Whether immigrant or home-grown, doesn’t living in America warrant some special gratitude? Aren’t you lucky as hell? I can’t help but wonder and worry how today’s American culture–an environment impacted by the COVID-19 shutdowns, virtual social isolation, national disrespect, and victim identity politics–will influence today’s children. An America with “childhood cheer” in lockdown: America didn’t cause the pandemic, and indeed, it isn’t the only country to suffer its devastatingly destructive social and economic consequences. Nevertheless, “the virus” has infected the American experience for everyone. Most particularly, try to imagine yourself as a small child first experiencing a new world of masked, unsmiling strangers where nervously suspicious people everywhere distance from one another outside six-foot arcs. While recently driving past an elementary school, the scene reminded me of televised views of maximum-security prison inmates being briefly allowed time outside in an exercise yard. The little jailbirds were all masked and socially distanced in line amidst lots of tantalizingly colorful slides and other vacant playground equipment. It struck me that these were the lucky ones…children who were actually allowed to be with other masked socially distanced friends in a nurturing school environment. But why weren’t they running around like ordinary masked bandits … Continue reading The Impact of Toxic Propaganda on America’s Children