To the Editor:

“The Constitution is not a suicide pact” is a quote attributed to Abraham Lincoln as he defended himself against charges of unconstitutionality when he suspended habeas corpus during the Civil War. Now, with protests gone bad throughout many cities in the country, there arose protests against the violence which got the mainstream press into action. Not to condemn the violence, mind you. It was to lecture us about how important it is to have First Amendment freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, etc. for redress of grievances. I don’t see anyone trying to abridge these freedoms in this context. The Constitution is well able to ensure these freedoms without allowing matters to devolve into chaos. When Confucius was asked what he would do as governor, he said he would rectify the names, to make words correspond to reality. What we need in America today is a rectification of names.

Peaceful protests do not “intensify,” they become riots. When riots have the avowed purpose of overthrowing the government, it is called an insurrection. We must be able to make critical distinctions and to calibrate responses accordingly. It doesn’t help having to swim up the stream of lies and half-truths we are flooded with by our cultural wordsmiths. The media doesn’t like the term “enemy of the people” hung on them but they have worked hard to earn it by their journalistic malpractice of using words that mischaracterize, obscure the truth, or refuse to report the news at all.

Another big thing today is anti-racism, as if it has just been discovered. That’s another misnomer. Today’s anti-racism is just warmed over, repackaged, old-fashioned racism. It is lipstick on a pig. Non-white people can be as racist as any white, and whites who try to divest themselves of racism by hating themselves and denigrating other whites based on their DNA are only demonstrating their racism. Why can’t we look at people as people, people? This was, after all, the hope and promise of the Civil Rights Movement but it has since degenerated into stupidity. The only real Civil Rights leaders we have are those who are seldom recognized or maybe called Uncle Toms for their trouble when they try to point out some inconvenient truths. 

A recent American Cancer Society update on guidelines for cancer screening said that people with a cervix should get screened for cervical cancer. Pardon me while I scream. What happened to women? This is insane! This only scratches the surface of the bastardization of language that occurs all around us. Be aware, don’t get fooled. Rectify the names! Or just call a spade a spade.

David Parker

Sylva