During the Summer of 2020, the world watched in horror as a group of people became unhinged. They destroyed statues, wreaking images and ripping apart the social fabric of nations, destroying years of history all for purely political reasons and personal satisfaction. These iconoclasts did not spring up suddenly; they were carefully groomed into existence. The anger they expressed had been carefully tindered, fed, and fueled into the raging inferno observed on the nightly news. Nothing is sacred to an iconoclast. Any image, including statues, paintings, murals, buildings, everything man has ever created for social, religious, or political expression, was on the table of destruction, and these ignorant savages were going to destroy it.
Please, do not delude yourself. The iconoclasts did not “suddenly come to themselves;” no, they are still out there, waiting for the next opportunity of convenience to become unhinged and destroy again. But, you say, it is peaceful now; surely these people deserve dignity and should be offered the grace of justice. No, a thousand times no, and a thousand times again, NO!
As a youth, I was told a story about an American Indian and a rattlesnake. The rattlesnake had been captured by an eagle, flown high into the mountains, and was dropped. The Indian was on a quest for enlightenment and happened upon the rattlesnake who begged for help and to be carried down to the desert so he would not die. At first, the Indian said no. He was wise. He knew the snake would bite him and told the snake no. But over time, the pitiful cries of the snake could be heard, and eventually, the Indian left his quest and carried the snake down to the desert below. Always with the most solemn promises from the snake to not bite him. As the boy removed the snake from his tunic upon arrival in the desert, the snake bit him in the chest. As the boy lay dying, he asked the snake why; the snake replied, “You knew what I was when you picked me up.”
A snake does not become a toothless grass eater or honors his promises merely because he is begging for his life, and a terrorist does not become a law-abiding citizen by wishing and hoping. The iconoclast is a terrorist, and a terrorist, at heart, has thrown off all compunction, all morals, all ties to society for the personal pleasure of watching it burn. The terrorist wants to promote terror, is a political monster, and destroys for pleasure. The iconoclast attacks and seeks to overthrow traditional or popular ideas and institutions. Terrorists use violence. The iconoclast uses violence—both delight in the mayhem they cause.The imposition of belief does not separate a terrorist and an iconoclast; in fact, the desire to force beliefs upon a population brings terrorists and iconoclasts more closely aligned. The only significant difference between an iconoclast and a terrorist is the weapons of choice. To a terrorist, the weapons are paid for through third parties who want to watch the destruction unfold (LIC). The iconoclast will use whatever weapon is available. Look at the toppling of statues, were they toppled using the proper equipment or whatever was available? The iconoclast is an opportunist who takes advantage of situations, whereas the terrorist, a political monster, will create incidents, not take advantage of incidents. Not that both are not committing acts of violence or spreading terror, but the terrorist wants to replace the system with one more their liking, and the iconoclast merely wants to see things destroyed.
The terrorist is different from an iconoclast in one other major way; the terrorist does not hide in society to pull down that society. The iconoclast, as an opportunist, will wait, plot, scheme, and take advantage of every opportunity to create mayhem through the destruction of icons, symbols, images and has no problem becoming president, a teacher, a preacher, or any other job where they can act as a slow poison on a social body. One of the best and most famous iconoclasts of the 19th century were Frances Fox Piven and Richard Andrew Cloward. These two failed at being terrorists but have integrated themselves so thoroughly into American Society that they have been able to blind minds as iconoclasts and accomplish goals they could not achieve as terrorists with Weather Underground.
Frances Fox Piven’s book, “Challenging Authority” How Ordinary People Change America,” outlines the complete plan of this iconoclast, and yes, a line of congruence does exist between Mein Kampf and this book and author. All tyrants will tell you their goals before they implement them. As a freedom-loving person, I find this book to be incredibly difficult to read, and when compared with the history from the 1960s to today, I remain sickened by the success of these iconoclasts. 02 May 1966, the publication “The Nation” prints an article written by Cloward and Piven called “The Weight of the Poor: A Strategy to End Poverty.” Don’t worry if you missed this article, “The Nation” celebrated the 50th anniversary of this garbage. That the Cloward and Piven team were better iconoclasts than terrorists should not come as a surprise, frankly, nor should their drivel be published, but I digress.
Cloward and Piven’s iconoclastic theory was to force chaos on the body politic to keep impoverished people poor and angry, take advantage of their anger, and gain political power through riotings and disturbances. The theory also begged for a massive expansion of the welfare rolls to build an ever-larger class of permanently aggrieved people. Consider the elected officials who keep pushing for socialized medicine in America; they are iconoclasts, straight out of Cloward and Piven’s theories. Recently the media has discussed the need for a guaranteed income, paid for by the government through the forced taxation of others. This is another iconoclastic idea that finds roots in Cloward and Piven. Look at every single political talking point from criminal justice reform to immigration, and you will find an iconoclast tearing away at the icons and fabric of America for personal profit and individual enjoyment.
Lots of media ink has been spilt on homosexual rights, privileges, and changing the nuclear family and marriage laws. Would you be surprised to learn that those championing these talking points are iconoclasts taking their script from Cloward and Piven? Would the “Woke Agenda” shock you to know that those who pitch this idea are iconoclasts and take their cues from Cloward and Piven’s theories and writings? What about increasing the minimum wage; would you be interested in knowing that even a minimum wage is iconoclastic? Forget about those pitching for an increased minimum wage to $15 an hour being iconoclastic. The mere philosophy of having a minimum wage is iconoclastic and anathema to American history and the US Constitution.
Iconoclasts are a secret society, but the secret is open and in full view. The confusion these people generate helps them gain power, provides the fodder for their abhorrent behavior, and promotes them higher in power. Why is the government so intransigent; the iconoclasts acting as “good bureaucrats” make the government intransigent and are held in control by other iconoclasts. The iconoclasts tear down and destroy using plasticized terms like empathy, democracy, helping, support, dignity, and more. Criminal justice reform punishes the victims of crime. Welfare reform further strips those receiving welfare benefits of pride, honor, and the satisfaction that work provides, ever-widening the gulf between those who need and cannot obtain and those who receive welfare benefits. Immigration reform is labeled as dignity, but in reality is nothing more than spitting in the eye of those who followed the rules, sacrificed, and acted appropriately. The iconoclast always looks to how they can destroy something good and leave a void or replace it with something that perpetuates the further destruction of a society.
In a recent case, Pete Buttigieg took the money sent by Congress for roads and bridges, and designed plans to spend it on climate change and make roads less racist. A road cannot be racist, but those in control are iconoclasts, and if they can further frustrate the road and bridges problem, they can sit back and watch the daily commute of millions of people and laugh hysterically. The iconoclasts imposing this madness are called “innovators,” “innovation leaders,” and “forward-thinkers.” All words plasticized to erode further and eventually destroy the American government, trust in government, and continue the eating away of the social glue holding America together. Using laws to punish the innocent, protect the guilty, and make good and right evil, while evil is heralded as proper and transformative.
Iconoclasts did that, and we, the American people, need to know our enemy. We need to understand what we are seeing. You are not racist, homophobic, regressive, or any number of other names for asking questions or dissenting to the actions the iconoclasts are imposing. You need to know who and what the enemy is and does to thwart the enemy properly. It is good to stand for truth, justice, and the American way! It is expected that the iconoclasts and terrorists in our Constitutional Republic would want to damage and destroy. Not acceptable, but expected, because a Constitutional Republic, to ensure freedom for all, does not have natural freedom crushing antibodies in the system to rid the body politic of these types of people.
Would you like some weapons in your arsenal to fight iconoclasts; ask for proof. Remember, research does not provide proof of anything. Looking at the fruits of the ideas and asking about the evidence that what they are proposing is beneficial. For example, has the minimum wage been helpful; no, the minimum wage has not been beneficial. People made more money, but the government increased inflation, borrowed more money, and charged more money for taxes, increasing the cost of living and then increasing the minimum wage to “assist the poor.” Socialized medicine has this practice borne positive or negative results; the answer is resoundingly negative, and implementation of socialized medicine destroys too much! Immigration reform has any immigration reform improved the plight of Americans ever; again, a resoundingly negative response occurs. Crime went up, illegal immigration went up, social ills went up, moral decline, welfare rolls increased substantially, and much more happened.
Iconoclasts can only be fought when we:
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- Stand together
- Learn
- Act in unity
- Never settle
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What will you learn today that improves your tomorrow? How will you use this information? Does America die on your watch from the thousands of cuts the iconoclasts have made? Today, let us resolve that America does not die on our watch. No matter the difficulties, we must fight the iconoclasts!
© Copyright 2022 – M. Dave Salisbury
The author holds no claims for the art used herein, the pictures were obtained in the public domain, and the intellectual property belongs to those who created the images. Quoted materials remain the property of the original author.