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April 14, 2023

22 years ago, Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks collaborated to make perhaps the finest television show ever produced in the history of television, a 10-part miniseries called Band of Brothers.  Based on a book by historian Stephen Ambrose, the series follows the exploits of Easy Company, one of the companies during World War II that made up the 101st Airborne division.  Featuring fine acting, historical accuracy with commentary from the real men of Easy company on which the characters are based, and an all-around great production, from the dialogue to the film score, it is perhaps one of the greatest television shows ever made. 

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The series portrays a fictionalized account of the pre D-Day paratrooper landing, in which, in the dead of night, the 101st was dropped over the hedgerows and tiny villages of Normandy, France. Jumping head first into anti-aircraft (flak) fire from German guns, only to lose their weapons when (and if) they made it to the ground, they then fought their way to their designated position.  With limited weapons and supplies, they had to disable multiple, heavily armed German 88 millimeter cannons, heroics which earned numerous members of the company multiple medals and honors. 

The series follows E company from their training at Camp Tacoa, Georgia to Normandy to the failed Market Garden campaign in the Netherlands. From there, to the perilous and haunting siege they encountered in Bastogne, Belgium, in which they were practically encircled and vastly outnumbered by the German forces around Bastogne. Finally, to the end of the war and their liberation of a concentration camp and visit to Hitler’s “Eagle’s Nest” in Berchtesgaden, Germany. 

Watching this show today leads one to wonder: what happened to these men?  Not necessarily the men of E company, who have all passed by now, but the kind of men who are fearless enough to jump deliberately out of an airplane into a hail of bullets, or storm a cannon by oneself, as Lieutenant Colonel Ronald Spiers did on D-Day, or to jump out of a fox hole in the middle of a German artillery barrage in a forest, with trees falling down around you, in order to rescue a wounded comrade, as staff sergeant William “Wild Bill” Guarnere did after staff sergeant Joseph “Joe” Toye got his leg blown off, during which Wild Bill himself got his own leg blown off. 

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One does not necessarily have to be a war hero in this day and age, as we are not (yet) at war, but where has the basic courage gone, especially for those in positions of power and influence?  It has always been the case that guys like Bill Guarnere, and Joe Toye, and Ron Spiers, and Dick Winters, the leader of Easy company, are the real heroes of America, not the politicians or celebrities, but that does not exclude these other people in positions of influence from doing something that, at least by today’s standards, would be considered heroic. 

For instance, politicians or even just regular average joes with influence in their community do not necessarily have to charge an enemy position with a full company of SS troops waiting on the other side, as Major Dick Winters did, by themselves, alone.  All they need to do is be that person who stands up at a school board meeting and says, “No, I will not allow my or any other 8-year-old to see sexually explicit, pornographic material, because it is neither appropriate for elementary aged children to see nor is it relevant to any school subject matter, and you, the teachers pushing it and the school board members, should be put on the sex offender registry and sent to prison.” 

That is literally it, that is all that has to be done.  No facing down a horde of Hitler’s most feared troops, just saying no to the school board, and convincing other parents to say no too.  Most people, however, are cowards, and therefore will not have enough courage to speak out about, or push back against, any of the madness and depravity that the left is rotting society with.  Most people will not act, even if they agree with you and are opposed to the left’s depredations, unless you the lone individual, act. 

What has happened to the men who used to voluntarily sign up for certain death in many cases, who now, in today’s world, will not so much as even refuse to be complicit in the destruction of basic, fundamental biological reality by passively acquiescing to the left’s demands of them to use “proper” “preferred pronouns” for a “trans” person?  The men that will go along as good little sheep and call a man with a beard a “woman” because corporate HR told them to or because their friends tell them it is the “polite” thing to do, are not only acknowledging that “trans” people, who do not exist in the first place, do exist by doing this, but are surrendering their own First Amendment rights as well, while they actively participate in a cult ritual that gradually degrades the essence of reality.  Forget 1944, most people in 2014 wouldn’t have even done that! 

What has happened to the white employee who allows himself to be discriminated against at work openly during “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” seminars?  Why are this employee, and his fellow employees subjected to this behavior, not suing the company in a class action lawsuit for a violation of their Equal Protection rights under the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, a violation of which is inherent in a DEI training session?  Would a single lawsuit against a single company would be equivalent to Ron Spiers storming a German cannon by himself on D-Day in today’s woke and crumbling America?

How about politicians, or the people who elect them?  Why isn’t every single Republican voter on the phone with their congressman (if their congressman is someone who aligns with them ideologically and will listen to them) demanding that they immediately stop supporting the continuation of aid and weapons supplies to Ukraine, and demand that Republicans renounce this government’s ties to and unlimited support of Ukraine?  Why are Republican, and many Democrat for that matter, voters not demanding that their tax dollars stop going over to fund border security in an corrupt eastern European nation half way around the world, and start being allocated to fund the southern border?