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Page 4A - Pike County Journal Reporter - Wednesday, February 24, 2021 Opinions Cancel culture and the death of civility O ne of the early treasures 1 found on the internet was the original Dawgvent. Back in the early days of dial-up access, it was worth the long wait for it to load. Now at hairofthedawg. net, it remains a superb source of information on UGA sports and the world in general. One of the stalwarts of those message boards was a guy called Tee. Dead now, Tee was legendary. His stock saying was, “Facebook is da debil.” He was way ahead of his time. Social me dia has played a giant role in the killing off of civility in this country. People will post things on social media they would never say to your face. 1 ruminated on this last week when 1 saw people whom 1 know posting scathing com ments about Rush Limbaugh after he died of cancer. These same people would have gone berserk if you posted something similar about the Casper Milquetoast voiced announcers on NPR. This is not a Repub lican vs. Democrat or conservative vs. liberal issue. Many on both sides are guilty and many on both sides are horrified when they see such re marks though it seems as though the number of those in the horrified contingent is dwindling rapidly. These online battles of words gave way to the cancel culture. This is a deep topic of its own but these are the basics. If you say or post something 1 don’t like or dis agree with me on an is sue, it is fine for me to try to shut down your fam ily business, force you out of your job, harass your spouse, vilify your chil dren and do pretty much anything else 1 would like. This does not just show a lack of civility, it is patently dangerous. The cancel culture is no longer confined to the national stage. We only have to look to a nearby community for an example. The news paper publisher there got a tip sometime back that the school system was using a substitute teacher who had been convicted of child moles tation and was on the sex offender list. The teacher had allegedly molested a student at a school where he had pre viously worked as a substitute. The newspaper re ported this and, to put it lightly, school officials took umbrage. They made it clear they felt they knew more about hiring substitute teach ers than the publisher did, child molester or not. A bitter feud erupted and continues. It worsened when the publisher spoke out against shutting down public schools due to C0V1D. School system administrators vehe mently disagreed and kids stayed home. Enter the volunteer baseball announcer at the county high school. He had spent the previ ous three years as the announcer for home baseball games. He made the mistake of supporting the pub lisher on social media and criticizing school officials for what he felt were personal, public attacks on the pub lisher. As baseball season approached, the volun teer announcer was told he was banned from re turning to the baseball field microphone. This is a perfect example of the cancel culture in action on the hometown level. In a newspaper account of his banish ment, the volunteer said, “This kind of thing could make people scared to speak out. You’re starting to live in an age of ‘follow our way of thinking or else’. We just take free speech and throw it out the door?” Sadly, Mr. Volunteer, we are already there. Civility, particularly on line, is on its last legs. We should all take to heart the age old adage we, our parents and grandparents grew up hearing: If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all. Walter Geiger is the editor and publisher of The Herald Gazette in Barnesville and the Pike County Journal Reporter. He may be reached at news @ pikecountygeorgia.com. GEIGER’S COUNTER Walter Geiger Editor & Publisher ' ■■ '■ - - : Flint River Council welcomes new Scouts Over the last year, the pandemic has created challenges for many organizations in our community. The Flint River Council has certainly not been immune to working with a different set of obstacles to share Scouting with the youth in our community due to COV1D-19. Over this time, we have seen the work of many volun teers continue as the Boy Scouts of America continues its mission to mold the minds of America’s Youth. Our future is bright. The resolve of the Ameri can people is strong, and we will defeat this pandemic. While the pandemic has been at the fore front of our minds, our Nation has seen other challenges from racial injustice, pro tests, and division. In Scouting, we strive to bring people together and create a unified America. Scouting focuses on ways we can work together. America and our youth deserve nothing less. Our Council has offered Scouting in a safe environment over the past several months. We have had events following local and CDC guidelines. As of the writing of this letter, we have not had a reported instance of COV1D-19 originating from one of our ac tivities. Scouting is fun, safe, and we want to invite you to join us in helping to bring char acter development to the young people in our community. If you are an adult looking to mentor young people, what bet ter way to do that than Scouting? If you have a child looking to get involved in an outdoors program, point them to us. We would welcome the opportunity to get a young person you know engaged with the Boy Scouts of America. Our membership is open to boys and girls aged 5-18. We have age ap propriate programming facilitated by commit ted adult mentors in our community. To get signed up or to get more information, look us up online at beas- cout.org or give us a call at (770)227-4556.1 hope to see you around a campfire in the near future. SINCERELY, ROBERTYJOHNSON SCOUT EXECUTIVE/CEO FLINT RIVER COUNCIL, BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA THINKING FOR A CHANGE Trumpian Apologetics BY ANTHONY VINSON advkdv@att.net Okay, this is what hap pened: A popular president failed to win reelection against a slightly more popular opponent. End. Of. Story. Well, not really. Regardless of your personal opinions about the former president, he lost, and not by a land slide, but by a relatively razor-thin margin. Such losses are stinging. Not only for the loser, but also for the losing candi date’s supporters, fans, acolytes, and loyalists. The results of such close races should always be forensically vetted, and while the losing candi date is certainly justified in pursuing all legal and ethical avenues to deter mine the validity of the results, once done, the polite and proper thing to do is concede with grace and courage. That did not happen. Instead, we were witness to what may only be described as a temper-tantrum. Something the former president’s apologists seem to miss. Think about that for a moment: the president threw a hissy fit in front of the entire world. Had I done that as a boy in the aisle at K-Mart, my mother would have dragged my butt out to the car for a whupping. (Okay, I grew up in a dif ferent time. In the case of my own kids, I always waited until we were back home and dragged them downstairs to the torture room. I mean, decorum, right?) True confession, I disdain Donald Trump. I have not cared for the guy since first becoming aware of his existence in the late ‘80s. He is the antithesis of most everything I value. Even so, had he been the razor-thin winner of the election, I would have wanted him inaugurated to a second term. Had he been the victim of systemic, conspiratorial machinations, had the fix been in, had he been robbed of the election, I would have wanted the evidence openly present ed, the perps quickly and publicly convicted, and order restored. I would have proudly - as a patriot, but reluctantly - as a detractor, honored the circumstances of his reelection. But none of those things were true. They were, in fact, lies. History will judge the Trump presidency, and future generations will judge us. That is the way the world goes ‘round. To paraphrase the old commercial for the Mystery Date board game by Milton-Bradley, “Will he turn out to be a dream or a dud?” Only the Shadow knows. Either way, it’s out of our hands. It rankles me that some out there are rat tling sabers, locking and loading, and dreaming of a glorious civil war. Are you kidding me? Perhaps those knuckleheads should take a crash course on the immediate effects and aftermath of the last one. Spoiler alert, it was not pretty, so knock it off! Instead of revolution, think evolution, and channel that bristling energy into immediate solutions and aspira- tional goals. There’s work to be done. Think globally but act locally. Get to work on immedi ate solutions that affect our communities. Sure, it would require compro mise, but bear in mind that without compro mise there would be no United States. Doubt me? Read a book by a repu table historian about the Constitutional Conven tion and the creation of the Bill of Rights. Com promise is not a four- letter word. And I should know since I just typed it. Three times. If you were a staunch supporter of the former president, I understand your disappointment. Frankly, I haven’t been a staunch supporter of any president since Bush 41. Every single one since has been at least a partial disappointment. Perhaps there is some truth to that old saw that we get the politicians we deserve? Think about it! Anthony Vinson is a freelance writer, speaker and humorist for hire. He lives in Williamson, GA, and can be reached at advkdv@att.net. Pike County Journal Reporter's letter printing guidelines The Pike County Jour nal Reporter welcomes letters to the editor. For a letter to be considered, include the writer’s actual name, address and telephone number. We publish name only. Letters from individual authors will be published no more often than every other week. Limit letters to 250 words or less. Shorter letters are appreciated. All letters are subject to editing. Personal attacks on private citizens, political endorsements or letters that are racially divisive will not be considered. Drop letters by the office on the courthouse square, mail them to P.O. Box 789, Zebulon, 30295, fax them to 770.567.8814 or email them to news@ pikecountygeorgia.com. For information call 770.567.3446. Pike County Journal Reporter www.pikecountygeorgia.com P.O. Box 789 16026 Barnesville St. Zebulon, Ga. 30295 770.567.3446 The Pike County Journal Reporter is the official organ of Pike County, the cities of Zebulon, Molena, Meansville, Williamson and Concord. It is published weekly by Hometown Newspapers Inc. Second class postage is paid at the Zebulon, Ga Post Office. Publishers: Walter and Laura Geiger; staff: Jennifer Taylor, Brenda Sanchez and Rachel McDaniel. AT PIKE BY DWAIN W. PENN 100 YEARS AGO February 25, 1921: Dr. M.M. Head won the elec tion for commissioner of roads and revenues for Pike County. The results were 346 votes for Head and 76 votes for J.T. Bullard. 75 YEARS AGO February 28, 1946: The Pike County Lions Club announced a charter night ceremony March 4 at Zebulon High School to receive its official charter. J. Gorham Garrison, Lions’ District Governor would speak to an expected attendance of 150 from Pike, Thomaston, Woodbury and Newnan clubs. 50 YEARS AGO February 25, 1971: Newton Coal and Lumber of Griffin submitted the low bid of $101,697 for new school additions; the high school would acquire 4,123 square feet and the elementary school 1,665 square feet. The completion time as 150 days. 25 YEARS AGO February 28, 1996: After two years, the city of Williamson was recognized as Tree City USA, the smallest in the state. Planting trees began in 1994 but it wasn’t until almost 100 more trees were planted in 1995 that criteria were fulfilled to qualify.