I continue to be fascinated, if not amused, by the angst of those on the political conservative spectrum in respect to the exercise of critical thinking skills to better appreciate America’s troubled history, as well as present day controversies. If one is to utilize objective analysis, the reality of systemic levels of racism as well
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It’s safe to say most Americans who were alive on Sept. 11, 2001, remember precisely what they were doing the moment they heard New York and the Pentagon had been attacked. Less certain is whether many of us have a similarly clear recollection of the following Oct. 7, when U.S. planes began bombing Afghanistan, starting a war that would last nearly 20 years and cost vastly more lives and resources than the terrorist attacks that spawned it.
I remember where I was: in my college dorm on a Sunday, on the phone with my mother (no iPhone alerts in those days). World-changing as many of us knew the war would be, at the time it felt like yet one more grim alteration of our reality among many the armed National Guardsmen in fatigues patrolling airports, the terrifying spike in anti-Muslim hate, the agitation for revenge against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and now a war. The attack on Afghanistan, unimaginable a month prior, felt oddly ordinary when it happened.
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To the editor: Rush Limbaugh’s legacy is cemented. With the inception of his radio platform in the 1980s, his appeal to the worst instincts of white America became a core component of GOP campaign and governing strategy for decades. (“Rush Limbaugh, highly influential conservative radio host, dies at 70,” Feb. 17)
From milking the legitimate middle-class anxieties on economic insecurity by stoking age-old racist tropes, to spewing misogyny that would relegate women to their status in 1950s America, Limbaugh’s toxic impact is quite profound. Coupled with a pathological fidelity to the hegemony of the corporate world, the Republican Party in 2021 mirrors a governing philosophy more in tune with fascism than conservatism.