Meant to publish this a while ago, but I am only getting around to it now, admittedly.
Marjorie Taylor Greene receives a lot of criticism, and rightly so. In fact, I have criticized her here on my blog, and probably more than once, at that. But the thing is, she deserves it.
Here is one prime example. Recently, a young Massachusetts Air National guardsman, Jack Teixeira, was arrested for leaking classified documents. That is a major federal offense, not usually to be taken lightly. And the apparent reason why he did it was rather shocking to the nation: he was an immature young man trying to impress other immature young men, and showing how much access to power he actually has. Since this news broke, people have been questioning how somebody so young, and evidently so astonishingly immature, could have gotten access to such sensitive material to begin with. He has kind of become the poster child for a young generation which seems to lack the maturity to understand the significance of leaking such documents.
In any case, Greene defended this man, and how she did so should have made more headlines, frankly. Many self-identified conservatives here within the United States tirelessly accuse "elitists" and "libtards" of starting up cultural wars. It is all part of their perception of the massive culture wars that, they feel, are threatening the very fabric of the nation, and Greene clearly is one of those who believes in all of this. She defended this man by saying that he is being singled out for being "white, male, Christian and antiwar."
So in other words, she is accusing the Biden administration, and presumably other "elitists" and "liberals" for persecuting this young man. Instead of assessing what he did, and determining that he may indeed have been too immature to actually handle such documents, and furthermore, may indeed have been guilty of leaking these documents, she is instead claiming that he is merely being persecuted for being a white, Christian male who happens to oppose the war in Ukraine. Using that logic, she likely would not have made a big deal of this at all, and would probably believe the person to be guilty if it was a non-white, female of another religion, perhaps particularly Muslim, and if she supported Ukraine in the war against Russia.
People like Greene see themselves as being persecuted everywhere, and at all times. She seems to typify the mindset that believes that someone saying "Happy Holidays" in December is guilty of waging a war on Christians and Christmas, more specifically. She probably believes that people trying to maintain a separation of church and state are actually starting a war against Christians, and persecuting them. Of course, people who believe that truly do not know what actual persecution is. Ask those who were sent to death camps in Europe during the Holocaust what persecution is, or people who were publicly stoned for adultery in some Middle Eastern countries, or people who burned at the stake when they were deemed to pose a threat to the Church in Europe centuries ago. That's real persecution.
As for the fixation on skin color, and the presumption that whites are now being persecuted, that too is nonsense. For a very long time - we're talking centuries here - whites literally institutionalized white supremacy in the United States. It was secured first through slavery and the genocide of Native Americans, then it was altered a bit after Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, but brought back in a different form with Jim Crow racial segregation, which was very real, and enforced through both legal and social means. It was not that long ago - about ten years before I as born - when there were separate entrances for whites and non-whites to public buildings, and had separate neighborhoods, bathrooms, water fountains, and would sit is separate sections on planes and buses. We're not talking ancient history here.
When that began to change, many people - particularly whites like Greene - clearly did not like it. For a long time, they seemed to remain silent, when racism was clearly deemed unacceptable. But once Trump in particular seemed to give permission to so-called "white nationalists" to voice their dissent, and their desire for a reversal of civil rights actions which were designed to try and bring about greater equality in opportunities, many of these people jumped on the chance to voice what are effectively still racist viewpoints. After all, what kind of a defense is it to simply side with somebody because he is "white, male, Christian and antiwar?" Does this mean that he is innocent of the crimes which he is charged with? It sure seems that she is siding with him automatically, instinctively, precisely because he is "white, male, Christian and antiwar." And that is a problem, as is the fact that Greene has so much influence and her opinions are effectively broadcast and printed in boldfaced every time that she says ridiculous things like this.
It just goes to show that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Especially in the modern day United States.
‘White, Male, Christian And Antiwar’: Marjorie Taylor Greene Defends Suspected Classified Documents Leaker Siladitya Ray Forbes Forbes Staff, Apr 14, 2023:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2023/04/14/white-male-christian-and-antiwar-marjorie-taylor-greene-defends-suspected-classified-documents-leaker/?sh=78d105d15523
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