OPINION:
Given the level of insanity erupting at all levels in America, it wasn’t really a shock when the huge, multinational corporation Unilever announced in early March that it was pulling the word “normal” from at least half of its products.
No more soap for “normal skin care,” or shampoo for “normal hair.” It’s offensive.
A global study by Unilever found that the word “normal” made 56% of the respondents feel excluded and that 70% felt that using the word on packaging has a negative impact on people. So, “normal” has to go.
Unilever has 400 brands in 190 countries and claims 2.5 billion customers. The company’s beauty and personal product lines include Dove, Lifebuoy, Axe, Aviance and Brut. It owns food giants Continental, Hellmann’s, Breyers, Lipton, Knorr and Pure Leaf Tea. Also, Ben & Jerry’s. Could it be that the Vermont-based ice cream company’s radical politics took over its host when Unilever acquired it? Just a theory.
One of the most effective things that Marxists do is to commandeer language and steer it toward revolutionary goals. The border crisis created by Joe Biden is just a “border challenge,” for example, with “irregular” crossings. The coming tax increases will be “revenue enhancements.”
Meanwhile, everything gets politicized, even skin care products. Unilever’s surrender to the cancel culture’s hyper-sensitivity mirrors what’s happening in the media, entertainment and social media.
In January, Disney removed “Dumbo,” “Peter Pan,” “Aristocats,” “The Lady and the Tramp,” “The Jungle Book” and “Swiss Family Robinson” from children’s accounts on Disney-Plus.
In late February, Dr. Seuss, whose real name was Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904-1991), became persona non grata after the Loudoun County School Board in Virginia announced that it was removing six of the author’s books over racial “undertones.” The board said it would not feature him on Read Across America Day, which commemorates the author’s March 2 birthday.
Within days, the publisher pulled “And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street,” “If I Ran the Zoo,” “McElligot’s Pool,” “On Beyond Zebra!,” “Scrambled Eggs Super!” and “The Cat’s Quizzer.”
In his proclamation about Read Across America Day, Joe Biden obediently omitted any mention of Dr. Seuss, unlike his predecessors Donald Trump and Barack Obama.
This is not a trivial side show. Exposing the left’s insane attacks on normalcy helps to galvanize citizens against their radical agenda, such as an unsecured border, the $1.9 trillion Democratic “COVID-19 relief” slush fund, an end to fair elections (“For the People Act”) and the criminalization of Christianity (“Equality Act”). They’re also teeing up a newly hatched gun-grabbing bill and the wacko Green New Deal.
It’s the same power-mad people whose culture vultures are purging Dr. Seuss, Dumbo and conservative media content.
In February (Black History Month), Amazon removed the popular streaming documentary “Created Equal: Clarence Thomas in His Own Words.” The film began airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in May and streaming for free as part of Prime memberships in October. It was among the top-streaming documentaries, and is still selling well.
“For a while our film was, briefly, No. 1 in documentaries,” the film’s director, Michael Pack, told Wall Street Journal columnist Jason L. Riley. “And I think it’s still No. 25 or 30 or so.”
The movie rating website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 99% audience approval rating. Not surprisingly, Amazon still streams two less-popular documentaries about Anita Hill, Justice Thomas’ accuser at his 1991 confirmation hearing.
On Feb. 10, Lucasfilm announced it had fired popular actress Gina Carano from its hit Disney/Star Wars series “The Mandalorian” over her conservative social media posts.
In early March, the Gannett newspaper chain announced that it would no longer distribute the comic strip “Mallard Fillmore,” inked for 27 years by conservative humorist Bruce Tinsley and featured prominently in The Washington Times. His crime? He criticized Joe Biden’s transgender agenda, which includes biological males participating in women’s sports.
This brings us back to the war on “normal.” We’re living in a culture where bizarrely made-up men in dresses perform Drag Queen Story Hour for small children who must be protected from exposure to Dr. Seuss. It’s all about “tolerance,” and it’s a test of whether America is still the “land of the free and home of the brave.” If they get away with this, they can get away with anything.
As usual, prescient passages in George Orwell’s “1984” help explain what’s going on. The protagonist, Winston, works with a colleague, Syme, in the Records Department of the Ministry of Truth, where they rewrite history to fit Big Brother’s agenda. They employ the language of Newspeak.
“You haven’t a real appreciation of Newspeak, Winston,” Syme says. “You don’t grasp the beauty of the destruction of words. Do you know that Newspeak is the only language in the world whose vocabulary gets smaller every year?”
Syme goes on: “Don’t you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thought-crime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it.”
So, out with “normal” and anything smacking of normal. Out with “husband” or “wife.” In with genderless pronouns, “diversity,” “racism,” “woke” and nonsense terms like “Pro-Life Evangelicals for Biden.”
People with evil intent are working very hard with useful idiots to rewire our once-free America into an authoritarian nightmare. By their language, you will know them.
Don’t give them the time of day.
• Robert Knight is a contributor to The Washington Times. His website is https://www.roberthknight.com.
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