Are you hearing the courage of American patriots this week? Or are you witnessing a bunch of everyday Americans as frauds? Notice, I didn’t ask you what you are seeing. More on that in a moment.
What I see happening is that people are divided into two camps. They either see frauds or heroes. For example, a woman testifies to what she saw. She has the stereotypical look, voice, and tone of a Valley Girl actress who plays the role of “dumb blonde.” The generation who proclaimed loudly several years ago that we shouldn’t judge others is-you guessed it- judging a book by its cover.
A truck driver with incorrect English displays humility as he testifies in detail about his experience with hauling the mail across state lines. It seems that he isn’t college-educated, so he is mostly ignored. I thought we were supposed to be grateful for truck drivers, not judge their testimony by the King’s English or an Ivy League degree.
A female lawyer gets up in front of a state legislature and shows her evidence. She is judged by everyday Americans as not sounding credible, despite the evidence she is presenting.
The tone of voice argument gets me every time. How you sound (or look, for that matter) is not evidence. The facts are what we are to judge, not the person. If outward appearances are the mark, we would be tried by a jury of our peers who expect us to look like a magazine cover, speak like we had a doctorate, and command beaucoup bucks for our performance.
Think about it, America! We need truth-seeking patriots with the courage to look past feelings to the facts. This takes time and deliberation. We may be short of time, but the Republic is at stake here. This whole issue deserves thoughtful consideration and reflection, not dismissal based on outward appearances.
To me, the people who are stepping up and testifying are American heroes. They are coming forward by willing to sign affidavits and swear to their testimony under oath. Someone should write an updated version of “Profiles in Courage” featuring people who saw (experienced) wrong and tried to right it. This is not the time to remake American courage into the image of political parties or newsrooms.
In the end, they potentially may lose the fight, but their courage will go down in history.
This is Common Sense Civics and Citizenship.??
