Topic: WorldNetDaily
In a Feb. 17 WorldNetDaily column, WND managing editor David Kupelian spins a whitewashed version of mid-century America that was ruined by British music and long hair and ultimately destroyed by Barack Obama:
I grew up in suburban Washington, D.C., during the 1950s. It was an innocent time. Kennedy hadn't been assassinated, there wasn't much divorce, and everyone loved Christmas. I didn't know what abortion or homosexuality were, and I had never even heard of people taking illegal drugs except in far-off ghettos. My school taught the three "Rs" and didn't teach about condoms. After school I got a snack and watched "Leave It to Beaver" and "Father Knows Best."
America was prosperous, strong and unified, and its culture was unapologetically Judeo-Christian. Despite all its flaws, America was simply the greatest nation on earth.
And the rest of the world knew it. People flocked here from all over, including my father who, as a little boy, barely escaped along with his mother from the Armenian Genocide. His father was murdered by the Turks, and his baby sister succumbed as well. In all, I lost dozens of family members, perhaps as many as 100, in the jihadist genocide of one and a half million Christian Armenians – the predecessor to the Nazi Holocaust 30 years later. For people like my father and grandmother, America was what the Promised Land was to the ancient Hebrews. They were inexpressibly grateful to be welcomed here. Though they came with nothing, they somehow thrived, got an education, became successful and prosperous and had families – all because of the generosity of America and the freedom and opportunity this country gave them.
This is the America that was imprinted on me – and on you, if you're old enough. This is the America you love.
However, ever since the 1960s we've lived in a blur. Although we remember the long hair, the "British invasion" and the obsession with psychedelic drugs, the really important, consequential things were happening on America's college campuses. Unbeknownst to almost everyone at the time, our nation was being assaulted by radical revolutionary movements: women's liberation, black liberation, sexual liberation, gay liberation, animal liberation, multiculturalism, political correctness and so on. But it was like a blur – we didn't really know what we were looking at, where it was coming from, and where it was taking us.
For decades, we blurred along like this. Even though our knowledge and technology were growing and transforming our world, giving us the illusion of constant progress, something was wrong. Crazy things kept happening. There were scandalous Supreme Court decisions no one could understand – banning prayer and Bible reading, but legalizing the killing of beautiful little babies. There was also a rapid upsurge in cults, atheists, New Agers and witches, not to mention hordes of angry homosexuals demanding special rights and denouncing anyone who disagreed with them.
Alongside all this developed an ever-increasing contempt – even demonization – toward Christianity, the religion that formed the basis for America and Western Civilization. It seemed that as a people we were in a pitched battle with ourselves – literally at war with our own core founding values.But again, all this was a blur. It was hard to pin down what was happening, where it was all coming from and where it was heading.
Then finally, in late 2008, something broke the spell: We elected Barack Hussein Obama as president.
This same whitewashed version of history pops up in Pat Boone's Feb. 26 WND column:
Is it just me? Am I dreaming something that never was? Or do you remember the same things I do?
Wasn't there a "once upon a time" when families all consisted of a mom, a dad and a kid or two? When most people went to a worship service every Saturday or Sunday, and many even enjoyed a midweek prayer meeting as well?
Do you remember a time when families – Mom and Dad and all the kids – actually went to the neighborhood theater on Friday night, bought some 25-cent popcorn and all watched the same movie, together?
I really seem to recollect watching TV, on one of the three networks, with my brother and sisters and parents, all laughing at the same things and enjoying the same dramas, and feeling closer to my family for the experience. There were no other options even thought of, alternative channels that continually featured things I didn't want anybody else to know I was watching.
When you were growing up, was abortion or homosexuality or even sex outside of marriage ever discussed, or much even considered? Weren't such activities just considered "wrong," taboo, not to be discussed in polite company, and never, never to be condoned?
Weren't most elected officials and representatives, from the president on down, respected and looked up to, even if your folks hadn't voted for them? Didn't it seem that almost all of them were trying to do the right thing, and didn't it seem that America would always come out on top? And even if Daddy had to work very hard; and Mama, too, seemed to work nonstop from early morning till after your bedtime – didn't it seem there was always enough, with maybe a little to spare for a neighbor who needed help?
Who's getting richer under the Obama regime? Find out in "Obamanomics: How Barack Obama Is Bankrupting You and Enriching His Wall Street Friends, Corporate Lobbyists, and Union Bosses"
Listen, as far back as most of us can remember, the house – the home – was the best investment a family could make. Combined with whatever savings and stock purchases a man could put together, his Social Security and the equity in his home would surely provide for his retirement. Real estate values always rose, right?
Didn't "liberty" and "freedom" seem real, tangible and just natural in this country? And even when the nation was at war, didn't it seem inevitable that we and our way of life would win out?
Am I crazy, or wasn't there the general, widespread and shared feeling that we were blessed by God and that He was pleased with us and our efforts to live life as He ordained it? Not that any of us was perfect, but that we expected the best behavior from ourselves and each other? That there are proven and accepted moral standards to live by?
If this wasn't all a dream, if you remember most of this like I do, what happened? How do we find ourselves in this nightmare of contemporary America? And how has it changed so radically, so fast?
As I reach back into this horrible nightmare, I seem to hear a loud, almost fanatic threat echoing in the night … "We are just five days away from fundamentally transforming the United States of America!"
Did Boone crib from Kupelian's column, or are they both in thrall to a past that didn't really exist except in their imaginations? Where minorities didn't exist or were conveniently out of sight -- and gays simply didn't exist at all? And funny how it all culminates with the election of a black president.
What are Kupelian and Boone really saying here? We report, you decide.
