is an American problem. We have to “fix it” together.
…You are a "very patient person" but you're losing it. You insist that millions of people are also "sick of all the Anti-American crap!" - I hate to dispossess anyone of a treasured virtue, but I don't see the patience. You and people who feel as you do are not the sole arbiters of what is “American” and what is "anti-American." Of crap? You raised it. I couldn't say.
...You've always cared about all lives, but you resent the notion that certain lives matter more than others. You cite the protesters as a radical bunch of "thugs, criminals, and anarchists who want to destroy the country." - I have to guess that you are speaking of Black Lives Matter. Please note that it doesn't say "Only Black Lives Matter." The movement arose from repeated national examples of the killing black persons for grossly inadequate legal reasons. A 12-year-old boy was shot in a park in early morning because he was playing with a toy gun. A young woman was killed in her own apartment in the middle of the night in a botched police raid. A father was choked to death on the street for selling loose cigarettes. Another father was suffocated in the street for a small-amount bad check. They, and a lot of the rest of us, got the feeling that black lives did not matter. There are always people who exceed the mission in protests, offensively or defensively, and they should be prosecuted.
If you are offended by "thugs, criminals, and anarchists," how outraged were you by the insurrection at the Capitol on January 6, when the Speaker was threatened with death, the building was breached, furniture and windows were broken. congress members were seen trying to shore up the floor of the House, and people died? Gallows on the Capitol lawn, the Vice President, escaping down the stairs with a military aide carrying the "football" with the nuclear codes, having been identified as a near-traitor by the president of our country. I would be far more sensitive to your being offended by BLM if you were also up-in-arms over January 6.
...You assert that America is the greatest country on Earth and if anyone does not agree with your view of what that means, they can leave. "We are done caring about your "misguided feelings.” - It is a manifest truth that, if you have to proclaim you own greatness, you likely aren't (unless you are Muhammed Ali). You do not have the power to determine that, if someone doesn't meet your scorecard, they don't "love America" or don't belong here. It's not just your country. I can't say with certainty about you, but it is evident that many Republicans do not care about the feelings or rights of others. Trump rallies were full of people with signs proclaiming, "F*ck Your Feelings." Message received. Alert: the “feelings of others” are not at your disposal.
Looking back, the America of the 1950's – 1990’s looks so much more attractive from here. Everybody got along and understood their roles in society and were optimistic about the future. It’s an illusion, of course. Long-simmering societal and cultural problems were ignored until they became unavoidable. Economic uncertainty and extreme income inequality grew. This world of political, social, economic, climate, and techno changes we could not have imagined can be unsettling, but we are all going to go through it. We are just at one of those points in history. Let's stick together. We have a history of doing that and it is our best hope.
Kelly Scoles,
Fillmore