CommentsMY TURN-I suppose the real question to ask is whether America was ever not broken?
We are raised with the love of country and so many extolling the benefits of the land that we were born in. Praises for the United States begin flowing from the moment we take our first breathe and it seems that the history books continue to dilute all of the errors, horrors, mistakes and tragedies that are part of our past. For years, marketing and advertising presented only the perfect white families with 2.5 children and cookie cutter houses that looked so much alike, you couldn’t find any unique qualities except the address number. This formula took a distinct turn when the propaganda channel of “Fox” was introduced. It allowed the final touch to a mentality that was ready to be pushed over the edge.
Many have compared the success of the United States to that of the Roman Empire. Both wielded power in a method that had not been foreseen and both became world domineering. Perspective depends upon whose eyes you are looking through. For some, the U.S. has been a profiteering organism, preying on the weak and using the guise of help and assistance to drain other countries. For others, America has been a beacon of hope, bringing help to those in need and building strong alliances along the way.
The strength of America has always been embedded in our incredible diversity. People that arrived from other countries brought their cultures as well as their work ethics with them and it is in this arena that we have empowered the previously powerless to expand, grow and succeed. This is not to say that the underlying prejudice didn’t exist. From the era of slaves to the influx of low income Europeans, there was a constant flow of bigotry that included the Irish, Asians, Italians, Polish, Germans, etc. It only took two generations of those that were discriminated against to become the discriminators; and it appears that no lessons were learned. Today it is anyone with slightly darker skin, Hispanics and Middle Easterners are the focus of the rage and hate. No matter what the stats show, the “white Americans” have been brainwashed to believe that these are the people taking their jobs, harming their communities and hurting the economy. The fact checkers continue to try to release the real truth, but the conservatives don’t want to hear it — you see, it doesn’t validate their bigotry and hate, and they have a “need” to blame others.
We have returned to an attitude of the past when Native Americans and Black Americans were viewed as barbarians and there was shame to make the claim that they were part of your personal background. Instead of embracing the differences to allow everyone to grow, America has become a cloistered, paranoid and propaganda-filled nation, suspicious of anyone that is “different”. The world is looking on in horror and many are predicting that the United States has created their own final destruction.
Fascism in Amerikkka
Fascist dictators have happened throughout history and for anyone that has had a good education on the topic, they may recognize the characteristics that are shared. I wrote a 3-part series identifying the behaviors of the past in my articles: “Is the Trump Administration a Fascist Regime?” This is the first time in the process of America that any election was influenced, any so-called “leader” based winning on an agenda of hate, racism, bigotry and sexism, and that any administration was supported by individuals in a party whose sole agenda is to perpetuate this hate to accomplish their own profiteering. There are 14 characteristics of fascism and both Trump and the GOP have embraced them all.
Blame for the entrance of fascism encompasses a wide swath: from Democrats too lazy to vote, those that wanted someone else to be their candidate, white supremacists who finally found someone like Trump to address their hatred for anyone other than “white people”, left wing extremists that are willing to stomp their feet if they don’t get their way, propaganda channels such as “Fox” who had unfettered abilities to brainwash, and other real news channels that allowed Trump to have a platform so that they could get better ratings (and profit). Combine this with years of voter gerrymandering by the Republicans and when we look back, we can see that had we opened our eyes we would have seen this coming.
I am thankful to have had parents that continually informed us of the devastation that happened in Germany during Hitler’s reign. Every day I recognize the benefit that our school system gave to us when they played documentaries on the Holocaust, including how it began and spread. This is apparently something that the TrumpTrolls missed out on, although my personal opinion is that they lack education on a number of levels. Hitler began with a baseline of propaganda that included a requirement that “Christianity” was the only true religion. He then expanded on that to accuse the Jews of crimes that they didn’t commit. But when hate bubbles up, one group isn’t enough, and so he and his supporters continued in their attacks on gypsies, intellects, professors, and eventually the news media that disagreed with him. “Lugenpresse” (lying press) became their rallying cry, with an eventual results of complete government control over all media.
Most people don’t even know that the “Swastika” was chosen by Hitler as a symbol because it was on the building of the Catholic Church that he attended as a child. The Swastika was once a Sanskrit symbol of “good fortune,” used by Eastern and Southeastern Asians in the religions of: Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Under Hitler’s rule, this symbol has become one of hatred, covered in the blood of millions and will forever be associated with the insanity of one man and all of those that followed and supported him.
Trump has very few talents and even his former professors indicated that he was lazy, arrogant and not very smart. However, he had the backing of a lot of money and in this he developed a talent of con man lying. He made use of the family name to steal from others telling lies at every turn. This was a survival tactic that worked, and it was also used by other fascists. In an interview, his ex-wife, Ivana, said that Trump kept a copy of Hitler’s books by the bedside. He recognized that both he and Hitler had a lot in common in that they could dupe the people and he used the same tactics as Hitler to brainwash those that were stupid, ignorant and filled with hate.
When Kindness Is Seen as a Sign of Weakness
I have worked in Asia and one of the situations that surprised me was that many people around the world viewed Americans as incredibly kind. There were situations where they actually held the United States on a pedestal, making comments about the perfection of our history and the beauty of the people that lived here, while demeaning their own countries. I quickly straightened them out, because falsehoods gain no glory. I informed them of our own horrid past. The treatment of Black slaves, Native Americans, immigrants and even turning away those trying to seek sanctuary from governments that would kill them and their families. Truth needs to be exposed in both the positive and the negative so that it achieves a balance.
If you talk to any of the TrumpTroll supporters, you will find that there seems to be a single stream of conscious rhetoric. They believe that when President Obama coordinated agreements to achieve world community participation, that he was being “weak.” There is a constant spewing of hate which is based merely on the fact that he was Black (but they won’t admit it) and this is validated by those at Fox whose insiders are fully aware that their channel is solely designed as a propaganda machine. In their eyes, Trump, in all his BS and bluster, who has accomplished nothing, failed at everything and is viewed as an idiot by the rest of the world, is indeed a “good leader.” They don’t care that President Obama is considered to be one of the most respected Presidents of our country, that he brought the U.S. out of a Republican-caused recession that threatened to destroy our very existence and that while strong, he also holds an incredible level of kindness blended with intelligence. These are characteristics that Trump not only doesn’t have, but that he is vastly jealous of Obama for his dignity.
The followers of Trump and the conservatives are no different than those in Germany that supported the roundup of families, including children to place them in camps and then eventually result in the slaughter of millions. Conservatives are getting filtered information from a channel (Fox) that has already been proven by the experts to only report around 18% truth. That’s the reason it is registered as an “entertainment channel” and not a news reporting source. But here’s the thing that didn’t make sense in Germany and makes no sense now. The supporters of both Hitler and Trump base their belief system on Christianity, and yet have twisted it to exclude all the main philosophies that Christianity is founded on. They have bastardized the religion, twisted it to meet their prejudice and hate-filled needs and then proudly prance around with hyper-nationalistic actions, waving the flag and spitting on anyone that is different than they are. Their extremist views are such that even when presented with facts, they refuse to believe them because to do so would undermine the very essence of their hate-filled existence.
This is one of the reasons that the conservatives, specifically TrumpTrolls, are not only validating the capture, imprisonment and torture of immigrant children but also trying to make sure that everyone thinks it is confirmed as part of their religion.
These actions and words are no different than the Nazis, and if they had received education on history, they would have known this.
Conservatives Think Liberals Shouldn’t Fight Back…They are Wrong
One of the most ironic comments that I have repetitively heard is that when backed into a wall to view the absolutely disgusting behavior of the conservatives, the resulting statement is “I am sick of both parties.” Liberals have been beaten down, lied about and, in the case of JFK, Martin Luther King, Jr and even Bobby Kennedy, shot and killed for their beliefs. However, according to conservatives, liberals aren’t allowed to fight back. It’s then that the self-righteous right begins to whine about “tolerance”; a word that they obviously don’t understand.
Tolerance does not mean accepting rhetoric and actions that are filled with hate and prejudice. End of story. We may agree to disagree, but liberals will not stand by to see others destroyed simply because the conservatives think they should be.
We, the liberals that brought the country so many of the benefits that all enjoy, are for “we the people” and we will not be silent, and we are fighting back. The conservatives are so wrapped up in the daily distractions and extreme behavior of Trump, that they aren’t even seeing that we are moving toward a Blue Wave. Nov. 2016 election was just a sample of what is coming, and the Republicans know it. There are so few Repubs signed up for re-election that it has set a precedence; while the sheer volume of Democrats running for office and winning, is shockingly apparent.
It is up to each one of us to not only stand up to the monsters in this administration, but to see that all of the loopholes are closed and that there are consequences for the illegal activities that the Republicans have allowed Trump and his family to achieve. Had this been a Democrat, the conservatives would have been running down the streets screaming and pulling their hair out, with impeachment actions taken.
Liberals have given up trying to educate the conservatives and the TrumpTrolls. They live in an existence of their own cloistered creation; thumping their Bibles, praising Jesus and supporting genocide. It’s time to take the reins and realign a country that has been broken to the core. We will probably experience another Republican caused recession and we have lost the respect of the world; but the time is now to show that a majority of the country does not agree with the dictator tactics and to begin the process of putting the country back together again.
(S. Novi is a journalist that worked in the media and continues to seek out truth and integrity. A liberal and one that is suspicious of cults and empty promises.) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
