CASTING THE FIRST STONE

Item: Princeton University to remove President Woodrow Wilson's name from their school of International Relations and Affairs because of his racist views. 

Rumpole has had enough. 
If you have not sinned, lets start casting some stones. 

Washington DC. The Washington Monument. All named after our first President who owned slaves. Remove the name and take down the monument, and while you're at it, call PM Boris Johnson and let him know that after further review we beat the British with a racist at the head of the army and we'd in fact like to surrender than be seen as honoring a racist slaveowner. 

Dwight D Eisenhower. Supreme Allied Commander, WWII. Head of an army of millions from 1941-1944. Arguably the most powerful man in the world. While married, and much older, took advantage of a younger woman who was not equal in power to him (Kay Somersby). Call Prime Minister Merkle, we cannot live with the results of WWII when the armies of the allies were led by a man who took advantage of a young woman. #Metoo USA #SurrendertoGermany. 

While you're at it, the second most powerful man in the world at that time- President Roosevelt, also slept with a younger woman in a relationship in which the power was not equal. Time to surrender to Japan and Germany. We won the war with  men  who took advantage of younger women in relationships where the power was not equal. #METOO= #LoseWWII. 

General Patton? Saved the allied army by repelling the Germans in the battle of the bulge. In an unmatched display of generalship, On December 19, 1944, as the Germans were breaking through all Allied lines, Patton disengaged from a major battle, marched three divisions over three hundred miles  in 48 hours in a snow storm and attacked and smashed the Germans. Patton was an avowed anti-Semite, consistently railing against Jewish conspiracies. Can't accept what he did, saving the Allies in 1944 from a German attack that could have led to a peace with Hitler. #Surrendernow. 

And while we are busy surrendering to Germany and Japan, lets tear up the US Constitution. It was written by slave owners. And do we need to even broach the 3/5 of a person clause (Art I, Sect.2)? 

While racism is rearing it's ugly head, perhaps we need to remove all the streets named after Dr. Martin Luther King, as well as end the national holiday. As a powerful leader of a worldwide movement, Dr. King unfortunately entered into a number of sexual relationships, while married, with younger women who may well not have felt comfortable saying no to such a powerful and important man. #METOO= No More Dream. 

And looking forward, before we all race to get the Covid-19 vaccine, lets make sure we approve of the personal, sexual, and racial views of the inventor of the vaccine, lest we save the world with someone who does not adhere to all the correct views. 

Too bad we did not have a mediocre man leading all the allied armies in WWII who didn't  sleep around. Maybe we would have lost. Maybe the war would have taken two more years and 500,000 more lives. But at least we would not be glorifying men who took advantage of younger women. 

Lets roll it all back. No Washington DC. No USA. No Constitution. No Civil rights act of 1964. Call Buzz Aldrin and tell him to fly back to the moon and remove the plaque he and Armstrong placed. President Kennedy, a man known to cheat with younger women outside of his marriage challenged the country to land on the moon. We are all cheapened by responding to a challenge by a man of such low moral character. 

Here is the point. We are human beings. We are at our best when we learn from our mistakes, and the mistakes of those who came before us. But we have no right to expect that every single person of achievement also adhere to all the right views. We can strive for that. There is no rational, reasonable, or moral defense of racism. Men who use their power to take advantage of younger women are of low moral character. But make no mistake, if the surgeon who saves our life cheats on his wife, then we will take the trade off. If the scientist who invents the Covid-19 vaccine does not like Jews or Asians, we are getting the vaccine. 

We will not knowingly eat at a restaurant of a racist. Silence does equal acceptance and we should not support anyone who is a racist. But President Wilson does not need to be erased from history. It's okay to have a statute and honor the man who conceived of the league of nations, as long as his story is fully and fairly told. 

But in looking backward, not forward, the fact is that in different times different behaviors were unfortunately acceptable. That does not mean that the person who engaged in unacceptable behavior or views, but also contributed to the well being of human kind should be erased from history. A full discussion of the good and bad is appropriate.  We can admire the genius of the Constitution, and recognize and praise the contributions of Thomas Jefferson, while still teaching about the full man, and the fact that he owned slaves and slept with female slaves. And even though that behavior is reprehensible, we do not support removing a statute of Thomas Jefferson. 

This is absolutely "in for a penny, in for a pound." Remove Wilson's name for racism; then remove Dr. King's name for sexism. It is as simple as that.  Or accept that each man had both a genius, and like most humans, many flaws. 

And finally this- none of this applies to Confederate Statutes, names, flags, or honors. The Confederacy was run by traitors to the Nation who supported slavery. Every one of them was a traitor. Most were war criminals. Not one should be honored. 

Happy Fourth of July.