Daily Bread for 2.14.23: Nothing Upsets the Populists Like Contrary Speech (esp. from Blacks or Gays)

Good morning.

Valentine’s Day in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of 50. Sunrise is 6:52 AM and sunset 5:25 PM for 10h 33m 36s  of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 40.9% of its visible disk illuminated.

Now, Whitewater — don’t let showers dampen your spirits. There’s romance in the rain. 

Whitewater’s Public Works Committee meets at 6 PM. 

 On this day in 1778, the United States flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte renders a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.

Populism is a faction that falsely describes itself as a majority, and seeks to demonize contrary views as illegitimate. See Defining Populism. America has populists of the left and right, but Whitewater has only conservative populists. This city has a small, obsessive faction of easily-offended conservative populists. Whining about masks, lying about vaccines, looking to ban speech they don’t like, they’re mostly thin-skinned Facebook trolls. They often make mistakes of Identifying Types and Spotting Issues. See generally The Kinds of Conservatives in Whitewater. 

They practice a dominance-and-submission ritual, but badgering, head-shaking, hands-in-air, with squeals of what? what? what?!! is less domination than confirmation that they lack mature stoicism. (An earlier generation of conservatives would have rightly recommended remedial programming for these populists.)

Note well 1:  If there’s ever been proof that we’ve failed as a nation in K-12 education, that proof is to be found among the conservative populists. These native-born Americans read little, grasp less, and express themselves poorly as a consequence. A solid secondary school education should prepare someone to write well. College should not be — and is not — necessary preparation for speaking and writing to one’s fellow residents. Our forefathers did well with less than these contemporary Americans have. A native-born man or woman should be able to express himself or herself properly in the English language on the first draft. 

A motto for the day — wake up, wash up, read up. 

Note well 2 : Conservative populists may be objectionable in ideology and expression, but their lawful speech should not be banned or restricted. 

Consider, as Jennifer Rubin ably describes, the latest national controversy from the conservative populists:

MAGA Republicans had a conniption fit on Sunday as they witnessed the Super Bowl pregame show include “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” sometimes called the Black national anthem, alongside the national anthem and “America the Beautiful.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) howled on Twitter, “America only has ONE NATIONAL ANTHEM. Why is the NFL trying to divide us by playing multiple!? Do football, not wokeness.” Similarly, the campaign for former Arizona governor candidate Kari Lake tweeted that she is “against the idea of a ‘black National Anthem’ for the same reason she’s against a ‘white National Anthem.’ She subscribes to the idea of ‘one Nation, under God.’”

This is ridiculous. The pregame show’s announcers referred to the song by its formal title, not as a national anthem. And its words are deeply inspirational and patriotic:

Lift every voice and sing

Till earth and heaven ring

Ring with the harmonies of liberty;

Let our rejoicing rise

High as the listening skies

Let it resound loud as the rolling sea.

Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us

Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us;

Facing the rising sun of our new day begun

Let us march on till victory is won.

The song never even mentions race. And it’s not as if the song is new to NFL games.

Asteroid burns over English Channel after entering Earth’s atmosphere: