Over 650,000 dead. More dying every day. You’ve been at war for years, but nothing is happening except more death. One man decides to make the war end by sheer force. Pulling together the troops he commands, he starts marching across the country through enemy territory towards their capital, setting fire to anything in their way, slaughtering thousands of enemy forces until they are forced into submission and surrender. Is this the act of a hero, or a monster? This war actually was called the Civil War. You may have heard of it. It was intended to bring equality to America, but after Sherman’s March, the South’s hatred only grew, inevitably failing to make slaves equals in the eyes of half of the country. Even though many argue that violence is necessary to make a movement successful, it is human nature to corrupt equality movements with vengeance because we want to see our oppressors pay, suffer, and submit.

Feminism is a perfect example of a movement intended to promote equality that has begun breeding hate, division, and revenge. “The current rendition of ‘feminism’ will never get us there. The construct is divisive, proactively exclusionary and openly hostile toward women of different ideologies. Achieving gender equality is impossible in a framework where some women are viewed as less equal” (Valenti). Part of the issue is American politics. Valenti also states in her article how, during the democratic primary a few years ago, “feminist icons and leaders of mainstream women's organizations insisted that the only acceptable vote was for Hillary Clinton”. After Clinton lost, the conservative politician Sarah Palin received support from the same organizations that began claiming that she was a feminist based solely on her gender. This is how the GOP managed to get women’s votes for subjects they were against. This kind of manipulation demonstrates the flaws and weaknesses of the state Feminism is in. By focusing on pushing everything “woman,” the movement lost sight of equality, pushing away anyone with different views and inevitably labeling all women running for office as feminist, regardless of their values. The movement turned from pushing women's equality to simply pushing women because voting for a man was “hypocrisy”. This is just one of the many examples throughout our history where we forfeit our ideals for progress.

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is another movement that is becoming increasingly hateful and dangerous. I would like to start this segment with stating that I recognize the severity of oppression towards the people of color in our country, and am in no way justifying this action, but I also cannot justify this group’s reaction. The movement has recently begun wearing T-shirts that read  "Assata Taught Me” (Exposing The Black Lives Matter Movement, Pavlich). These shirts are referring to a woman named Assata Shakur who killed a police officer and fled as a fugitive to Cuba. Protestors from the BLM group, after denying a resolution by the Democratic National Committee, marched down the streets of Minneapolis chanting “Pigs in a blanket, fry ‘em like bacon,” referring to the dead police officers, who were shot while eating lunch in their patrol cars, in body bags (Pavlich). This shooting, and several others of its kind, are blatant acts of revenge carried out in “honor” of the people of color gunned down by the police force. There is no effort to find a resolve. In fact, as stated above, this movement has refused a resolution, making their intent clear. This movement has become the fist of revenge and hate, instead of the hand of peace and equality it was intended to be.

This is a problem deeply rooted in our history, which seems to be exposed the most during the Civil War. The literal movement of General Sherman’s March is a perfect example. During the march, Sherman gave the order that, in the event that they should encounter any interruption in their progress as a result of enemy forces, they should “...order and enforce a devastation more or less relentless according to the measure of such hostility” ("Sherman's March to the Sea"). His army cut off and destroyed locomotive supply lines into the cities they invaded and burned most of them to the ground behind them. In fact, they kept a trail burning behind them constantly before they attacked so that all of the enemy forces were frantically trying to save their homes and land instead of fighting them. From a war perspective, this was a brilliant move, minimizing the amount of lives lost and time and resources wasted, since his men were foraging off of the towns they pillaged. However, this march absolutely decimated the South, ensuring that although the confederacy was broken, their hatred grew immensely, which no doubt made it virtually impossible for Southerners to accept the newly freed slaves as equals. Forcing the enemy into submission only forced them into spite.  

Many would argue that all of the movements and actions I’ve mentioned so far have been successful and have taken the best course of action. While it is true that both Feminism and BLM have made significant progress towards their goals and General Sherman’s strategy brilliantly ended the war, the long-term consequences negate these initial victories. Women and men are being excluded and ridiculed for not conforming to the standard ideals. Political parties are using female candidates as a way to ensure women’s votes, regardless of what they’re pushing. Police officers are being gunned down while eating lunch. Whole cities engulfed in flames and blood. Yes, they are effective, but once an idea becomes a movement, all that matters and all that pushes the movement by definition, is progress. Once we are concerned solely with progress, people become an obstacle.

We need to change the way we effect change in our country. Movements inherently become corrupt with emotions over ideals. We don’t need movements to try and force everyone to have a certain mindset, it should be expected that everyone who lives in our country of freedom and equality live up to it’s moral standards. There needs to be absolution. We as citizens of a free nation cannot just let this or that slide. We cannot be a nation of dangerous and uncontrollable tidal waves. There should be a system that shuts down unnecessary social conflict when it arises, expects that the people are fit to live peacefully with one another within our own borders, and punishes those who can’t. A system that the people enforce in our own communities. If we could keep each other accountable, it would be one step closer to keeping each other honest. This is not denial of freedom, this is the upholding of justice, which protects our freedom. We should have a President who can control a lone General who’s a little impatient. We should have a president who lets the Confederacy secede if they can’t live under our standards and uphold our constitution. But more importantly, we should have a society that can find a better solution to the controversy of slavery than all out war.

Works Cited
Pavlich, Katie. "Exposing The Black Lives Matter Movement For What It Is: Promotion of Cop Killing." Townhall.com. N.p., 2 Sept. 2015. Web. 9 Nov. 2015. .
"Sherman's March to the Sea." wikipedia.com. N.p., 13 Nov. 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015. .
Siskind, Amy. "Feminism Should Be Replaced by an Inclusive Movement Promoting Women's Causes."Feminism. Ed. Nancy Dziedzic. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Why the 'Pro-Women' Movement Should and Will Replace Feminism." The New Agenda. 2010.Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.

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Valenti, Jessica. "Feminism Should Expand and Emphasize Social Justice Rather than Gender Politics."Feminism. Ed. Nancy Dziedzic. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Who Stole Feminism?" The Nation (29 Sept. 2010). Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 13 Nov. 2015.
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