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Casualties of the Civil War
by Anne Doherty
Anyone who is paying attention and over age 40 would likely agree with the statement that the United States is engaged in a cold Civil War. I say over 40 because people in their 30s are Millennials, and those Millennial age and younger have had such poor history education that they might not be able to spot a Civil War when they see one.
One thing that makes this period of history a war is the number of casualties. Even Millennials are starting to feel the threats to their future and their livelihood. However, the fact that so many Americans have died since 2020 and even a few years before that is astounding.
Some victims are obvious, with Ashley Babbitt, Rosanne Boyland, and the J6 prisoners being easiest to recognize as victims of a political attack. That one Capitol Police officer and another D.C. Metropolitan police officer died by suicide within days of January 6 is notable. Victims of Covid 19 and/or the multiple shots and boosters also come to mind, especially if you view the lockdowns as unnecessary and the vaccines as prematurely tested on the public. If you believe that Covid 19 was introduced to the world by the Chinese as a kind of bio-war test, the number of casualties, really fatalities, sky-rockets to 1,127,258, in the US, according to the World Health Organization.
Most victims are less obvious. “From 2011 to 2022, over half a million lives (539,810) were lost to suicide, with 2022 showing the highest number of deaths on record. Within this period, the adjusted suicide rate increased by 16%.” (KFF.org) According to the CDC, suicide rates significantly increased between 2020 and 2021 for males aged 15–24, 25–44, 65–74, and 75 and over. (So…all men except those between 45 and 65.) From 2020 to 2021, suicide rates increased significantly for non-Hispanic Black and non-Hispanic White females. From 2020 to 2021, suicide rates increased significantly for non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, and White males."(cdc.gov)
The reason that so many would take their lives made some sense during Covid. The fear, confusion, isolation and disruption of the economy would naturally have exacerbated depression in the vulnerable. However, the suicide rate was rising before that. Would it not be true that the following are also factors? 1) The attack on traditional gender identity, 2) the perception of toxic masculinity, and 3) the disproportionate rise in housing and gasoline costs to actual wages (meaning it’s difficult to live independently, let alone marry and have children). Add in what Europeans call the Climate “Crisis.” The despair that comes with believing the world will end in 25 Page 5 years may have killed few, but in fact has handicapped many. The fact that the bureaucracy has been pushing that narrative for far longer than 25 years escapes most people, especially the under 40 crowd who accept this hope quelling “Crisis” as fact.
Also among the casualties are those whose lives have been turned upside down because they’ve been cancelled or wrongfully accused. I know several people who have been let go from their jobs just because someone randomly accused them of racism or sexism or, for that matter, voting Republican. To be wrongfully fired feels like being shot in the leg. It takes a while to heal from the trauma and shock of the accusation, and then one must face up to a less bright future than before.
Two generations have been wounded from the lies and indoctrination our children have been exposed to. That a man could actually become a woman or vice versa is a lie so great that Stalin or Hitler would have been afraid to float it. If anything proves that we’re in a war, it’s that statement. The people who believe it or say they do are offered a seeming protection from the Left for supporting the lie. The people who don’t are shunned, cancelled or ostracized.Their sanity is questioned. In short, they are taken out, just like soldiers on the front line.
This war is unlike any other in that, even though there are sides, it’s hard to know who the enemy really is. That’s how totalitarianism works; it’s a system that outlaws individual or group opposition to the ruling party. It’s a system that asks individuals to uphold big lies. It wounds, but only indirectly takes credit.
Rewrite the Left’s Language DictionaryBy Anne Doherty
It’s no news that leftists, who tend toward the creative as a personality description, manipulate language to promote their agendas, while conservatives, who lean toward conscientiousness, fall into using leftist vocabulary simply because it feels less confrontational to do so.
Nationwide, leftists have now expanded their language dictionary to include words that mess with our fundamental self-perception. As a hypnotherapist, I know that language matters. Words should validate the human experience, not deny it. I’m not alone in thinking the left’s vocabulary power grab has become dangerous to society’s mental health. After all, if we’re required to call a person with xy chromosomes a “woman,” it does more than rob us of free speech. We’re on the verge of having to say “up” is “down” or “alive” is “dead.”
How to stop? First, use words that directly define what you’re talking about. Second, drop the leftist euphemisms and, if you hear one, correct it. Third, wherever possible, use positive constructions over negative.
Using positive over negative basically means avoiding the adverb “not” in your sentence structure. Style books have long cited negative construction as contributing to weak communication. For example, saying “I don’t want gender-affirming care in schools” is ineffective for two reasons: first, it emphasizes the euphemism, justifying its usage, and second, it fails to present a picture of the speaker’s intention.
As for using straight-forward vocabulary in an age where dictionaries are embracing woke, it’s become essential to preserve basic common sense. Here is an all too short list of leftist euphemisms in statements followed by questions that redefine each term. The theory here is to regain control over the definition by feigning ignorance.
Legal status
“I’m raising money for the homeless.” How noble! Do you mean drug-addicts or transients?
"I’m looking for an undocumented nanny.” Do you mean a woman who is in the US illegally? I thought nannies were trained in their field. Are you talking about a woman who can read and write?
“My son is engaged to a dreamer.” Is she absent minded - or do you mean she’s a child of illegal aliens?
“I support immigration reform.” So do I. Do you mean we should have strong borders?
“No, I mean we should have open borders.” How does that work? If a border is open, does that mean it has holes in it? Open borders sounds like no borders to me.
Sexual terms
I’m Pro-life so I think women ought to have the right to choose.” Choose what exactly? Do you mean you are pro-abortion? Or do you mean you are pro-adoption? Or pro-single mothers?
“I think Reproductive Health and Gender-affirming Care is important to have in schools.” Do you mean gender-altering procedures? Do you think children should have medical procedures or take hormones while schools keep parents ignorant? Do you think minor children should be allowed to make permanent changes to their health and well-being?
“They are a woman.” Do you mean he is male (human with xy chromosomes) masking as a female (human with xx chromosomes)?
“He’s a cisgender" man.” Do you mean he’s a heterosexual male? (FYI, Latin root buffs, “gender activists” claim “cis” means “on one side” and “trans” means “on the other.” But that makes no sense - as “trans” in “transgender” means “completely changed” as in “transform” and the “cis” root actually means “to cut or to kill” as in “scissors” or “homicide.”
“There are 136 genders.” Do you mean terms that describe how men and women can have sex? Or do some of those terms describe individuals with gender dysphoria?
“She is a trans woman.” Do you mean he is man (person with xy chromosomes) who has had surgery or taken hormones to appear like a woman? Does he have gender dysphoria?
Race
“I’m an Anti-racist.” Do you think that people should have advantages according to the color of their skin? Isn’t that racist?
“I believe in fairness and social justice.” Do you believe in the redistribution of wealth? How is that unfair to people who make wealth? Do you believe people should have advantages based on their social status or the color of their skin? Isn’t that unjust?
Environment
“The climate crisis is affecting the collective.” Do you mean that weather affects people?
“Energy needs to be sustainable.” Sustainable in what way? Do you mean energy costs should be affordable? That energy needs to be efficient? Or do you mean it should be clean?
General
“The electoral college is unfair because we live in a democracy.” Do you mean we live in a representative republic?
“I’m a Progressive.” Do you mean you’re socialist? A leftist? A communist?
“The poor have a right to social programs.” Do you mean the poor have access to services funded by tax payers?
“Changing the meaning of my words is a micro-aggression.” Do you believe that ignorance should be a crime?
Gavin Newsom wasn’t born rich, but he was born connected — and those alliances have paid handsome dividends throughout his career.
As Saul Alinsky once said, “The issue is never the issue.” He meant that whatever issue Leftists appear to have in their sights is not their real focus; their real focus is power, and until they have absolute power, their immediate focus is revolution.
The more desperate Liberals get for power, the more controversial issues take center stage in politics and the news. Perhaps the most controversial issue of the post World War II era is abortion.
This article won’t attempt to change your views; rather it points out that the recent spate of states (New York, Rhode Island, Virginia) amending their constitutions or creating pro-abortion legislation is in reaction to the possibility that, if Justice Ginsberg dies and President Trump appoints another pro-life justice, Roe V. Wade could be overturned. New York and Virginia seek to overturn the 2003 federal law preventing partial birth abortion nationally. And Rhode Island is vacillating between one bill, preventing partial birth but allowing siblings over 25 and grandparents to approve abortions for minors, and The Rhode Island Reproductive Health Care Act which lifts all limitations, including partial birth.
Last year, Rhode Island’s Governor, Catholic Democrat Gina Raimondo, supported including pro-life insurance policies on the state’s Obama care exchanges (wpri.com); she met with a firestorm from the Left who turned against her and raised big money to support another Democrat candidate and unseat her. She won, but has radically changed her views to keep her political career alive.
In the State of the Union, President Trump said: “Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth…These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world.”
What do his words really mean? 1) If viable full term babies can be killed on day one, what’s to prevent killing them the next day, or whenever suits a parent’s need? If a parent isn’t competent to choose, the state would get involved; then the state would determine who lives and dies, no matter the age; 2) therefore, the “beautiful babies” are all of us. If the Left wins their power grab, we may all lose our “chance to share [our] love and dreams.”
A recent CBS poll declared 76% of Americans approved of the president’s speech. According to a 2018 Gallup poll, 87% of Americans oppose late term abortions. The similarity of those numbers shows that most Democrats oppose late term abortion. Science has advanced since 1973, when Roe became law. Not only has medicine provided an array of contraceptives including the “day after pill,” but ultra sound and other advances show fetal development. Of babies born at 22 weeks 25% survive; 90% of those born at 27 weeks do. Only 59 countries allow abortion for any reason; more than half of those demand parental permission; only 6, including the US, allow abortion after the 22nd week. While science has yet to pinpoint the exact moment the soul enters the body; it has provided a clear picture of what’s possible with respect to bringing lives into the world.
With 5 children and 9 grandchildren, the president agrees with the 87 percent. And he knows that states rushing to pass abortion laws are not protecting women. By making late term the new standard, the Left further divides the nation by making abortion a black or white issue. It’s not enough for Americans to support abortion prior to 12 weeks, or 20 weeks, they’ve got to agree with it in any form, at any time, even after a healthy full term birth. To support these extremes, one must be so afraid that one is willing to hand over one’s rights to government - or be hungry for the kind of power that tyrannies provide.
Hunger for power explains why Virginia’s Democrat Governor Northam would include a joke KKK photo in his medical school yearbook, then 40 some years later chillingly support infanticide. His combined actions remind us that the Left brought us slavery and we become their slaves again if we hand over control of the right to life. This right extends beyond the maternity ward to our “inalienable rights” to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” In honor of our rights, it’s important that open-minded discussions on controversial topics continue; regarding abortion, we’re still debating the exact moment life begins. But that important truth is not the issue here. Because the issue is never the issue; the issue is power.
So, when President Trump declared his pro-life views during his recent State of the Union address, he was actually defending the liberty and rights of all Americans.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2019/02/05/democrats-radical-push-on-abortion-will-backfire/
https://news.gallup.com/poll/235469/trimesters-key-abortion-views.aspx
https://www.newsweek.com/babies-born-22-weeks-can-survive-medical-care-new-study-finds-329518
https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20180613/in-governors-race-abortion-dispute-flares-among-democrats
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/10/09/is-the-united-states-one-of-seven-countries-that-allow-elective-abortions-after-20-weeks-of-pregnancy/?
noredirect=on&utm_term=.4c2dfa9e3c4e
https://www.wpri.com/politics/two-abortion-rights-bills-introduced-in-rhode-island/1706784477
The election results reminded me of an old cover illustration for the New Yorker magazine.