Area Cretin Laments Death of America
When It was OK to be anti-German
Robert Knapp of Lewiston, NY has some very important thoughts about America and how far its fallen. Perk up your listening ears, and make sure you pay close attention to any dog whistles you might hear.
What happened to my America? When you could walk down any street at any time and feel safe – not be shot at or mugged.
The premise here is that America was once a country without any crime, petty or grand. There was never an America where it was safe always to walk down a street without fear of being victimized by some crime or another. Ever. Crime has existed since the dawn of time, and violence is, for better or worse, what made our country what it is.
When you could say “Merry Christmas” and nobody would be offended.
No one is “offended” when someone says “Merry Christmas”. But it is a fact that there are several holidays in December, not all of which are celebrated by everyone. Some people find it just as kind and polite – if not more so – to simply say, “Happy Holidays”.
I remember an America when you could say, “Happy Holidays” and nobody would be offended.
When regardless of the language you spoke at home, in public you spoke English, and did not have Spanish as a second language.
That passage right there is just the author’s more politically correct way of using an anti-Latino epithet. Seriously, why not just say, “fucking spics” while you’re at it? Notice how the first part of the sentence is open to myriad native languages, but the only tongue the author singles out for his offense and ire is Spanish. Here’s a thought – just ignore the Spanish text on whatever sign is so offensive to you.
When people were innocent until proven guilty.
Based on the general tenor of this screed, I’m going to guess that this author is referring to the cops whom grand juries cleared of wrongdoing in the homicides of Eric Garner and Michael Brown. Well, people are innocent until proven guilty. By juries. At trial. That doesn’t mean the general public, prosecutors, or police can’t suspect that these people are guilty – it just means that a jury and judge must be impartial.
When we were all Americans, without a race before it.
America is a made-up country that was never homogeneous and was created by and for immigrants and refugees. Some of us were 3/5th Americans. Some of us had no rights at all. Until the 20th Century, women couldn’t even vote. And this isn’t a new complaint – it goes back at least over a century. I’m not sure what panacea this gentleman has concocted for himself, but it’s ok for Americans to call themselves whatever they want. It is, after all, a free country.
When a human life meant something, and a person who took an oath to save people did not leave a young girl dying on the roadside.
What?
When our motto was to “speak softly and carry a big stick,” not to wimp out and carry a feather.
When a red light and a stop sign meant stop, not ignore it.
Traffic scofflaws are on a recent uptick? People never ran red lights and stop signs before n0bummer?
We were known as a “melting pot.” Now we are a dumping ground.
The racism and xenophobia really aren’t veiled at all – thinly or otherwise, is it?
We are well on our way to becoming a Third World country, with people living in cardboard homes and sewage running down our streets.
Well, no we’re not and I’ll repeat: who even knows what this guy’s talking about? Is this some call for making housing more affordable, or for a massive public works project to fix our crumbling infrastructure?
No. Paraphrasing – he’s just saying these garbage (“dumping ground”) brown people are shitting and pissing in the street like they do in Wetbackistan where they came from.
What happened to my America?
It never existed. You made it up. It’s a figment of your imagination.
Incidentally, “Knapp” is a German surname. Here’s what they said about German immigrants way back when. What happened to Mr. Knapp’s America? You know, the good old days when you could own a black and hate the Hun?
Sheesh, that’s compelling. Who let you in?
“When a human life meant something, and a person who took an oath to save people did not leave a young girl dying on the roadside.”
I am guessing he is referring to the Corasanti trial. By the way, I noticed that a lot of the people who decried the jury system after that verdict were the same ones telling us that we needed to “respect” the grand jury system after the Wilson verdict.
Ah yes, this guy could be one of my 100% Polish in-laws who has lived insulated in WNY for their entire life and have forgotten that being Polish means at some point their own relatives came here as non-English speaking working class immigrants, and even worse they were all but guaranteed to be Catholics or Jews. To the establishment Americans at the time, these people were shit.
Being a complete mutt of no fewer than 7 different nationalities, primarily Irish, Germanic and French Canadian, I cringe when I hear dickbags like this gripe about all the people who have different this and speak different that not assimilating to “our culture”. Given the tone of his letter, I’d assume Mr. Knapp is one of the “Old, White and Male” demographic that consistently votes to keep this country in the 1950’s and it gives me pleasure to know that his time above ground is growing shorter by the day.
I work in a lot of subsidized housing. Often the person living there is old and speaks little English. Much of the decorations are from the old country, in my territory it is Eastern European and Asian. Then a child or grandchild pops in to check on the resident and speaks fluid English, goes to school or has a job or has otherwise assimilated into our culture. And I find myself saying, well that’s how it works.
I remember a time when people danced under shiny disco balls and had giant lapels. A time when Gloria Gaynor was all over the radio, as were the Bee Gees and the Village People. It was a time when I could get in line for gas—and it could take 12+ hours to fill my tank—and the Waltons were still on the air (although John Boy had long since left).
What ever happened to MY America?