The Daily Signal Podcast for 2022-01-11 (“Facebook Censors Pro-American Children’s Books as ‘Disruptive Content'”) tells the story of how Facebook canceled the Heroes of Liberty account — without explanation, as they typically do. Fortunately, Sen. Ted Cruz and others drew attention to the story and Facebook reinstated the account.
The whole podcast is worth listening to. The very impressive guest — a homeschooling mother of five — discusses the catastrophe of modern education, and how parents can fight back. (The podcast starts off with a review of some news stories, then gets into the interview.)
Maybe I’ll listen, but ISTM it’s ridiculous to have Amy Coney Barrett as a “Hero of Liberty.” Maybe she will end up as one, but to me, she’s been on the court 2 (?) years and hasn’t done anything where I’d classify her as a “hero of liberty.” The list seems pretty skewed to the Limbaugh/FauxNews audience in that they have John Wayne, Thomas Sowell, and ACB. If I was going to put a woman in my Heroes of Liberty, the first one I’d put is Harriet Tubman.
I agree that Tubman would have been a better choice, and that Barrett still has some work to do before we can call her a hero. They chose her to praise motherhood, and … honestly, I’m not a huge fan of that. I don’t like this “you can have it all” attitude. “Sure, you can be a mother and a Supreme Court justice.” Eh.
But they’re shooting in the right direction, so I support them.
I do think it is BS that Facebook banned them. I’d probably be in favor that Congress pass a law that if people can prove their business was negatively affected by an unjust ban like this, then they could sue for lost revenue and damages.
If they only want to appeal to RWNJ parents, that’s fine…their rights as Americans.
The choice of John Wayne… I love John Wayne. But, as a hero of liberty, I’d probably go with Jimmy Stewart or Hedy Lamarr. In the middle of his career, Mr. Stewart flew a B-24 bomber over Germany. Compared to Jimmy Stewart’s contribution, John Wayne didn’t really risk anything. Symbol over substance I guess.
John Wayne even said that he believed in white supremacy.
I think that there should be a rule about national heroes: You can’t be one until you’ve been dead for at least a century.
I disagree. Sometimes it’s easy to find them. I’ll give an example: Jimmy Doolittle.
Not “heroes”, but the NHL made an exception for waiting for 5 years for Wayne Gretzky to be put in the NHL hall of fame. I’d say the NFL should do the same for Tom Brady.
OTOH, someone like John Wayne… IDK. I like him as an actor and even as a person from what I can tell. He liked the señoritas like I do. We have to accept that some people have views that are products of their times. No better example is Thomas Jefferson. He had slaves and a slave concubine…yet, he wrote a document that has the seeds of ending slavery and treating AA/blacks/negroes/colored/yourfavoritedesignation as equals.
Jimmy Doolittle was definitely a hero — when the country needed a hero! — no matter what silly things he might have believed. (I don’t know of anything against him, but give some woke college professor a minute and I’m sure there will be a big list.)
I see that Doolittle was initiated to the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, where he took the 33rd degree, becoming a Shriner. That alone is enough to send chills down my spine. It is a personal thing of course.
I would include anyone whose sole achievement was providing entertainment, including sports, but especially if they were prone to racist outbursts – as late as 1971, in Playboy magazine no less!
Thomas Jefferson is a whole different kettle of fish, since he wrote the Declaration of Independence. Take that, you goofy British king!
I agree with Greg that being a whatever + a mother doesn’t cut it. Maybe they will be tired of that by the end of the century.
I would NOT include anyone whose sole achievement was providing entertainment …
Yikes! Doolittle was a supporter of Senator Joseph McCarthy. That is almost as bad as being a Free Mason.
Gosh. I guess we should have used some less qualified, less brave person with the right political ideas.
It’s not about the right political ideas. Going on a rampage destroying peoples lives and careers, as Joseph McCarthy did, and as both Republicans and Democrats came to see, is and was not a mere political idea that you could accept or reject. The same toxic notion is now running amuck in the GOP, namely that opposition to Trump’s plainly disgraceful behavior (now especially his taking delight in the storming of the Capitol) is just politics. Anyone who supports the likes of McCarthy or Trump in the wake of such plainly evident toxicity will never be deserving of the title “hero.”
Consider people such as Charles Limburgh and Henry Ford. Limburgh was by far one of the greatest American heroes of his time. And yet, he was a rabid anti-Semite. Henry Ford is seldom given credit nowadays for his great achievement in industrialization, including great benefits to his workers. He will remain a great figure in the history books for generations to come. Yet, he foamed at the mouth against Jews – the international Jew no less. Plainly no hero.
It is not merely a “political idea” to be opposed to anti-Semitism.
If Doolittle did, he was still a hero. But, his bio on Wikipedia and a quick Google search turn up no relation between the two. OTOH, John Wayne did support McCarthy. McCarthy had lots of support up to a point. It’s not clear on whether his supporters knew the extent that he was going to. He had many supporters who later withdrew support. I’m sure the record doesn’t always record if they withdrew support or at what point.
This is amazing. I had nothing against Doolittle. I didn’t know anything about him really. (Military figures are usually not of great interest to me.) But then I found the tie with Mccarthy mentioned in the Wiki bio earlier, and now it is not there. You cannot even find any mention of his anti-Communism there now. Very weird. All I can say now is that IF he was in favor of the smear tactics of Mccarthy. I will see what I can find at a later time.
I assumed you confused John Wayne and Doolittle.
Probably so. I looked at Wiki articles one after the other.
How do the authors define a “hero of liberty” and what criteria do they use to feature such a person? I looked but it didn’t seem apparent. I think a good starting point would be something like…those who courageously and selflessly acted to defend and expand rights, alleviate misery, rectify injustice, and promote freedom.
That said, it’s curious that the impetus for the book series seems to be born of out of partisan ideology, the very thing the authors says they were fighting against. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if they created a common standard for a “hero of liberty” and featured anyone that met that standard. Yet, according to the interview, it seems that if the candidate doesn’t have “conservative” credentials, they may not be featured.
Time will tell, but it will be interesting to see if people like the following make their list: Helen Keller, Samuel Gridley Howe, Daisy Bates, Zitkala-Sa (Gertrude Simmons Bonnin), Thomas Edison, Fredrick Douglass, Dr. Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, Edward Verne Roberts, Ralph Bunche, Margaret Chase Smith, Albert Eisenstein, Dr. Daniel Hale Williams, Billy Graham or Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain… just to name a few.
I’m sure Ada Sipuel or Thurgood Marshall wouldn’t make the cut. Today is the anniversary of Sipuel vs Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma.
In the decision where Thurgood Marshall was an attorney for the plaintiff, the justices unanimously decided that Sipuel had to be admitted to the University of Oklahoma Law School and could not be barred simply because of her color. The irony of it all is that at the time, Norman, Oklahoma was a sundown city and although Sipuel could attend by day, she had to GTFOD by night.
The HOL books are a conservative business meaning they mean to do business with conservatives. I guess having ACB as their first woman entry makes sense because she was reported on so much by Fox News and appointed by Trump. 14 months so far on the SCOTUS bench … and when was the book started? How, much time on the bench when it was started? Well, I guess it’s good for business. They can write a book about Thomas Sowell because he’s a black guy talked favorably about by Limbaugh and the rest of the right wing echo chamber. John Wayne I guess is a good choice because he stands for the old days when blacks and natives knew their place. I’m sure books on Limbaugh, Palin, and Trump are in the pipeline. I doubt if any books about MLK are in the pipeline. You can bet there will be books about Limbaugh, Palin, and Trump before MLK. Or, Thatcher. Bet there’s a book about Thatcher before MLK.
QUOTE: I’m sure Ada Sipuel or Thurgood Marshall wouldn’t make the cut. You can bet there will be books about Limbaugh, Palin, and Trump before MLK. Or, Thatcher. Bet there’s a book about Thatcher before MLK.
Interestingly, I thought of Thurgood Marshall but forgot to list him. We’ll have to wait to see who they select but if the featured interview is any indication, I suspect you might be correct.
The HOL books are a conservative business meaning they mean to do business with conservatives.
It’s fine if they want to focus on “conservative” HOL. Yet, based on their selection criteria below, it’s clearly broader than conservatives.
A Hero of Liberty is a person who either promoted freedom, faith, or family values, or lived a virtuous life of self-reliance, creativity, or devotion in light of those sacred principles.
That said, isn’t this the crowd that typically chides minority groups for creating special interest organizations/events? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD3vLCENhOg
PS…I found their definition…it was somewhat in the fine print.
A Hero of Liberty is a person who either promoted freedom, faith, or family values, or lived a virtuous life of self-reliance, creativity, or devotion in light of those sacred principles. We look for historical figures who fit this description.
Given that, again it will be interesting to see if they include some of the aforementioned names.
Thanks for looking that up.