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Since the Reagan era of the 1980s, we have heard arguments from various quarters lamenting the supposed “fact” that studying liberal arts or the humanities in general was a colossal waste of time. As a Generation X teenager, this message was routinely fed to me and my peers.

More than a decade later as a graduate student in the humanities, I harbored intense skepticism toward such dismissive rhetoric. Now, more decades later as a tenured professor deeply engaged in the humanities, it turns out that my skepticism was well-founded.

A 2020 article for Inc. by Jessica Stillman featured host of experts that argued liberal arts majors were making a major rebound. Those predictions were also echoed by Dan Schnabel, New York Times Best Selling Author and CEO of Millennial Branding and George Arson and Toby Russell Co-CEO’s of Shift.com .

The evidence shows that many companies have come to the abrupt conclusion that a sole reliance on engineering, business and technology will not be sufficient to maintain any degree of a competitive advantage in the future. In addition, as technology evolves and becomes more complex, companies will not be able to rely on black-and-white approaches to solving problems. Instead, the ability to theorize and conceptualize will become of greater importance.

Schnabel, Arson, and Russell are not alone in espousing such commentary. Many other tech CEOs with academic backgrounds steeped in the humanities themselves are happy to testify to the usefulness of these often periodically ridiculed degrees.

The truth is that for quite some time, businesses and employers have been aggressively seeking to employ graduates who possess a demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly and solve complex problems. It goes without saying these are the sorts of skills that anyone who pursues an education in the humanities will often receive.

I will concede I was grinning like a Cheshire cat when I came across such inspiring news. I cannot tell you how many conversations I have engaged in with people of varied backgrounds who have derided what they saw as the supposed irrelevance of the humanities by those in certain academic and public sectors.

I have sparred with more than a few engineers, businesspeople, accountants, and chemists. Some have been friends, other total strangers. Most were so thoroughly convinced in the supposed supremacy of medicine, business, technology, and the hard sciences in general, that they were totally blinded by the crucial impact that liberal arts have had on the larger society.

A classic liberal arts education introduces students to art, languages, literature, history, race, and gender-based courses, philosophy, interdisciplinary courses, sciences, and other related areas of academic pluralism.

More importantly, such an education provides its recipients with the ability and vital ingredients necessary to think critically and holistically about a plethora of issues, including business, science, and technology. Salaries and income levels aside, being exposed to a multitude of subjects and deep critical inquiry is what the humanities is all about.

I cannot tell you how many students I have had in my more than two decades of being a college professor who have responded to student evaluations of my courses with comments such as “this should be a required course.” “I learned about all sides of the issue, not just the popular one.” “This class has made me see things in a totally different perspective.” “This class has made me consider switching majors.”

By no means should one dismiss the importance of science, math, technology, engineering, and other STEM related fields. Such disciplines are paramount and crucial to the continuing strengthening of our society. That being said, one does not become successful or proficient in any endeavor or any profession (and that includes STEM fields) without a good, solid grounding in critical thinking skills that a liberal arts education provides.

In short, the humanities are the cornerstone of any complete and well-rounded education. I’m just glad more people are recognizing that.

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Copyright 2022 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

This past weekend, Alabama Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville suggested in comments railing against reparations that Black Americans were “the people that do the crime.”

Speaking at a Donald Trump rally for Republican candidates in Nevada, Tuberville described Democrats as engaged in a battle to take from white people and give to Black people, whom he stereotyped as criminals. “No, they’re not soft on crime,” Tuberville said, “They’re pro-crime. They want crime. They want crime because they want to take over what you got. They want to control what you have. They want reparations because they think the people that do the crime are owed that. Bulls—!” he finished.

The audience erupted with cheers. Of course, we all know what he means by “they.”

Reaction was swift. CNN analyst Bakari Sellers commented: “Tommy Tuberville can go to hell. I’ll tell you what, the fact is, he made tens of millions of dollars off unpaid black men as a football coach. He literally has the stature he has because people went out there and assumed the risk and incurred the risk of concussions, playing hard and everything. And for him to give these racist tropes? I mean, that infuriates me. But this is a large swath of the Republican Party.”

“Senator Tuberville’s comments are flat out racist, ignorant and utterly sickening,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement. “His words promote a centuries-old lie about Black people that throughout history has resulted in the most dangerous policies and violent attacks on our community. “We’ve seen this before from the far-right, and we’ve seen what they can do when they take power.”

It does seem that Tuberville was intentionally incorporating the rhetoric of Alabama politicians from the decades of yesteryear, which includes the sinister and staunchly segregationist Governor George Wallace and the sadistic Birmingham Sheriff Eugene “Bull” Connor.

Any astute observer of recent American history undoubtedly harbors indelible memories of Wallace espousing polarizing commentary such as: “Segregation today, segregation tomorrow and segregation forever” to the delight of his many bigoted followers. Connor horrified millions of Americans throughout the nation when he ordered police officers to turn water hoses and unleash German shepherds on civil rights protestors, many of them young children and elderly people.

Tuberville’s remarks were so obscenely racist that not long ago, senior Republican politicians would’ve likely taken take to the airwaves to condemn them. Times have obviously changed. So far, all we have witnessed is a deafening level of silence from the GOP. Republican Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska actually defended Tuberville, claiming the comments were not meant to be racist and that the rise in crime across the country cannot be ignored.

Truth be told, it should not be all that surprising that the junior senator from Alabama felt comfortable making such abhorrent comments. Over the past several years, the Republican Party under the tutelage of Donald Trump has become more confident in expressing and promoting racism. Its supporters spread the nonsensical and disingenuous perception to the nation that racism is a relic of the past and that now, in 2022, the true victims of racism are white people.

It gets even more obscene when you remember that, prior to his political career, Tuberville made millions in an industry that a number of critics have aptly compared to a plantation: college football. Back then, Tuberville was earning more than $2 million a year at the University of Cincinnati. This was money earned on the backs of student athletes who aren’t afforded any financial benefits and who are disproportionately Black (43% at college football’s top level in 2020).

Tuberville is a person of mediocre ability, and has ridden his whiteness from the business world to the athletic field to the U.S. Senate. He is the poster child for white privilege and preferential treatment, and his arrogance and bigotry are nothing short of abominable.

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Copyright 2022 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

In past political climates, such an October surprise would be grounds for a serious acknowledgment or resignation by a politician from a race for public office.

Unfortunately, we are in the post-Trump era of politics, where a Twilight Zone political theater of the deviant and bizarre has become the norm.

Over the past few days, a continual drip of bombshells have roiled Herschel Walker’s senatorial campaign. The Republican senate candidate from Georgia has faced a nonstop onslaught of accusations and allegations from ex-wives, lovers, and offspring.

Walker’s disastrous interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt last week was a cringeworthy train wreck filled with contradictions, doublespeak and unconvincing denials.He sounded like O.J. Simpson when he muttered, “If that had happened, I would have said, you know, nothing to be ashamed of there,” he said of paying for a woman’s abortion, before adding, “I know nothing about that.”

Perhaps the most blatant attack also occurred last week, when Walker’s 23-year-old son, Christian, took to social media to call out his father for what he sees as blatant deception and hypocrisy.

“You’re not a ‘family man’ when you left us to bang a bunch of women, threatened to kill us, and had us move over 6 times in 6 months running from your violence,” Christian said.

The younger Walker was not the only person to weigh in on the drama surrounding the former Heisman trophy winner. One woman, claiming to be former lover whom Walker paid to have an abortion (she provided the receipts) told the Daily Beast she’d decided to come forward because “I just can’t with the hypocrisy anymore.”

“He didn’t accept responsibility for the kid we did have together, and now he isn’t accepting responsibility for the one that we didn’t have,” she told the Daily Beast last week. “That says so much about how he views the role of women in childbirth, versus his own. And now he wants to take that choice away from other women and couples entirely.”

She also said Walker sent her a “get well” card with a steaming cup of tea on the front and signed with the message, “Pray you are feeling better.” Mind you, these are the actions coming from a man who has adopted a strong pro-life position on abortion and staunchly conservative views on other social and cultural issues.

For his part, Walker has dismissed such accusations as “lies.”

Despite the mounting drama, many prominent Republicans have remained steadfast in their support of the candidate. Donald Trump argued that “Herschel Walker is being slandered and maligned by the Fake News Media and obviously, the Democrats.” Florida Sen. Rick Scott stated that Democrats will “lie, cheat, and smear” because Walker is “winning” against Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock.” Steven Law, president of the Senate Leadership Fund, announced “We are full speed ahead in Georgia.”

Ronna Mcdaniel’s, the Republican National Committee chair, commented that “Georgia could decide the Senate majority, so desperate Democrats and liberal media have turned to anonymous sources and character assassination.” Ralph Reed, a Walker backer and the founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, told The New York Times that, in his view, “100%” of evangelical Christians support Walker. Pro-life TV and radio host Dana Loesch said she doesn’t care whether or not pro-life Republican Senate candidate Herschel Walker paid for his girlfriend’s abortion, saying what she wants is “control of the Senate.”

Such support of a morally deficient and flawed candidate like Walker by Republican operatives shows that for many of these so-called Christian conservatives, it is not about family values or religious piety – it’s all about power and control to dictate policy. At least Loesch was being honest.

The truth is that such a value system is hypocritical and morally obscene. It is the epitome of totalitarianism. Such sinister dystopia must be challenged at all costs.

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Copyright 2022 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

‘Tis is the season to promote male masculinity.

There has been no shortage of rhetoric emanating from a number of right-wing politicians warning about the supposed decline of male virility contributing to the death of “real manhood.”

From Mike Pompeo decrying and declaring war on the “wokeness that is supposedly weakening the military,” to Senator Josh Hawley’s allegations of “ the left’s attack on men in America.” Earlier this summer, shameless Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired his documentary “The End of Men,” which warned about plunging testosterone and recommended shining infrared light on your testicles.

The undeniable truth is we live in a society where men have been conditioned, if not outright mandated, to be seen as strong, rugged, independent and as masculine as possible. American men of all eras have been expected to live up to certain expectations imposed by society. Being inundated with such a constant level of unattainable and unsustainable ideals can cause stress levels that often result in a degree of physical, social, emotional and psychological issues.

Attempting to live up to the image of “Mr. Perfection,” can lead to mental illness, volcanic levels of anger, and self-loathing, which manifests itself in sexist and homophobic behavior, not to mention violence towards women and others.

More than few psychologists, psychotherapists, and other specialists have discussed the plethora of issues that result from the conflicting messages bombarding men. As a result, a growing number of men have formed men’s groups where individuals routinely get together and discuss their fears, concerns, desires and goals with one another. I have seen a number of these gatherings where I live.

Men are more inclined (and feel more comfortable) having such discussions with other men. To give you an example, several years ago, I was teaching a course that met one night per week. It just so happened that week none of the women registered for the course attended. What happened during that class session was particularly noteworthy.

The men in the class, the majority in their 20s, were refreshingly candid and open about a number of topics – including financial fears, distant fathers, feelings of inadequacy, and sexual performance. At the conclusion of class, one of the guys stated “there is no doubt that any of us would have been as candid tonight if there had been any women here.” He was probably correct.

Now, I am not advocating that men engage in solely gender segregated spaces with one another as it relates to discussing issues surrounding conversations about modern masculinity. We should work to ensure that men and women feel equally comfortable talking to each other.

In fact, we can’t stop there — people who identify as any gender should be equally comfortable conversing among the entire gender spectrum. Working to normalize the gender spectrum will go a long way towards making men feel less rigid and restricted in the ways society assigns them gender roles.

In fact, there are many women who are pleased to see their husbands interact with other men in such a healthy and therapeutic manner. In essence, we must make it clear to men that there is nothing wrong with being human.

Now that I am well into the middle age chapter of my life, my goal is to live with good health, emotional happiness, financial stability, and solid relationships, all while trying to be as sincere and true to myself as possible. I will be doing everything possible in my effort to achieve these goals.

This is the advice I urge you to give when speaking with fellow men.

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Copyright 2022 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

Witnessing the faces of little Black girls across the nation light up with glee as they saw previews of actress Halle Bailey from the live action version “The Little Mermaid,” was both heartwarming and gratifying.

“Her skin…it looks like mine,” one very observant girl said to her mother in a video that went viral on social media. “She’s Brown like me,” another elated little girl said. Similar comments flooded social media after the trailer was released earlier this month.

While many little girls of all races and ethnicities were enthralled by the previews of the forthcoming Disney movie, not everyone is pleased about such a positive development. Many are deeply resentful of such a cultural transformation, which extends beyond the film. There are a number of people (mostly white) frothing at the mouth over the fact that elves, mermaids and dragon-fighting lords are being portrayed by people of color on Hollywood’s big and small screens.

Similar ire has emerged in certain right-wing quarters as Black performers have been given roles in traditionally all-white casts in the new spinoffs of Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings. From resentment over Black hobbits to outrage at viewing Black royalty, it has become a bemused spectacle to witness. Who would’ve guessed fire-breathing dragons, sorcery, and witchcraft would rankle the psyches of so many mentally unhinged souls?

Perhaps some of these so-called adults should remind their bigoted selves that mermaids are fictional, and that the world of fantasy are not the sole domain of white people.

One positive development is the vast majority of young people are dismissing such antiquated, regressive thinking, and instead are embracing such forward acts of cultural pluralism.

The truth is there is a segment of white America that is unnerved by the rapidly changing racial demographics in our nation. Some social scientists have predicted that by the late 2040s. Americans will be a majority/minority nation. Such data scares the bejesus out of certain white people, who long for the days of their vision of a Norman Rockwell America. A nation that was largely a myth.

These are the men and women who bristle at the mere thought of diversity, multiculturalism, and interracial mixing, not to mention gay marriage and gender equality. To them, such entities are the epitome of all that is deviant and unacceptable for the sort of America they envision and desire. Their ideal America is one where women are relegated to subservient roles, and people of color are confined to spheres of marginalization, if not outright invisibility.

Such a mindset reminds me of a passage in Ralph Ellison’s early post-cold war award winning novel “Invisible Man.” In one particularly colorful passage, Ellison describe a scene in which the dismissive and at times, hostile and disrespectful behavior that countless numbers of white people exhibit toward him result in him feeling that many of them see him as nothing more than an “animal” or “freak” or “a bad nightmare” from which they will eventually awaken from with great relief. In essence, he is seen as “not fully human.”

Ironically, these are often the very same people who constantly ask people of color, “Why do you have to make everything about race?” The truth is they’re the ones making race the issue, and have always done so.

Regardless if their anger and resentment, this nation will continue to become more diverse and pluralistic as time progresses. There are those who are frantically fighting against such a reality. While they may end up winning battles here and there, they will eventually lose the war.

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Copyright 2022 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

The NBA recently suspended Phoenix Suns owner Robert Sarver for a year and fined him $10 million after an investigation found he engaged in what the league called “workplace misconduct and organizational deficiencies.”

The findings of the league’s report, published on September 13th, came nearly a year after the NBA asked a law firm to investigate allegations that Sarver had a history of engaging in racist, sexist, homophobic and other sorts of deplorable behavior over his nearly two-decade tenure overseeing the franchise.

For his part, Sarver appeared to acknowledge his odious behavior by apologizing for his comments.

“I am sorry for causing this pain, and these errors in judgment are not consistent with my personal philosophy or my values,” Sarver said in a statement. “This moment is an opportunity for me to demonstrate a capacity to learn and grow as we continue to build a working culture where every employee feels comfortable and valued.”

It’s the usual default response of most racists, misogynists, homophobes, anti-Semites, xenophobes and other bigots when their reprehensible conduct is exposed.

While he appeared to be an equal opportunity offender, the report revealed that Sarver “repeated or purported to repeat the N-word on at least five occasions spanning his tenure with the Suns,” though it added that the investigation “makes no finding that Sarver used this racially insensitive language with the intent to demean or denigrate.”

Huh? Really?

Sarver is hardly the only non-Black person to have spouted the N-word in the public sphere. Who can forget comedian Michael Richards’ vile and crude rant in 2006?

Richards, who played Kramer on “Seinfeld,” hurled his racist diatribe at a group of twenty-somethings whom he felt were overly loud and disrespectful to him during a stand-up comedy routine. Regardless if that’s true or not, Richards’ response was the epitome of racial hostility and disrespect. Paula Deen, Ted Nugent, NASCAR driver Kyle Larson and country music singer Morgan Wallen are a few of the celebrities who have allowed the word to flow from their wayward mouths.

What’s disingenuous and disturbing is many people posted feverishly protective defenses of Sarver online, including questioning why it was okay for Black people to use the N-word but not people of other ethnic groups. As can be imagined, the usual comments and whataboutisms were plastered online and social media, including:

– The word is used in rap and hip hop songs.

– What about Black people who call one another that word all the time?

– Look at all the Black comedians who use it in their stand-up routines!

– What about all the Black athletes who say the word?

And on and on and on.

While there may be some degree of truth to such responses, it doesn’t create any justifiable reason for and non-Black person to use the word. The N-word is a racially-loaded term that was aggressively and maliciously weaponized by white people in a sinister effort to psychologically malign and dehumanize Black people. There is nothing positive or redeeming in its use as it relates to people of color.

That being said, within the Black community, the word is more nuanced and varied. Thus, debate regarding the term is ongoing. The all-Black jury is still out, so to speak.

Even more disturbing is that some, primarily white people, are so adamant in their unhinged efforts to make perverse justifications for using the word. My question and response is, really? Why would you even want to use the word? Is it a free speech issue?

Men can say all sorts of derogatory words about women without the same perverse justifications for doing so. The same goes for the use of other racially demeaning terms used to verbally assault and insult other ethnic groups.

About the only time I think it’s justified for a white person to use the term is while quoting a piece of literature or reading an article where the word is used. Although just saying “the N-word” might be a better option. Otherwise, it is a word that should not be pursed on their lips or coming out of their mouths. Period.

Can a non-Black person be prohibited from using the word? Of course not. But arguing so fiercely in defense of having the right to use such a vile term leads to obvious questions of racism and intent. In those cases, I doubt the main reason for taking such an ardent stance is free speech, but rather, speech of another variation. Which says a lot about that person.

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Copyright 2022 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

Predictably, many Republicans melted into volcanic spasms and hissy fits after President Biden delivered his speech in Philadelphia last week.

In one of his rare prime time addresses to the nation, Biden declared in clear and no uncertain terms that the American democratic experiment is in serious danger due to Donald Trump and those in the GOP who remain his steadfast allies.

Former South Carolina governor and ex-U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley said she was disturbed by the “dark imagery” surrounding the president. The habitually shameful Marjorie Taylor Greene referred to Biden as “demented.” Equally-horrendous Fox News host Tucker Carlson compared the background accompanying the president’s message to Nazism. Monica Crowley, a former Fox News contributor and Trump administration official, referred to the event as “nothing short of satanic.”

No one should be surprised by such juvenile political histrionics coming from the more extreme corners of the GOP. After all, such routine overzealousness is their stock and trade.

For all the chest thumping and disingenuous ranting and raving, did Biden say anything that was false? For those who claim the speech was angry, divisive, or hateful, the reality is that many MAGA Republicans epitomize those same traits. By and large, these GOP extremists do not have any genuine regard for the Constitution, spit in the face at the rule of law, disregard the will of the American people and refused to accept the results of a free, fair and equitable election.

Indeed, many of the MAGA faithful — from politicians to ordinary citizens — were very supportive of Trump’s determination to overturn his election defeat in November 2020. Who doesn’t remember many MAGA rioters (I will not call them protestors) ferociously yelling chilling chants to “Hang Mike Pence!”

Trump, in ever Machiavellian fashion, stated in a radio interview last week that if he was elected again in 2024, he would “look very, very favorably” at pardoning the Capitol insurrectionists. Let’s not forget, Trump-worshiping sycophant Lindsey Graham promised there will be “riots in the streets” if Trump is criminally charged for hoarding top-secret documents at his Florida estate, Mar-a-Lago. Relatedly, you have Republican elected officials in numerous states aiming to place themselves in positions of power to manipulate and control voting machines and other equipment in future elections in an effort to potentially disregard any Democratic wins as null and void.

MAGA Republican-controlled state legislatures have also gleefully imposed draconian abortion bans and endorsed disturbingly weak gun laws. They’ve ratified legislation designed to make it harder for historically-marginalized groups of people to vote. They’ve forced school districts to censor books in school libraries. It just goes on and on.

In response, a number of prominent historians met with president Biden earlier this summer and discussed their concerns over what they see as a democracy potentially teetering on the brink of collapse. As someone who is a historian by training, not since the 1850s has this nation been so politically and culturally volatile or vulnerable.

To be sure, the president made it clear he was not speaking of all Republicans — just the right-wing MAGA types. In the true bipartisan fashion that has been one his primary attributes, Biden proudly discussed how he has productively worked with a number of those on the other side of the political aisle, crafting and passing legislation for the betterment of the nation. Such an image is a far cry from the wanton, retrograde MAGA forces which currently dominate and control the party.

There was considerable talk across the political spectrum of Biden having two uniformed Marines in the background as he delivered his speech. Such imagery seemed ominous, but given the theme of his speech, their inclusion seemed most fitting and appropriate. Biden unequivocally stated, “We are in a battle for the soul of this nation,” pitting democracy against autocracy. I concur with such sentiment.

Most rational minded people can probably only shudder at the prospect of a 2024 presidential election in which a MAGA-controlled Congress propels the reactionary agenda of a dictator-in-waiting, whether it be Trump or some wannabe MAGA clone. Such a situation would likely make martial law seem benign in comparison.

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Copyright 2022 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

More than three weeks have transpired since the FBI executed a search warrant on former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence. Since then, various factions of the conservative right — private citizens, social media users, even some politicians — have wasted little time issuing violent threats.

Sadly, threats against federal agents have been routine and commonplace.

On social media platforms such as Gab, Telegram, and Facebook, researchers have cited a notable increase in calls for violence. Elizabeth Neumann of Moonshot, a London-based agency that analyzes and counters online extremism, told Insider that references to terms such as “armed rebellion,” “revolution,” “lock and load,” and “civil war” increased 106% following the Mar-a-Lago search.

“In these right-wing and extremist spaces, they interpret the Mar-a-Lago search not as a legitimate legal process, but as the first shots of a war by the federal government,” said Alex Friedfeld, a researcher with the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, “So consequently, you’re seeing calls for people to arm up, to lock and load, and to be ready to use real bullets to defend themselves.”

Indeed, in the initial days following Mar-a-Lago, the situation became so volatile, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security issued advisory bulletins pertaining to the dramatically increased number of threats against federal officers. According to NBC News, the FBI also warned that some far-right social media users were targeting certain individuals for violence by disclosing information such as home addresses and identification of family members, warning that such actions were very real and credible threats.

Such announcements were certainly well-founded. Ricky W. Shiffer, a 42-year-old gunman from Columbus, Ohio, attempted to force his way into an FBI field office in Cincinnati with an AR-15 rifle and a nail gun on August 11. Shiffer was killed in a standoff with police.

Meanwhile, in the northeast, Pennsylvania resident Adam Bies was arrested and charged with threatening to kill FBI agents on multiple occasions following the search on Mar-a-Lago.

“Every single piece of s—t who works for the FBI in any capacity, from the director down to the janitor who cleans their fucking toilets deserves to die,” one of Bies’ posts on Gab said, according to the FBI affidavit supporting his arrest. “You’ve declared war on us and now it’s open season on YOU.”

Such threats and alarming behavior have not been relegated solely to extreme right-wingers. Living up to their bombastic, acerbic reputation, some Republican MAGA politicians have also joined in, participating in the “we will kill them” brigade.

Recently, Martin Hyde, a Republican Congressional candidate in Florida, stated in a campaign video that FBI agents would leave his home “in a body bag” if they tried to search him like they did Mar-a-Lago. Also in the Sunshine State, Florida House of Representatives candidate Luis Miguel was banned on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook after saying he would ratify shooting federal agents “on sight.”

Former president Donald Trump menacingly warned that “terrible things are going to happen” in response to the increased threats, and that the country is in a “very dangerous position” following the search at his residence. These politicians, including Trump, know exactly what they are doing. Such rhetoric, designed to rile up and agitate the more unhinged segments of their political base, is nothing short of abominable.

In response to such irresponsible rhetoric, Democratic lawmakers are pushing for social media companies to take more aggressive action to curtail and eradicate such volatile behavior on their platforms by lowering the volume.

The hard core, undeniable truth is that the MAGA right are a group of people who have no disregard for either the constitution or the rights of others. They have made it clear that they will stop at nothing to secure their own right-wing, dystopian society regardless of what sort of havoc and debris they have to create to do so.

Due to such an unsettling state of affairs, many Americans from across the political spectrum are experiencing periods of self-reflection of their current status in our country. Some are even leaving the country.

After all, we currently reside in a society where the far right has been so spiteful with their language they have emboldened racists, anti-Semites, homophobes, xenophobes, misogynists, and others filled with violence and hate. From a political, social and cultural standpoint, the state of the union is looking ominously grim at the moment.

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Copyright 2022 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

It shouldn’t come as that much of a surprise that right-wing news media outlets wasted no time stoking the unhinged rage of their MAGA followers last week after the FBI carried out a search warrant at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.

The search, authorized by Attorney General Merrick Garland, sent the right-wing echo chamber into overdrive.

While it is hardly news that the far-right routinely engages in bombastic, incendiary rhetoric, many outlets — along with a number of their more high-profile personalities — suggested, encouraged and outright advocated violence.

MAGA-world denizens rushed to social media calling for violence, causing the phrase “civil war” to trend on Twitter. One user on Trump’s social-media platform, Truth Social, said, “F—k a civil war, give them a REVOLUTION. We out number all of the 10 to 1.”

Commentators in right-wing media have been using extraordinarily reckless and inflammatory language. The Gateway Pundit, a staunchly pro-Trump website, stated “This. Means. War.” Former Trump adviser Michael Caputo said, “With this militant raid on President Trump’s home, we have become Russia. The FBI is the KGB.” The cynical “Trump is always right” Fox News commentator and host Dan Bongino called the FBI’s action “some third-world bulls—t.”

A plethora of right-wing personalities eagerly added kerosene to an already raging fire. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich suggested the FBI might have planted evidence against Trump. Fox News host Jesse Watters snidely hinted the FBI was setting up Trump. Sebastian Gorka, a former Trump adviser who is now a radio host, claimed the FBI’s actions were “a declaration of war.” Former Fox News contributor Monica Crowley, another former Trump administration official, tweeted, “This is it. This is the hill to die on.” Chronically intellectually dishonest Fox News host Mark Levin had the gall to say: “This is the worst attack on this republic in modern history, period… This is a Stalinist hunt.”

Republican senators Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, and Mark Rubio also spewed venom at the Justice Department, as did Florida governor and 2024 presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis.

The truth is the FBI lawfully executed a warrant signed off by a judge seeking classified documents that Donald Trump confiscated at the end of his presidency and refused to return. Nothing untoward or sinister has been revealed about the FBI’s motives. The truth is many — if not all — of the individuals quoted knew law enforcement officials were just doing their job. Shame on them.

Instead of trying to help cool and lower the passions of their supporters by encouraging them to let the legal process play out and wait to see what information eventually emerges, many on the right immediately riled up their already defensive and paranoid base of supporters to assume Merrick Garland and the Justice Department had sinister intentions. The hostility has garnered a spike in death threats against judges, journalists, and law enforcement officials.

Ricky Shiffer, a 42-year-old former veteran who spent three years in the Navy where he handled classified information, was killed in a shootout with agents at an FBI field office in Cincinnati. Shiffer was also connected to an extremist group that participated in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. A supporter of the Proud Boys and other extremist groups, he advocated for a “call to arms” on his webpage. Numerous direct threats from die hard right-wing individuals abounded for days.

Garland delivered a speech on August 11 where he declared he did indeed authorize the search for good reason, and adamantly defended the men and women who work for the bureau. Suddenly realizing they had been put on the defensive, many segments of the conservative right suddenly went silent. Some Fox News hosts went so far as to attack certain conservative factions, chastising them for attacking law enforcement, retreating from their traditional support of “blue lives matter” and accusing many in their base of hypocrisy.

What we have seen over the past week is that the current Republican Party is bereft of any sense of responsibility. The agenda for their most extreme elements is to employ rhetoric that is alarming, abrasive, hyperbolic and ominous, no matter how irresponsible or dangerous. The more outlandish they can appear to their followers, the better. Ethics, civility, decency, facts, principles and morality can all be damned.

Such reductive values certainly do not bode well for the future of our increasingly fragile democracy.

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Copyright 2022 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.

Last week, Viktor Orbán, the fascist, right-wing Hungarian dictator, delivered a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas that touted off the predictable racist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, and xenophobic laundry list of grievances that are his stock and trade.

“I can already see tomorrow’s headlines,” Orbán said “‘Far-right European racist, and anti-Semite strongman — the Trojan horse of Putin — holds speech at conservative conference.”

Really, it wasn’t much of a surprise that Orbán would trek down such a dark path, given the fact the Hitler-praising autocrat has routinely trafficked in such abominable dogma. In fact, a recent diatribe late last month prompted one of his advisors to resign.

Zsuzsa Hegedus, who is Jewish and served as an adviser to Orbán for more than 20 years, abruptly quit after citing what she referred to as his “illiberal turn.” She denounced the abhorrent comments he made in Romania as a “pure Nazi text worthy of (Nazi propagandist Joseph) Goebbels,” according to her resignation letter, which was published by Hungarian news outlet HVG.

Orbán was also denounced by the International Auschwitz Committee after comments in the same speech that were interpreted as a joke about the use of gas chambers against Jewish people in Nazi Germany. Orbán told a crowd that Europeans do not want to racially integrate with people from outside of the continent.

“This is why we have always fought: We are willing to mix with one another, but we do not want to become peoples of mixed race,” Orbán said, according to news reports.

Needless to say, such rhetoric is straight up white supremacy.

Some conservatives, including Dalibor Rohac of the American Enterprise Institute and Matt Welch of Reason Magazine, have denounced Orbán and decried those who have embraced both him and his rhetoric. Yet Orbán remains a darling of the extreme right-wing.

Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Lauren Boebert, Greg Abbott, Ben Carson, Seth Dillon and dozens of conservative leaders delivered speeches during the same event as the Hungarian dictator. Beyond rhetorical and ideological concurrence, Viktor Orbán has become deeply immersed with American far-right politicians. Many of them who seem undeterred, or at a minimum, indifferent, by his unabashed, adamant embrace of the racist “great replacement” theory.

Perhaps we shouldn’t be so surprised, given the reality that a significant segment have adopted Orbán’s staunchly anti-immigrant platform. Indeed, Orbán and the American right have been deepening their cooperation toward these illiberal goals. In addition to delivering the keynote speech at a CPAC meeting in Hungary this past May, Orbán also delivered the keynote address at a CPAC meeting in Hungary that included Republican congressmen Andy Harris and Mike Waltz, among others. Shameless opportunist and previously twice failed talk show pundit Tucker Carlson took the opportunity to broadcast his primetime show for a week from Budapest.

What does it say about the state of American conservatism that a prominent conservative organization like CPAC is routinely promoting a leader who issued blatantly acrimonious screeds against “race mixing” in such racist language that one of his most senior and trusted advisors resigned? Yet, he appeared on the same CPAC stage as a former commander-in-chief of more than 20 members of Congress.

“The fact that American conservatives seem to admire him and think of him as someone to emulate really reveals the true colors of that wing of the Republican Party and American conservative movement,” stated Robert C. Lieberman, co-author of “Four Threats: The Recurring Crises of American Democracy.” “It’s one thing when Tucker Carlson says nice things about him on television or does his show from Budapest (last summer). It’s even another thing when CPAC has a meeting in Budapest (in May). But I think having Orbán standing up in the United States as a mouthpiece for this movement is taking that to another level of potential harm.”

American democracy faces a serious attack from a ruthless faction of the right who harbor a fierce hatred of immigrants, Jews, non-Christians, LGBTQ people, and other groups who do not fit within their myopic viewpoint of who supposedly “real” Americans are. Now, sensing they have the political winds at their backs, they have every intention of avidly capitalizing on their sinister agenda to engage odious forms of mistreatment against all those they perceive as unworthy of human dignity. They must be combated with unbridled passion, force and resistance.

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Copyright 2022 Elwood Watson, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate

Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. He is also an author and public speaker.