Columbus Is Going Down, As Heroism Becomes A Naughty Word

 I saw in the paper yesterday that the Columbus statue in downtown Syracuse is slated to come down after all, where it will be "preserved" on private property. I don't personally have a problem with moving him, but it's downright insulting that we can't find a spot to put him in some lonely corner of the city where he won't be offending anyone. To be honest, I didn't really think much at all about the statue removal fad until President Grant was taken down in San Francisco. The long-suffering Grant can't catch a break these days, though in his time he was the most celebrated hero on the planet. Part of the appeal of Grant was his rags-to-riches success story. The noble loser who went from hauling firewood off his land in a hand-cart to hawk in the snow, to leading the greatest army ever assembled in North America. Grant was a true man of the people who undoubtedly saved the Union from destruction and the scandals of his Presidency didn't eclipse those facts until recent times when he has been smeared shamefully.

Grant's autobiography is a great read and is available on Youtube for free also. In contrast to the cringing and painfully careful McClellen, Grant's leadership style favored action and the initiative. In his first command of the war he encountered the hastily abandoned camp of some rebels he was trying to engage of which he wrote: "It occurred to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had been of him." This lesson in courage was taken to heart and Grant was always keen to focus on his plans for inflicting punishment on the enemy, rather than dwelling on what they might do to him. This proactive mindset was key to overcoming the Southern rebellion, which was entrenched in a vast geographical area presenting insoluble challenges to a tradition supply-line. One after another the disciples of McClellan were bogged-down by operation difficulties and lack of intelligence, failing to realize that the Southern armies had the same challenges if not worse. By adhering to traditional military principles they became predictable and lethargic, whereas the impetuous Grant was able to secure the initiative time after time. 

So Grant and Columbus share at least one thing in common: boldness, For that we forgive them many of their flaws and honor them in stone and metal. Without the actions of bold men what would our world even look like? Perhaps we will live to see the answer once all of the heroes of the past have been felled and erased from history, Men like possible POTUS, Joe Biden, will lead the world from their basement, or getting dragged around by their hen-pecking wives. This is a future ruled by fear, with no room for courage or initiative. When so-called leaders are expected to hype up the danger of a virus comparable to the seasonal flu, I have to wonder how they could possibly be expected to handle a real crisis like the Civil War or forge new paths of discovery in the unknown. This kind of leader is only good for one purpose: scaring the population into submission while they take orders from the corporate oligarchs who are really setting policy.

So it's no wonder they want us to forget our history, a little perspective might make people less timorous and willing to hand over our God-given rights. The latest data on COVID death-rates puts it at one 0.1% for people under 70, pretty much 1/1000 odds of dying if you contract it. By contrast 2.5% of the US population died in the Civil War, the equivalent to 7 million deaths if it was fought today! We all pray for God to spare us from such disasters and tribulations, but history has a way of throwing curve-ball. Even if we avoid major conflicts there are still consequences to timidity, as McClellan's many failures taught Grant. Global NGOs are now predicting hunger the likes of which the world has never seen due to lockdowns and other economically disastrous policies, not to mention the hard that is being inflicted on an entire generation of youth. 

The best analysis of the virus panic has been presented recently by eminent scientists in their Great Barrington Declaration, which everyone should sign on to immediately. They review the weak results from lockdowns and offer a better solution called Targeted Protection, wherein the general population goes back to normal to establish herd immunity while protecting the at-risk. This not only avoids the collateral damage of draconian measures, but also allows the elderly and frail to return to normal much faster. All that is required is a little bit of courage, a quality that is losing its luster in the mainstream. As one would expect, the Declaration has been shadow-banned by Google and repressed by the other tech giants. This is what happens when we toss our heroes into the dust-bin and raise fearful mediocrity to undeserved glory.