When I first saw an article coming out of Portland Oregon, the epicenter of demands for tolerance, reporting a hanging in effigy of President-Elect Donald Trump, my first reaction was, this has to be fake news. Finding the accusation utterly repugnant, I checked the source, Willamette Week[1], and it seems to be legit. Tolerance demands courage, and it takes many forms, from loving kindness toward those you disagree with, to peaceful disobedience against unjust actions, and even recognition of another person’s right to decline your business.
I first want to make a call-out for the courage to Sarah Mykkanen who quit her job, rather than be associated with a truly intolerant crowd that chose, in usual Democrat style to express themselves with a symbolic lynching [not my words, but theirs], and at a holiday party thrown by the company where she worked nonetheless.
The video evidence is damning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jfj_I7dvtCo
It is not clear which company exactly, but the group of establishments including Roscoe’s, Stein Haus, and Miyamoto Sushi, share some level of overlapping ownership in the Montavilla area of Portland. Sarah didn’t just quit her job, but she wrote a stunning missive, published in the Willamette Week, challenging her community, asking them, “Will I be on the end of that rope next if I disagree with the majority? Is Portland the birthplace of Neo-McCarthyism?” Willamette Week (2016).
It is indeed time to shine the light on the disgusting hypocrisy embraced by the elitists making up the aristocratic Democrat Party, much like the old south that they try to distance themselves from at every opportunity. But, this special group of bigots just cannot seem to help themselves, they naturally return to the roots of Jackson, Wilson, Byrd & Duke.
How ironic that as the bigoted leftist elite spread their special brand of tolerance across America for the last eight years, lecturing the conservative minded people who actually demonstrate tolerance instead of just talking about it, those they have carefully taught to hate would chose the symbolism of lynching for a man who dared to ask, “What do you have to lose?”
You’ve got to be taught
To hate and fear,
You’ve got to be taught
From year to year,
It’s got to be drummed
In your dear little ear
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught to be afraid
Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
And people whose skin is a different shade,
You’ve got to be carefully taught.
You’ve got to be taught before it’s too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,[2]
What we are watching play out is a massive neo-adult temper tantrum highlighting the shear arrogance of Liberalism, and showing that “tolerance” really means agree with me or you’re deplorable. Congratulations to the leftists, you are now harvesting the crop from that which you have sewn for so long. I urge liberals to unite and throw off your leftist handlers; you are better than this.
As a good hearted liberal friend once explained to me, for a leftist “The issues is never about the issue, the issue is always the revolution.” There is a stark difference between a leftist and a liberal; liberals have a heart, but seldom a checkbook, leftists on the other hand always have a checkbook but seldom a heart. Hate and division are the tools of the leftist, Saul Alinsky can confirm that for you if you disagree.
While I may not agree with her assessment of the electoral process that we employ to pick the President of the United States and leader of what is left of the free world, I can’t fault Sarah yet for the indoctrination she has received. She speaks to the issue and behavior of a mob, and I am glad she did.
If this is the critical thinking that we can expect from our institutions of higher learning, we are in deeper trouble than we thought. I pray for the hearts and minds of those who attended Roscoe’s holiday party and urge them to follow Sarah’s example if they have the courage to do so; show tact, taste, discipline and respect. Tolerance demands courage, show loving kindness toward those you disagree with, if you must, engage in peaceful disobedience to unjust actions, and recognize that there are always options to do business with those you wish to support because they support your view. Such is the essence of tolerance.
[1]http://www.wweek.com/news/2016/12/16/portland-woman-quits-job-after-she-says-a-trump-pinata-was-lynched-at-a-holiday-party/
[2] You’ve got to be carefully taught!Rogers and Hammerstein, 1958, the movie South Pacific