Denouncing the 'white militias' of Vermont in USA Today
An alarmist philippic in USA Today against nonexistent armed white militias in Vermont exhibits the hallmark hypocrisy — and toxicity — of social justice warriors who sow division using dehumanizing and alarmist stereotypes. Rather than resolve conflict, such dishonesty and poor character serve a narcissistic self-righteousness that perpetually searches out others' victimhood to weaponize for personal advancement.
Author Michael Shank claims his "Masters and PhD degrees studied how societies not only thrive but peacefully coexist (a study needed more than ever)" and that he "believe[s] in building partnerships irrespective of political labels." Mr. Shank graciously "love[s] a good conversation with the other side of any debate, especially if it's well-reasoned."
Instead, the fulminating doctor rails about gun-toting "white" neighbors and the suffering of black people and asserts that right-wing extremism is rampant in the Green Mountain State. Shank then gives the shaft to his neighbors:
I'm selling my farm this summer, in fact, because the assault-weaponed bullies are winning on my road[.] ... Armed militias do well here. Not only does Vermont's Department of Public Safety fail to crack down on armed white extremists, due in part to lax local laws, the State Police discriminate against the people of color running from those very extremists. I'm not making this up.
Yes, he is. As I have detailed here, the statistics upon which he slanders Vermont's police are a scandalous fraud, recklessly increasing crime and demoralizing good officers.
Dr. Shank's claims in USA Today were simply false and absurd. He elsewhere touts his academic degrees as "focused on climate conflict." This may explain his ability to brew a vituperative tempest of condemnation against the wonderful (mostly liberal) people of Vermont, based on a single New Yorker who relocated to Vermont and opened a shooting range.
The melodramatic doctor dishonestly claims that the so-called "armed white extremists" won and have taken over. In another unneighborly rant in which he demanded that government arrest his neighbors ("Neighborly Talk Useless"), he claimed:
I'm sharing this not because I need to be right or have the record show anything. I'm leaving Brandon, as I've already announced. The assault weapons and explosives — and their users — already won this debate.
Yet the landowners against whom he has complained have been shut down, fined $46,603, forced to tear down all buildings and face additional fines for contempt.
Dr. Shank plays the victim (even invoking black victimhood) to attack an entire state and culture:
I'm on a short leash with this state and give it a few more years to restrain its armed white extremists or I'm gone[.] ... America's armed extremists are that armed, they're that mobilized, and they're in need of rehabilitation and reintegration back into society[.] ... This is war, and we are refugees fleeing violent, extreme and often racist non-state actors. It's time we take this fight seriously and draw the line because they are winning.
Perhaps the "climate conflict" training shaped the doctor's volcanic drama, but Vermont is the second-safest place in America and the bluest. Doctor "Conflict Resolution" wants to "reintegrate and rehabilitate" white people who own guns in blue Vermont after closing down one of its few public shooting ranges. Oh, the victimhood!
The irony of Dr. Shank demanding increased police protection in safe, rural Vermont is magnified by his previous call to prohibit police from having
surplus military grade weaponry, which ... is flowing from battlefields to our local police forces[.] ... Mine-resistant ambush protected vehicles, tanks, drones, grenades and assault weapons should not replace the community policing of our Main Streets[.] ... Aggressive military-type action is quickly turning Americans against fellow citizens who they are ostensibly there to serve and protect.
But then his neighbor had a shooting range, so now all of Vermont is "armed militias," and actorly Shank the victim — of police inaction!
Similar inconsistency is found in Shank's call for white men not to run for Vermont U.S. Senate:
To all the older white men potentially queuing for the 2022 election for U.S. Senate to represent Vermont, please step aside. Speaking as a white man to the handful of you who might run, I urge you to make space[.] ... And as we work to dismantle pervasive systemic racism in this state, what a powerful message it'd serve to send a person of color to Congress, given that Vermont has never that done that either[.] ... Contrast that with what message could be sent by sending a woman, a transgender or gender nonconforming person, and/or person of color to the U.S. Senate.
Shank might drool venom if a conservative black woman ran for U.S. Senate in Vermont — perhaps then genitalia would not constitute his highest qualification for public office (if he were consistent in his inconsistency). But Dr. Kumbaya had no problem with enlightened white men (himself) running for office, claiming:
My work in more than 30 countries has primarily focused on preventing and reducing conflict and violence. When tackling societal issues, I think creatively about how can we all work together to problem solve them. That's my training.
That's right — inclusivity. Only the ideology of social justice warriors like Shank (who is flipping his massive 2,317-sq.ft.house for a hefty $450,000 while decrying inequality) is anything but inclusive. No surprise he only got 2.8% of the vote.
Attacking Vermonters as deplorables using alarmist falsehoods is exactly why the peace warrior Dr. Shank must relocate — his actions belie his rhetoric. His true "conflict" appears almost internal — like a form of delusional political schizophrenia of the id. Perhaps the conflicted doctor will find peace in his relocation...until Mr. Hyde again vents vitriol on his neighbors for being white, or being male, or owning guns, or having money, or...
That's the problem with social justice warriors: there is no end to the injustices they conjure with which to inflict exponentially more injustices. It becomes difficult for them to be rehabilitated or reintegrated into society.
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