Category Archives: Political Correctness

In the Discourses on Livy, Machiavelli asks whether the nobles these days we speak of the elites or the people are better guardians of freedom. Acknowledging that there is something to say on every side, the cunning student of cunning sees threats to freedom emanating from both camps. Critics of the nationalist turn within American conservatism and the national conservatives themselves would do well to keep in mind Machiavellis supple assessment.

Whereas the nobles, the Florentine observes, are marked by a great desire to dominate, the people only desire not to be dominated. The nobles can satisfy their lofty political ambitions by excelling as protectors of freedom, but they are prone to curtailing the peoples liberty to extend their own privileges. Since the people generally lack the desire to rule and the means to impose their will, they have an advantage as freedoms defenders. Yet acquisition of power is liable to foment the peoples restlessness, stir up their greed, and spark a hunger to supervise and control. Both the nobles and the people can safeguard, and both can curtail, freedom it depends on the circumstances.

American Purpose a young magazine, media project, and intellectual community that seeks to defend and promote liberal democracy in the United States recently published a short series of essays on the threats to freedom posed by national conservatism. Consistent with its centrism and its admirable commitment to hosting a range of voices, the magazine commissioned writings from serious students of American politics who recognize that a healthy liberal democracy draws strength from both left and right. Contributors, however, failed to give the national conservatives sufficient credit for illuminating the place of nationhood, tradition and cultural particularity in a healthy civic life. They occasionally imputed the excesses of national conservatism to conservatism generally. And they downplayed the extent of the progressive elites illiberal overreach that has provoked a good measure of national conservatisms illiberal overreach.

In Whose Good, Anyway? William Galston charges the natcons with contravening Americas fundamental principles and misunderstanding the character of American society. A Brookings Institution senior fellow and Wall Street Journal columnist, Galston especially faults leading national conservatives for calling on government to counter the rising tide of woke progressivism by promoting Christianity and by throwing the states weight behind a common good grounded in a distinctive and uniform conception of human flourishing.

The unalienable rights that the U.S. Constitution aims to secure do have a root in biblical faith, but the Declaration of Independence holds them also to be self-evident that is, truths of reason available to men and women of all faiths and persuasions. The American constitutional order, moreover, is a response, Galson writes, to the emergence of deep religious divisions that wracked Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Since Americas founding, when the principal religious conflicts in the country were those between rival Protestant sects, differences of opinion about faith have widened and associations have multiplied. Over the centuries, the U.S. Constitutions wisdom of focusing on the securing of individual rights while leaving questions about faith and flourishing to individuals and their communities has become even more salient.

In Anton, Deneen, and Hazony, Gabriel Schoenfeld also calls out national conservatisms illiberalism. A contributing editor at American Purpose and a senior fellow at the Niskanen Center, he rebukes new-right arguments that seem to go beyond opposing illegal immigration to opposing immigration. Like Galston, Schoenfeld rejects the proposition that political cohesion in the United States must be built around state support for Christian faith, which would erode the traditional American dedication to religious liberty that protects all faiths while establishing none. And he exposes the sobering convergence of opinion between new-right polemicists who denounce liberalocratic despotism in America and the philosopher Herbert Marcuse, the anti-democratic guru of the New Left who, in the 1960s, decried the United States as a form of totalitarian democracy.

Corbin Barthold elaborates on the strange affinities between the natcons frequently feverish tone and rigid stance and certain hard-left tendencies stretching back to the French Revolution. From his position as internet policy counsel at TechFreedom, Barthold contends in The Jacobinism of the New Right that the American Right has become a reactionary force. It is led by figures who, according to Barthold, crave radical action and condemn dissent while practicing a rhetoric of Jacobinism, in which society is rotten, foes are everywhere, and the situation is dire; in which the need for drastic action is urgent, the cause of the righteous is certain, and the hesitancy of doubters is evil. In their disgust with America as it is and their demand for sweeping change, the new right breaks sharply with one of their heroes, argues Barthold. Central to Edmund Burkes sensibility, Barthold reminds, was the British statesmans admonition that it is with infinite caution that any man ought to venture upon pulling down an edifice which has answered in any tolerable degree for ages the common purposes of society.

While all the contributors condemn woke progressivism, Barthold comes closest to appreciating the scope of the lefts role in dividing the nation. In thrall to identity politics, tolerant of the riots that suit them, and addicted to passing transformative, albeit unpopular, legislation, the original anti-Burkeans appear utterly uninterested in adopting the political caution that the Right has discarded, he writes. Woke corporations, ideologically non-diverse universities, and the mainstream media are trucking in the soil from which the Rights paranoia grows. But if Bartholds description of progressive extremism across politics, business, education, and the media is correct, then the right far from suffering paranoia confronts nation-wide public dysfunction provoked by, but invisible to, crucial segments of the left.

Schoenfeld also highlights perils from a progressivism on the left that rejects pluralism and free speech. He minimizes them, though, suggesting that the perils are more about right-wing opportunism than left-wing political malfeasance: In the electoral arena the progressive agenda is a gift to Republican office seekers looking for a foil, just as in the intellectual arena it is grist for right-wing thinkers all too eager to conflate the excrescences of progressivism with the essence of liberal democracy itself.

Galston gives more reason for hope than his colleagues. He acknowledges that there are progressives who want to turn the world upside down, but maintains that they are not the majority of Democrats. Contrary to the bleak picture presented by the natcons, Galston asserts that there is a reasonable center-left with which the center-right could do business in matters ranging from correctives to the deficiencies of the market to countering indoctrination in the schools, devising a sane immigration policy, and recognizing the nation-state as the best vehicle for securing individual rights and citizens well-being.

But Galston obscures the bad news about progressivisms sway, asserting, for example, that evidence that CRT is widely taught in our public schools is hard to find. If he means the complex doctrine created in elite law schools called critical race theory, then he is correct: K-12 schools generally do not assign the writings of Professors Kimberl Crenshaw, Richard Delgado and Derrick Bell.

Yet evidence abounds that political correctness is stronger than ever today. Curricula and conduct reveal that schools around the country teach children to discriminate based on race. And workshops for educators and administrators show that under the guise of diversity, equity, and inclusion, schools indoctrinate students in CRTs defining ideas: The United States is divided into an oppressor and oppressed class; by virtue of their race, white people are guilty and black people are victims; in understanding politics, facts and logic must be subordinated to victims lived experience; and free speech and the examination of a diversity of perspectives must give way to protecting feelings and enforcing social-justice orthodoxy.

This is not to justify right-wing illiberalism but to recognize that it stems in many cases from a defensive overreaction to left-wing illiberalism. To safeguard freedom, we must grasp the threats from both camps and their interconnections.

Peter Berkowitz is the Tad and Dianne Taube senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. From 2019 to 2021, he served as Director of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department. His writings are posted at PeterBerkowitz.com and he can be followed on Twitter @BerkowitzPeter.

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Natcons, Progressive Elites, and Illiberal Overreach - RealClearPolitics

It does not take much to understand efforts to rename geographic features or places with offensive names. Simply imagine that the names in question insulted white people, denigrated prominent religious denominations or honored terrorists who killed U.S. citizens. Such names would be gone in a heartbeat.

Fort Lewis College professor, author and Herald contributor Andrew Gulliford detailed a renewed effort to clean up offensive place names in the Heralds Weekend Edition (Feb. 12-13.) In that, he outlined the complexity of such a move, both in terms of cost and logistics and the need to decipher the meaning and intent of those names. It is not always simple.

Gulliford wrote specifically of Interior Secretary Deb Haalands creation of the Advisory Committee on Reconciliation in Place Names and her intention of eliminating any use of the word squaw on federal lands. That is an example of what is at issue and what is at stake.

As Gulliford notes, offensive names do not necessarily suggest offensive intent. Some are offensive simply because times have changed and what was once common nomenclature is now considered inappropriate. Figuring out which names should be changed and which have historical significance sufficient to keep them is neither simple nor easy. But neither is it silly or a waste of time.

The word squaw has been around for about 400 years. It can reportedly be traced to an Algonquin word meaning simply woman. Over the years, however, its usage suggests that it could be most accurately translated as a slur. Haaland is correct in wanting to eliminate it.

There are those who would dismiss such efforts as political correctness or excess sensitivity. But it is no coincidence that the names they would defend are almost always offensive to racial minorities.

Changing Squaw Mountain, as Gov. Jared Polis would do, is one example. Mount Evans is another. A fourteener visible from the Denver area, the peak is named after a Colorado territorial governor who was also involved in the Sand Creek Massacre in which 150 Cheyenne and Arapaho mostly women and children were murdered for no reason.

The Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument is another example, but with a twist. It includes the Custer National Cemetery, named after George Armstrong Custer, and that is an embarrassment to the United States. Custer was not only engaged in what can now be seen as genocide but was clearly a fool.

The 19th century was the zenith of war on horseback and European military observers, men who knew what they were talking about, had described Native American warriors as the finest light cavalry in the world. Nonetheless, Custer took on a force of several thousand Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors with a couple hundred cavalrymen. It is too bad about his troopers, but Custer got what he had coming. Honoring him reflects well on no one.

As Gulliford pointed out, cleaning up the names of places and things will not be easy, cheap or without controversy. It nonetheless deserves to be done.

Durango Herald editorial board

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Durango Herald: Changing offensive names is not easy, but should be done nonetheless - coloradopolitics.com

It might sound improbable, but 13 months after President Trump left the White House, Americans have become even more politically polarized, according to a new RealClear Opinion Research survey, with fissures appearing among Democratic voters that mirror the profound discord roiling the Republican Party.

Despite two years of economic upheaval culminating in the worst inflation in 40 years, our divisions are not primarily economic. Instead, they are driven by a host of social and cultural flashpoints ranging from perceptions of race, immigration policy, and transgender issues to voters feelings about the U.S. flag and about America itself.

Ironically, one question in the new survey did evoke a response that spanned much of the ideological spectrum a latent desire for a third political party. A certain logic underlies that yearning: On a host of policy issues, Republicans have become more conservative, while Democrats have drifted inexorably leftward and in a country where the prevalent impulses were historically centrist. Moreover, a new strain of populism has gained strength among voters in both parties, a phenomenon epitomized by the simultaneous appeal of Donald Trump and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

In todays Congress, Sanders is one of only two U.S. senators who officially identifies as an independent (none are in the House), meaning that the 40% of Americans who decline to describe themselves as either an R or a D are virtually unrepresented in Washington. At a time when Americans can choose 15 major auto manufacturers when shopping for a family car, our culturally divided, geographically dispersed, and multi-ethnic electorate of 168 million registered voters is shoe-horned into only two political parties.

This is one reason pollsters and social scientists, in a search for common ground, keep looking for more detailed ways to define the electorate. In 2017, center-right election analyst David Winston used information from the Voter Survey to group voters into five clusters while concluding that policy issues mattered more than demographics in the election that produced the Trump presidency. The same year, using its own polling data, the Pew Research Center identified nine voting groups while probing the widening gap on values in American elections. (Click on the chart below to enlarge it.)

Another organization, More in Common, dissected the electorate into seven segments which range from Progressive Activists on the left to Devoted Conservatives on the right. In their October 2018 report, the authors assert that the five groups in the ideological middle (Traditional Liberals, Passive Liberals, Politically Disengaged, Moderates, and Traditional Conservatives) make up an exhausted majority that disdains name-calling and polarization, even though they havent figured out how to stop it.

The same month, RealClearPolitics unveiled its first original public opinion survey, beginning with a project that also sought to shed light on the animating attitudes of American voters. Under the supervision of John Della Volpe, director of polling for RealClear Opinion Research, this survey employed a new set of polling questions and other research methods such as documenting voters impressions of images like a U.S. flag on the side of a barn to produce a report challenging the idea that America is a 50-50 nation neatly divided between Republican red and Democratic blue voters. In the end, Della Volpe and his team identified Five Tribes that better explain the visceral and varied perspectives of U.S. voters.

Topline findings: The full polling breakdown

Since 2018, the attitudes and alliances of these tribes have shifted and consolidated. Along the way they have become even more partisan, and the cultural divergences even more stark.

When we first examined the Five Tribes of American voters, we were struck that even when we got beyond current events and the 24-hour political news cycles, Americans were deeply divided about the country we all share, notes Jonathan Chavez, chief analytics officer for RealClear Opinion Research.

In the ensuing 3 years, weve only seen those divisions deepen, as disruptions to the daily lives of many have caused many to re-examine some of their most closely held values, Chavez added. What Im most struck by from this survey is that divisions are not just partisan: Within both parties, we see fundamental disagreements about America, its history, and its future.

As the tectonic plates shifted beneath the ground of Americans during COVID lockdowns, a summer of racial discontent, a divisive presidential election, and the searing attack on the U.S. Capitol, the makeup of the Five Tribes has shifted along with it.

The original tribes were identified as Make America Great Again (12%); Mainline GOP (14%); The Detached (24%); Independent Blues (24%); and The Resistance (26%). These groupings still exist in some degree, although there have been subtle changes, Della Volpe noted this week. And as their tribes priorities shifted, the previous labels dont apply to all of them as neatly as before. For starters, the Independent Blues developed even more affinity to Democrats and we have changed their tribal names. At the same time, the Mainline GOP tribe with its name unchanged nearly doubled in size. The new labels and their percentages this time around are: MAGA (14%); Mainline GOP (27%); Institutionalist Democrats (20%); Woke Democrats (19%); and Multicultural Moderates or Democratic-Leaning Multiculturalists (20%). Here are some defining characteristics of each group.

MAGA: Split almost evenly between men and women, this is the whitest tribe, the one least supportive of even legal immigration, and the only one to reject the premise that racial diversity makes us stronger. And they reject it by more than 2 to 1 (37% disagree while only 16% agree). Part of this may be a gut reaction against political correctness, which they abhor, but thats hardly all it is. Those belonging to the MAGA tribe, 93% of whom voted for Trump in 2020, are also the most pessimistic. Eight in 10 say they have more fear than hope about Americas future. Morning Again in America devotees of Ronald Reagan they are not.

Mainline GOP: This is now the largest tribe, and the one that grew the most since 2018. They are 81% white, 57% male, and older than the electorate as a whole. Although 89% of them voted for Trump in 2020, their views on racial inclusion and immigration diverge sharply from the MAGA crowd. Four in 10 Mainliners view legal immigration positively, while only 12% dont. In addition, only 5% disagree with the statement racial diversity makes us stronger. At the same time, this is a tribe with a dim view of political correctness and cancel culture. Fully 88% believe that people have become overly sensitive.

One of the issues illustrating the divide between the MAGA and Mainline sects within the GOP is vaccine mandates and masking. When researchers showed a photo of a young child wearing a mask outside in their school environment, Mainline GOP were split nearly evenly on whether this illustrates what is right (30%) or wrong (26%) about America in their eyes (+4 right about America). MAGA Republicans, on the other hand, were more likely to believe this image represented something that was wrong about the country (+8 wrong). This difference of opinion between these two tribes on the vaccine was also illustrated when respondents were shown an image of an older man receiving a vaccine from a clinic. By a 16-point margin (36%-20%) Mainline GOPers thought that was whats right about the country a margin of more than three times (32%-27%) the number of MAGA members who felt the same.

Institutionalist Democrats: This tribe has a new designation, but they are not all new to politics. Some members were previously in the Independent Blue segment; others migrated from The Resistance or even the dissipated Detached tribe. Institutionalist Democrats are the most female of the five tribes, and 72% white. They voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden in 2020 (82%), but are split nearly evenly on Bidens performance in the Oval Office. Generally, they arent happy campers, or terribly optimistic people. Only 7% of them express faith in the next generation of American leaders. Likewise, only one-fourth of them think the Democratic Party cares about people like them (and almost none of them believe the GOP cares). Fully two-thirds wish there was another political party.

Woke Democrats: With Trump safely out of the Oval Office (at least for now), this cohort formerly named The Resistance has decreased in size the most of any tribe. It is more female than male, but not by a huge margin (54% to 46%) and 63% white. It is the youngest tribe (56% are Millennials or Gen Z). Nearly 8 in 10 Woke Democrats rate Bidens job performance as excellent (30%) or good (49%), and most say he has met (48%) or exceeded (17%) their expectations. Only 10% wish there was another political party.

It would seem that the Woke Tribe not only still despise Donald Trump, theyve stayed in love with Joe Biden. What they dont love, necessarily, is the good ol USA. They are the only cohort that doesnt think cancel culture is making the country worse, and they do not want schools to teach traditional American history and values. They think American-style capitalism is broken and 71% claim there are better countries than the United States a sentiment that puts them at odds with every other tribe.

Similar to divisions on the right regarding masking, we find similar cleavages among factions within the Democratic party. When Institutionalist Democrats see the Blue Lives Matter flag flying alongside the American flag most are neutral (53%), and about as many say this represents what is right (23%) about America, as wrong (25%). On the other hand, when the same image is shown to the Woke tribe, theres a strong rejection of the image. Only 7% approve of this image, 58% disapprove, with 35% remaining on the fence.

Democratic-Leaning Multiculturalists. This tribe broke for Biden in 2020 by a 63% to 34% margin, but many nonetheless display some of the sensibilities of swing voters. They are 52% female and 48% male, which comes close to replicating the overall electorate, and they are young, too, although not quite as young as the Wokesters: Half of them are either Millennials or Gen Z.

This is the most racially diverse tribe (only 47% are white) and are the most likely to agree with the statement: I often feel under attack because of the color of my skin. (The second-highest on this question, instructively, are members of the MAGA tribe.)

Democratic-Leaning Multiculturalists are not easy to pigeon-hole. They trail only Woke Democrats in believing that structural racism makes it difficult for Hispanics and African Americans to get ahead in life. Yet they are less enamored of the benefits of immigration than Mainline Republicans. When asked whether cancel culture is a danger, Multiculturalists occupy the middle ground between the two Democratic and two Republican tribes. They are optimists, too. This tribe recorded the highest score expressing faith in the next generation of leaders to move the country forward.

The Democratic-Leaning Multiculturalists are caught in the middle of a culture war that doesnt address their concerns, says Jonathan Chavez. They simultaneouslybelieve that structural racism must be addressed, and that we must teach traditional American values. While they were a decisive part of Biden's 2020 victory, they are a segment of voters that much of Washington's current politics dont seem to address.

It's an oversight that could prove decisive in 2024.

Carl M. Cannon is the Washington bureau chief for RealClearPolitics. Reach him on Twitter @CarlCannon.

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Revisiting the 'Five Tribes' of American Voters - RealClearPolitics

Almost six out of 10 Spaniards (58.9%) feel afraid (21.4%) or worried (37.5%) about the possibility that Vox will be part of the Government of Spain, according to the 40dB survey. for EL PAS and Cadena SER. The feelings provoked in those surveyed by the fact that Vox comes to occupy ministries vary depending on the party they have voted for: it causes concern or fear in 95.3% of Podemos voters, 86.6% of those in More Country, to 80.7% of those of the PSOE and 46.6% of those of Ciudadanos. PP voters are divided: almost a third (32.8%) are concerned (24%) or afraid (8.8%), while almost half (46.6%) are calm (28 .2%) or even satisfaction (18.4%).

The study is based on 2,000 telematic interviews carried out between January 27 and February 1, just at the start of the regional campaign in Castilla y Len, and has a confidence level of 95%. On February 13, after learning the results of the regional elections (in which Vox had 13 seats and the popular Fernndez Maueco was far from the absolute majority), Abascal demanded entry into the Castilian and Leonese Government under the same conditions as Ciudadanos. in the previous legislature: the vice presidency and three ministries, in addition to the presidency of the Cortes.

According to the 40dB. survey, 42% of Spaniards believe that Vox should be treated as just another party, but 47.6% advocate some type of cordon sanitaire: 21.1% believe that its use should not be allowed. entry into the Government, 11.6% support its outlawing, 5.3% that it should not be debated with it and 9.6% are committed to debating, but without reaching agreements. On the other hand, among the PP and Cs voters, a large majority believes that it should be treated as just another party: 71.4% and 65.6%, respectively.

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When respondents are asked to define Vox ideologically, the most repeated term is fascist (28.5%), followed by Spanish nationalist (15.2%), patriot (12.1%) and xenophobic (10%). The label most used by the voters of the PSOE and United We Can is fascist, while those of Ciudadanos define it as Spanish nationalist and those of Vox see their own party as patriot. PP voters, the most likely to end up voting for Vox, consider him patriot (24.6%), Spanish nationalist (22.5%) and conservative (15.3%). But 9.3% call it fascist and 7.3% ultra.

Consistent with the above, 66.7% of those surveyed strongly or fairly agree that Vox is a far-right party, while 22.4% disagree with that definition. Up to 55% consider that it does not respect the rights of minorities such as the LGTBI group or immigrants; while almost a third (32.7%) do not share this statement. The survey reveals that the idea that Vox breaks with political correctness, daring to say what many people think has taken hold (51.5% share it), but only 29.1% believe that it is a party that defend ordinary people against the elites.

Once again, it is important to look at the opinion of PP voters: 59.5% consider Vox to be on the extreme right (disagree, 32.8%), 50.6% think that it respects the rights of minorities ( 37.5% disagree), 73.8% think that it breaks with what is politically correct (18.3% disagree) and 53.3% believe that it defends ordinary people against the elites (35 % disagree with this statement).

The rejection of immigrants is the idea that those surveyed most associate with Vox. When a dozen proposals are mentioned to them and they are asked to say which ones they identify with Abascals party (up to a maximum of three), the most cited (45.9%) is that of expelling undocumented immigrants, as well as immigrants who commit crimes. They are followed by suppressing the abortion and euthanasia laws (29.8%), repealing the law on gender violence (25.8%) and outlawing separatist parties (25.8%). The Vox proposal that generates the greatest rejection is the repeal of the abortion and euthanasia laws (40.9%). It is followed by the protection of bullfighting and hunting (23.1%), the suppression of the law on gender violence (21.6%) and the expulsion of immigrants (20.2%). With slight differences, these are also the proposals that PP voters most dislike: 28.6% oppose abolishing the abortion and euthanasia laws despite the fact that the Popular Group has appealed both to the Constitutional, on 22 .4% disagree with the expulsion of undocumented immigrants, 18.4% with removing the sex change operation from public health: and 16.2% with protecting the bulls and hunting.

63.4% of Spaniards believe that Vox defends large companies and 60.9% believe that it benefits the population with higher incomes. Only 25.7% of women think that Vox defends them, which explains why it has almost double the intention to vote among men (16.2%) than among women (9.9%).

59.7% of those surveyed believe that the leaders of Vox belong to the upper class and 55.8% consider them offensive, very given to insult. Only 37.3% see them as prepared politicians, 35.3% brave and 27.9% honest.

DATA SHEET

Ambit: Spain. Universe: population of legal age and resident in Spain (except Ceuta and Melilla) with the right to vote. Sample size: 2,000 interviews. Methodology: online interview. Error range: 2.2% for a confidence level of 95.5% and for P=Q. Date of realization: from January 27 to February 1.

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Vox's entry into the Government worries six out of 10 Spaniards - Then24

A hijab is the most typical target of Islamophobia in the West. Despite all the rules of political correctness customary nowadays, Muslim women who wear a hijab in non-Arab countries encounter discrimination and prejudice. The Palestinian-Canadian singer Nemah Hasan, who is better known by the name Nemahsis, has released a new song called Dollar Signs, in which she describes the oppressive attitude of Western society to those women. With half a million followers on TikTok and thousands of views on YouTube, she hopes to use it to expose the world of young Muslim women living in Canada. And on the way she doesnt spare criticism of the West.

The video clip of the song in which she describes her personal experience, provokes discomfort. She is described in it as an object, as a young woman who knows she will never be considered an equal among equals. She describes what is expected of her: to be neutral, not to express an opinion, and mainly to remain silent. As in her previous clips, for her being different is a source of strength upon which she negotiates her social status.

In effect, Hasans battle with the hijab is what led to her breakout. About a year ago a multimillion-dollar cosmetics corporation asked her to appear in their ads. They didnt offer me any recompense, she said. Their reason was its more of an opportunity for the people of your community. She did the photo shoot, but felt afterward she had been exploited. Although she told them not to use her image, she says the corporation ignored her and used it anyway.

I felt like such an idiot, she told the publication Complex. I was supposed to be strong and independent. I was too proud to admit what had happened. But I will not be anybodys victim.

She decided to leave her comfort zone and wrote the song What if I Took it Off for You, which became her biggest hit.

Hasan is battling a complicated series of identifies. On her Instagram post, she wrote, ... for everyone that doesnt fit the mould and has felt the need to compromise their individuality in order to be accepted my wish is to echo your voices.

In her songs, she attacks the political correctness that forces her to blend in, and repeatedly asks that people stop seeing in her only the Muslim woman with the hijab. This pigeonholing, she says, only caused her to hate herself. I wasted two decades longing for a lighter skin and hair color, she wrote in the introduction to Paper Thin. I spent most of my life hating the features that I like most about myself at the moment. They wont like you until you learn to like yourself.

Not only an item of clothing

Women who wear a hijab are called motahajiba (veiled women). In a book published in 2018, Burkini, Confessions of a Veiled Woman, Lebanese journalist and author Maya el-Hajj described the world of a hijab-wearing woman in a secular Arab community, and the opposition and difficulties she encounters. There is a great deal of similarity between the singer from Canada and the writer from Beirut, but not just between them. In recent years, more and more women who wear a hijab are revealing their inner struggle to define their identity and the boundaries of freedom of choice within the framework forced upon them.

Nahed Ashkar Sharary, a doctoral student at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, stresses in a conversation with Haaretz that the hijab constitutes part of the identity of Muslim women. Sharary, who lectures in a program for gender studies and is a member of the staff at the Mandel Center for Leadership in the Negev, says they are fighting to make a place for it even in the Western countries where they live whlle also refusing to accept the Muslim patriarchy that oppresses women. She explains that the 1970s saw the development of the Islamic feminist stream, which promotes religious and political criticism.

The Wests preoccupation with the hijab is Orientalism. Dr. Nuzha Allassad-Alhuzail, a senior lecturer in the School of Social Work at Sapir Academic College, tells Haaretz that Muslim women, mainly young ones, wear the hijab as a reaction to the Western oppression that customarily reviles their culture. Its like asking a Jew why he wears a kippa or asking a Christian why he wears a cross, says Allassad-Alhuzail, author of the book When the Shadow is Big its a Sign that the Sun is Going Down, about the lives of three generations of Bedouin women. She says its a reaction by Muslim women who are trying to become part of a society that presumes to accept them but sees them as others.

Who said that you have to remove the hijab to be free? she asks. One way that women adopt their native culture is by wearing a hijab, and they choose to adopt traditional behaviors. In doing so, they make their identity present, their self as they see themselves.

Ashkar Sharary explains, based on her research, how independent Muslim women living in Western society solve their inner conflict about wearing the hijab. Its done by distancing themselves from the patriarchal religious laws, while meticulously observing religious laws and relying on the principal of preserving a persons soul, which encourages strengthening and preserving the self, she says. She gives an example of Muslim women in Israel who are nurturing a critical-religious identity that is trying to strengthen their selfhood, based on religious interpretation that empowers them and enables them to oppose patriarchal norms.

The phenomenon of women who use Islamic law and sharia regulations to take ownership of their voice, their desires and their rights, without questioning the basic rules of Islam, is steadily increasing, she notes.

Yearning for God

Dr. Ibtisam Barakat, a lecturer at Bar Ilan University and at Safed Academic College, says that sociologically, the hijab preserves the collective identity of immigrant Muslim women. These items of clothing and symbols are things that characterize minorities worldwide who want to preserve their identity as a minority particularly in Western countries, and especially women.

Barakat stresses that many women consciously and of their own free will wear a hijab. She cites the late post-colonial scholar Saba Mahmood, who claimed that wearing a hijab is a practice that symbolizes piety and belief in God. Pious Muslim women autonomically choose to wear the hijab as part of their daily practices of modesty, perseverance and humility. And that is based on their inner faith and their yearning for a connection with God, she says.

So is wearing a hijab a personal choice, or a counterreaction to the West? Singer Nemah Hasan proves that Muslim women who wear a hijab are making a statement that is being heard and that influences the younger generation in the West. Hasan is one example, and she will be followed by additional women who keep the hijab. Allassad Alhuzeil sums up by saying: The women who wear a hijab dont want to be enslaved to the Western idea, and at the same time they dont want to surrender to the dictates of the patriarchal society from which they come. Each one uses the hijab in a way that serves her objective.

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Is it anti-feminist to wear hijab? - Haaretz

Su Yiming, the Chinese snowboard whiz kid who took the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games by storm, is already making unprecedented waves. Netizens in China have gushed about his friendship with Eileen Gu, sports broadcasters rave about his performances, and brands have competed for his attention.

The teenager already partners with KFC and the Chinese beverage company Genki Forest, says The Global Times. However, his standout performance at the Olympics has set him up for even bigger marketing deals and sponsorships.

The Global Times also pointed to a report by Chinese financial news outlet yicai.com that highlights how businesses secured 161 endorsement deals with athletes in 2021, the highest number since 2015 and almost the total number of athletic endorsements between 2018 and 2020. Sure enough, these signings are a winning market strategy under normal circumstances. But at a time when the Chinese government has pushed hard to demystify celebrities, young fans are left without role models; so, the appeal of young rebels like Su Yiming has grown.

Su Yiming promotes beverage brand Genki Forest. Photo: Screenshot, Genki Forest ad

Sus cool demeanor and devil-may-care attitude make him a rebel to many a rebellious nature that is very appealing in a boring age of political correctness. And unlike other celebrities who irked Beijing with their eccentricities, Su seems to have enchanted the higher-ups with his charming personality and rebellious nature. As such, even The Global Times a tabloid that often reflects what officials of the Chinese Communist Party are actually thinking gushed over Su. Recently, the newspaper raved about Sus reaction upon winning silver with a striking 1,800. His I dont care about that answer when discussing his rating proved to many that medals, points, pr accolades mean nothing to Su and that he is there only there for the joy of competing.

Luxury brands should take notice because this snowboarding prodigy has enough talent, popularity, and credibility to maximize the appeal of any label. And it doesnt hurt that Su broke barriers and was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the first snowboarder to land a backside 1980 Indy Crail. But more importantly, his rebellious nature makes storytelling more effective and powerful.

In a world where everyone tries to fit in, turning your back on conventional society and being yourself unapologetically can still be cool. Rebels like Serena Williams, Colin Kaepernick, John McEnroe, Dennis Rodman, and Ilie Nstase delighted their fans with their different approaches to sports, and brands loved associating with their unique stances.

Luxury brands, in particular, need authentic ambassadors to sell their products and services to younger generations of consumers. Take, for example, Gen Zers: They are more individualistic, unpredictable, and inherently skeptical than past generations. Therefore, brands must select ambassadors with enduring appeal and the power to usher in new forms of culture.

Athletes like Su and Eileen Gu are credible enough to create an emotional attachment between themselves and the brand. And both have seized on the culture of celebrity worship and enhanced their distinct tendencies, making them even more captivating. Sure enough, their quirks and idiosyncrasies make them relatable. But their rebelliousness is their most marketable characteristic.

Dennis Rodman was called a rebel without a pause. His meltdowns were well documented, yet brands were eager to associate with him. Tennis bad boy Ilie Nstase held the nickname Nasty. But despite his reputation, he signed marketing contracts with various brands, including Princess Hotels International. Colin Kaepernicks protest against police brutality is celebrated globally today even though, in 2016, the NFL ostracized him for his beliefs. And finally, Serena Williams shocked attendees at the 2018 French Open with her Black Panther catsuits. Yet she still signed million-dollar endorsement deals with major companies, including Audemars Piguet, Nike, Wilson, Lincoln, and JP Morgan Chase. These disruptive athletes have won legions of admirers by breaking barriers, and businesses have garnered prestige and brand equity by uniting with them.

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Su Yiming Is the Rebel That Luxury Needs - Jing Daily

With its acerbic wit and edgy depiction of down-at-heel Dublin, The Commitments is considered a snapshot of the 1980s.

ut despite the critics who say political correctness is killing comedy, actor Colm Meaney, who starred as Jimmy Rabbitte Sr in the movie, sees no reason why the film could not be made today.

Yes, I think it could still be produced today I dont see whats offensive in The Commitments, he says.

But its time we stopped I dont get this backlash against political correctness. Whats wrong with being decent to people?

He insists that there is no need for comedy to be offensive and that society is waking up to the awful hurt caused by misogyny and racism.

Im raising two daughters (Brenda, 38 and Ada, 17) and I saw this through their school years, he says.

Male violence on females starts in the playground and thats where it should be stopped. Guys dont just suddenly learn this when they go to college or work. Its there from the beginning.

Reverting back to the screen comedy debate, the father-of-two continues: I think peoples sensibility changes over the years.

John Cleese has become a bit of a reactionary gentleman in his old age.

Im a huge fan of John and I love his work, but he has developed reactionary tendencies.

I dont have any problem with that. Weve developed a sensitivity and an understanding to what language means, especially to minority people.

There was a time when it was OK to call us Micks and Paddys and all that kind of stuff. It never particularly bothered me, but it wasnt very nice, was it?

So equally, there is much more offensive racial names, so we dont need them to be funny.

With an acting career spanning four decades, a Golden Globe nomination and success on both sides of the Atlantic, its fair to say Meaney is one of Irelands greatest exports.

Sci-fi devotees will remember him from his Enterprise duties on Star Trek as Chief Miles OBrien, while others will immediately think of him in The Commitments.

But the acting veteran confesses that he ruled out a role in The Lord of the Rings straight away.

My agent was asking me about it at the time. There were enquires and I dont know what they were offering me, but I didnt want to go to New Zealand for three years. I hate all that fantasy stuff anyway and I probably would have been miserable.

Pressed on how hes managed to stay so fit and energetic as he nears his 69th birthday, Meaney says: I dont know drinking and smoking.

Both my wife and I eat mostly organic foods, and I think thats helped a bit.

Im lucky with my mothers genes. She died in 2018 and she was 96. Who knows? I dont have a secret. Its probably the Finglas in me.

He says Covid finally crept up on him after two years of avoiding it.

Despite receiving his booster jab in Dublin just before Christmas, he still fell victim to the Omicron variant.

We went two years without getting it and then suddenly Ines and I felt a bit sniffly, and we soon realised wed caught it, but Ive had worse head colds. I guess when its your turn, its your turn.

We had a quiet Christmas and New Years here in Majorca where we live, and we havent been out much since then and if we have, its just been to the grocery store.

So Ive no idea where we picked it up, but I guess this Omicron gets around.

The Dubliner divides his time between his homes on the Spanish island and Los Angeles.

He currently stars as Father Peter in Confession, which is out now on digital platforms.

Im usually in Ireland around three or four times a year, but I can sometimes go six to nine months without visiting, so I didnt really miss it during lockdown.

I was home before the festive period as I was doing a film called Marlowe. We shot the exteriors in Barcelona and the interiors in Dublin. Its based on the novel The Black-Eyed Blonde by John Banville. Neil Jordan and Liam Neeson directed it.

Reflecting on his friendship with Taken legend Neeson, Meaney adds: Ive known Liam for 40-odd years.

We were in The Abbey Theatre together many moons ago, when we were both boys.

Colm Meaney stars alongside Stephen Moyer in the church-based suspense mystery thriller, Confession, which is available on digital platforms now.

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Colm Meaney: 'Male violence on females starts in the playground and that's where it should be stopped' - Independent.ie

By Leah MarieAnn Klett, Assistant Editor | Tuesday, February 15, 2022Phil Robertson | HARPER COLLINS

Phil Robertson knows firsthand what it means to be a victim of cancel culture.

In 2013, the Duck Dynasty patriarch was suspended from the popular A&E show over his candid comments about homosexuality and religion in a GQ profile. He was swiftly condemned as a bigot by LGBT activist groups, including The Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD.

Five or six years ago, a guy came up and asked me, did I believe homosexual behavior was a sin, the 75-year-old duck hunter told The Christian Post. I quoted 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: Don't be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the thieves, the greedy drunks, they won't inherit the Kingdom of God,' Robertson said, citing [Paul's letter] to the church at Corinth. But you've been washed, you've been cleansed by the blood of Jesus, he added.

I just simply quoted him a verse, a Bible verse, where God stated what it is, he added. So it took him two weeks to figure out all I did was quote a Bible verse. He asked me a question and I just quoted [the Bible]. And when I quoted it, he took it and ran with it, because he thought I was just blowing smoke just off the top of my head.

Though backlash from the secular media was swift, the father, grandfather and great-grandfather pointed out that as a result of his boldness, a lot of good came forth.

We converted way more after that, he said. See what I'm saying? God works in mysterious ways.

Today, Robertson bears no ill will toward those who wanted to see him canceled: They rail against me in a lot of ways, but I forgive them, I love them all, he stressed. Yet, that incident sparked in him a fierce desire to push back against cancel culture, a phenomenon he believes is both antithetical to the Gospel and threatens to destroy free speech.

The two greatest commandments in the Bible, according to Jesus, was to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and to love your neighbor, he contended. What's happened is the so-called cancel culture are digging up the past of individuals, finding out where they made a mistake, finding out where they sin, and they pile on, they try to get them fired, and they do get them fired. They attack people. The problem with that type of thinking is that all of us have made mistakes, and all of us have sinned.

Scripture is clear that those who pass judgment on others ultimately condemn themselves, Robertson said, adding: Sinners are attacking everyone else, not realizing that they're condemning themselves because they're sinners too.

Everyone out there should remember everyone who cancels others, here and now, they themselves will be canceled later, he continued. So we better learn how to love one another, love God. And we better learn how to forgive people that make mistakes around us, or we ourselves will be canceled.

The founder of the Duck Commander Company cited 1 John 3:1, which reads: See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.

Those are the uncanceled, he explained. He (God) took away the written code and replaced it. Just love God and love your neighbor; I've removed all your past sins, they're blotted out. I'm not counting any of your future sins against you if you just trust me.

Those who put their faith in Jesus are uncancelled by the blood of Jesus; He got us out from under the written code and put us under a system of grace, Robertson added. It can't be earned. It's not, maybe if I do this. Just Love God. Love your neighbor, for crying out loud. It's really simple when you get right down to it. So He provided that for us.

Driven by a desire to promote the countercultural, unifying message of Jesus, Robertson penned his latest book, Uncanceled: Finding Meaning and Peace in a Culture of Accusations, Shame, and Condemnation.

I would say right now, if you're not following Jesus, you should because the suicide rate is up, the murder rate is up, the death rate is up," Robertson told CP. "The cancellation crowd, thats all up. People who made mistakes 200 years ago, we drag it up, take their statue down and bad mouth them, and I'm like, Whatever happened to forgiveness and love? So if we don't love God and don't love our neighbor, we've got some pretty rough days ahead of us here. For me and my family, we trust the Lord. We're going with God.

In Uncanceled, Robertson examines the motivations behind why people have the inclination to cancel one another, both in the secular world and in the Church. He argues that in a culture so obsessed with political correctness, the importance of respectful dialogue has been all but forgotten.

In America, you won't even get but three strikes, and you're out. But Jesus said Forgive them 70 times seven. That way, you're not all torn up over people and what they say, who curses you [who says] evil things about you. It's just the way the world is. You just learned to live with it, point them to Christ, keep moving, don't hold it against them. Be quick to forgive.

Everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. We expect it. We embrace it. But we don't hold it against them. We just pray for them, he said.

Christians must realize, Robertson emphasized, that the goal isnt to get the approval of man or to win a culture war its to worship the God of the Bible instead of the god of political correctness.

It's not rocket science, but it does require a change of heart, he said. I'm 75. I came to know Jesus when I was 28, because I was like a dog chasing his tail. I just wasn't getting anywhere fast. I came to Jesus, he said.

Think about this: Immortality is riding on how we live our lives on the Earth, he posited. Loving God and loving each other is worth it. Immortality is at stake. When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code with its regulations. He took it away, thank God, nailing it to the cross. Having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. What a beautiful thing God has done for us. I'm just trying to get others to join us.

Resting in the understanding that Jesus already paid for our sins allows a person to treat others with grace and live a life of freedom, Robertson said and will hopefully help unite an increasingly divided society.

Im pretty fired up about this, he said.

We need to put in the practice and be very forgiving and longsuffering, not holding things in the past, Robertson added. Put into practice the attitude of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, how He operated. You read it, and you say, I need to do that. I need to be like that. So give people time. Hopefully, their hearts will change. And they'll reach out to their neighbors and put into practice the greatest commands in the Bible, according to Jesus: Love God, love your neighbor. It always comes back to that.

Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com

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'Duck Dynasty' patriarch Phil Robertson on why cancel culture is antithetical to the Gospel of Jesus - The Christian Post

Recently, many of my friends and acquaintances have expressed their worry about the future of our country and the world. They ask me if I agree.

My first reaction is to tell them Im off duty. As a journalist, Ive been immersed in these social issues all my life. Been there done that. Theres nothing new under the sun. All these issues have been debated for eons.

Whats new is the pace of technological development, which is faster now than ever. This creates both good and bad, but mainly good.

I was born an optimist. I truly think this is a genetic predisposition. So I cannot help myself. As such, I am biased. Thats why its important to have a variety of opinions from a variety of people. Everybody possesses their own intrinsic point of view.

Its fun writing your opinion. For decades I have had the pleasure of making a living doing this. Thanks to technology, today anyone can write their opinion and launch it into the world via social media and the world wide web. This is progress.

Social media and the internet have launched an explosion of opinion, commentary, opinions, rants and the like. People were starved for an outlet and when they finally got one, the world began brimming over with internet posts, blogs, comments. etc. These opinions were always there, they just didnt have the means to be expressed.

Over time, this creative explosion of free thought and opinion will calm down as we adjust to the new reality of immediate unlimited commentary and opinions. The human mind has amazing adaptive ability and we will take this in stride. It just takes time.

Sooner or later everyone will have heard every rant. Well all know both sides. It wont be new and exciting. And our culture will adapt and move on.

I am reminded of an elderly gentlemans group that meets for lunch once a week here in Jackson. Over the years they have told the same jokes so many times that they just refer to the joke as a number and everybody laughs.

Congress is debating getting the National Science Foundation to study and propose appropriate algorithms for social media. Facebooks algorithms are rooted in engagement and nothing engages like outrage, so Facebook is eager to stick outrageous content on your newsfeed. Its good for their advertising.

Instant communication, unlimited search and unlimited data over the internet allow news talk shows to instantly find the most outrageous news of the day. So if you watch these shows you will be bombarded with outrageous stuff non stop. Human nature is such that, when bombarded by outrageous content, people get outraged, angry, worried, anxious and fearful. Thats how the Jan. 6 Trump election riot happened.

So if you dont want to feel these emotions the solution is very simple. Dont watch talk news. I dont. And I rarely feel outrage and anger. Nor do I spend much time at all on social media, especially when its deliberately designed to manipulate me.

The biggest of the Big Tech is Apple. I find it amazing that hardly anybody I know connects Apple, and its graphic of the bite out of the Apple, with original sin. How can you miss it? Especially in the Bible belt.

Adam wanted to know what God knows. He wanted all the knowledge of the world. So he took a bite out of the apple, just as the Apple imagery projects. Its one reason I dont use an Apple phone.

That bite out of the apple didnt turn out too well for Adam, nor is it turning out too well for the human race. Be careful what you ask for.

Our search for knowledge and truth seems insatiable. The James Webb Space Telescope is an infrared observatory orbiting the Sun about 1 million miles from Earth to find the first galaxies that formed in the early universe and to see stars forming planetary systems. It cost ten billion dollars.

I hope to enjoy some cool photos, but I am under no illusion that it will significantly advance my understanding of the universe. No doubt we know more than we did 2,000 years ago. But our knowledge, as a percent of the whole, was infinitesimal then and its infinitesimal now.

The book of Deuteronomy says secret things belong to the Lord. Were never going to know them, no matter how big our telescope is.

Just go to You Tube and search for quantum eraser delayed choice experiment. God is only going to let us know what he wants us to know and it will never be complete.

What is truth?, Pilate asked Jesus, confused when Jesus told him that Everyone on the side of truth listens to me. Oh we so much want to know the truth, we creatures made in the image of God. We are giving dominion over the earth, above all its creatures, but we are most definitely not the creator, no matter how much we wish to be.

Look at wokism. This is just a weird hodgepodge of insights that more or less go back to loving your neighbor as yourself. But instead of attributing good aspects of political correctness to God, the new generation of unbelievers claim it as their own creation, as though anything inherently good can come from us.

Or take the critical race theory, an idea that human exploitation was a driving force in history. News flash! The total depravity of man was known long before this trendy buzz theory, and its certainly not limited to any one race.

Is the world going to hell in a handbasket? Could be if we turn our back on God. Hes done it before and he can do it again. Its his world, not ours. Our command to be good stewards of the world should never be confused with being its master or creator.

Global poverty has declined from 35 percent in 1990 to 12 percent today. That is astounding progress, never equaled before. The marvel of the Internet and high-speed wireless communication, search engines and data storage will make that progress look like nothing compared to the next 30 years.

God makes straight paths with crooked sticks. He will use these new human advances to advance his kingdom. The future will get better and better. There is only one thing that can screw it up: Us and our unbelief. Fortunately, we have a patient and merciful God.

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Opinion: Future looks bright if we keep the faith - Gwcommonwealth

When Neil Diamonds America cues up inside the Mobile Civic Center, and the Crewe of Columbus marches out Friday for their 100th anniversary tableau, Terry Ankerson will be dancing right along with them.

Its a fellowship the 75-year-old retired banker from Mobile has been involved with since 1974. His family has been linked to the mystic society since its inception in 1921. According to Ankerson, one of his great uncles is a charter member.

More Mobile Mardi Gras stories:

The century celebration is set for Friday, after having been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its theme is Constellations Navigating by the Stars, and the parade will feature 20 units 19 floats, and the queens carriage.

Ankerson will be riding on one of those decorative floats, for the 48th time, alongside a grandson.

In the Crewe, youll see three generations, said Ankerson. Grandaddies and sons. That has held us together for so many years. Its a wonderful tradition.

We miss her a lot

This years parade will be bittersweet for Ankerson as well, as its the first since his daughter, a former queen of the Crewe of Columbus, died from a bout with cancer in November 2020.

For Ankerson, the family ties with the Crewe run deep:

Leigh Ankerson Bailey, at age 42, died in November 2020, following a battle with internal melanoma.

Terry Ankerson, one of the longest active members of the Crewe of Columbus, pictured here looking at his late daughters dress that is on display at the Mobile Carnival Museum. Leigh Ankerson Bailey was 18 when she crowed queen of the Crewe of Columbus during their 75th anniversary in 1996. She died in November 2020 at age 42 following a bout with internal melanoma. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

Tough, tough times, said Ankerson, as he looked at his daughters mint-conditioned gown from the organizations 75th anniversary ball that is on display inside the Mobile Carnival Museum in downtown Mobile. The museums exhibit honoring the Crewe of Columbus 100th anniversary will remain on display through May.

Its like having four weddings, said Ankerson, who serves as a tour guide at the museum, and is the de facto historian for the Crewe of Columbus as he referred to his daughters weddings and their individual crowning at the past balls.

We are extremely proud of her, Ankerson said, while looking at Leighs dress and a decorative scepter shaped as a golf club that his daughter possessed during her royal reign in 1996. Leigh Ankerson was once a standout golfer.

We miss her a lot, he said.

Democratized Carnival

Featured behind his daughters dress inside the Carnival Museum is the 50th anniversary gown worn by the queen during the 1971 ball. Surrounding the resplendent attire are pictures, costumes, memorabilia, photographs, and trinkets commemorating the past 100 years of one of the largest mystic societies that parades Mobiles streets every Mardi Gras season.

Indeed, 600 members make up the Crewe of Columbus today, a remarkable increase from early days when historical accounts show that 92 members were part of the group when it was known as Krewe of Columbus.

We have quite a list of guys waiting to get in, said Ankerson. We have a proud tradition.

When first formed, the all-mens mystic society consisted of only members of the Knights of Columbus, the global Catholic fraternal organization.

The organization remained the Krewe of Columbus until 1937, when the K was dropped in favor of the C after a reorganization.

The Crewe democratized Carnival, said Cart Blackwell, curator of the Mobile Carnival Museum. Prior to the finding of the Crewe, it was a small cast of characters involved with the actual parades and balls. They spread it out. Its a big organization. Its that constant spreading out of Carnival that is very meaningful.

Blackwell said another notable aspect of the Crewe of Columbus is its link to the Roman Catholic Church. Though affiliation with the church is no longer a membership requirement, Blackwell said its foundation in the church is very special given the sacred roots of Carnival.

Ankerson said hes unsure what the Catholic and non-Catholic split is within todays group, though he believes there are more non-Catholics than there are Catholics.

Early memories

The groups earliest parades culminated in a ball that was held in the Battle House Hotel, according to a historical account released during the 50th anniversary celebration in 1971. Weather sometimes canceled or postponed the parades, though the balls would always take place.

Sometimes a stubborn mule would create a parade ruckus. That occurred in 1939, when a mule named Leonard sat down in the middle of the parade route. Tractors were brought in to pull the floats for the 1940 parade to avoid another Leonard rebellion, according the 50th anniversary account.

In 1946, the Crewe of Columbus celebrated its silvery anniversary with the first parade on the streets of Mobile since 1942. All parades were canceled during World War II, though organizations gathered for their annual balls.

Among the attendees during the 1946 Mardi Gras was Wayne Dean, a Mobile Mardi Gras historian who is well-known in the city for his portrayal of the beloved Carnival character Slacabamarinico.

The Crewe used to always start Mardi Gras, theyd be the first parade out the chute, said Dean. When it started back up after the war, my grandfather took me he held me in his arms and watched that parade roll. I wouldve been maybe 4 years old.

Dean, in an almost astonishing feat of counting each ball hes attended in his lifetime, tabbed the Crewes 2020 ball as his 1,000th.

It was my first parade Ive been to, after the War, and it was my personal 1,000th ball, Dean said.

Dean also was also in attendance at the Crewes 50th anniversary ball at the Mobile Civic Center (the Crewe moved its balls from Fort Whiting to the Civic Center in 1965).

Back then, they allowed fire inside the ballroom, and they had six-to-eight chandeliers hanging from the ceiling of the Civic Center auditorium, Dean recalled. I remember a man coming out on a tall ladder and lit those candles in the chandeliers before the ball. It was a beautiful scene. But then they discovered they used candles and they were dripping, and a lot of men were getting candle wax on their tails and the ladies on their dresses. It was an interesting night.

Dean added, But it was one of the most beautiful scenes at a ball that I can remember. It was real candles flickering over the dance floor.

Smoldering rubble

The Crewe, over the years, has had its challenges. Twice, within a period of about 10 years, the organizations float barn burned with memorabilia and floats destroyed.

The first fire occurred on December 30, 1968, when a warehouse the organization shared with the Maids of Mirth erupted in flames and left the venue a heap of smoldering rubble.

For the 1969 Carnival, the Maids of Mirth opted not to parade. But the Crewe with their perennial pluck, according to the 50th anniversary booklet, rebuilt its floats.

Mother Nature wasnt cooperative. The Feb. 14, 1969, parade was thwarted by torrential rains, canceling the parade. A group of maskers then loaded onto buses and were transported to Bel Air Mall where they parade on foot and snake-danced and even took part of a style show that was taking place at the mall that night, according to the 50th anniversary booklet.

Back at the ball, Martin Johnson welcomed the guests and read a proclamation from the Mobile Carnival Association that recognized the organizations indomitable will to rebuild its parade from the ground within six short weeks.

The Crewe paraded behind the Infant Mystics three nights later.

The second setback happened in 1979, when on Aug. 11, the organizations float barn erupted into flames. Those flames consumed three of the floats, and damaged six others approximately one month before one of the most devastating storms to ever hit Mobile arrived Hurricane Frederic.

Related content: Remember Freddie: How Mobiles 1980 Mardi Gras steered recovery through revelry

What is really weird is we had that fire in August and it pretty much destroyed everything, Ankerson said. Then the hurricane hit, and it didnt hurt us as much. Everything was gone anyway. But we rebuilt.

Miss USA and Jim Cantore

The organization continued to grow, but always maintained a rigid position that only masked members could ride in a Crewe of Columbus parade.

The closest that strict ruling came to being upended was when Courtney Gibb, who was Miss USA 1988, paraded on the Crewes emblem float inside the Mobile Civic Center as it was showcased during Miss USA pageant in 1989. The pageant, hosted by Dick Clark, was the only time a Miss USA pageant took place in Alabama.

Courtney Gibbs, Miss USA in 1988, is the only celebrity who has ever been allowed to ride on a Crewe of Columbus float. Ironically, that did not happen during the mystic societies Mardi Gras ball. It occurred on their emblem float during the filming of the 1989 Miss USA pageant at the Mobile Civic Center. It was the first, and only time that the Miss USA pageant occurred in Alabama. (file photo)

Miss USA got to ride on top of the world, Ankerson said.

As Ankerson recalls it, Jim Cantore of The Weather Channel fame expressed interest whether it was serious or not in riding along on the 2016 parade aboard a float that featured him straddling a palm tree.

Cantore, instead, interviewed one of the maskers during an episode of Americas Morning Headquarters on The Weather Channel. The float was part of that years theme, Apps.

We dont let anyone (but members) ride on a float with the Crewe of Columbus, said Ankerson. But we had that one exception and it was not during a parade.

A member of the Crewe of Columbus tosses a handful of beads to the crowds gathered along the streets of downtown Mobile, Ala. Friday Feb 12, 1999. (file photo)

Status doesnt matter

Ankerson estimates it taking eight years before someone moves off the groups waiting list to becoming an associate member and then to an active member who is allowed on a float.

Associate members, Ankerson said, still get to join in on the parading fun. They walk the streets holding a sign that promotes the float that is rolling behind them.

Some of those guys have more fun than the guys on the floats, Ankerson said, noting that its not uncommon for the masked marchers to find ladies standing on the side of the parade route, who might get a friendly hug.

Status within the group or as a member of a local company, Ankerson said, does not matter.

Whats really fun, though, is when you come to a meeting, we dont care if youre the president of the company or the clerk of the company, he said. When you walk through the doors, youre a member of the Crewe of Columbus. No politics and no commercialization. Im sure that is the way its done in a lot of organizations, but thats how we do it.

Crewe of Indigenous People?

The Crewe of Columbus celebrated its 93rd year as a parading organization with the theme Bucket List on Friday Feb. 28, 2014 in Mobile, Ala. (file photo)

In the age of political correctness, could the Crewe of Columbus be eying reforms?

Ankerson said he doesnt believe so, even if the story of Christopher Columbus is filled with controversy over the Italian explorers role in the theft of property and the deaths of indigenous people.

Protests have occurred over the years during Columbus Day parades, and there have been efforts to eliminate the federal holiday honoring the founder of the New World.

Alabama is also one of 10 states that celebrates a version of Indigenous Peoples Day during the Columbus Day holiday in early October. The state put its own spin on the holiday in 2000, when the Legislature created American Indian Heritage Day alongside Columbus Day. Also celebrated on that day is Fraternal Day, which was established in 1915.

The tradition weve held onto for years is about the milestone of (Columbus) being one of the first Europeans to step on this side of the world, Ankerson said. We dont want to be cruel to anyone else.

He added, Who knows? Someone might say we need to change the name to the Crewe of Indigenous People. I dont know. But weve stayed with our Mardi Gras traditions, and with the fun and merriment that we have. As far as were concerned, its for all Mobilians.

Dean said he isnt too concerned about the Crewes embrace of the Columbus voyage and its portrayal of Native Americans, which he described more as Mardi Gras mystical than a history lesson.

There may be some tweaking down the road, but thats up to them, said Dean. Columbus, he did exist. He did sail over the ocean. What he did when he got here mightve been bad in some cases, but I dont think it will change the Crewe of Columbus. I think they when they get to 200, they will be the Crewe of Columbus.

Great traditions

The Crewe of Columbus rolls through downtown Mobile, Ala., during Mardi Gras on Friday, March 1, 2019. (Mike Kittrell/AL.com)

Ankerson said hes just happy to see the parade and ball return this year.

The 100th anniversary celebration was supposed to happen last year, but its cancellation has stirred a new question: Is this the 101th anniversary soiree, or is that next year?

Such details will have to be worked out at a later time, Ankerson said. The Crew of Columbus is returning to its parade route and Ankerson given what his family has been through since last year and given Mobiles efforts to recover from the pandemic - much-needed merriment and fellowship is fast approaching.

If I step outside and asked 10 people, What does Mardi Gras mean to you here? Maybe it will be a former queen or someone with the Crewe of Columbus who tosses 500 MoonPies, said Ankerson. The next guy may say, I caught the MoonPies. The fact of the matter is every story will be a little different around Mardi Gras. That is one of the great traditions we have in Mobile and our organization, we understand that.

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We have a proud tradition: After 100 years, Crewe of Columbus to celebrate its Mobile Mardi Gras roots - AL.com