Did you know every BMW on the road might be anti-Semitic? After all, BMW built planes for Hitler – their corporate logo represents a Luftwaffe propeller rotating against a blue sky. Same goes for the work of legendary composer Wagner. After all, Wagner didn’t much care for the Jews.
Sound excessive? Conspiratorial? Those examples are merely an extension of a recent U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission verdict regarding the Gadsden Flag (aka, the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag).
In Sheldon D v. Brennan, the EEOC decided in June that an African-American man had been racially discriminated against because a coworker wore a hat featuring the Gadsden Flag. Since the flag’s designer Christopher Gadsden owned and traded in slaves, the EEOC agreed that the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag could be interpreted as racist. Really.
Things become really frightening for every lover of liberty, freedom, and our American heritage when the EEOC’s true motivations are examined. The EEOC stated in their ruling:
…it is clear that the Gadsden Flag originated in the Revolutionary War in a non-racial context. Moreover, it is clear that the flag and its slogan have been used to express various non-racial sentiments, such as when it is used in the modern Tea Party political movement, gun rights activism, patriotic displays, and by the military.
Yes, according to the EEOC the flag has no connection whatsoever to anything remotely racist…but since the guy that created it was involved in slavery, the Gadsden Flag represented racism in Sheldon D v. Brennan. Aren’t Orwellian moves like this precisely how tyrannies take our precious freedoms away piece by piece?
After all, what employer – or anyone else for that matter – is going to allow “Don’t Tread On Me” to be displayed AND roll the dice that no one will file a complaint about it with the EEOC? Think about it. If you’re running an auto shop on Main Street in your town, can you afford a law suit or bad press if and when someone complains to the EEOC (and to media both traditional and social) about the “Don’t Tread On Me” flag flying underneath your American flag out front? Through one verdict, the EEOC has created a mechanism by which legitimate and permissible political expression is silenced.
After all, the EEOC identified those most often associated with the Gadsden flag: “…the modern Tea Party political movement, gun rights activism, patriotic displays, and by the military”. Who do liberals hate the most:
– The Tea Party. Liberals hate the Tea Party so much they don’t seem to mind that the IRS was weaponized against them. Imagine the outrage that would emerge if President Trump used the IRS to squash Black Lives Matter.
– Gun Rights Advocates. If a mass shooting happens the left’s knee-jerk reaction is to tell each other scary stories in the media in order to generate uninformed opposition to firearms. They’ll even lie and claim an AR-15 can shoot 700 rounds in sixty seconds*. Or that it’s an assault rifle so dangerous hunters won’t even use it**.
– Patriotic displays. Watch the Democratic Convention in Philly? Or visit social media and take note of your liberal friends that, on July 4th, said that was the only day they’d wear red, white, and blue – that being the nicest thing they had to say about America on her birthday. Enough said.
– The military. The only time progressives like the military is when a) they can portray them as victims of some kind, b) they need a captive audience to test radical new social engineering concepts out on, or c) they want to downsize it.
It’s interesting that the same media that was so quick to jump on the chilling effect they said was evidenced by Donald Trump dining on KFC hasn’t said a peep about the EEOCs chilling effect on political speech.
* The U.S. military’s most advanced gun systems – Phalanx CIWS and the M61 Vulcan – can fire approximately 4,500 and 6,000 rounds per minute respectively. Each has six barrels; dividing rate of fire among them comes to 750 rounds per minute for Phalanx CIWS and 1000 for the M61 Vulcan. No, an AR-15 isn’t in the same league as these amazing machines.
** Hunters don’t use AR-15s for humane reasons. The rounds fired by the AR-15 are too small and underpowered to ensure a kill. Hunters don’t want to shoot an animal only to have it run off into the brush wounded.
Image: By CantWinThisGame – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16991719
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