At the University of Southern California, the Trojans trot out their mascot before games. A gladiator waving a sword sits atop a horse named Traveler. It has been that way for 56 years.
The cultural Marxists say the horse’s name, which is trademarked, is too similar to Robert E. Lee’s horse, Traveller. It’s not even spelled the same nor does it have any relationship to Lee’s horse. The original mascot was a movie horse.
That doesn’t matter. At the last rally, according to the student newspaper the Daily Trojan, Saphia Jackson, co-director of the USC Black Student Assembly, asked students not to be quiet, and reminded that “white supremacy hits close to home” and referenced the name of the Trojans mascot.
We are no longer simply seeing the thought police in action, we are looking at the cultural totalitarianism of political correctness. And it’s poisonous.
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One man who escaped Soviet totalitarianism sees cultural totalitarianism as far more dangerous. It changes the very nature of man, he says.
Alexander Maistrovoy writing for Arutz Sheva: “The Soviet regime dictated harsh rules and established censorship. However People remained normal human beings. They laughed at authorities, composed jokes about Brezhnev, made satirical films in spite of the censorship, and learned to read newspapers between the lines. This primarily referred to the intelligentsia.”
He continues, referencing what has become of Western European civilization: “Cultural totalitarianism succeeded much more. It affirmed a relentless self-censorship, turned people into sterile zombies, and exterminated basic senses of responsibility and dignity. It changed the very nature of man, and indeed, it was a unique experiment of its proponents on their own people.”
It puts Stalinism to shame.
We are moving from civil rights to mass totalitarianism.
Meanwhile, the cultural totalitarians at USC are threatening a long tradition.
It seems some unattributed obituary once said USC’s horse was named after Lee’s horse but there was no evidence and no byline.
Everyone else says it’s not. It doesn’t matter. To a totalitarian, any whiff of an impure thought is too much.
A USC spokesman pointed to a history of Traveler on USC’s website when asked about the name’s origin.
“USC’s mascot horse is a symbol of ancient Troy. Its rider, with costume and sword, is a symbol of a Trojan warrior,” the final paragraph said. “The name Traveler, spelled with one ‘l,’ is a common name among horses. . . . USC’s Traveler is and has always been a proud symbol of Troy. There is no truth to any other claims or rumors about its name.”
The LA Times writes, “But unease lingers in some quarters over Traveler’s name and what it might represent today.”
Unease? Are you kidding me?
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