Gary Oldman won the Oscar for Best Actor Sunday night for his portrayal of Winston Churchill in “Darkest Hour.”
That’s proved problematic, and not just for the abuse allegations lobbed against Oldman. Several leftists were irate that the Academy would honor Churchill, the British prime minister who stood up to Adolf Hitler.
But to the outraged, he is not hero of World War II, but an evil bigot and genocidal maniac.
Winston Churchill was a racist
— Gita Jackson: disaster bisexual (@xoxogossipgita) March 5, 2018
Predictably Gary Oldman wins a #BAFTAs for his portrayal of the genocidal racist Winston Churchill. The number of TV shows & films aimed at rehabilitating the British Empire’s war criminals has increased in recent years. Desperate attempt to cling on to their revisionist history.
— Crimes of Britain (@crimesofbrits) February 18, 2018
The 2018 #Oscars will be remembered for honouring a whitewashed biopic of one of the worst racists of the 20th Century – Winston Churchill. A bigot who was ideologically little different from Hitler and who was culpable in the starvation deaths of three million Bengalis.
— Abhinav Agarwal (@AbhinavAgarwal) March 5, 2018
He’s a “journalist.” pic.twitter.com/njfxgXUVE0
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) March 5, 2018
It may come be surprising to some that celebrating Churchill would be so controversial, but here we are. In both America and the United Kingdom, he was seen as a hero who rallied the British nation from near collapse and halted the Nazi onslaught. Without his leadership, the U.K. may have fallen to the Axis and the world would be a very different place.
But those heroic and admirable deeds apparently pale in comparison with Churchill’s “racism” and support for the British Empire. It is true Churchill held views on various people that would make him unemployable in our day and age. Repeating the prime minister’s views on Muslims in his native country today will result in arrest. Seriously.
Churchill was a man of his time and espoused views we would frown upon in our more “enlightened” age. That doesn’t negate the incredible things he did nor make him less worthy of adoration. Saying Churchill is too much of a villain for us to honor means we also have to erase the vast majority of Brits from the early 20th century as well.
It’s not like Churchill was alone in his views. Most Brits of his time were firm believers in the Empire and shared his attitudes toward various groups of people. But under the new standards, we’ll have to nix the film about the brave soldiers who made it off of Dunkirk because some of them probably didn’t like Muslims.
Sadly, Churchill is not alone in coming under these attacks. In America, we see crazed leftists demanding the banishment of our own founding fathers on account of their “racism.”
Thomas Jefferson is a particular favorite of these activists. Universities that host a statue to the man who wrote the Declaration of Independence regularly see the monument vandalized. Professors at the University of Virginia demanding the school’s president stop quoting Jackson, the college’s founder, because it “undermines the message of unity, equality and civility.” (RELATED: Profs Demand University President Stop Quoting Thomas Jefferson At His Own School)
It doesn’t even have to be a slave owner or a Confederate who earns the wrath of the statue removers. A statue dedicated to President William McKinley is set to be torn down in the California town of Arcata because some locals claim his “expansionist” policies were racist.
Subjecting every historical figure to the rigorous standards of contemporary political correctness means the vast majority of Anglo-American heroes will be banished to the dustbin. Abraham Lincoln, George Washington and Dwight Eisenhower — you name a hero and they likely said something that would earn them the dubious racist title today.
No matter how great their achievements. No matter how important they were to their nation or civilization. No matter if they fought the literal Nazis. They can still be cast aside and denounced as vile men if their views run counter to progressive orthodoxy.
What a way to look at history.
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