You Just Don't Get It or Mykel's Post MRR Column no 49

Mykel's

Post MRR Column no 49

or

You Just Don't Get it

by Mykel Bioard

“That's the difference between most oppressed peoples of the world and American blacks. They vow never to forget, and we want everything expunged from our record, sealed and filed away for eternity.”

--Paul Beatty

“Nothing is so awkward as the demonstration of humanity by the enemy" -- Kobo Abe

CHARLOTTESVILLE VIRGINIA, SATURDAY AUGUST 12: Tension is high as a group of torch-bearing women and (mostly) men demonstrate against the removal of a Civil War statue. It's a motley crew of Southern Patriots, a guy with a swastika flag, White Supremacists, alt-rightist, not-so-alt-rightists, and who knows who else. Previous demonstrations have been attacked by Antifas... This time the paraders are prepared... armed. Some of them are looking for a fight. ...The torchlight parade begins.

Of course, the anti-Parade also begins. It's a motley crew of Antifas, liberals, American blacks and who knows who else. They too are armed, but apparently with more club power than fire power. Some of them are looking for a fight.

If these folks had been watching their CNN/FOX/BREITBART/BART SIMPSON these days. The weapon of choice in 2017 is neither a Ruger, a Tipman, a Bushmaster... nor a Saint Louis Slugger. It's a car... a van or SUV ... actually. Check out Nice... or London Bridge... Those guys know how to terror!

[I'm waiting for Mothers Against Cars to demand Car Control Laws... And the reaction form the right? “They're taking our cars away. The Feds are coming for them. Soon: no more cars... or Christmas!]

One of the statue supporters... a fan of white people... plows his sedan-not-SUV into a crowd of antis... killing one and injuring several. Outrage! (Justified.) Terrorism! (Maybe.)

STOP: Let's get this straight. Terrorism is a very specific form of warfare. It is meant to create fear in the local people so they will pressure their leaders to surrender/end a war/stop some action. Raiding a random school yard and shooting up kids is not terrorism. A guy at a swimming pool killing innocents to get back at his girlfriend is not terrorism. An attack killing Planned Parenthood doctors MIGHT be terrorism, if the motive is to scare doctors away from performing abortions. If it's to kill doctors that the shooter judges to be murderers... it is NOT terrorism. Sherman's civil war march through the South, burning a path to the sea... damaging innocent people on the way... that was terrorism. Early 20^th century lynchings for looking at a white woman and vagrancy or just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That was terrorism. Scare those darkies into knowing their place!

Of course, even if an act is NOT terrorism, it can still be deadly and worthy of condemnation. A person is no less dead if she's killed in a nut-job shooting or a drone attack than if she's plowed down by a terrorist. I just want to get the terms right.

So, what happens after this guy smashes his car into the crowd? Not only does he become a terrorist but everybody in the pro-statue march suddenly become Nazis and Racists. Alt-right-- an umbrella term for rightists who don't subscribe to The National Review-- suddenly becomes an umbrella term for Nazis, the KKK, and anyone else on the Antifa shit list. One person carrying a swastika flag becomes the symbol of everybody who carries a Hawaiian tiki torch. The car driver earns the epithet American Terrorist, in nya-nya-told-ya-so response to alt-right labeling of other terrorists foreigners, Muslims or immigrants.

AUGUST 17, BARCELONA SPAIN: A van driven by a Muslim immigrant...claimed by ISIS as one of their own... slams into a crowd in Barcelona Spain. It kills sixteen people. This is clearly a terrorist act. Isis has used this tactic exactly in the terrorist way... to scare people into pressuring their government into stopping the invasions of the Middle East. (By the way, I agree with their motives, but not their means.)

Local Muslims are scared. Spain has a history of tossing Muslims (and Jews) out of the country (check out what ELSE happened in 1492)... Can you say Spanish Inquisition? In order to ensure calm in the Barcelona aftermath, European liberals urge the populous not to tar the whole immigration kit and caboodle with one blood-spattered van. There is a march to welcome new immigrants.

But who, except The President^®, is urging the American populous not to tar the whole Charlottesville march kit and caboodle with one somewhat less blood-spattered vehicle? And the president giving an ounce of humanity to the torch-bearers provokes such outrage that his entire multi-billionaired CEO advisory group... quits. This is a group scummier than Citibank, than Lehman Brothers, than Goldman Sachs. Scummier than Steve Jobs... the kind of group that bribes Hilary Clinton with one besmirched hand and then wipes Donald Trump's ass with the other. These are people who support companies that exploit workers, pay no taxes, make sure the government is “business friendly,” hire slave labor, no problem. But give an modicum of understanding to “the other side?” What an outrage!

Even FOX News, that paragon of corporate conservatism. (via Newsmax):

James Murdoch, the CEO of Fox News' parent company, has been slammed by conservatives for harshly criticizing President Donald Trump and suggesting he had backed Nazi sympathizers.

Earlier this week, Murdoch, who heads 21st Century Fox, wrote "What we watched this last week in Charlottesville and the reaction to it by the President of the United States concern all of us as Americans and free people."

Murdoch pledged “to fight hate crimes and prejudice.”

"The presence of hate in our society was appallingly laid bare as we watched swastikas brandished on the streets of Charlottesville and acts of brutal terrorism and violence perpetrated by a racist mob," Murdoch added.

"I can't even believe I have to write this: Standing up to Nazis is essential; there are no good Nazis. Or Klansmen, or terrorists."

Trump did condemn white supremacists and Nazi sympathizers, including the person who murdered a young protester. That wasn't enough, says the populous. He needs a thicker brush to tar with... but the tar has to be only on one side. 

CHANGE SUBJECT: Paul Beatty, the author I quoted at the beginning of this entry wrote an amazing book called The Sellout... certainly the best book I've read this year. It's filled with hilarious criticism of racism, and attitude.... and not just white racism. Beatty also criticizes his fellow colored people. In his satire, his protagonist cleans up a black town by reintroducing segregation. His premise, (although he doesn't directly mention the analogy), is that-- like Jews need antisemitism to keep unity-- American blacks need overt racism to bring them together.

Beatty's quote at the beginning of this piece-- about destroying history reaches to RIGHT NOW-- in the city of Baltimore-- which quietly removed Civil War Confederate-oriented statues in the middle of the night. The liberal mayor of that city decided it was the best move to keep the peace... or hide the history.

CHANGE SUBJECT AGAIN: As a free speech kinda guy, I always feel guilty when I ban people on facebook. I know I'm not banning their speech, but I don't get to hear what they have to say. There are about a dozen who make the BLOCK list (out of nearly 3000 “friends”)... most because of association with Maximum Rock'n'Roll. That ban is my tit for their tat. But in the last month I've had to ban someone just for being stupid. Not biologically stupid. Not mongoloid stupid. Not doesn’t-know-an-alligator-from-a-crocodile stupid. But INTERNET stupid... Facebook stupid... The kind of I-don't-want-to-hear-it stupidity that makes most facebook discussion useless.

• Him: You're a racist.
• Me: All Americans are racist.
• Him: So you admit it.
• Me: Absolutely, I think white people are the most destructive race on earth. Most of my friends are not white. I don't like the white race.
• Him: So you admit your racism... and you're trying to play the “My Black Friend” card.
• Me: Thinking “not white” is the same as “black” is racist. Humanity is not just white or black. Neither is the world.
• Him: You're a tool of the alt-right racists.
• Me: You're outta here.

I mention this not because I want to pick on this guy, but because of how many of us are becoming that special kind of idiot that refuses rights and humanity to those we don't like... and by doing so... give others the justification to refuse YOU those rights and humanity. We're losing the ability to discuss.

“How could you think that?” is not a question people want answered. It is code for “You CAN'T think that!”

When you meet opinions with clubs, those clubs will be met with guns, and cars. When you don't think... or don't listen... THEY don't think... or don't listen. When you hide history, you change history. When you change history, nothing is true.

It's easy to shout down, to attack, to throw a sucker-punch. It's easy to stop a person from speaking. But when you do that... instead of answering, debating, thinking... you make yourself the template for the actions of the other side. She did it... so why can't I? And THEY have bigger guns.

ENDNOTES: [You can contact me on facebook or by email at god@mykelboard.com Through the post office: send those... er... private DVDs..or music or zines... or anything else (legal only!) to: Mykel Board, POB 137, New York, NY 10012-0003. If you like my writing, you can be notified when anything new is available by subscribing to the MYKEL'S READERS Yahoo group readmboard-subscribe@yahoogroups.com]

--> Make New Jersey Great Again dept: A Wall Township (NJ) High School student wore a MAGA shirt for his class photo. When the photo appeared in the yearbook, the t-shirt was blank. At least three other students complained about similar censorship.... The school said it didn't want any trouble... But wait! There's more.

In Morristown (NJ) High, school officials removed two student anti-Trump works from their school art show. The artist, Liam Shea, complained about school censorship for political views. The school said it didn't want any trouble.

See? Once you start, there's no end to it. And look at...

-->College Hoops Dept: Latino students at Pitzer College have a "free speech wall" where students are encouraged to write what they want: Some Hispanic students wrote "White Girl, Take Off Your Hoops," in reference to the idea of "cultural appropriation."

The girls were wrong. One of the few good things about America is that everybody's culture belongs to everybody. I LOVE it when I see Japanese businessmen eating matzoh. Culture should CONTRIBUTE to the world, not divide it. Take my culture... please!

Correct or not, the Latina students have the right to their opinion. That's what free speech is all about. But what happened?

The Latinas all received threats, including pictures of guns pointed at them. They're now afraid for their safety. The idiots of the right have proven themselves to be as intolerant as the idiots of the left.

Another worry America will never have: a shortage of idiots.

-->Side effects dept: Tylenol is a drug already marked because of a cyanide scandal last century. This century, scientists credit the drug with causing severe liver damage... and the latest report shows that the drug "dulls empathy." So, if you take Tylenol, you're less likely to give a buck to that homeless guy sitting freezing on his cardboard box.

My question: Why hasn't there been a study about American capitalism? I'm sure findings will show will find an even stronger correlation between it and lack of empathy. Take Ayn Rand.... please!

-->Getting Their Goat Dept: I used to write about how unions were bad guys because their whole purpose is to encourage work. And it still strikes me as odd that the right-wing “get a job you lazy fuck!” crew is so anti-union. They're really (almost) on the same side of the welfare line. Now, I think unions are a necessary evil... better than the alternative which is not a work-free life... but slavery.

Still, every once-in-awhile, I read about jobs that really might be better if done by goats. This from Chuck Shephards News of The Weird:

A local chapter of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees in Battle Creek, Michigan, is butting heads with Western Michigan University this summer after the school brought in a goat crew to clean up an overgrown woodlot on campus, leaving union workers without jobs. The AFSCME's grievance cites a collective bargaining agreement with WMU, but university officials counter that "the area is rife with poison ivy and other invasive species," which are difficult for humans to remove. The 20-goat crew, rented from Munchers on Hooves in Coldwater, Michigan, is ahead of schedule in clearing a 15-acre area.

-->Keeping the Pressure on Dept: I want to thank reader George Metesky for suggesting a continuing Bring Back Mykel effort directed at Maximum Rock'n'Roll for censoring me.

As their revolving editrixes move on to commercial ventures, each blames her predecessors for my demise... as if they had no control over the business... and couldn't simply invite me back.

Send your comments to mrr@maximumrocknroll.com (or post on their facebook page) with the subject line: BRING BACK MYKEL! Let me know how they answer.

See you in hell.

-end-

NOTE: If you're interested in my travel blog, you can read it at mykelsdiary.blogspot.com. Other articles of interest (to me anyway) including my How Rich People Spend Their Money series can be found at: http://mykelsclippings.blogspot.com. And finally, my oldies-but-baddies series is at: http://mykelsoldies.blogspot.com