Some stories about behavior of “progressives” and their institutions which represent the above characteristics in particularly egregious fashion.
John Wright’s sons were expelled from their Boy Scout troop…apparently based largely on accusations of ‘Islamophobia.’
Aisha O’Connor writes about her experiences at Bryn Mawr. This was back in the early 1990s. I doubt that things have gotten any saner since.
Rick Poach reports on a conversation (if you can call one-way communication a conversation) overheard in a diner last November 10.
Roger Simon writes about witch hunts and unhinged leftist rage.
Not quite sure I agree with the Cowardice part. It is clear through these stories and many others that the Left don’t think they are fighting a culture war anymore, they think they’re just going around the battlefield shooting the survivors. And who could blame them? The rest of us are the cowards, afraid to point out that no, no matter what name he prefers, the former Bruce Jenner is a man, now and forever. The fact that so many are happy to assert that two plus two equals five is shameful, and there’s no coming back from this point.
Brian…true, there is cowardice on both sides. Among the Progs and their fellow-travelers, it is typically manifested by participating in an attack against outsiders and dissidents, where the participant joins in out of fear rather than real conviction…as did many Russians and Germans who were not themselves committed Communists or Nazis. Among the non-Progs, it is more typically manifested by failure to call out the Progs and their excesses and to defend their victims.
In general, however, I think cowardice is more common on the Left…it doesn’t take much courage to align oneself with positions which are aligned with those that control most of the cultural high ground.
Sure, they are bullies and we all “know” that bullies are cowards and if you stand up to them they run away. But that’s not true when the bullies are the ones in charge. You can say the Red Guards in China were cowards, but the fact is that if they didn’t like you, you were finished. It’s long past time to wake up, read some Havel and similar writers, and be honest about where we are.
It does seem that the organized, even professional, violence from the left is spiraling upward. It is becoming so common that it is almost expected and worse, tolerated as inevitable and even partially justifiable by many.
At some point the push back will become gather momentum and the violence will spike. This is not going to be pretty or clean. Most of the elites have already taken a side or think they can manage the opposing factions while making hay. That may or may not translate to which side the law enforcement entities come down in the likely locations where the conflict erupts. I still hope the rank and file break with their politicized leadership, but I have no insider info on that.
I live in a place where there is currently little likelihood that the thing will erupt here initially and that if it comes here, it will be over quickly and decisively. We win, they are gone. The outcome in many of the more likely urban areas seems to me to be much more in doubt.
Death6