Hello again, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to another episode of Freedom's Creed. Today is Wednesday, July the 6th, 2022. Typically, I like to publish on Tuesdays, but this Tuesday was the day after the 4th of July, and it just had a lot of things going on, and just wasn't able to get to it yesterday. But I'm back in the saddle looking forward to this episode and what I have to say today. I'm not even sure why I used that phrase back in the saddle. I don't even ride horses. I haven't sit in a saddle since I was a kid, but I do have a comfortable chair in which to do the podcast, so I'm back in my chair. Let's get going. Now, today's episode is on historical fragility. And you may be asking yourself exactly what is historical fragility? No need to fear. I've got it all for you right here today. First of all, I want to define historical fragility for those of you who may not know what that is. And it is the mere mention of historical facts that cause one to lash out irrationally at anyone who will listen. Now, this irrationality may cause one to want to rename a school, tear down the statue of a historical figure, diminish capitalism as part of an outdated patriarchy of white guys, or even vilify the documents of the United States. Extreme cases of this irrationality include but are not limited to riots, murder, destruction of property, blooting businesses, disregarding the laws of the land, and blaming others for supposed injustices. Now I'm using as a basis for my podcast today the definition of pedagogy, which is the art, science, or profession of teaching. I am taking it upon myself to use the art of teaching in a way that may be described as a parody, but I will leave it at that. And as I go along in the podcast today, perhaps you will pick up on this parody, and if not, perhaps I may tell you at the end, but I haven't decided as to whether or not I will do that, so you'll have to wait and see. In any case, I want to get going with this topic of historical fragility. Now, there is a self-test that one can administer to oneself regarding historical fragility. There are a series of 14 questions that I will ask during this podcast, which I will do momentarily, and these questions are of my own making. They're questions that I would like you to seriously consider and contemplate. With that in mind, let's start it out. Here is the historical fragility self-test. Number one, do I get angry when people talk about the founders of the United States of America in glowing terms? Number two, do I get defensive at the mere mention of a school that is named after one of the founding fathers? Number three, when dealing with historical facts, do I withdraw into myself? four, am I afraid to go outside for fear that I will be confronted with a piece of history that I may not like? Number five, do I think that what happened hundreds of years ago somehow keeps me from being successful in twenty twenty two? Number six, do I accept revisionist history as actual history? Number seven, do I like myself more when I participate in mob mentality behavior that destroys a historical statue? And do I believe that the destruction of said statue will change what that historical figure did in the past? eight, do I think history will change if people just stop talking about it? nine. Do I complain that I have it more difficult than my ancestors had it? ten, do I join with other people in protesting injustices that have nothing to do with me? eleven, do I have antipathy for the right that all people are free to speak their mind? twelve. Do I think that because of my race I am entitled to certain benefits that others of another race are not entitled to? thirteen, do I feel the need to ignore those parts of history, the law, established norms, or morality because I don't like them? And fourteen, do I believe that there are people living today who owe me because I wasn't born in another culture or race? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are guilty of historical fragility. But don't worry, it can be easily overcome. All one needs to do is read and study history and life in the United States in 2022, and to realize that you can do and be anything you want if you work hard enough and don't complain, and also don't blame others for your problems. I think sometimes people want to make it harder than what it really is, you know, to say, oh, because I'm not at this level of success, then it must be somebody else's fault, not mine. There's no reason why I should look in the mirror to see what my problems are. It's clearly from someone else. It's exterior to my immediate surroundings. It can't be my fault. In reality, ladies and gentlemen, it's really not that difficult. In fact, it's quite simple. And I know sometimes people just can't tolerate simple. It's gotta be harder than that. It can't be this easy. Well, in this case, in this particular case, it is that easy. All you have to do is take responsibility for yourself and your actions. And then gain a clear understanding of the incredible opportunities that are available to you in 2022. Now, last time I checked, responsibility is a pretty important part of every culture. At least it should be if it's not already. But I understand sometimes people embrace things that are just not true, and if they embrace them long enough, they become true to them. And that's very scary ice, even dare I say, thin ice, that we don't really want to be on. What do you suppose one of the biggest reasons that people go out and protest actually is? Think about it. Are they protesting something that happened to someone else, maybe someone who they think was unjustly treated or not given a fair chance? Are they protesting something that happened to them as an individual and they're trying to get other people on board to help protest against those who carried out or perpetrated an unjust event in their lives? What about people who are not protesting something, but they're just out complaining about the way things are going in their life, maybe because, I don't know, they didn't prepare well enough or they're looking for a scapegoat, they're looking for someone to blame? It's not like we don't have enough of those people in our society today. We do, of course, and it's unfortunate. Why don't people take the time to actually, as I said before, look in the mirror and take an inventory of where they're at in their lives and ask themselves the question, what can I do to improve my life? Am I living in a tyrannical regime and I'm not able to make the choices that I want? Certainly there are people who are living in tyrannical regimes, and I feel for those people, but not here in America. We don't live under tyranny here in America. We will, if we as a people don't rise up against those who are usurping the Constitution and who are taking advantage of ignorance in our society. There are too many people who don't know history. And if we don't know history, then we're certainly going to be doomed to repeat it. And the undesirable aspects of our history, I don't think any of us want to repeat those. So again, if you answered yes to any of the 14 questions that I asked, don't fear. You may be guilty of historical fragility, but that's okay. If you do the things that I have suggested, which is to study and read and educate yourself, because oftentimes if you're a younger person, you're in high school or you're in college or you're in your 30s, even, you may not have been taught history in school. So if that's the case, then find somewhere there are still places where you can go out in the world wide web and educate yourself on actual history, things that took place in history, even those very dark parts of history, the very undesirable parts of history or aspects of history that we would just as soon forget. But as I said, we can't afford to forget those aspects of history. They're a part of us, they're who we are as Americans. The thing that we must do is to make sure that we don't repeat those things. Again, I've said this before, not on just this episode, but in the book that I wrote and other podcast episodes, I have said this and I will continue to say it. If there is something good about our history, and I think there's plenty, then we should definitely repeat those things. If there are things, of course, that are undesirable, not worth repeating, then absolutely we should do something to change the way we live our lives today. Learn from that history, learn from the unpleasant aspects of history, and ensure that we don't do it again and help educate others to see another way, to not get involved in these things that will take us down a path of hatred, of exclusion, of bigotry, and so forth. We can't afford to do it. I certainly hope that all of you, and myself included, especially those of you who may be guilty of historical fragility, study history and take the time to learn about our history. And if you come away with that with a different point of view, a different perspective, a greater appreciation for what happened before, and an understanding that you can make a difference going forward, then I want you to be prepared for something, and that is this. You may need to look for a whole new set of friends and acquaintances, because once you arrive at this new enlightened state, you will be canceled, ridiculed, hated, misrepresented, shamed, and labeled every derogatory name imaginable. It's going to happen. If you have the courage and the guts to go forward and to do it anyway, you're going to be a better person for it, no doubt in my mind. And if you want to thank me for it, that's cool. If not, hey, that's cool too. Don't even worry about it. I don't do this podcast to be thanked, but if someone is thankful for it, then by all means, I will say you are welcome, and it has been and will continue to be my absolute pleasure. Okay, so at the beginning of the podcast, I mentioned that that I was doing somewhat of a parody today in this podcast episode, and I asked you to pay attention to some of those questions that I was asking. And if it sounded like something maybe that you've heard before in your studies and your efforts to be more enlightened and to understand what is going on in our society, well, what have you come up with? I'm actually not going to mention where I sort of derived the content for the podcast today, but rather I want you to think about it and put a word in front of the word fragility, and you might know what I'm talking about. There's a reason why I'm not going to divulge that word at this time, and the reason is this. I will not give credibility to such nonsense, and believe me, it is nonsense. It is a way for someone a few years ago, in my opinion, to rewrite history to come up with a way that that person and subsequently many other people could make a living doing. Now, I don't fault people in this country for taking advantage of capitalism. I don't fault them at all. But when it comes to taking advantage of capitalism by deceiving people, by putting forth a narrative that is complete hogwash, that is complete lunacy, I'm sorry. That's unacceptable, and I would never do it. I would never come on my podcast and promote something that is not true. Now, I give my opinion all the time, and that's great. Everybody has their own opinion, and we are entitled to our own opinion. We're not, as they say, entitled to our own set of facts. That's something that we're not entitled to. So when it comes to history, we're not entitled to changing history. And it doesn't matter how many statues we tear down, how many schools we rename, or anything else that's associated with our history. It's history, ladies and gentlemen. Nothing more, nothing less. And it's something that we all have to grapple with. We all have to accept because there's nothing we can do to change it. All we can do is make sure that what we are doing as individuals is going to be good in society going forward. Mutual respect is the key to progress, in my view. We must have enough respect for one another, regardless of our culture, our race, our religion, our ethnicity, or anything else. If we don't have enough respect for each other, we're not going to improve as a society. It can't be that one segment of society says you must do this, but they themselves are not willing to budge or to bend to you. It doesn't work that way. It's a two-way street and it has to be that way. It can't just be one way, or we might as well get rid of the Constitution and the Declaration, and we might as well live like Cuba or Venezuela or any other totalitarian regime. Well, rest assured that I will be doing all I can to make sure that that does not happen, whatever that means. And it may mean something else for you, and that's just fine. With that in mind, imagine, if you can, for a moment, if we didn't have the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Think about that for a minute. Whatever you think of those two documents, or the way that our country was founded and all the other things that are associated with our founding, the mistakes that were made, the good things that were done, that's fine. You you have your opinion about that, and that's fine. Everybody does. But from my perspective, I can't imagine living in a country where our constitution and our declaration of independence were non-existent. There are radical people in our society who wish that very thing, that the Constitution and the Declaration could just be done away with. What I will embrace is the freedoms that we enjoy today in 2022 because of what some people did hundreds of years ago that benefit everyone in America, everyone born here, everyone who comes here. End of story. To end this episode, ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to read a couple of quotes, one from the Declaration and one from the Constitution. The first is one which all of us, I think, are familiar with. It goes like this We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. The second quote is from the preamble of the Constitution which says this We the people of the United States in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. End of quote. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm living under no illusions that we live in a perfect world or even a perfect country. We don't. And that's the challenge that all of us have to live amongst a bunch of other imperfect people like ourselves. But if we have enough respect and enough dignity, we will show that courtesy and respect that everyone deserves. And if we just try to get along with other people, usually things go much better. So, with that, ladies and gentlemen, if you can think it, you can plan it. If you can plan it, you can do it.