Thoughts on a changing culture

Little of what I say here is original, besides if you’re on my email blaster list you may have read some of this before.   So with attribution to the various emails, texts and blogs I receive from a variety of sources here’s one perspective of a changing culture in America that I just had to get off my chest.

A few days ago I received an email from a friend comparing the Hollywood stars of yesteryear with the entertainers of today.  Within the body of the email were photos of the celebrities along with a sentence or two detailing their branch of service, military occupational specialty, combat awards and/or specific wartime experiences.  The list was a veritable who’s who of Hollywood past.

Among those noted were Audi Murphy (the most decorated U.S. soldier of WWII), Dennis Weaver, Buddy Hackett, Charles Bronson, Clark Gable, James Stewart, Charles Durning, Soupy Sales, Don Rickles, Rock Hudson, Mel Brooks, Mickey Spillane, Rod Serling, Charlton Heston, Mickey Rooney, Telly Savalas, Tony Curtiss, Lee Marvin, Henry Fonda, Paul Newman, Jonathan Winters, Walter Matthau, Ernest Borgnine, Ed McMahon and about 30 other names you would recognize if you’re over 40.

We not only watched these entertainers in the movies and on TV shows, we saw them on the Johnny Carson Show and during TV specials where they always displayed a particular reverence for their time in the military as well as for their country.  Although remote, these people were a part of the culture; they were a part of our lives just as athletes such as Ted Williams or Bob Cousy were.  In essence, we welcomed them into our living rooms.

Today Robert Di Niro screams vile obscenities about the president, Madonna shrieks she’d like to burn down the White House, and Samuel L. Jackson tweets about killing cops.  Is there any wonder the young, ill-informed and the gullible have a different perspective of America from those of us who are a bit older?

Today, in the most powerful country on the planet, fools honor a man who’s served time on at least 5 different occasions and who’s court profile reads like a career criminal involved in drug abuse, theft, criminal trespassing and aggravated robbery.  Yet his life was venerated with six days of mourning in three cities, a golden casket, a glass sided carriage drawn by a pair of white horses accompanied by a brass band, hundreds of thousands of mourners sobbing and the Mayor of Minneapolis clutching the coffin.  Even presidents aren’t buried like this.

During his funeral, TV camera’s were sure to catch Floyd’s ex-wife weeping even though the last time she saw him was 6 years ago when he left her with her with their three-month-old daughter—he hadn’t hadn’t sent child-support in years.   The unhappy widow had been crying for a week so a compassionate America ensured she was taken care of via a Go Fund Me page.

Scholarships for George Floyd have been established at the University of Massachusetts along with several other universities.  Compelling me to ask what would the application for such a scholarship look like.  Will some lucky 12^thgrader get a copy of the rap sheet of this 21^st century American hero?  Will it mention he held a gun to a pregnant woman’s stomach while his buddies ransacked the woman’s house or that at the time of death Floyd’s autopsy revealed illegal drugs in his blood?

Yet this love affair grows fueled by the left.  The most beautiful areas of our cities, including New York and Los Angeles are being destroyed and may never to return to their former elegance.  89 policemen have been killed.  A 17-year-old girl was raped, hundreds of police officers were injured or burned, and not just in cars; they’ve been attacked and burned on the street and in parks as well.  BTW – U.S presidential candidate Joe Biden also feel to his knees to honor this great American.

Floyd’s brother received a folded flag similar to what the government gives to the families of fallen military heroes.  Pelosi and Schumer presented it wearing Kente cloths worn by West African slave traders.  Talk about politically obtuse!  And where were Chuck and Nancy when a black cop got murdered in Oakland?  Where were they when the two young blacks were murdered in CHOP in Seattle?  What about the one-year old black kid who was shot in Brooklyn two days ago?  Did either of them ever show up at Dover when real American heroes are brought back with flags draped over their coffins?  Have they ever presented a folded flag to the family of a fallen soldier or cop who was killed by a black felon?  I think we all know the answer to those questions.

Pelosi and the democrats knelt in the capital for eight minutes for Floyd.  But can anyone tell me of a time when either she or Chuck bowed their heads for a fallen soldier or cop?  And can someone give me the name of a democrat who is effectively dealing with the mass murder of young black men in Chicago, Philadelphia and New York City?  Have you heard Biden, Pelosi or Schumer even mention it at all?  I could go on but I think you get the point.

None of us knows what the future holds, but the sad reality is that the left now controls academia and the media – you do the math.