Another victim of the ‘Political Correctness’ bullies

On Monday, I did a story on Chasing News about the deputy mayor in Mendham who was under fire from a fellow committee member for a social media post that some said was racist.

The post, which was not written by deputy mayor Rick Blood, was a discussion about the reasons why President Trump, despite his ego and outrageous comments, was hired by the American people to fix problems. The problems range from finances and debt, illegal immigration and corruption in DC. The author of the post wrote that the mess in our government is like coming home from vacation to find raccoons have taken over your house. Not missing an opportunity to smear her fellow municipal government leader who happens to be in the opposite party, Amalia Duarte attacked and insinuated that Rick was a racist. Her argument was so shallow that the clear agenda of knocking off a political opponent shined through in my opinion. Read the post HERE and watch the clip and decide for yourself though.

There are several takeaways here for me.

First, totally irresponsible and misleading 'journalism' by outlets like NJ.com with headlines about comparing immigrants to raccoons. Again, read the post. It was a metaphor for coming home to chaos. Does anyone believe that we don't have a clear problem with our borders and illegal immigrants? The polls on both side have been fighting over the issue for years. A more responsible headline would acknowledge that the full context of the post was clearly pointing out several problems represented by the raccoons, including corrupt politicians and debt.

Secondly, it's outrageous that a member of local government would stoop so low to attack a fellow committee member as racist, while explaining publicly that she really wished we didn't have to talk about the post at all. Huh? It was Amalia Duarte who made this a major issue in the first place. How about and apology along the lines of what the now former deputy mayor issued? Pretty simple, basically a 'sorry if I offended anyone'. When adults are having serious discussions about policy and using metaphors to demonstrate a point, it's possible someone will be offended. Considering that Blood didn't write the post and clearly in his statement about the post before it went sort of viral, he looked at it as an explanation for why Trump won in the first place.

Thirdly, and this is perhaps the biggest issue. Shame on Blood for giving up. We need to have adults to lead our government. We need adults who can stand in the face of politically correct attacks aimed at diminishing a valid point with accusations of racism. Remember that in that face of racially charged accusations, Assemblyman Parker Space stood tall and won re-election. Controversy over. In the face of charges of bigotry and racism, the owners of the Washington Redskins football team stood tall and kept their name.

We need more of that kind of internal strength to help push back on the outrageous assault on reason that is 'Political Correctness'. Shameful actors like Amalia Duarte will always be there to play race cards instead of address serious points. You can't change people that would stoop to new lows to use race as a weapon against a political opponent. What we can change is the reaction that we, as reasonable, strong, mature citizens, have in the face of the enemies of reason and common sense.

I spoke to former Deputy Mayor Blood after the show taping yesterday and asked him to stand strong and not let the PC bullies make him a victim. I let him know in no uncertain terms that I wanted to help him clear the air and push back on an unfair and out of context attack. Guess he didn't have the guts for the fight. It's too had really, he's not the first victim of the PC bullies. He won't be the last. As for my end, I'm gonna keep fighting and offering support to those unfairly characterized and professionally assaulted. No one said the world is fair or easy. The fight is already underway, it's time to choose sides.

Remember, if we're really going to dig in, we better learn to stand up first.

Bill Spadea is on the air weekdays from 6 to 10 a.m., talkin’ Jersey, taking your calls at 1-800-283-1015. Tweet him @NJ1015 or @BillSpadea.

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