This is a political essay. If you do not want to read such things, then close out your browser and come back tomorrow. You have been warned.
This isn’t our best. It’s not who we are. I don’t always agree and am often upset with journalists but we are flashing warning lights now that we shouldn’t be flashing. The free press needs to be protected as well as their opinions. That’s why that Amendment was First. https://t.co/6QQhPzK78n
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci)
In an emotional moment during his speech at the Islamic Society of Baltimore on Wednesday, President Obama described the sense of alienation felt by young Muslims in America. “And the notion that they would be filled with doubt,” he said, “questioning their places in this great country of ours ... that’s not who we are.”
Seems everyone is saying these days, people on both sides: "It's not who we are." Every time Trump tweets or says something off script it's someone on the left saying it. He cozies up to White power and calls himself a Nationalist and everyone says that's not who we are. He lets Putin off the hook in Helsinki and they say it again. He separates children from their mothers and decides transgender folks don't exist and they shout it out again. Last week I heard it no less than five times from Al Sharpton to Joe Biden to Anthony Scaramucci. Add historians Jon Meacham and Michael Beschloss and it's damn near unanimous.
It appears an awful lot of people seem to know who we aren't. And if we aren't everything they say we aren't, then why is it that it seems we are? Maybe people are just wishing who we are, instead of understanding what we really are.
Americans come from a long line of haters. We originally hated the Catholics, Irish, Chinese, and anyone else who came into our communities who were different. We hated the Irish but hated darker skinned Irish (Black Irish) even more. We especially hated our home-grown blacks, once they were freed, and were willing to string 'em up to prove it. The irony of it all is that while we hated most immigrants, we were all one once ourselves.
We don't seem to hate Catholics anymore so now we hate the Jews again. We don't hate the Irish anymore so now we hate the Mexicans. We don't hate the Chinese anymore so we'll hate the Muslims. We don't seem to hate gays as much so now we hate trans people. And, mercy, our Pres seems to hate women, too. Just as long as we can keep hating. Never mind that immigrants always assimilate in one to three generations, cause no social upheaval, at least no more than the rest of us, but we still don't trust their evil foreign ways.
Hate. Hate and fear. We finally have a president who brings it out of the closet, or woodshed, or torture chamber, wherever these things are usually kept. Past presidents have foolishly tried to bring us together, heal our wounds, soothe our apprehensions, tell us we are great and that our future is bright and gilded in gold. Bush told us after 9/11 we would rebuild. Obama sang Amazing Grace after the Charleston church shooting, and openly wept after Sandy Hook. Reagan brought us to our knees after Challenger. But now, finally, we have a president who sees what we really are: small, stupid, timid, fearful haters. None of this shining city on a hill stuff - the barbarians are at the gates and we will fire at the first rock thrown by a 10 year old.
Fear, hate, ignorance, fake news, ultra right, ultra left, beat 'em up, enemies of the people, Helsinki, "blacks are too stupid to vote for me", eleven dead in Jewish synagogue but I had a bad hair day, "I tell the truth when I can", "I'm a Nationalist"; it is finally an America that has stripped the veneer off the pressed plywood, to show us what we really are.
The carnival barker knows a shill when he see one. He goes to rallies and those smiling, "lock-em-up" chanters behind him worship his every unscripted word dripping with venom, poison and hate. This president hates blacks, women, a free press, tells us he is a stable genius, and we clap for more.
We cozy up to the perversion propaganda of Fox News, accept the latest in a thousands-so-far pathological lie from the Oval office, go about our daily lives with the circus of indictments from the swamp that was supposed to be drained. We sell our souls for tribe - America The Idea be damned. Where is the infrastructure? Where is the healthcare system? Where is the world moral leadership? Where is the living wage? But that's all OK, we got an extra 40 bucks in our paychecks. And more yet to come. We are only half way done with the first term. There will be a second term. Because this is who we are.
"Americans don’t need an education. They need a
quickening of the spirit. A cleansing of their collective soul. Nobody
has ever successfully grown a magnificent tree by continually digging up
its roots. Trees do not grow well in toxic air, they need space, gentle
rain, and warm sunlight to reach their full potential. Without all
three they become stunted and finally in silence they weep and die."
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Mike Blythe
Editor, Staff, and Poop Picker Upper for Existing In BFE
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