President Donald Trump declared that free speech is “back” in his speech to Congress last week. Hours earlier, he promised to crack down on “illegal protests” (his term). He also said, “I’ve stopped all government censorship and brought back free speech in America,” although no one asked about how many books have been banned (censored) by the governors in Florida and other bright red states.
While “Woke” plays huge in today’s politics, “Hypocrisy” hardly seems to get a sniff.
So, with that being said, let’s take a look at an even more recent move, because the moves are coming fast.
In a stunning example of government brilliance, and perhaps a questionable use of resource during a period of intense cost-cutting, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has declared war on the word “Gay.” Yes, I am NOT making this up. The DoD has reviewed all instances of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) content with the intent to target all references for removal.
The Daily News reported that “all photos of the Enola Gay World War II bomber, Black military pilots and the country’s first female fighter pilot are among the tens of thousands of images flagged for removal by the Pentagon in an effort to eliminate references to diversity, equity and inclusion.” Even references to some military personnel named Gay are getting purged. Really? That seems productive, doesn’t it? Are we still cutting costs? Stopping censorship? Rewriting history?
The Department of Defense is eliminating more than 26,000 photos and posts related to DEI efforts across all military branches — a massive effort that has resulted from an executive order signed by President Trump on his first day in office.
While we may be delaying support to Ukraine, or withdrawing it, which may save us dollars but cost us alliances, at least our Pentagon has zeroed in on a real threat to our national security: a B-29 bomber that flew the 1945 Hiroshima mission while displaying the name of the pilot’s mother, Enola Gay.
Will we have to rewrite the history books to redact every mention of Enola Gay? Will military candidates, with a surname of Gay not be accepted in today’s armed forces? “Sorry, Private Gay, we just can’t accept you, but we would like to welcome Private Hetero.”
Like much of today’s political news, this could be funny if it wasn’t so sad. After all, this process is not a task taken on by a junior officer with way too much time on his (yes, I am assuming “his” – can women still be officers?) hands; this is an effort directed and applauded by the current administration.
Here is the historical irony: The B-29 bomber was named after pilot Paul Tibbets’ mother. It was not some coded message from the LGBTQ+ community in the 1940s that was planned to offend us in 2025. Tibbets and his plane changed the course of American history. Now we’re changing American history.
And military superiority depends upon more than having the best technology or the most soldiers not named Gay. It’s also about history and knowing that changing history to make it more or less woke doesn’t make it go away. It just dumbs us down and lessens the accomplishments of those that made the history we should be studying.
We don’t need to censor history or force people to change their names. We should be studying, learning, and celebrating our past, all of our past, good and bad. Our children should have the opportunity to learn about and understand how we got here. If you asked kids about the latest DoD efforts, my bet is that they want to learn without censorship and that erasing a word from our history does not enhance their learning. It just makes us look ridiculous.
So, what’s next? I suggest we need to censor this little song I heard every week in my childhood; I am still scared by this:
“When you’re with the Flintstones.
Have a yabba dabba doo time.
A dabba doo time.
We’ll have a gay old time. We’ll have a gay old time! (Wilma!)”
And here is another:
“Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly, Fa la la la la, la la la la.
Don we now our gay apparel, Fa la la la la, la la la la.”
Did anyone at DoD notice that Tibbets flew a trans-Pacific route to get to Japan? I hope we don’t miss that reference as we redact history.
If there was an adult in the room, they might say, “Hey, this isn’t our best use of taxpayer dollars or resources.” Instead, we could focus on, uh, oh, well maybe, maintaining U.S global military superiority and stop worrying about a mother’s name on the fuselage of an airplane that flew in 1945.
Or perhaps, just maybe, we could all agree that history is complicated, language evolves, and Americans should be able to sort through that evolution without rewriting it.
Maybe the DoD will be a little more surgical and not take out every word that they flagged. Let’s hope so. Or they’ll do what they did with January 6 convictions and say, “there are just too many to review, so cut em all.”
Until that decision comes down, I am withholding my opinion on what they should do with the term “military intelligence.”
Curt MacRae is a resident of Coldwater, MI, and publishes his opinions regularly.
To be notified by email, when a column is published, or to offer feedback: rantsbymac@gmail.com
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