Letter: Canceling American history

Published 12:02 am Saturday, March 6, 2021

Canceling American history

Now that Gen. Joe Johnston is safely tucked away in the backyard of the Huff House property, what’s next? Peacocks!

Folks complain publicly that these “tacky” birds must be removed from downtown. The same small percentage of Daltonians that made Gen. Joe disappear from the public square can do the same against those pesky peacocks — move them to the Huff House backyard. They could be lined up side by side as fencing to help guard Gen. Joe. That would save the money needed for a fence to protect the “canceled” general’s statue from those who might want to do it harm.

Apparently, only serious history buffs care that it was Gen. Johnston who saved Dalton from the “scorched earth,” loot-and-burn warfare practiced by Gen. Sherman. Johnston created a water hazard by flooding the approach, so the Yankees had to bypass Dalton.

Unfortunately, we are living through a full-blown epidemic of “cancel culture.” COVID-19 just added to the woes of those who voted Republican in the last election. Being suspected of supporting Trump will get you designated as one of the 74-plus million “terrorists” who voted for him. Trump followers are subjected to boot-heel-grinding intimidation and “canceling.” We have become a two-way, graceless, mean culture where “forgiveness” is unacceptable. President Biden promised to unite us, but so far, the divide is becoming a bottomless chasm.

Liberals seem to have jumped with both feet onto the “woke” bandwagon. They demand that you be precise in choosing correct gender (or genderless) pronouns, condemn racist “whiteness” which the Coca-Cola Co. has instituted as a policy, and promote transgender “rights” to be entitled to all the options available to their chosen gender. Saddest of all, you must support abortion. They intently sniff out any words or actions that “trigger” their sensitive emotions. Not supporting this “wokeness” will get you “canceled,” preferably in the most humiliating way possible.

There is a serious movement underway to “cancel” American history. It goes beyond the Civil War era and now includes our very founders. If you’ve wondered why, columnist and historian Victor David Hanson explained it like this: “…today’s violence is aimed at America’s past in order to change its present and future.”

Ina Fay Manly

Dalton