Have you noticed our crybaby culture where no one misses an opportunity to be offended? America just celebrated Independence Day, which should be a time to pull us together as a proud nation. This would be especially true this year as our country has been through so much with COVID-19 and all the recent protests and riots in our streets.
Who would have ever thought that the president of the United States hosting a fireworks display at Mount Rushmore would be the source of such offense to so many people? Let me count the ways.
OFFENDED: Protestors who tried to keep people from attending the Fourth of July celebration by placing vans in the road and slashing the tires so they couldn’t be easily removed.
OFFENDED: CNN, who fawned when Bernie Sanders said of Mount Rushmore, “It really does make one proud to be an American. This is America at its very best!” but reported Trump’s visit as “standing in front of two slave owners on land wrestled away from Native Americans.”
OFFENDED: The Lakota Sioux Indians who consider it their sacred land . . . which they took from the Cheyenne who thought it was their sacred land . . . who took it away from the Kiowa before them who also considered it their sacred land.
OFFENDED: The Washington Post, which wrote: “At Mount Rushmore, Trump exploits social divisions, warns of ‘left-wing cultural revolution’ in dark speech ahead of Independence Day” and the New York Times wrote, “At Mount Rushmore, Trump Digs Deeper into Nation’s Divisions.” Not only did these writers clearly not hear the speech, they likely hit “SEND” on their hit pieces two seconds after Trump finished.
OFFENDED: Neil Young that a few of his songs were played from when he was famous.
OFFENDED: Fashionistas who mocked the first lady’s dress as though it looked like someone had scribbled pictures on it with a Sharpie. Uhh…they WERE messages from abused children who expressed their feelings in pictures which she had made into a dress to support their cause.
OFFENDED: Fans of Mary Hart, a native of South Dakota, for appearing on the same stage as Donald Trump. No doubt these outraged morons will call for a boycott of old reruns of “Entertainment Tonight.”
OFFENDED: Fire experts on left-wing cable stations who warned that the fireworks could start a massive wildfire among all those granite hills.
OFFENDED: Democratic Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who complained that Trump spent “all his time talking about dead traitors.” We knew they were dead but Washington and Lincoln, traitors?
OFFENDED: Colin Kaepernick, who tweeted on the Fourth of July that this was a “celebration of white supremacy.” A few days later, Disney announced their collaboration with Kaepernick to teach our kids about his worldview. That spinning you’re now hearing is poor Walt in his grave.
OFFENDED: Lakers star LeBron James, who retweeted Kaepernick’s message about the July 4 and white supremacy. Yeah, the same guy who lectured us about not posting unkind tweets against communist China, the world’s most ruthless violator of human rights. Stick with tossing balls in hoops, LeBron.
Did we leave anybody out whose feelings were hurt on the Fourth of July celebration? There might be an underground blogger somewhere who played the clarinet in high school and was offended to see a clarinet player on the same stage as Donald Trump.
Just a few weeks earlier rioters in Washington, D.C., defaced the historic St. John’s Church with graffiti and then later set it on fire to burn it down. The Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, who oversees St. John’s church, was not offended by defacing the church or setting it on fire. But when the president of the United States held up a Bible in front of the church, THAT’S when she was offended. Naturally she was the darling of the media all that week who were also offended . . . by a Bible . . . at a church.
And no, President Trump does not escape my condemnation of our crybaby culture. No president has ever taken things so personally as Trump. His reactions to criticism, his tweet fights with C-level actors, and his personalization of everything makes everybody groan.
I don’t believe any of the crazy polls these days because I think the presidential race will be close. But not because Joe Biden is making a compelling case. It’s only because of Trump’s polarizing personality, which can spell doom. Ask Hillary Clinton. It’s Trump’s race to lose and he’s doing his best with his constant offenses.
So, if you made it this far in my column without being offended, thanks for reading. I’ll try harder next time.
Gil Mertz is a Thousand Oaks resident and former Santa Clarita Valley resident who worked for Help the Children in Valencia for 20 years. His column does not necessarily represent the views of The Signal or its editorial board.
