I’m
not a fan of big buts, because “but” contradicts the initial premise. Have you
ever heard, or perhaps even said:
• I’m
not prejudiced but …
• I’m
not a racist but …
• I’m
not sexist but …
• I
don’t want to hurt your feelings but …
• No
offense but …
• I
don’t have anything against gays but …
• I
believe in freedom of religion but …
But… Wait for it …. You are now going to hear (or say) something prejudicial,
racist, sexist, hurtful, offensive, homophobic, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic,
etc., etc., etc. So, in fact, whoever starts with that phrase is, in fact,
what they just said they’re not.
The
“Big But” is an easy trap to fall into, trying to deny reality when it’s inconvenient.
We’ve all done it, although I hope not in exactly the ways described above. A disturbing number of people have used, and continue to use, the
“easy way out” by sharing, liking, retweeting, etc. to express racist views. Most would, of
course, deny being prejudiced; after all, they’re just nodding at or
reposting something someone else said.
Sorry, not sorry: if you endorse a
position you are also, by extension, endorsing the person(s), for better or worse,
who offered the opinion. You can’t take a single quote from Adolf Hitler (or
Vladimir Putin) and pretend that nothing else he said or did matters.
Charlottesville is my Rubicon. I’ve tried hard, really hard, to give people the benefit of the
doubt for the last year and a half. No more. Put
me in coach, I’m ready to play. Appropriating an appropriate phrase, “Never
again.” Because, when you say, “I’m not defending the Nazis but….” and it’s
followed by deflecting to another group or minimizing criticism of those
hateful people and groups, wait for it, YOU ARE DEFENDING NAZIS. No, there
are no good Nazis, there are no good people who accept or associate with Nazis. Those who defend Nazis are Nazi collaborators and no better than Nazis themselves.
I’ll
go even further. I will never again use the phrase “alt-right,” because it’s nothing
more than a euphemism to sanitize evil. Instead I’m going for the more accurate
phrase: “fucking Nazis.” Because that is what the alt-right is.
If
you, in any way, defend the the bullies of the so-called alt-right, you dishonor my father who fought them
in World War II and was wounded working to defeat that evil. You threaten
people whom I hold dear and are part of my soul. You threaten society as we
know it. If you defend, or rationalize, or mitigate evil, you, too, are evil
and stained in the same way.
I will,
tepidly, and fighting back nausea, defend your first amendment rights (as well
as those who use those same rights trying to block or counter the hatred you spew – and should you
show up in St. Louis, I will be there with them), but know this: you are a despicable human being and I won’t bat at an eye or lift a finger when karma pays
you a biting visit. There is no big but. I’m done.
