We are creatures of our time.
Someday, in the not-too-distant future when all people eat are vegetables or "cultured" meat, someone will discover my social media posts of pulled pork sandwiches. Or they'll stumble on posts of you scarfing down an In-n-Out burger. Or that Instagram post of you getting on a plane or riding your motorcycle.
And even though these are things that most people did during the years we lived, the future "woke" will not approve of meat eating or carbon-based fuel.
And that will be the end of you and me.
To judge and "erase" people who lived during a different era is both arrogant and ignorant. The woke may feel smug, but they oughtn't. As Martin Niemöller famously wrote, "Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."
Ironically, perhaps I shouldn't even be quoting Niemöller. Though he would later join the group of pastors (among them, Dietrich Boehoffer) who opposed the Nazis, he was an early supporter of der Führer. Cancel him!
But he learned. He changed.
Do we judge him, cancel him, for what he once believed, or accept him, flaws and all, for what he learned, for his growth, for his evolution?
I know what the woke would do.
Theodor Seuss "Ted" Geisel was born in 1902 and he died in 1991. Illustrations in his children's books reflect the era in which he lived, illustrations that were likely standard for the industry. I haven't heard anything about him being a racist. Have you?
The woke of 2021 will cancel Dr. Seuss.
Just as the woke of 2121 will cancel them for doing things most people did in 2021. Like eating a nice steak dinner or getting on an airplane.
Tempora mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis.
"The times change, and we change with them."
Here is the statement from Dr. Seuss Enterprises.
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