Yesterday was a gorgeous day here in New England and after a substantial hiatus, I found myself back on my recumbent trike to take my usual but long overdue ride. As is my habit, I stopped at the beach for a few minutes to take in the afternoon sun, and folks out and about. But above all this beach stop is to thank God for the Blessing it has been to live on the Connecticut Shoreline and raise my family.
And there is always the other reason to stop at the beach or just about anywhere – I know there is a very good chance that I will have a “God-incidence”… I will run into just the person I was intended to run into, be they, friends or strangers. Whether it is for me or for them, I know that if I chat it up just a bit, there will be an opportunity to encourage or be encouraged or to sow or water some seed. These are the verbal versions of the “Rich’s Rant” you are reading right now.
An old friend and I bumped into each other in the first thirty seconds. God-incident #834.
We had not seen each other in some time and as a fellow Conservative, he was sounding quite dejected about the national mood and the vehemence coming our way. He openly admitted to me that he was pulling in, not out of fear but out of the cost of doing battle with the wokeness, the falsehoods, and the reverse prejudice and hate.
“How can this be, Rich? We were the generation that led the fight out of the racial status quo of the late ’50s and ’60s, we were there when John and Bobby were murdered and when MLK spoke of a man’s character first and foremost and was likewise murdered by the same hate. We watched Watts burn, had brothers who did and gave their best in the jungle, and in the fifty years since, not a once have I ever made a decision based on race, creed, or color, Yet I am now painted with the brush of the same hate I fought with every ounce of my body and soul. I am done”.
There was only one possible response for him at that moment: “Man, you’re right, there is a vile and malevolent spirit out there in the minds and mouths of too many and there and those who will manipulate that narrative.
But know this… they sound much louder than they actually are because the media and social media, in particular, make them sound so much louder than they actually are in the real numbers So, be part of the fight, do not let yourself be overwhelmed by the sound and fury because that is exactly what the haters and abusers want – to cow you into quiet submission. And be encouraged because the pushback is growing and it can be found in places you would never imagine”.
He looked at me, with a somewhat cynical eye. “Pushback?” he said. “Yes”, I responded, and I told him I could show him… at least in part with a YouTube video and he could see it for himself.
“Yeah, yeah… trust me, now, there will be a rapper with a bunch of facial jewelry piercings, a transgendered “personality” and commentary on Snowflakes, the calling out of Cardi B., some plain talk about abortion, and much more… and no, it is not a sermon given by a Pastor from a Megachurch“.
He now had a very odd look on his face as he considered whether I had completely lost it in the 7-8 months since we had seen each other. I can’t say I blamed him. I also can’t say that I wasn’t intentionally trying to shock him a bit, either.
“In fact”, I continued, “it is everything but a conventional, sermon on First Principles, or standing your ground on Faith Principles… yet, it is. And it garnered over 1.5 million YouTube views in the first six hours of its release… and there are huge swaths of American kids and people much younger than you and I, who are African-American, Latino, White, Asian, straight, gay, who are hearing it and understanding it, and I think I can tell you with some certainty, that these are not .”
So, do not be weary, be encouraged because the pushback is more real than the media, Hollyweird, DC and Silicon Valley want to let you believe. And there are many more younger people than you realize are “getting it”.
He looked at me, we gave each other a bro-hug and he assured me that he would watch it – “I trust you, Rich”.
Now some of you will perhaps struggle a bit with the YouTube Commentor “Too LIT Mafia”. Stay with him, the young man with the blond-tipped dreads who clearly can entertain is a bona fide Conservative and has nearly half a million YouTube Followers. That would make him at least as authentic as half of the Republicans in Washington, DC with many more times a fully engaged social media following than the RNC and GOP put together.
There is some hope. Don’t give up. Stand your ground.
Onward…
CauseACTION Team Leader
P.S. For those social media watchers and aficionados out there, take note:
- As we know, YouTube content creators dream of the day that their content goes big and viral enough, that they start to monetize and capture ad revenue as a result of hitting that “Views” threshold. Yet there no ads that appear on Tom MacDonald videos, even those like this one who have as many as 20 million Views. Hmmm.
I wonder why that is? - And take note of the right-hand column, where you will see dozens of young music video “Commentors” reviewing Tom MacDonald videos like “Fake Woke”, “No Lives Matter” and “People So Stupid” below. With an aggregated 100 million Views, these Commentors are almost all young African-Americans and they almost unilaterally agree with what Tom McDonald is saying out loud.
The takeaway is this – don’t be fooled. Don’t be discouraged. Tom MacDonald may not be your particular cup of tea… but what he is saying out loud, is what you and I should not be afraid to say and stand for either. Nuff’ said.
