"IF I WERE A RICH MAN*"

I dream so being so rich that I can throw dinner parties where everyone gets to pretend to be a person from history.

I was hoping to trigger discussions of prejudice, by discussing ideas using the words of history or fiction.

Today I am mourning the loss of a vibrant young person, peacefully marching for equality. It could have been me, or any of us, run over by an angry young man.

If alt-right types can only get attention by acting badly, they will act as badly as possible. Because the internet is no longer feeding "click" money to those making outrageously untrue statements, the alt-right needs to act out in public in the hopes of getting donated monies.

Child psychiatrists warn parents that, if you only pay attention to your child's bad behavior, your child will behave badly in order to get attention.

Naturally, they chose to demonstrate in a place that reverberates with Jefferson's words of freedom. Robert E. Lee would have been APPALLED at the actions of those purporting to defend his statue. General Lee was not only the most effective general in the entire war, but he made it as clear as possible that he was reluctantly siding with his home state of Virginia. After the war, he did not want any statutes of himself.

Sadly, family and friends of angry white men may need to report them to the authorities.

IF YOU WANT TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION.... It is SO simple. You LISTEN to everybody. You look everybody in the eye and smile. TALK TO EACH OTHER.

If you are talking, please try to say what you feel IN YOUR OWN WORDS. Sometimes, quoting other people, or quoting internet memes, is a way to keep yourself from thinking about your own possible prejudices.

SOMEHOW, WE NEED TO STOP YOUNG MEN FROM MONSTERING** THEIR LIVES.

     * In 1755, Samuel Johnson published the FIRST Dictionary of the English language, which is now online. On page 1252 of his dictionary, the FIRST definition, meaning the main definition, of the word MAN, was "human being".
     Thomas Jefferson almost certainly knew this meaning of the word "man", when he used the plural of MAN to write that it is self evident that all MEN are created equal.
     So I can sing, "If I were a rich man", about myself, as I am a human being.
     Feminists have complained for years that our collective nouns are very sexist. It is true that the 1755 second definition of MAN is NOT A WOMAN.

     ** In 1755, monstering was a verb meaning to totally ruin your life with a voluntary act.