by Guy Page
Vermont Daily is taking a brief rest. Look for our next post on Tuesday.
John Klar’s story yesterday about Alex Katsnelson, Essex teenager fired from lifeguard job for speaking out about Critical Race Theory, really hit a nerve with our readers. And rightfully so. Katsnelson is now (at least) the second Vermont public employee fired for questioning the new racial orthodoxy. One year ago in June, Tiffany Riley was promptly fired from her job as a public school principal in Windsor for merely questioning the goals and tactics of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Here are a few of your 23 comments:
VT Independent: Kudos for Alex! He sounds like a thoughtful intelligent young man who is capable of critical thinking which is far more than the leftist SJW’s who run VT are able to do. Sad what we have sunk to.
Alex- whatever you do, don’t apologize. You are in the right. And you absolutely have a right to your own opinions, none of which would impact your work as a lifeguard! They are just punishing you for speaking your own mind (and having a mind!).
Carrie: This is absolutely outrageous. The only threat is being perpetrated by the people who fired this young man. It is chilling that the constitutional right to free speech has been so egregiously violated. I hope there will be a public outcry.
Colin: We seriously need to stop using their asinine terminology. They’re not “anti-racists”, they’re “segregationists”. This young man should absolutely sue, and I would happily contribute to any crowd-funding effort to cover the costs. He had the courage to stick his neck out, and I really hope he has the courage to stand up for himself after this disgusting attack on his character.
Ralph: This was one of the most well spoken young men I have heard in a long time. His voice should not be silenced nor should he be punished for speaking his mind.
To think that these CRT supporters equated him standing up for what he believes in with some sort of malice where he would not help someone based upon their color or beliefs is nothing less than projection and hugely insulting. It really does show who the racists really are and apparently they work at Essex schools and park and recs.
Not every reader supported Katsnelson.
Jody: My Dad was a lifeguard in the Navy in Penscacola, FL during WW 2. He was the lifeguard for the black people as the pool was segregated. Being from VT, it was determined that he could be trusted to actually save the back sailors and their families as it was clear that the southern guys would not. My father was horrified to learn about segregation and racism. They drained and washed pool for the white families to enjoy after the blacks had their time. Even as a right wing Republican and founding member of the John Birch Society, I think my Dad would agree that people who cannot be trusted to save everybody should not be lifeguards. If I were black, I would not want a life guard who is so afraid of people of my race. The sad fragility of white people astounds me. White guys from Essex VT honestly have very little to worry about in the world of reverse discrimination.
Keep the comments comin’. Be Your Own Media! See you Tuesday!
Categories: Society & Culture
Leaving aside for a moment that this firing represents a serious threat to the constitutional right of free speech, about which we all should be very, very concerned, the last response (from “Jody”) entirely misses the point being made by the critics of CRT by assuming that who oppose CRT are motivated by racism. In fact, opponents says that CRT does not do what it claims to do, and in fact does the opposite by perpetuating a false victim-oppressor mentality and promoting a new kind of racism. There is no doubt that many people of goodwill hear the rhetoric of CRT and mistakenly throw their support behind it, but the reality is they are victims of propaganda.
We need the full name(s) of who actually fired this young man in order to parade in public, the stupid people Who are running things and the ignorance that obviously abounds With these public officials.
This should scare the hell out of us! We are indeed boiling the frog albeit not so slowly.
It’s good to see so many good comments about this young man. He was only speaking the truth. This new CRT orthodoxy is a joke. Vermont has never been a racist state until others moved here.. 9 generations here and I’m in my 70’s and never seen any racist going on until the past few yrs. Sounds to me that the board of P&R are full of liberals. Alex I hope you know that we true Vermonters stand with you.. You are a good young man who uses his brain…
Class Action Lawsuit!
Jody; Your response was simply to repeat a cliche’. That wasn’t the issue.
CRT, BLM and such are only conduits to keep this discussion alive. The initiators do not care one whit about anyone or anytthing; Just the discussion in perpetuity to take the focus off the real issues, so we can be railroaded some more, and on and on. Until the real Vermonters start going to the polls in droves, we are saddled with this nonsense for the duration.
A real attention getter would be bankruptcy, which we are close to.
CRT and progressive leftist doctrine are nothing new. People of all races and ethnicities have been subjugated at one time or another for centuries. Today’s circumstance in the United States is no different. And, ironically, the very people who claim to have an evolved understanding of our collective discriminatory ways, today characterized as ‘whiteness’, are the perpetrators of this continued subjugation.
CRT and progressive leftist doctrine represent the proverbial wolves in sheep’s clothing. They will stop at nothing to promote their perverse, self-proclaimed superiority, which includes characterizing themselves as uniquely ‘enlightened’. In fact, they represent the evil side of our human nature, and the public-school monopoly continues to be the lynchpin (pun intended) for our progressive left, self-anointed overseers.
Watch this short clip of a Firing Line debate from almost 40 years ago. Decide for yourselves who is ‘enlightened’ and who is being oppressed.