This letter is in response to Bill Moeller’s commentary titled “Remembering When Chehalis Made Life Magazine.”
I appreciate Mr. Bill Moeller’s history lesson of racism in Chehalis. Did it not exist in Centralia? Guess that’s subject for another column. However, after reading his commentary I was reminded of the 1975 Saturday Night Live “Point/Counterpoint” segment featuring Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin. I won’t quote the opening line of Aykroyd’s response to Curtin’s commentary because we now have “language police” who will cancel anyone they disagree with or find offensive. It is an example of today’s “liberal’s/progressive’s” moves to “identify a group of people and make a public show of hating them and fellow disciples will begin to gather around.”
Mr. Moeller goes on to associate the late Rush Limbaugh with the other racist Mr. Moeller has pointed out in his article. He cites Limbaugh’s “recent example of singling out liberals as the cause of every earthly woe since original sin.” Seems Mr. Moeller disagrees with Limbaugh, and that is perfectly acceptable. However, to label Limbaugh a racist based on disagreement is an ignorant avoidance of the facts. Limbaugh showed no racist tendencies, unless you call agreeing with conservative minorities and disagreeing with liberals in general racist. Liberals call racism America’s original sin. It’s an effective slogan and does spread hate but it is false. Racism and slavery existed just after the dawn of man and woman. The human race is responsible for this “original sin.” American minorities, as with almost every other nation, were victims of it. America fought and died to almost eradicate it. I will admit racism still exists and cannot be totally eliminated. Nothing bad can be totally eliminated unless you believe in a utopian society. If you do believe in such a thing, I hope that someday you will grow up, and please do not run for political office until you do.
Mr. Moeller goes on to point out Chehalis “Silver Shirts” comparing them to the “dreaded Brown Shirts of Nazi Germany.” Most likely a good comparison. Although I haven’t read about any event associated with Silver Shirts that compares with “Kristallnacht” by the Brown Shirts on Nov. 10 and 11, 1938. May I add a more recent comparison? The left-leaning antifa, cancel culture and Black Lives Matter. These are the groups the mainstream media claims were “mostly peaceful” during the over 100 riots that destroyed cities and killed hundreds (mostly minorities) across the United States in 2020 and 2021. Not to mention the destruction of our history in tearing down statues that “offend” them. Even renaming schools. Detroit removed Dr. Ben Carson’s name from the “Benjamin Carson High School of Science and Medicine.” Is that not racist?
I do enjoy reading history and we can learn from it and be a better society. However, it is my opinion that Mr. Moeller is guilty of, as he quotes, “All one needs to do is identify a group of people and make a public show of hating them and fellow disciples will begin to gather around.”
Tom Spahr
Chehalis
