It wasn’t always like that. Yet that’s the reality
today.
The majority of people who claim to be liberal now really
aren’t – at least in terms of what liberal once meant. When I was in my teens
and 20s, even into my 30s, I considered myself a liberal.
Because, back then, being a liberal meant supporting a lot
of beliefs that somehow today are considered right wing, if not far right. I’m not sure how that happened. I don’t know
precisely when yesterday’s liberal beliefs became ultra conservative and the
object of abject hatred by the same people who were proud to share the very
same beliefs not all that long ago.
Even though many like me are openly loathed as anti-science,
anti- progress, and racist – none of which we ever were or are today – my core
beliefs in then liberal principles haven’t changed. What has changed is that
those beliefs are no longer considered acceptable in liberal orthodoxy.
Stunningly, the very same people and politicians that once
championed traditional liberal concepts like equal rights, equal justice under
the law, opposition to segregation, free speech, and the right to peacefully
protest, are embracing the exact opposite.
Think about this for a moment. I have, a lot.
It’s baffling.
As liberals, we treasured the Bill of Rights and
the Constitution, because both protected our rights as individuals and our
freedoms as citizens from government overreach.
The ACLU helped keep others in power from trampling on our
Constitutionally protected rights. And we
could count on watchdogs in a free press to keep government and politicians honest
and in check.
Mostly, back then, we just wanted to be left alone to live
our lives without a lot of interference. We didn’t want anyone spying on us,
censoring what we could see or read, deciding for us what jokes we could tell
or hear, what friends we could have, or who we were allowed to associate with.
By that, I do mean anyone: the government, schools,
politicians, big corporations, whomever.
It was nobody’s business what we or anyone else did, read, watched,
ridiculed, laughed at, or hung out with, as long as nobody was putting others
at risk of physical harm.
We eyed more and bigger government suspiciously. Honestly,
we just flat didn’t trust government and most politicians; we simply didn’t
believe most of what they told us – they were too often caught lying to
us. We especially didn’t put much faith
in the FBI, the CIA, and politicians willing to use violence and dirty tricks
against our fellow citizens to suppress dissent.
We took to heart the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. to
judge people not by the color of their skin but by the content of their
character. We called people who judged
others by race alone racists. Those who thought the races should always be
separate and treated differently were racists. Those who thought one race or
another was superior or inferior to another race were racists.
People who taught children to blame other
races for their own problems were the worst racists.
Finally, we had a sense of humor. In fact, most of the
funniest people and shows featured liberals like us. It was okay to make fun of
us, too – we laughed right along. It was
even funnier to skewer those who took themselves way too seriously, like
fatuous politicians, government officials, and the talking heads on network
news shows. If someone was offended, that made it even funnier.
No topic was off limits for ridicule.
Comedians of all colors and ethnicities told
jokes about blacks, whites, Asians and every other race or ethnicity and their
mixed-race audiences laughed their asses off. Few comedians had any issues
telling funny jokes about stupid stereotypes to all kinds of audiences. Network
comedies like All in the Family, Sanford & Son, The Jeffersons, Chico and
the Man, Soap, The Golden Girls, and so many others were enjoyed by audiences
of all races, genders, and ages. Just as movies like Blazing Saddles, The
Producers, or Young Frankenstein were. Nobody
called for them to be boycotted; we recognized a joke when we saw one.
So we didn’t cringe at stereotypes being mocked; we laughed.
And that’s because, as old-time liberals, we believed that despite skin color,
sex, or religion, we were all pretty much alike. We all do stupid shit at
times. We might not agree on everything else, but we all knew what’s funny.
On the flip side, we weren’t blind to bad things around us.
We knew what censorship was. What intellectual repression was. What happened when government leaders and
intelligence agencies felt they had enough power to do whatever they wanted.
We’d seen vivid, heart wrenching examples in the USSR, East
Germany, Cuba, and in numerous banana republics in our own backyard. We saw how
they suppressed dissent, often violently.
We were dismayed to learn our own government engaged in
similar activities. Certainly not as much in the open as the Soviets and other
dictators. But often just as bad.
We only learned all this because our media at
the time took their job seriously of exposing what those in power were doing,
and what those in power were trying to hide from us.
Through the media we also learned what actual racism looked
like. We’d seen George Wallace blocking blacks from the doorway to the
University of Alabama. We’d seen video
of Bull Conner turning fire hoses and dogs on civil rights protestors. We’d witnessed the assassination of Martin
Luther King, Jr. We’d seen firsthand the very worst of racism. We certainly weren’t naïve about real
racism. No American was. We could thank
the media of the day for that.
Of course, back then the media was not a
propaganda arm of one political party. Real journalists went after
Democrats as well as Republicans. Real journalists covered actual news about
government policies and what those meant to ordinary citizens. When government officials or politicians
screwed up, it got reported. When
someone got caught misusing their office or taxpayer money, it got
reported. Regardless of which political
party was involved.
So it’s hard for many of us to understand how and why the
media operates as it does today.
It’s just as hard to understand how still believing in the
liberal principles we believed in decades ago – guaranteed by the Bill of
Rights and the Constitution – and still believe in today, are symbolic
of “white privilege” and “racism” by today’s
standards.
I didn’t change. What’s acceptable apparently
did. Not for the better.
The people I identified with who once simply wanted to live and let live aren't satisfied with that anymore. They want the power to control everyone's lives, thoughts, and actions.
They have become what they once professed to hate: fascists.
And they've allowed their children to become fascists, too.
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