In June, the faculty at Washington and Lee voted to disassociate the university from George and Robert. This December, the Falls Church (VA) school board voted unanimously to re-name Thomas Jefferson Elementary and George Mason High School. This is what happens when cancel culture so infects liberal elites, they channel Animal House (“this situation absolutely calls for a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody’s part”).
Let me be blunt: heroes rise above their failings to perform consequential acts that benefit others. Because of his perseverance and bravery, which merged Europe and this hemisphere, Columbus is honored. He was consequential for both old and new worlds; hence, an “aggrieved” Native American can send an email to organize a protest and record the toppling of a Columbus statue on his smart phone (pretty sure the Green New Deal frowns on smoke signals).
Sanctifying hunter-gatherer societies is absurd, because Europeans had superior technology (gun powder) and organization (armies and navies). It’s an economic fact that, in 1492, indigenous people were under-utilizing the Americas, which is why Europeans prevailed. It is absurd for native Americans to demonize colonials today, when their own ancestors, by adopting the horse and rifle, acknowledged Europe’s greater efficiency.
Clear-thinking conservatives reject cancel culture – because it’s obvious why Anglo-American civilization prevailed and is still predominant. The American mainstream accepts historical re-sets, such as Roots or Dances with Wolves, but not efforts to undo its traditions (Christmas) and history (Washington). Cancel-culture agents should note the failures of Hitler, Mao, and Stalin; forced humiliation of the masses invited apathy (Russia) and rebellion (Vichy France).
No civilization has ever erased its way to greatness, because cultural constructs are rooted in the church, community and family – and the loudest cancel-culture agents know this. To wit, Rashida Tlaib condemns Jews who support Israel, and Ilhan Omar condemns Christians for “making her aware of her otherness.” I’m calling BS, because their Muslim faith prohibits interfaith marriages, and 80% of American Muslims obey (source: Pew). The stench of hypocrisy is vast.
That Muslim Moment is telling: tearing down statues and removing names are acts of retaliation by minorities that resent otherness and assimilation into the melting pot. Almost all Americans know Jefferson owned slaves and Lee fought for the slave-owning Confederacy, but only 20% of Americans want their memorials removed (source: Rasmussen). That makes sense when 90% think it is better to “try to learn from the mistakes of the past.” So, why is that?
Two reasons, really, beginning with imperfect bosses, coaches, and parents that have somehow improved our lives. My father was a hopeless gossip, who was beloved by his employees. Steve Jobs failed the good-parent test, but is rightly revered as the father of personal computing. Martin Luther King failed the good-husband test, but is justly honored as the champion of civil rights. In short, he that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone (John 8:7).
It is the reasonable mind that recognizes Jefferson failed to live up to our American ideals and somehow rose up to be the “author” of America. It is a charitable heart that forgives Lee for his Confederate service because he saved a small Virginia college. Thus, the great sin of cancel culture agents is parsing history into the study of time-bound sins to re-write biographies to suit their partisan lean. Along the way, truth, justice, and the American way suffer death by revision.