The Activist-antagonist and the current state of the world

 

We live in a strange time to say the least…we say every year since I was born at least! But seriously we live in weird as heck times.  The political spectrum has infiltrated just about every nook and cranny you can imagine and we live by our political view and…die by them too.  If you are on the right, the left hates you and labels you a fascist…..if you are on the left then the right hates you and labels you a commie! The truth is these ad hominem attacks are used to “cancel” out any ideas you have, to belittle you and make your view some how less important or in some cases less true.  People are all entitled to their own thoughts and opinions, but not their own facts….and not to just be entitled!

We also live in the time of the “Cancel culture” and Social Justice warriors.  My biggest beef in all this is that we have shifted how we communicate, debate and get things done. People refuse to accept some losses or concessions. The current culture is “if you don’t agree with me then I will GET YOU! You will feel sorry and I will attack you and destroy you”.  Or worse yet you get a good argument in and they change tactics to match a grade five student! You give a solid argument and they come back with “Well you are ugly”….to which I say “And?” when that happens I feel like “Well that’s over, I won that one” and the discussion is over.

 

I find the current trends in social issues confusing…. If I say that “All lives matter” then I am a racist! Really so Black lives are not part of all lives to me and while I realize that they have a special set of situations that made their current and past road more difficult than other groups…. stop being a child!  And if I say that a conservative has a point or a progressive is an idiot then I am a Nazi, if I say that a conservative is wrong and progressive has a great idea, I am a Commie idiot. When I have said both I have been attacked on line and a friend of mine who is a leftist person has been racially attacked and been threatened because some online troll thinks that we give a crap about their opinion when they won’t speak civilly to anyone.

One of the biggest changes that I have noted is everyone wants to be an “Activist” or “Ally” and no one wants to debate, hear or share their ideas with someone of the opposite side. So they want to stand up for something….and scream from the rafters at everyone….but they are not gong to listen! Its sad when someone is so shut off that they reject the idea of interacting with the other side. When the right does this the left calls them racists, fascists and a variety of names that is ugly. When the left does this the right puts them down with the SJW name, ANTIFA (if they are or are not part of this team) Communists or Marxists.  Its just as ridiculous, pathetic, weak and horribly ugly.

The new terminology or the new way that people present themselves is that they are activists, but in reality, most are antagonists who do not want to listen, they simply want to be listened to, and honestly, they don’t care if you agree or disagree with them, they in fact want the drama and say its to make change. They are not looking to actually make things better for everyone just those that see things they way that they do. I have a hard time respecting someone that is not open to change, won’t learn and wont listen and an even harder time respecting people who create excess drama and think that they can ignore common courtesy and just bludgeon people verbally (or sometimes physically) with those that don’t agree with their ideologies.

The Activist-antagonist is a new entity and those looking for real change are avoiding these people and letting them look foolish and like misbehaving children, all be it dangerous children. And the Activist-antagonist tends to attack the “established” norms ferociously and often attempts to destroy the whole system to try and implement their own ideals with out a care as to the people they affect or the system they are destroying. They take things that once were seen as “Blips” and things that could be ignored, or corrected with a simple apology and blow them up! A perfect example of this is the current state of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights (CMHR).

 

For those of you whom do not know the CMHR is a 350-Million-dollar museum that was built in 2008 that has ten permanent galleries and several temporary exhibits to focus on issues related to human rights. It was and I think still is the first of its kind. The permanent galleries are; 1. What are human rights? 2. Indigenous perspectives, 3. Canadian Journeys (again mostly about indigenous issues but with info on Chinese migration, the under-ground railroad and such.), 4. Protecting rights in Canada, 5. Examining the Holocaust and other Genocides, 6. Turning points for humanity, 7. Breaking the silence, 8. Actions count, 9. Rights today and 10. Inspiring change. 

On the surface this is one of those no brainers…. you set up a building with displays and exhibits that point out the horror shows that we have been through as a people and we all have a heart felt “atta boy” kind of a moment to acknowledge how “woke we are” and schools bring kids to the museum as part of a “this is why we are the way we are” kind of learning experience…and everyone is happy….but NO that’s not what is happening now.  No one is happy because, as well all know, with the “Karen’s” of the universe in control of the different groups…No one is allowed to be happy and adults are in short demand!

A report was requested with a investigation for what I can only say are probably honest concerns to some degree, and complete horse pellets in other ways. Now the report states that there was one account of sexual harassment made by a woman of color (it says black woman but that’s apparently racist now…the irony). The report said that their was no indication that a sexual harassment investigation was conducted….which to me means that the HR department felt it was bunk and did the right thing by not doing a full on investigation against a innocent person….or there is a deep seeded cover up that needs to be rooted out….the report does not say that the investigation should be taken up at this time however…it just points fingers. I would be on board if they requested a new investigation or if they pushed for more details from the original investigation.

Now some of what the report says I can Sarcastically say is bunk! I mean calling a human rights museum racist is like accusing the Pope of being a Satanist or some other absurd thing….I mean it’s a literally a building dedicated against racism for Gods sake. When you see that several of the permeant exhibits are about aboriginal/indigenous rights and atrocities against them its far fetched to say that the population is being discriminated against in this case.  People in the museum can be racist, but a building dedicated to human rights can hardly be…due to it not having the ability to think or feel…be racist. And the fact that all the displays are in essence anti racist really kind of puts that into question to start with. Now I get it…if the building was filled with Swastika and flags from the rebels in the states…well that’s racist! But a building that focuses on improving the well being of anyone that is part of the permanent displays…not so much.

The report says that “Racism within the Canadian Museum for Human Rights is pervasive and systemic,” and as proof it offers the interviews of people of color, Black (Thought that was the same thing…pardon my white privilege) and indigenous people whom the rampant racism in the halls of the…I cant believe I am saying this….Human Rights Museum are causing an adverse physical, emotion and financial effect on…no real proof offered other than their assertions that this is in fact truth. Now, I am willing to believe that perhaps some idiot managers are racist and causing issues, or maybe that a few staff members are over sensitive and creating issues, but with out any proof a logical and calm person can only say “Maybe” or “Maybe not”! If they said a manager made racially insensitive remarks or cracked racist jokes I would be in the “Well fire the idiot” category, but they just make the assertions…..after an inquest said that its not true…any other time this may have been done in it would have been dismissed and those creating the waves removed from the facility. Now, claiming something is enough proof to hang someone out to dry!

The next thing that was said left me scratching my bald head! The Report identified “Heterosexism” as an issue throughout the institution, noting that exabits containing LGBTQ content had been omitted from school tours seven times. That’s HORRIBLE, TERRIBLE….someone should dig into that more…oh, wait…I did!  So, the seven times that the LGBTQ content was omitted or “Hidden”…ALL SEVEN MIND YOU….the tours were their for limited time and their to SPECIFICALLY attend specific exhibits! MOST of the visits were to the Truth and Reconciliation exabit and had NOTHING to do with Gay rights, Gay issues ext. But hey…they did not drag everyone past EVERY single exabit so those that they missed should be complained about…funny how the Polish people of Winnipeg did not raise a fuss over their “Polish Solidarity movement” exabit not being on the menu!!!

It is SUPER IMPORTANT to note that the LGBTQ community in Winnipeg did not create a fuss over this. Some busy body idiot raised this who works at the facility when they realized that they could get their 15 minutes of fame…even if it was at the cost of a nice Job! The LGBTQ community is very diverse and has a lot of people who have something that this person was missing…common bloody sense! Rock the boat when its needed…not when you think it can shine a lime light on you! Its should not be about you, about getting even or about anything other than the exabit needing to be their and recognized, but not when its not appropriate to the reason the group is visiting! Also, this kind of poops on the Truth and Reconciliation exhibit too!

 

All this aside, the point is that we don’t talk to each other anymore, we talk OVER each other and through each other. We feel a need to totally rip people apart and tear them down in order to make ourselves feel important and we all absolutely have to feel like we are correct. It has created this form of tribalism that just rots and ruins who we are and our ability to grow as individuals. We not only seek out like minded people but we seek out information and “Science” that only serves to prove our point, we cherry pick what makes our point more valid and we ignore or detract that which challenges our ideas. We call people names, “Dig up dirt”, Create stuff and spread rumor to make sure that we are right and those that oppose us are ripped to bare so their point of view is never listened to or better yet so that its chastised and cruelly made fun of.

 

I used the Human Rights Museum as a example because the Activist Antagonists who caused this did not want to listen to the findings of the original inquest because they findings did not match what they wanted as an outcome. This was an example of the Leftist ideals not being served to the liking of those on the left, the social justice warriors or “commies”. However, you could say that the Social activist or Activist Antagonist was better displayed by Donald Trumps supporters not accepting that he lost the election and then not only did they say they refused the outcome…they filled the internet with garbage plots and tin foil hat inspired conspiracies, and then to top it off…they even stormed the capital building, some taking the Activist Antagonist roll to the next level and looking for people to KILL sot hey could prove their point!  What point…..I have no bloody idea! The fact is Trump lost; Biden won. When it was Trump won, Hilary lost…you saw close to the same kind of BS coming from the left with marches against his presidency and some AA’s immediately shooting down his presidency….not waiting for the silliness to come to influence their actions.

 

The current trend of people becoming AA’s and canceling people because they don’t agree with them would never have been allowed 20 years ago or 30 years ago! But we not only put up with it now, most of us participate in it.  There are times when people need to be “Cancelled” like Bill Cosby being convicted of Rape or other well-known people needing to be removed as influencers due to their misbehaviour and often criminal acts, but taking this to the next level on people who don’t agree with you or have created a minor infraction is stupid, unacceptable and…common. 

Its unfortunate that we live in a day and age when we don’t hold tight to the traditions of learning how to lose gracefully and win with elegance, to share ideas and learn from people with whom we don’t agree and to be…and this is the big one people…tolerant of each other when we don’t agree with each other and cant seem to see things eye to eye.