Madison Avenue — short-hand for the advertising industry (as Mad Men fans and anyone over 40 know) — used to have a rule: if you want an ad to succeed, just include a baby or a puppy. Today, the progressive virus is going after both.
Progressivism is a virus far more sinister and deadly than the Corona virus, and our children have been perhaps hardest hit. Test scores and reading levels have plummeted so far that we risk a generation of high school graduates who cannot read, write, nor do basic math. Of course, the teachers’ unions have come up with a solution… (wait for it) make the tests easier! Better yet, get rid of tests entirely, after all, they are just a tool of white privilege. Or a construct of the patriarchy. Or something.
Instead of teaching our kids any practical skills, our schools are busy explaining that boys are girls and girls are boys and there really isn’t any difference anyway, so you can have more friends by undergoing radical, irreversible surgery that will cause lifelong health problems (not to mention mental health disaster), and don’t worry, we won’t tell your parents, they just don’t understand.
Actually that part is correct. I don’t understand performing a double-mastectomy and hysterectomy on a 14 year old girl because she feels lonely and confused. That used to be called adolescence. Call me old-fashioned. (If you haven’t already done so, read Abigail Shrier’s brave and alarming book, Irreversible Damage. If you can find a copy amid the liberal censorship. Don’t even get me started on the publishing industry’s fake outcry over supposed “book bans.” What a farce.)
But you know this story: Parents who dare to object are labeled domestic terrorists, banned from school board meetings, and threatened with imprisonment.
Parents face a much worse nightmare if they don’t object – witness the testimony of 19-year-old Chloe Cole, whose parents were bullied into allowing puberty blockers at age 13 and “gender transitioning” surgery at age 15 for their daughter with this hair-raising threat from medical professionals: “would you rather have a dead daughter or a living transgender son?” Cole was on Capitol Hill last month, begging legislators to protect other young girls from suffering the same fate. Far from preventing suicide, Cole testified, her “treatment” almost caused her to commit suicide, as it has for many other victims of the Left’s latest lunacy.
Not satisfied with stealing (and mutilating and killing) our children, now they’re coming after our animals too. At least, the ones they deem politically incorrect. I won’t bore you with the latest tempest over the “significant role pets play in the climate crisis,” according to CNN. It’s just too absurd. But here’s a more alarming story…
Some readers will recognize the name Traveller. A+ to history students who just said out loud: “Robert E. Lee’s horse.” Quite right. Traveller was the trusted and constant companion of the greatest civil war general and perhaps greatest man of his generation, Robert E. Lee. Traveller saw Lee through most of the war, and then went to Lexington, VA with Lee in 1865, when Lee became president of Washington College. That college was renamed Washington and Lee, upon Lee’s death – though the name vultures of the progressive Left have an ongoing campaign to remove Lee’s name from the school. (To date, the college has removed 20 plaques they deemed objectionable, including most recently the plaque noting where Lee took the oath of office as President of the college and the plaque marking his office.)
Lee’s name remains part of the school name, for the moment – but not Traveller. Apparently, the horse was too controversial for the delicate souls at W&L. As far as I know, Traveller didn’t own any slaves, nor vote for any conservative candidates. He did, however, help, support, and love a great confederate general – so he must be purged. After all, his service and heroism might lead someone to learn more about the service and heroism of his master, and we can’t have that. (And please excuse my use of the word “master,” I know it’s unforgivably racist. You’ll be comforted to know that my husband and I now sleep in the main bedroom of our house, not the master bedroom. At least, that’s what we plan to tell the authorities when they come to check.)
Meanwhile, the commemorative plaque that honored the stable where Traveller lived has been removed. A blank dark space on the brick wall is the only remaining evidence of the plaque that read: “The last home of Traveller, through war and peace, the faithful, devoted and beloved horse of General Robert E. Lee. Placed by the Virginia Division, United Daughters of Confederacy.” The school also dug up the headstone marking the horse’s grave, replacing “Traveller, Horse of Robert E. Lee, placed by Virginia DV UDC, May 8, 1971” with a new marker that reads: “Traveller, 1857 – 1871.”
Because, you know, that’s how you teach history. Remove all information and facts that have been deemed “offensive” or “triggering” to someone, somewhere, and replace it with … nothing. That’s a wonderful way to teach the lessons, both painful and powerful, of the past.
Perhaps this new grave marker will spark a “treasure hunt,” inspiring young students to discover the truth: “who was this Traveller?” More likely, future students will casually wonder “why is there a marker for the college bus system that picks up kids too drunk to drive home?” Maybe Traveller will live on after all. The truth has a way of inserting itself at the most inconvenient moments.