Sic Sempre Tyrannis

It bothers and angers me that the actions of white nationalist terrorists in my home commonwealth are making the news today. Some of the local leaders have made good statements declaring that hate is not welcome in Virginia, and I wish some of the national leaders could do the same. 

Instead, the supposed leader of the country makes vague statements about condemning violence and hatred from "many sides". In this particular case, there are not many sides. There is one side spouting hate, and another side that saying they won't tolerate hate. Not tolerating hate is not the same thing making hate and violence from a different side. Also, this is literally a day after #45 was just suggesting violence as a solution against another country, and not really just suggesting it but threatening to use violence, so I'm not really buying the idea that he's against it. But, I digress. 

A lot of the white nationalists in Virginia are making a big stink about preserving history, and that's why they claim we need to keep around these confederate hate symbol statues. I doubt all these guys are really history buffs that spend all their time reading historical literature and having serious discussions about history and government philosophy, but I admit that's an assumption on my part. 

If they know so much about local history, they would also know that Virginia's state motto, "Sic sempre tyrannis" was introduced in 1776, long before the civil war, and that it is short for, "Sic sempre evello mortem tyrannis", which means "Thus always I bring death to tyrants". A tyrant is defined as cruel and oppressive ruler. Virginia is a commonwealth that was founded on the idea that oppressing people is wrong. This was a little hypocritical since slavery was considered legal at the time, but that's a whole other discussion.

Some of these alt right people are claiming they feel like they're being oppressed and that they're just standing up for their own rights. In this way, I guess I could see that they are trying to make the point that the tolerant people are oppressing them, by not tolerating their intolerance, and so that makes the tolerant people the tyrants. It's total hogwash, but I guess I could see how they might take that lame argument. As a white nationalist, you're just not going to convince many women, LGBTQI folks, African Americans, Native Americans, or immigrants from any other countries that you have it hard, in comparison, to anyone else. They've literally never had any of their basic rights taken away in the history of the country they live in, and literally all other groups have at some point. 

My favorite thing to come out of all this is the internet's fantastic mocking of the white nationalists with their polo shirts and tiki torches. Not only do I love this because it's funny, but it takes away any "power" the white nationalists feel like they have. If we don't take them seriously, we can't be afraid of them and they have no power over us.  

As a native Virginian, I know and love that Virginia is a diverse place that thrives from being a melting pot of cultures. Charlottesville is a city that is home to a great educational institution, and it has a welcoming, community atmosphere. The vast majority of of Virginia does not have the same values as these alt right nutjobs, and it's too bad that they decided to gather there and tarnish a great place. 

Someone should remind them, Virginia is for lovers, not haters.