Tag: Pete Hegseth

bookmark_borderUSNS Harvey Milk renamed after Oscar Peterson

Posted on by Marissa

The U.S. Navy ship that was named after gay rights activist Harvey Milk was recently renamed in honor of World War II hero and Medal of Honor recipient Oscar V. Peterson. The Navy oil tanker was originally named the USNS Harvey Milk in 2016 under the Obama administration, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth decided to rename it in order to “take the politics out of ship naming,” according to Fox News. The new namesake, Peterson, sustained fatal burn injuries while attempting to keep his ship afloat after it sustained severe damage during a battle with Japanese forces in the Philippines.

I agree with Hegseth. On the one hand, I feel bad whenever a historical figure has their name removed from something. Destroying the monuments, celebrations, and memorials of historical figures is exactly what I have dedicated the past five years of my life to criticizing and fighting against. But with this renaming, the intolerant bullies who have carried out this historical figure genocide are finally getting a taste of their own medicine. Harvey Milk is a historical figure that the intolerant bullies of political correctness tend to admire, so perhaps by seeing his name erased, they are experiencing a tiny, miniscule fraction of the pain that they have inflicted on others.

One such bully, Nancy Pelosi, called the renaming “a shameful, vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers for all to chase the American Dream.” This comment demonstrates a complete and utter lack of empathy. Pelosi and those who think like her have spent the past five years actively carrying out a vindictive erasure of historical figures who actually signify diversity and inclusion. This is what is truly shameful. Perhaps Milk is a historical figure who makes gay people feel included and represented, but having a ship named after him doesn’t do anything to help me. As someone who has always had difficulty fitting in and making friends, who has always been different from the majority, and who has always thought for myself rather than following social norms, Milk didn’t do anything to break down barriers for people like me. Rather, it is historical figures such as Christopher Columbus, Robert E. Lee, and Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson who make me feel included and represented. And those are exactly the historical figures who have been subjected to a deliberate, vicious, cruel, and brutal campaign of obliteration by Pelosi and her ideological allies. It’s despicable for Pelosi to complain about a “vindictive erasure of those who fought to break down barriers” when that is exactly what she and her allies have been doing.

While I do feel a little bit bad for Harvey Milk, having his name removed from a ship pales in comparison to the sickening acts that have been perpetrated against Christopher Columbus and those who fought for the Confederacy. It is those acts which are truly shameful. And it’s past time that the perpetrators get a taste of their own medicine.

bookmark_border“Hey MAGAs, show me your best cognitive dissonance!”

Posted on by Marissa

I recently saw a post from one of my Facebook “friends” regarding the accidental leaking of military information by Department of Defense officials in a group chat.

The post read: “Hey MAGAs, show me your best cognitive dissonance! Best one wins a new red hat!… Go ahead, twist me a pretzel and tell me why this is all OK.”

This post, to be blunt, really pisses me off. And it does so for two reasons:

First, the double standards and logical inconsistency. This person expresses outrage about what is a relatively minor problem in the grand scheme of things, while completely failing to express any criticism of an obvious, pervasive, and blatant campaign of atrocity that is enormous in both its scope and its severity. He calls an accidental leak “a major fuck up” and “justification for heads to roll.” However, he expressed not even the mildest criticism of the statue genocide that began in 2020 and continues to this day, a series of deliberate and intentional acts of extreme cruelty targeting people who are different from the norm in an attempt to ensure their erasure from society. It makes no sense that someone would get so outraged at what is essentially an accident, while apparently feeling no outrage whatsoever at a deliberate and cruel campaign to inflict harm.

Second is the entire way that the argument is framed. This person purportedly invites others to discuss and debate, while simultaneously stating that anyone who expresses a differing opinion is demonstrating “cognitive dissonance” and “twisting a pretzel.” This way of framing the issue puts people who see things differently in a no-win position: we could either be silent and pretend that we agree when we don’t, or we could speak up and have our views automatically be labeled as “cognitive dissonance” and “twisting a pretzel.” Talk about intolerance for those who think and feel differently than you do. What is the point of inviting discussion when you have no openness to considering alternative perspectives? Why even ask people to contribute their views, when you admittedly have no intention of actually hearing or learning from those views, but intend rather to use those views as evidence of their authors’ twistedness and cognitive dissonance?

Personally, I support Trump and his administration because I’m on the autism spectrum and my special interest is history and statues, so the events involving statues that have taken place over the past 5 years have had a profound negative impact on me. The issue of military information being leaked just isn’t important to me in comparison, and therefore I do not share the outrage that this “friend” and so many other people are expressing. This isn’t cognitive dissonance, and it’s not twisting a pretzel. I simply have a different perspective because I’ve had different life experiences and my brain works differently.

bookmark_borderFederal agencies abolishing discriminatory celebrations

Posted on by Marissa

Some great news from the Department of Defense and Department of Transportation:

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Rogan O’Handley (@dc_draino)

 
 
 
 
 
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A post shared by Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson)

I’m not sure whether other departments are doing the same thing under the Trump administration (it would be great if they are), but I came across these two posts and find this truly awesome. Black History Month, Women’s History Month, AAPI Heritage Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and American Indian Heritage Month all have one thing in common: they are discriminatory. As the post from Secretary Duffy points out, these are celebrations based on immutable traits. These months, and other similar celebrations, honor some people while ignoring and excluding others. It’s not OK to celebrate women but not men, or to celebrate black, Asian, Hispanic, and indigenous people but not white people. Celebrating some people but not others is unfair, unjust, hurtful, and morally wrong. Kudos to the Trump administration for taking a stand against this.