To Loyalists* Everywhere

(*Addressed specifically to every soul upset by Déjà Vu criticisms & more generally to Republicans, Democrats, Conservatives, Liberals, Socialists, Communists, rebels, terrorists, groupies, nationalists, globalists, sectarians, and loyal dependents of every stripe—including those dependent on an employer’s pay cheque^[1] or those intimidated by dependency into the façade of loyalty; etc., etc.)

Every desired value has its extremes, and LOYALTY has been pulled and pushed to the extreme since the dawn of power; pushed and pulled to that place where seeing we will not see, hearing we will not hear, and being challenged we will not read, research, investigate, or admit of any negatives.

This willful ignorance^[2] is the sad legacy of unquestioning loyalty to any person, cause, group, idea, or ideology. We mount our political, religious, or ideological high-horses and wield the sword of our various passionate loyalties striving to cut asunder all criticism and opposition. Thus, too many of us speak democratic principles with our lips but in our hearts and councils seek monopolies of thought, perspective, and action. We call our version “patriotic” or “the ONLY truth,” and resist with anger, the historical parallels—the corruptions, conspiracies, and crimes (the 3Cs) that forever tempt (and too often accompany) power and influence. For extreme loyalists, the 3Cs that might apply to their own loyalty are fiercely denied or justified for extenuating cause.

But questioning and requests for transparency and accountability are not acts of disloyalty. They are duties—obligations of intelligent life to demand balance, integrity, justice, equity, thought, and consideration. Intelligence demands accountability. Intelligence rejects the hypocrisy of saying one thing and doing another. That is how I see it, and that is why I “déjà vu” in the hope that my insights (perhaps mistaken at times) may help move us from intransigence to seeing, hearing, and investigating the full story of our loyalties; and to recognize both the richness and the tragic waste in the complex, precious, and déjà vu world of such loyalties.

[1] “It is difficult for them to see whose paycheck depends on them not seeing.” Upton Sinclair
[2] A version of the three-monkey stance: See no evil, hear no evil, & ask no question concerning the object of loyalty.