Business As Usual: The Willful Ignorance of Armchair Patriots

Let us begin with a sobering truth: America is not where it is because of some momentary lapse in judgment or a political hiccup. No, we are here (entrenched in cultural decay and political dysfunction) because a centuries-old sickness remains untreated: a deeply embedded hatred and fear of Black and Brown bodies that has shaped this nation's spine from its violent birth to this very moment. And now, in this digital age of false bravado, armchair patriots... those self-declared experts tapping away from the comfort of their couches... spew their half-baked takes on social media with all the confidence of fools who’ve never studied history, justice, or truth. They speak of Trump, of J.D. Vance, and of the Heritage Foundation with hollow certitude, yet know nothing of the dark architecture that undergirds their rise.

This ignorance isn’t innocent... it’s willful. A performative amnesia cloaked in cinematic patriotism. You scroll, post, like, and retweet as if engagement equals understanding, as if opinions are interchangeable with wisdom. But what you conveniently forget - or outright deny - is that Trumpism didn’t fall from the sky. It’s the natural evolution of a settler-colonial, white supremacist ideology that’s been refined, repackaged, and now sold to the disillusioned masses as a brand of faux populism. J.D. Vance, that polished cipher of elitist resentment disguised as a man of the people, serves merely as a puppet for forces far older and more dangerous. And behind it all lurks the Heritage Foundation, the intellectual ghostwriters of America’s slow undoing, crafting blueprints like “Project 2025” ... a roadmap not toward liberty, but toward authoritarianism with a smirk.

So let’s dispense with the fantasy that any of this is new. This isn’t backlash. This is inheritance. The same fire that fueled lynch mobs now burns in algorithm-fed comment threads. The same disdain that birthed Jim Crow now animates voter suppression laws, gerrymandering schemes, and culture wars cloaked in “parental rights.” If Trump loses in 2028 or is somehow removed, the mask may slip temporarily, but the machinery grinds on. The hate persists. The contempt simmers. Because America, for all its songs and slogans, has yet to reckon with the evil it has called tradition.

Dr. King once said,

“Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” 

 And Baldwin reminded us that:

“Ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” 

 Yet both men spoke with the hope that enlightenment was possible... that conscience might yet stir. But Malcolm X? He offered a more honest clarity:

“You don’t stick a knife in a man’s back nine inches, pull it out six inches, and call it progress.”

No, what we are witnessing is not progress, but performance. Not awakening, but denial in drag.

So, to the keyboard crusaders and content cowboys who mock, deflect, and gaslight from their digital pulpits... understand this: You are not the solution. You are the distraction. Until you trade your clickbait conviction for real comprehension; until you confront the truths buried beneath your comfort; you will remain pawns in a game that was never meant to serve you either. You just haven’t realized it yet. But Black and Brown America has always known the wickedness behind your smiling, entitled facade.