Abbeville Institute

Facebook has kicked the Abbeville Institute off its platform.  This is an offence against free speech.  The Abbeville Institute is not a crazy, rabble-rousing place from what I can tell by the articles it publishs.  They are supporters of the old South, but this is not a criminal offense.  There are probably a few crazies who attach themselves to it, but this is true of any organization, including Black Lives Matter, the American Legion, the Brookings Institution, and the Democratic and Republican Parties. 

Facebook appears to have a political agenda that it is forcing on the United States, as Pravda and other Communist media did in the old Soviet Union.  The book 1984 is relevant today; it has just taken us a few more years to reach its description of the political situation than George Orwell expected.  Mark Zuckerberg has become “Big Brother” whether he wants to be or not.  The First Amendment of the Constitution

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

is under serious assault. 

I do not think the Abbeville Institute is crying “fire” in a crowded theater or encouraging rebellion against the United States.  It is celebrating the exploits of the Old South militarily and socially before and during the Civil War.  People who oppose this are doing so on the same grounds they oppose all the accomplishments of European civilization: because they were done my white men.  The Roman Republic, Athenian democracy, English literature, Dutch master painters, classical music, the Renaissance, capitalism, and the industrial revolution are all opposed as evil for that reason.  The American founding fathers were influenced by European philosophers of the Enlightenment such as Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, and Rousseau, which is now seen as evidence of their depravity. 

I believe the American Founding Fathers were great men who created a great country.  I believe many of the soldiers who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War were great men, certainly including Robert E. Lee.  I’m not sure my great-grandfather who fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War was a great man, but he was a good man.  He was doing what he thought was right although he was born in Iowa and owned no slaves. 

I believe the continued suppression of speech by non-governmental media is a threat to our country, which has a history of free expression of ideas.  Indeed, it suppresses not only the current expression of ideas, but what we record of the history of mankind, and how we record it.  Great ideas will be lost.  We may return to a new “Dark Ages” of intellectual darkness, a rejection of truth, beauty, and science.  I am sad that this dark day may be coming unless we stand up against it. 

 

Stop Idolizing George Floyd

It is sad that Black Lives Matter has made such a point of honoring George Floyd.  He is a human being and should not have been killed by the police.  However, he was a convicted felon for a violent crime, in addition of being a drug user, a poor father, and generally a failure in life.  He was being arrested for committing a crime while being high on drugs.  He was a drag on the US economy and a bad example of the human race. 

The fact that he is being held up to such esteem by the black race indicates what a terrible state the black race is in.  There are many wonderful black individuals, but the black race looks pretty awful.  Africa is a failed continent, populated by the black race.  Why haven’t blacks made something of Africa.  Latin America is dark or brown because of the black intermarriage, and it too is a failed continent compared to the Northern Hemisphere.  Is the Southern Hemisphere failing because if is Southern, or because it is mainly populated by black and brown people? 

Black and brown people need good models for their race like Colin Powell, not failed criminals like George Floyd.  The fact that they honor George Floyd shows how violent, how uncivilized, how uneducated their race is.  They blame it on white oppression, but slavery ended 150 years ago.  Many blacks left the segregated South, but still failed to succeed in the northern US, turning cities like Detroit into spreading slums.  I would like to see an example of a failing city with a majority white population that improved itself as black people moved in and made it a better city.  I would like to see one; most examples are the opposite – nice cities that ran down as more black people moved in. 

When I was at the American Embassy in Warsaw, Poland, I went down to Silesia to survey the coal mines there and to see what their environmental impact was.  The Pole who was escorting me made a point of taking me to an apartment house lived in by coal miners. He wanted me to see how neat and clean they were at home, despite their dirty occupation.  This is the kind of example the blacks need. I’m sure such an example exists, but I don’t know of it.  Blacks should publicize it, instead of praising a criminal like George Floyd. 

Reparations

Reparations is not about slavery; it’s about being black.  Slavery ended over 150 years ago. Blacks may claim the segregation lasted much longer, but many blacks moved from the South to the North where there was supposed to be no segregation.  They had the opportunity to make something of themselves, but they didn’t do much with it.  So now they just want money. 

America seems to be undergoing a transition in which blacks want a huge transfer of wealth from whites to blacks.  In fact, the immigration dispute reflects this same agenda.  Black and brown people around the world have been less successful than white people.  As a result, we see the mass migration from the southern hemisphere to the northern.  Africans are flocking to Europe.  Latin Americans are flocking to the United States.  These black and brown people are seeking a better life because they have failed to build one for themselves, just as black Americans failed to build themselves better lives after the Civil War. 

Now they have given up trying to better themselves and are just saying, “Give us money.”  Reparations are for being black, not for slavery.  It is easy to discriminate against blacks because blackness is so easily discernable, as opposed to religious beliefs or nationality.  Nevertheless, there are many successful blacks whose success demonstrates that blackness is not an insurmountable obstacle.  In fact, if blackness were identified with some particular skill or knowledge, it would be an asset instead of a liability. This seems to be the case in sports.  Blacks excel in sports, where football and basketball have both become dominated by black players.  If the same percentages were applied to sports that blacks want applied to other endeavors, teams could have only one black basketball player on the floor and football teams could have only two black football players on the field. 

Success in sports is good, but blacks need to do the same thing in other areas of life.  The last Oscars was devoted to awarding blacks, but the Oscars lost prestige because everyone recognized that they were given because of race and not because of the quality of the movies.  Blacks just ended up devaluing the Oscars, rather than improving their own image.  

Blacks need to prove themselves in areas other than sports and show business, rather than just asking for reparations payments because they were born black.