Stamp Out Hate

If I were to teach a high-school class in literature, I’d use page 42 of a recent Sun-Times as a textbook example of irony.

On that page, gently resting side by side, are articles whose themes contradict each other. How ironic.

I’m wondering if the editors who laid out that page knew what they were doing or was their placement simply a case of, you know--irony!

As in this dictionary definition...

"A literary device by which the audience’s or reader’s understanding of events or individuals in a work surpasses that of the characters."

One article is about a White House ceremony which honored former first lady Barbara Bush, whose life and legacy is being celebrated with a stamp.

The current first lady–Melania Trump–was on hand along with Dorothy Bush Koch, Barbara Bush’s daughter.

Sample quote: “Barbara Bush helped destigmatize people with AIDS and HIV when she cradled an infant during a 1989 visit to a hospice for children with the disease.”

Right next to that article is one headlined: “Up to 1,000 transgender troops are being moved out of the military in new Pentagon order.”

In that article, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth proudly proclaims he’s happily, almost giddily, rushing to kicking trans people out of the service–no questions asked.

Sample quote: “`No More Trans @DoD,’ Hegseth wrote in a post on X…He said that his department is leaving wokeness and weakness behind.”

Oh, the irony...

Hegseth was rejoicing over a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed him to ban trans people even while legal challenges to their banning proceed. So he can kick them out now and worry about future rulings later.

Another giddy quote from Hegseth: “No more pronouns…No more dudes in dresses. We’re done with that shit.”

Only the Sun-Times wrote shit as “s—”.

Apparently, they think the word is more offensive than Hegseth’s policy. Which sounds to me as…ironic.

Meanwhile, across the page in that article about Barbara Bush and her stamp…

Melania noted that Bush "changed the national conversation on AIDS and took a stand supporting gay rights.”

In other words, before Barbara Bush visited that hospice, people with AIDS were viewed as deviants–America’s version of the untouchables. Which is why it was such a big deal when Barbara Bush cradled that baby.

So Melania Trump is celebrating Barbara Bush for standing up to hate even as Donald Trump and his flunkies celebrate their hatred of a 21st century version of untouchables.

Hey, Melania, if you dared to change the national conversation on trans and take a stand against your husband’s hate, maybe, just maybe, one day they’d unveil a stamp honoring you. And that would be…

Ironic.