Friday, June 16, 2023

PRIDE & PREJUDICE

I hope you will not fault my using the title of the famous romantic novel by Jane Austin published in 1813. That great literary work was the inspiration of many stage and screen productions, one notable adaptation being a 1995 TV miniseries starring Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth. 

In the three volume's, Jane Austin constructs the intriguing juxta deposed ideas of the pride of rank and fortune and prejudice against social inferiority and the pride of self-respect and prejudice against snobbery. I will leave any similarities of the words I am about to write and the novel right there. They are none other than the correlation between the concept of pride and prejudice and the commandeering of the actual meaning of the word pride and it’s usage by the new age social warriors who seem more interest in bludgeoning its opponents with the weapon of, “well you can’t possibly be against that” mantra or that prejudice in another form could, not always, but could simply mean, good judgment. 

 

For example:  


On June 1st, 2023, the first day of gay “Pride” month by the way, a man jumped up on the altar of Saint Peters Basilica butt naked. Now if that furthers your gay pride towards acceptance, please be proud. I on the other hand am going to be prejudiced to act as being wholly stupid and disrespectful. The man got escorted out, but no charges were pressed which likely encourages more of this type of activity. The alphabet soup of lifestyles expects acceptance and celebration while at the same time applauding activities that disrespect and mock others. Really? Well at least, good to know. For a while longer and with sincere respect, I’m leaving gays and lesbians as a subunit out of the soup. It will be shown later in this offering why. 


In an opinion piece penned by Bruce Bower, posted in the New York Post recently,  


Bruce bemoans the morphing of gains in at least a semblance of celebratory acceptance, the jump into activism, to then suddenly without warning, wallowing around in displays of righteous stupidity. 

 Bruce states a very important and valid point. 

 

I don’t expect to be applauded for being left-handed. Being gay is an attribute, not an accomplishment”. 


Well, now it seems as if the whole “LGBTQI+” crowd is not the “association” most gay folks, including Bruce, ever intended on signing up for. Certainly not now that prancing around naked and defecating on statues has become the normI mean come on, you got to be scratching your ideological head with confusion, right?

  

And please, if you don’t mind, can anyone just declare the rest of the alphabet soup off limits going forward. I don’t think I can stomach much more of that “Progresso”.

  

Pride Month is no longer viewed as merely a celebration of individuality and freedom. It has become infected with woke nonsense and an openly partisan progressive agenda. 

 

Pride derives from the French word “prud”, which is a late Old English word variously translated as “excellent, splendid, arrogant, haughty.” It is thought that “having a high opinion of oneself” might reflect the Anglo-Saxons opinion of Norman knights who called themselves “proud.” 


The Merriam-Webster Dictionary offers multiple definitions for “pride.” A positive one is: “A feeling that you respect yourself and deserve to be respected by others.” This seems like a healthy aspect of pride. But then there’s: “A feeling that you are more important or better than other people” and “inordinate self-esteem.” This appears to be a common, not-so-healthy conceit, reflected in statements like, “He had too much pride to ask for help” or “her pride prevented her from admitting she was wrong.” 


Look folks, (to coin an oft used beginning of: “I’m going to attempt to say something important right now” of a not so popular president these days) when you see Skittles go racist, you know something is off. Yes, they did, if you follow woke suggestions.  Skittles must have caused even the proudest of Pride aficionados’ eyes to roll when they released their limited-edition white versions of their sweets.

  

“We are giving up our rainbow to show support for the LGBTQ+ community.” 

 

Could it be that the only testament to this insanity is that the sweets were white, and oh, let’s see, not black. No dual whammy out of this corporate virtual-signaling vanity. Wow, what a missed opportunity for that highly educated, college grad, corporate intern. Oh well, next time. 

 

When pride substitutes for our human dignity, it disconnects us. Affirming our dignity and allowing others their dignity, we become more available to honor ourselves and connect with others as equals. Pride is a burden we don’t need. Living with dignity allows us to move more freely through life.

 

LoveToKnow Media is an extensive web-based support site for lesbian women with every imaginable subject about their lives that is covered. Hidden in the details, as always with “protected classes”, you’ll find definitions that use the English language to qualify the normalization of their lifestyle. Recently their editorial staff produced an article entitled “54 Empowering LGBTQIA+ Quotes to Celebrate Pride”.  


I am not a big fan of liberalizing the use and meaning of the English language, culturally practiced phases and terms, historical norms of communication to alien with any new age ideologies and bolstering an argument for society’s affirmation of alternative lifestyles. I often argue that maintaining strict adherence to, not just the definitions, but the meanings of such, are extremely Important to gaining understanding. I did a quick scan of the quotes they offered in their piece, knowing as always, the proclivity of the “alternatives”, if you will, to commandeer language in a way that validates who they are demanding the vast majority to accept. 

 

Here are some examples: 

 

Every member of the LGBTQIA+ community wears a beautiful badge of bravery.  


Here we/I want to focus on the word “every” and point out the extreme exaggeration. The quote does not seem to be anywhere close to the truth if you believe the article by Colin Poltras posted on the Yale School of Medicine’s website on June 13, 2019,  


where he makes the claim that an estimated 83 percent of those who identify as lesbian, gay or bisexual — keep their orientation hidden from all or most of the people in their lives.  

I’m not here to debate if that is a healthy or even enviable position to put yourself in as a guy or lesbian, but folks, you don’t get to use the English language to bludgeon your naysayers, especially if it’s a lie.


How about another: 


Equality gives everyone the right to a happy ending. 


Here we want to focus like a laser beam on the first and fifth words there, and please if you will be less interested in how the quote ends, no pun intended. There is no such thing as a right to equality regarding sexual satisfaction. Whoops, sorry, I refocused you on the ending but in my defense, that was not my intention. My objective here, thinking of words and their use, is that this phrase summons up Constitutional expectations that can’t possibly be argued successfully in any first year Con Law class.  

Equal protection rights concerning “sexual orientation” can’t be found in the Constitution nor more deeply, not otherwise in the 14th Amendment, nor has the court directly addressed the issue. 


I’m so sorry to mention this here in “family reading time”, but straight sex and gay sex is not the same, and attempting to equate the two can easily be settled in the opposite by realizing the truth that on one hand, no pun intended, satisfaction can be attained singularly without partnership in the former, but as for the later, biologically speaking, starting from the very beginning of mankind and the evolutionary principle of procreation, only two, a man and a woman can succeed. Pretending does not count because satisfaction does not just mean feeling good, but also requires the acceptance that the act is specific to the furtherance of one’s lineage. There simply is no right to a happy ending and all happy outcomes are not equal. So again, just spit out quotes that make you feel good, even if you are lying to yourself.

 

Now right here I must say, this whole month thing kind of pisses me off. Just last month we veterans, our families, and many in the community, went out to the local grave site to honor those that gave the ultimate sacrifice. We stand next to those stones and hear some music and a patriotic story and there is always more than one tear wiped away. Once a year, as a national holiday, cut out to honor, once, one day set aside. It is somewhat amazing that we spend only one day taking "pride" in remembering the sacrifices of those who gave the last full measure of devotion and honoring them. The very next full month we have “pride” flags flying above every corporate headquarters in the nation for what purpose? Is that something to be widely admired? 


Allen West has an amazing take on pride, patriotism and a historical prejudice mitigated by a hundred years of sacrifice and toil. The whole of the American black population should take pride in what they have overcome and they, if I might, might not enjoy sharing hope for the future with folks more concerned about a different type of “happy ending.” 

 

I want to leave you with some inspiration and common sense for the future. All of us can gain more respect and love for each other and do so simultaneously while defending each of our morals and values without intentionally disparaging the other. We may not always stand on common ground or agree and certainly not require submission to others demand for acceptance. Those demands for validation are found in the new “WOKE” ideology. This video should do the trick at bringing down the heat around the coffee table that has been turned up under the false guise of political correctness that claims truth as a relative ideal. Please watch and listen carefully.