Kendall Stanley: On to the new year
Zip! And there goes another year in the history books.
So how did 2022 treat you? Did you manage to not get COVID? If so, congratulations. I can’t say I managed to avoid it but because of two courses of vaccinations I had a couple days when I felt a little tired but beyond that no problems.
That wasn’t the case for hundreds of thousands of people across the country who died. Would vaccines have helped them? Depends on where you land on which end of the cultural wars, either they died of something else or it was no worse than the flu to the end is near and hide inside with your mask on and getting every shot available.
My thoughts on how you should approach this — ask someone whose family member, friend or acquaintance died of COVID — to try and put COVID in perspective. Even as cases increased this fall into winter, we are returning to “normal” in whatever way you describe it. For some nothing has changed as they didn’t mask or stay away from people to start with.
Going cross-country just before Christmas, it was a mix of those still masked to the hilt, but most going maskless. One motel required those going through the breakfast line to use food service gloves, even to get a cup of coffee but that was the lone exception.
One woman, fully masked, ran into the breakfast room at one motel, grabbed a banana and a muffin and flew out of the room as if we all had cooties. Didn’t have to guess where she stood.
Enough about the plague — until the next one rolls around.
How did I …
You know there are some things that come along and you wonder, how did this happen? A few months back a high school classmate e-mailed congratulations to me after he saw a column I did on Yahoo!News. How it was picked up by Yahoo is anyone’s guess.
There have been a few others that have made it to Yahoo but so far I’ve not seen a check from them for my efforts!
Stranger still was an email I started getting on a regular basis.
Defending the Republic comes out a couple times a week. If you’ve not heard of it, maybe the name Sidney Powell will ring a bell.
Still no recognition? Well dear Sidney is one of the lawyers working on behalf of the former guy to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Yes, Sidney is buds with Rudy, Eastman and others on their quixotic effort to put Donald Trump back in the White House where he rightfully belonged after said 2020 election.
Given my political leanings and Sidney’s political leanings, it does seem strange that she would start sending her newsletter to me. Let’s say for the sake of saying that her takes on the cultural wars, the Jan. 6 Committee, parents taking over school boards and other right wing talking points.
One recently caught my eye and I sure hope she passes it along to Stephen Miller, the most anti-immigrant member of the team when Trump was in office.
Here’s what Sidney said about a piece by Don Surber on Substack:
Excellent summary of the difference between colonizing and civilizing.
Don Surber
The West didn't colonize. It civilized.
QUOTE: Colonizers have become the colonized due to the suicidal immigration policies of modern Europe. A continent that repeatedly fought and repelled Muslim invasions (the Battle of Tours in 732, the Siege of Vienna in 1529, and the Battle of Vienna in 1683) has rolled out the welcome mat to men who have no intention and no desire to assimilate. They are exempted from traditions that date back thousands of years
The West conquered the world and brought advanced technology and prosperity. Compare and contrast those isolated tribes in the Amazon to how Brazilians live. It is no contest. Natives are better off thanks to the West.
But there are nations that are giving reparations. Europeans have foolishly opened their doors to the nations they colonized. The migrants want to colonize Europe, as witnessed by the Moroccans rioting in Belgium to celebrate their country defeating Belgium in soccer.
Kick them out. They do not come to civilize. They do not come to assimilate. They come to destroy.
If that sounds like justification for the efforts by some in Europe to work hard to keep some from immigrating, you’d be hitting the nail on the head.
OK then, let us applaud all those civilizers who trashed other societies and cultures, who killed the natives off en masse and who continued well after the colonial period to keep the “uncivilized” at bay.
I should start sending my columns to Sidney.
— Kendall P. Stanley is retired editor of the News-Review. He can be contacted at kendallstanley@charter.net. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the writer and not necessarily of the Petoskey News-Review or its employees.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Kendall Stanley: On to the new year
