By Tim Newman
My opinions first started running in The Island News about a month ago. As I said in my first piece, I was torn between opening myself up to the attacks from the left; the doubts of the right that I didn’t go hard enough to the right; and yes, the endlessly pessimistic center.
What I have begun to see from the hundreds of interactions on social media, emails and even personal texts I have received is that our Lowcountry is starved for conservative voices. Even the most radical right-handed rants are lauded and gobbled up by the majority of locals who sift through left-skewed stories to data mine the nuggets of truth.
What has been absent is a narrative that condenses, explains or puts the words to the music of what is going on. The facts are the facts, immigration numbers are precise, but the ramifications they held were so blurred in the past they existed without context. Everything had that tint of blue, required that one-eye-closed squint and asked you to make a wild-ass guess toward the truth you wanted.
I have to appreciate The Island News for even daring to include a conservative lens to bring the world into focus for the majority of our neighbors. Of course we still have to contend with stories from outlets with a 70/30 conservative to liberal population ratio slanted to include 80% liberal interests to 20% conservative points of view, but thankfully some news outlets are now seeing the folly of limiting themselves to a minority of its potential readers.
Conservatives watch protesters we think are wasting time as sore losers occupying corners waving flags of other nations, holding signs with ludicrous slogans, blocking traffic for left or right travelers, and yelling catchphrases that we know they don’t even understand.
I have seen signs demanding criminal illegal immigrants already deported be returned and freed back into the country to resume their human trafficking. I have seen signs demanding we deport legal citizens who volunteered to help our government eliminate trillions in fraud. I have heard screams about kings regarding a president legally elected twice who knows how to both win and lose. I have seen signs against guns, pro-abortion, advocating men in girls locker rooms, supporting open borders, opposing accountability, demanding reparations and praising USAID in its mission of funding every worthless project and shadow government action and literally paying for both sides of conflicts and battles worldwide.
Sadly, my hatred of stupid signs pales when I see the ones saying “ACAB” (All Cops Are Bastards) attacking our men and women in uniform who wear badges and body armor protecting the communities they love. When I see these signs it becomes personal, like when a patriot watches radicals burn our flag.
When I see the blanket labeling of my heroes (cops and public servants) as bastards, murderers and more, it stirs my rage. It makes me realize how misguided and ignorant the lemming waving that cardboard insult is.
I realize they must harbor the worst case of “daddy issues” on earth. To attack the men and women who keep them safe is stupid and personally evil. To think that some of those could even be the children of brave and heroic cops is even sadder. To think that a son or daughter could be so damaged or unstable to turn against both family and protector is disgusting.
But I digress and again wonder where is the civility now that the shoe (left or right, pick one) is on the other foot? Conservatives sat back and watched a bumbling basement president and cackling VP waste American treasure on imaginary causes, work to defund our peacekeepers, try to destroy women’s sports and normalize burning and looting our communities. Now, conservatives are in power and again watching the radical left turn courts into voting booths and corners into fence lines.
If civility isn’t coming back, where is it going?
ACAH … heroes.
Tim Newman is a S.C. native, U.S. Marine, law enforcer, international law enforcement trainer, PTSD specialist and advocate. Tim lives with his wife Beth on Lady’s Island and can be contacted at sctopcop@gmail.com.
