'The Trump Effect' -- from Burns, Oregon, to Oregon Ave.

Before grabbing their assault rifles and heading off toward the wilderness to begin a possible suicide mission, several of the terrorists took part in the 21st Century ritual of filming so-called "goodbye videos," explaining to the world and their loved ones why they did what they did.  "I am 100 percent willing to lay my life down to defend against tyranny...," one declared, looking directly into the camera. The man added: "To my family, just know that I stood for something. Don't let it be in vain. I love you."

This wasn't the latest jihadi plot from  ISIS, or al-Qaeda. In fact, the online wags are calling them "Y'all-Qaeda"...or "Vanilla ISIS," taking part in a "YeeHawd" against the United States government. I'm talking about the armed goons up in Oregon who see themselves as some kind of patriotic militia -- maybe 150 of them, or maybe a dozen, probably closer to the latter. This weekend the group, linked to three sons of the anti-government Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, took over a federal facility (OK, it looks like a glorified highway rest stop, but still...), the headquarters of a national wildlife refuge in south-central Oregon. Some have threatened to stay their, Alamo-like, until their death of a tyrannical government.

On one hand, the whole thing is a freakin' joke -- half-wits with an insane hatred of the federal government (at least when there's a Democrat in the White House) and a few AK-47s play-acting as right-wing revolutionaries, showing their might by taking over an unknown bird refuge that's closed on the weekends. (This ain't the Bastille.) Although it's impossible to predict how these things play out, my guess is that it's less likely the next Waco or Ruby Ridge and more likely that the Fabulous Bundy Boys and their thugs go home when their last bag of Doritos and supply of Bud Light is exhausted.

On the other hand, the armed takeover that Twitter initially dubbed, only half ironically, #OregonUnderAttack managed to strike a whole bundle of jangled nerves in jittery 2016 America at the same time. For one thing, it was impossible to watch the government's seeming nonchalance at the armed takeover of one of its facilities and not contrast it with the armored personnel carriers, trained machine guns and other firepower that met black protesters in Ferguson and elsewhere. Or to watch the media's nonchalance (hard not to use the same word twice here) and recall the frenetic coverage at even the slightest hint of a different breed of terrorist -- the darker-skinned Muslim kind -- including the infamous breaking news alert for a supposed ISIS flag at a London gay pride parade that instead was a depiction of sex toys.

But I think there's something else ratcheting up the anxiety level in the news reports coming from rural Burns, Oregon -- and it's what we've been talking about here for the last six months: "The Trump Effect" in modern American politics. It's not so much that Donald Trump and his front-running, hate-mongering GOP presidential candidacy created the odious likes of the Bundy clan and their followers -- they existed long before the short-fingered vulgarian threw his "Make America Great Again" hat into the ring.

However, there's a vicious and un-virtuous downward spiral taking place. Hate groups like the self-styled Oregon militiamen are renewed and energized by the growing mainstreaming of Trump and his quasi-fascist crusade against Mexicans, against Muslims, and against all other "Others" as seen nightly on nationwide TV. That energy, of course, inspires Trump to say more outrageous things, which empowers right-wing extremists even further, until their bizarre armed counter-revolution seems almost logical. (And the ties between Trump and this far right are real; one of the activists who "defended" Bundy's ranch from federal agents in 2014 now heads Veterans for Trump in New Hampshire.)

The mess in Oregon is "The Trump Effect" writ large -- but there's something slightly more subtle going on: The slide into hurtful and often hateful speech and actions in everyday life. The so-called "war on political correctness" has been underway for years, but the more that Trump gets away with calling Mexican migrants "rapists" or sweeping generalizations about Muslims, the closer we are to "normalizing" hurtful comments in the alleged name of free speech.

Which brings us to Friday's Mummers Parade in Philadelphia.

In the ethnic and racial stew that is the City of Brotherly Love, the New Year's Day parade, birthed from white working-class mayhem in the at the turn of the last century, has always been a flashpoint. When you think about older traditions like blackface -- banned (athough not always effectively) after a contentious civil rights battle in the 1960s -- it's hard to say that the 2016 Mummers Parade was "the worst." It probably wasn't. But it was a big embarassment -- to both the Mummers and to Philadelphia, which continues to showcase and promote the parade at the same time that it markets itself as an inclusive and modern world-class city.

A lot of the focus has been on the "viral video" of one particular marcher from the Finnegan New Year's Brigade and his rant against gays -- he's now been banned from Mummery (who knew that could happen?) -- but it really runs deeper  than that. The entire Finnegan routine based around Caityn Jenner was an insult to trangendered people everywhere. Strutters in brownface engaging in stereotypes of Mexicans. More belittling of the #BlackLivesMatter movement for social justice. Worst of all, a gay man claims he was physically attacked by a group of Mummers (although he did not press charges.) And I can't help wonder if it's a coincidence that so much nonsense occurred in the extended "Summer of Trump."

Look, it should be clear that even when you add up all this ridiculous nonsense, you're talking a small minority of the thousands of good Greater Philadelphians who work hard all year on putting on a good show and who incorporate the best of Mummery with deep and sincere values of family and community. On the other hand, it's also more serious than just "one or two bad apples." And in modern day lingo, the Philadelphia "brand" was serious tarnished this weekend by these stunts -- and that's bad for all of us.

It would be more than silly to declare, "It's time to end the Mummers!," or urge the city to withdraw any financial or moral support for the event. And even the calls for things like a special "Mummers Court: (although I hear that Seamus McCaffery of the former Eagles Court has some free time these days) are a bit much. "The war on political correctness" may be overhyped, but a war against free speech and free expression can be dangerous. Too many folks -- including folks I tend to agree with on a slew of other progressive causes -- are too quick these days to want to shut down expression. That's a form of censorship, and it's wrong.

But there's something that's just as valuable in a free society as the right of free speech -- and that's a fervent desire to respect and even love other people, even...no, especially...people who are different from us. That shouldn't have to be forced on people. That should be just humane common sense. In the immediate aftermath of the 2016 Mummers semi-fiasco, my hope was that the Mummers would be finally motivated to fix these problems themselves -- without City Hall or some obnoxious blogger telling them what to do. Remarkably, there are signs of exactly that -- talk of among the Mummers' leadership of real steps for 2017 and beyond to make sure that Mummers routines will, on a most basic level, not needlessly offend people.

Was that really so hard? I'm rooting for the Mummers in 2017, to show that it's possible to wear your colors and fight for what you believe while also showing basic human respect -- and never through ridicule, hate, or the threat of violence.

Now, how can we get that message out to Burns, Oregon -- or to the podium of a certain presidential candidate?