The past 10 years have been unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Never in my life did I believe I’d see folks not knowing if they were male or female. I can’t recall any classmates I went to school with from 1959 – 1972 having that problem. Was something put in Cocoa Puffs or Lucky Charm cereal after I graduated from high school that caused such confusion?
My history book heroes were suddenly made out to be villains, with Christopher Columbus accused by left-leaning historians of atrocious acts against Indigenous people. Civil War officers from the Confederate Army were singled out to be racists. Many of these “Rebels” fought for less taxation on their state’s manufactured goods, along with the same on agricultural products — over that of slavery.
Starting around 2020, the woke mentality began running rampant everywhere, eventually interfering with things that I was involved with or trying to do. Having sent a manuscript to a book publisher for review and him forwarding it on to a line editor, this anonymous “word cruncher” chastised me for using certain offensive words—at least in her opinion, they were distasteful.
I didn’t know this editor from Adam but assumed she was straight out of some leftist college. One of the words deemed sexist was chick and that’s why I say the editor was a she. The timeline for my book was in the early 1960s, thus the word was in play back then. Needless to say, I didn’t change things as that would’ve ruined the manuscript dialogue.
I’ve always called North America’s highest peak Mt. McKinley. It was named in 1896 by William Dickey for President William McKinley from Niles, Ohio. Before that, American Indians and the former owners of Alaska, Russia, called this large mountain, Buishale or Bulshaia. It was labeled that for at least 200 years — perhaps longer.
President Barack Obama renamed it Denali in 2015, saying this was the original Athabaskan name, meaning — “The High One.” The Athabaskan’s unique dialect, nor its conventional means of communicating via hands, or fingers, would’ve never used that word, with Denali most likely dreamed up by some University of California – Berkley professor.
One of the Navajo definitions, or words, for The Grand Canyon in Arizona, is Tsékooh Hatsoh. So far, no one has tried changing it although I wouldn’t rule things out. A good many of these ancient ancestral names are unpronounceable, even by their own people these days.
The High One title should be passed on to those elitists attempting to rewrite history for their own ideological purposes. Before much longer, unless stifled, they’ll have George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and John F. Kennedy labeled as dictators. They’ve already ignorantly pegged that fallacy on Donald Trump.
It appears that the majority of Americans finally woke up and smelled the coffee regarding leftist overreach — this happening on November 5, 2024. Since being sworn into office, President Trump has erased a good portion of this lib-backed wokeness and DEI, with him officially renaming Denali to McKinley. It makes no difference to me what name it’s called at this point in my life, as I lose zero sleep over such things I cannot control.
Some folks are up in arms here yet I doubt it’ll do any good. I like the name Aunt Jemina Syrup, yet it’s now been changed to Pearl Milling Company Syrup, thanks to wokeness rearing its ugly head. Because of that, I’ve started buying the Great Value brand in protest while also saving a few dollars.
The woman behind Aunt Jemina, Nancy Green, was a real person. If Nancy was still alive, I bet she’d be none too happy having her highly recognized nickname suddenly found to be offensive, by folks she doesn’t even know.
I’ll continue writing and using words and language the way I see fit, with outside interference from woke editors and critics mowed over like a D-8 bulldozer pushing through a mound of dirt. Where Denali and Mt. McKinley are concerned, perhaps renaming it Big Rock Candy Mountain would satisfy both sides?
I like to write junk... 