Dear All of Y'all,
You know if I'm talking to you.
I'm crazy to stick my neck out like this and even address you.
Most will likely disagree with me to say that I think society should have an open dialogue with you.
Because you're clearly unhappy, and we've got to live with you.
And the consequences of your actions.
So let's have it out.
First off, I wish there were no public square for us to fight over in the first place. Problem solved.
If I want to take a statue down on my property, that's my business. If you want to put a statue up on yours, that's yours.
Instead of a public square, I wish there were a lot more private squares. And everybody has their own private square.
And the size of your square is pretty much whatever you've been able to prove to your society that you're actually good enough to be responsible for.
The free market is the proving grounds.
And you can do what you want on your square.
And I can do what I want on mine.
So if you want to put up a statue on your private square, then I can't stop you. And if I want to take one down on mine, then you have to respect my property too.
Then there don't have to be any more fights.
And if you want a bigger square, find out a way to solve some problem that people have, that they're willing to pay to have solved. And your square will grow.
That's the libertarian idea, by the way.
Live and let live. And no fighting. And no pushing. And no shoving.
But I understand that there is a public square, and you are aggrieved that a statue you like is being taken down in it.
But let's be realistic. There are not a lot of you right? Like practically none of you compared to the rest of us.
Nobody sees these statues the way you do. Nobody.
You're outnumbered, probably 30,000 to 1 on this, generously.
You've felt the intense pressure from this after Charlottesville.
Surely no one is more aware than you right now of how unpopular your opinions are.
So it's unreasonable to expect the rest of us to have to look at the statue that we don't like in a public park when there are so many more of us and you are in the extreme minority.
Can you see how that's unreasonable?
And it's not like we're violating your rights in some horrible, or even some minor or petty way not to want the statues up.
So it's not like a tyranny of the majority situation, where you are being harmed somehow, so the appeal to the majority is invalid.
We just don't want the statues up okay?
We hate them.
We also can't understand how someone could like them as much as you seem to or at all.
And you're not going to be able to change that.
So what is it that you want? Realistically.
Understanding that you have to live with the rest of us too, and that you are in the extreme minority position on this, and that most of us have no patience for your point of view at all.
Would you call it a win and stop demonstrating if these cities just agreed to give you the statues, and you can take them home and do whatever you want with them?
I think that's a reasonable request.
Though maybe not now, after all the mayhem your rally caused.
Let me know what you think about that proposition.
Now on to a more central issue: Why do you group yourselves and other people together on the basis of being white or not?
How is that at all a meaningful distinction?
You don't group yourself in with other people on the basis of whether you're blonde or not, and band together over that.
Or whether you have green eyes. Or are left handed. Or have a second toe that's longer than your big toe.
You don't consider whether your earlobe is attached to your head or not a meaningful category.
So why all this nonsense about being white?
And how are you already so cynical?
I saw how young most of you are in the photos. What is all this talk about being "dispossessed" and "replaced?"
You can't start feeling like a loser already when you're only 20. You haven't even started trying yet!
You don't know how good you could have it if you stay out of trouble, and work on yourself, and do something good for your society every day.
It's going to be a lot harder now that you've taken part in something like this, but not impossible.
You're now in deep debt and have a lot to pay off to climb out of the hole and start building something.
Best thing you could do now is write and publish a lengthy, very well thought out apology letter.
And when people still don't accept it and most of the comments are venting anger at you, consider it your penance.
Those of you at the rally who were in your 30s and 40s, you've got even less time to waste if you're feeling dispossessed and like you're clinging to the bottom of your society.
I don't know how you can go on now, but the rest of your life will go better for you if you admit how foolish and unproductive this racial fighting business is and try to change.
Especially if you publicly apologize to the younger men in your movement, and tell them you've led them astray.
You will find the beginning of redemption in this act.
And when our time is over and people are looking back on the now, they will think the better of you for having the incredibly rare strength to admit you were wrong, and to pull back when you were so close to the edge.
You know if I'm talking to you.
I'm crazy to stick my neck out like this and even address you.
Most will likely disagree with me to say that I think society should have an open dialogue with you.
Because you're clearly unhappy, and we've got to live with you.
And the consequences of your actions.
So let's have it out.
First off, I wish there were no public square for us to fight over in the first place. Problem solved.
If I want to take a statue down on my property, that's my business. If you want to put a statue up on yours, that's yours.
Instead of a public square, I wish there were a lot more private squares. And everybody has their own private square.
And the size of your square is pretty much whatever you've been able to prove to your society that you're actually good enough to be responsible for.
The free market is the proving grounds.
And you can do what you want on your square.
And I can do what I want on mine.
So if you want to put up a statue on your private square, then I can't stop you. And if I want to take one down on mine, then you have to respect my property too.
Then there don't have to be any more fights.
And if you want a bigger square, find out a way to solve some problem that people have, that they're willing to pay to have solved. And your square will grow.
That's the libertarian idea, by the way.
Live and let live. And no fighting. And no pushing. And no shoving.
But I understand that there is a public square, and you are aggrieved that a statue you like is being taken down in it.
But let's be realistic. There are not a lot of you right? Like practically none of you compared to the rest of us.
Nobody sees these statues the way you do. Nobody.
You're outnumbered, probably 30,000 to 1 on this, generously.
You've felt the intense pressure from this after Charlottesville.
Surely no one is more aware than you right now of how unpopular your opinions are.
So it's unreasonable to expect the rest of us to have to look at the statue that we don't like in a public park when there are so many more of us and you are in the extreme minority.
Can you see how that's unreasonable?
And it's not like we're violating your rights in some horrible, or even some minor or petty way not to want the statues up.
So it's not like a tyranny of the majority situation, where you are being harmed somehow, so the appeal to the majority is invalid.
We just don't want the statues up okay?
We hate them.
We also can't understand how someone could like them as much as you seem to or at all.
And you're not going to be able to change that.
So what is it that you want? Realistically.
Understanding that you have to live with the rest of us too, and that you are in the extreme minority position on this, and that most of us have no patience for your point of view at all.
Would you call it a win and stop demonstrating if these cities just agreed to give you the statues, and you can take them home and do whatever you want with them?
I think that's a reasonable request.
Though maybe not now, after all the mayhem your rally caused.
Let me know what you think about that proposition.
Now on to a more central issue: Why do you group yourselves and other people together on the basis of being white or not?
How is that at all a meaningful distinction?
You don't group yourself in with other people on the basis of whether you're blonde or not, and band together over that.
Or whether you have green eyes. Or are left handed. Or have a second toe that's longer than your big toe.
You don't consider whether your earlobe is attached to your head or not a meaningful category.
So why all this nonsense about being white?
And how are you already so cynical?
I saw how young most of you are in the photos. What is all this talk about being "dispossessed" and "replaced?"
You can't start feeling like a loser already when you're only 20. You haven't even started trying yet!
You don't know how good you could have it if you stay out of trouble, and work on yourself, and do something good for your society every day.
It's going to be a lot harder now that you've taken part in something like this, but not impossible.
You're now in deep debt and have a lot to pay off to climb out of the hole and start building something.
Best thing you could do now is write and publish a lengthy, very well thought out apology letter.
And when people still don't accept it and most of the comments are venting anger at you, consider it your penance.
Those of you at the rally who were in your 30s and 40s, you've got even less time to waste if you're feeling dispossessed and like you're clinging to the bottom of your society.
I don't know how you can go on now, but the rest of your life will go better for you if you admit how foolish and unproductive this racial fighting business is and try to change.
Especially if you publicly apologize to the younger men in your movement, and tell them you've led them astray.
You will find the beginning of redemption in this act.
And when our time is over and people are looking back on the now, they will think the better of you for having the incredibly rare strength to admit you were wrong, and to pull back when you were so close to the edge.
