It’s time for a few inconvenient truths

By Tom Bonnett
Normandale students aren’t children. Okay, compared to balding, 40-ish non-traditional students, many qualify. Regardless of age, however, every person walking the hallowed halls of NCC should be well beyond the “Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” stage.

Unfortunately, all signs point to the disturbing fact that an alarming number of presumed adults ascribe to various urban legends, untruths and conspiracy theories that anyone with half a brain should have dismissed as pap ages ago.
Therefore, it’s time for a few inconvenient truths. Anyone desiring to continue their steadfast belief in jolly old St. Nick would do well to look away.

Bill Clinton was impeached for sexual impropriety. Recently, while perusing the Facebook looking for pictures of attractive female friends of my friends’ friends, I stumbled upon a group called “Support our Troops, Impeach the President.” Predictably, several astute political scholars repeated the careworn cliché, “Bill Clinton
was impeached for getting a BJ.”

Anyone who believes that Clinton was impeached for receiving a physical manifestation of a young lady’s admiration and devotion would do well to consider the following synopsis of the events in question: Bill Clinton—a powerful, white male; the world’s most-reviled species—sexually misused a female subordinate. While under oath, he lied about it to protect himself. Not exactly model behavior for the darling of women’s rights advocates, but that’s between him and them.

Whether or not Clinton should have been under oath to begin with and subsequently
impeached is legitimate fodder for debate; left-wingers aren’t the only ones who believe the whole spectacle was ridiculous. Claiming that the sexual act itself was the reason for impeachment, however, is simply untrue.

Radical Christianity is as dangerous as radical Islam. This gem comes courtesy
of Rosie O’Donnell; militant lesbian, comedian and theologian. In her now-famous rant, the co-host of “The View” lumped Christians in with the peace-loving
folks who took down the Twin Towers. Excuse me; allegedly took down the Twin Towers. More on that below.

One has only to examine reaction to Rosie’s words and compare it to other recent headlines to expose her folly. Rosie insulted Christians and the reaction
amounted to little more than water cooler chatter. By way of comparison, the Pope recently quoted an ancient text shedding a less-than-favorable light on Islam and the reaction was violent protests, firebombing of churches, the murder of a nun and demands from muslim clerics for the assassination of the Pope.

Clearly Christians are out of control. O’Donnell never did explain what she meant by “radical” Christians, but if history is any guide she likely meant people who dare speak the unspeakable; that according to the Good Book, Rosie’s homosexual lifestyle is a no-no. Again, however, the glaring difference between Christianity and radical Islam comes shining through: Christians use words, radical Muslims use the sword. Had Rosie lost her head like that on the Islamic version of “The View,” she most certainly would have lost it in the literal sense soon thereafter.

9/11 was a government conspiracy. Recent polls indicate that a growing number of Americans believe that the 9/11 attacks were orchestrated by the U.S. government. Explosives were set beforehand in the Twin Towers to provide controlled demolition; an American missile— not a jet—hit the Pentagon; authorities were overheard orchestrating the event on two-way radios; etc. Many NCC students were barely out of Pampers when the attacks occurred, therefore they might be excused if they believe the day’s events were something other than what they were; namely a meticulously-planned assault by radical Islamists on the Great Satan, the United States of America.

Those of us who were living an adult life on that day, however—working and tending to our families—vividly recall the horror that unfolded before our very eyes. We’re therefore inclined and conditioned to discern the difference between lunatics crying “Conspiracy!” and bona fide experts who have very patiently explained the obvious: That like it or not, a rag-tag band of misfits managed to orchestrate the most vicious attack ever perpetrated on American soil. It’s disillusioning to think anyone of voting age believes otherwise.

A wise man once said that the health of a nation can be measured by the time and energy its citizens have at their disposal to propagate conspiracy theories. If the above—and any number of similar legends currently circulating—are any indication,
America is in fine shape indeed.

It’s therefore unfortunate and ironic that the vast majority of conspiracy theories
are intended to create a jaundiced view of the United States, a country that despite its faults remains the sole nation on earth where such foolishness is constitutionally
protected. That’s a fact worth considering before blindly accepting tripe as gospel.