After my 2 year hiatus from posting on Facebook (including anything political), I have come to contemplate my Grandparents in Europe during the 1930s and 40s. They were Jewish. They were in Europe. They were loving, productive members of their society with a farm and then a business. Then, overnight, they were denigrated, enslaved, and worse. In recent times, my thoughts have turned to the millions of people who silently accepted it back then. I optimistically believe that the vast majority of them didn’t specifically want harm to come to other human beings, and that the actual terror was led by a small, loud, nationalistic group. Those others were just too focused on their own thoughts, businesses, and families to be bothered by the human denigration that didn’t directly affect them.
In America today:
Groups of neo-Nazis are very publicly marching literally chanting for my death. The President, and people surrounding him, have been unable to stand up with a clear voice to say that unequivocally, our lives shouldn’t be threatened.
Whether or not there were prior issues in Puerto Rico, the litany of Federal decisions to hamper the saving of lives goes without question. These same decisions, by the way, were polar opposites when predominantly White folks of Texas were involved. Months later, the only public comment is the concern that Puerto Rico produces IV bags for many mainland hospitals. People are still dying there, and this is the response?
The mocking of persons who were born with disabilities is grotesque. It was made only worse by laughing of Trump supporters or “crickets” of others that just didn’t care enough about other human beings. From the campaign trail to today, individuals who are different and believe different things get mocked. The basis of our society is that we get to be different
The castigation of an entire group of people currently serving in the military by an informal text message should have sent shivers down the spine of hundreds of millions of people. After years of commitment, training, and dedication to defend our country, the flippant dismissal by Trump had a surprisingly muted response.
These few examples of a much wider spectrum speak to the regime’s dismissal of individual differences and a fundamental attack on rights of humans to live their lives free of torment. I’m not claiming our Nation has become a bastion of gas chambers. But this is the same mantra that those “silent Europeans” accepted in the 1930s and 40s while my grandparents were singled out for discrimination.
And today’s people:
I have relatives who supports Trump because he wants complete freedom of access to recreational guns, and was afraid a Democrat (who have never had a national policy position to outlaw personal guns) might intrude. While they’ve taken the time to strongly talk about his need to keep access to guns, they have not once stood up and publicly denounced the act of *mocking* someone with a born handicap.
I have a former Civil Air Patrol colleague that wrote a very eloquent post explaining his opposition to NFL players kneeling based on his military service. While I disagree with him on this issue, it was well argued, and clearly he took much time to develop it. However, I noticed, looking at his prior posts that he hadn’t once….not a single other time….made mention of the awful Presidential castigation of military servicemen. Trump has lampooned vindictives at Senators who formerly served, about their service. If you point-blank ask him, I’m sure he’d agree on every one of those issues. But he took the time to write a very eloquent pieces about standing for the anthem, and wasn’t bothered to post 10 seconds about anything else…because although he might agree, he just didn’t really care that much about others.
I have never had any opportunity to call entire country a “sh*th*le” nor an entire group of people rapists and thieves. I did notice, however, that while all these “concerned Americans” chanted loudly when a Muslim terrorist was captured, not one single of those people made a peep when a White person was caught in an airport doing exactly the same thing. No good person likes to think they are racist in today’s society, but I’ve got to believe 70 years ago, many Germans didn’t like to think they were racists either. 11 million people died.
While our Nation hasn’t become a center of public genocide, it’s a given that we now have a Nation with leaders that are far more willing to denigrate those who are different, mock those born with disabilities, and castigate anyone that is viewed as inferior. It saddens me that these people, all well-educated, eloquent, and individuals I previously had respect for, have invested their time and energy in areas that support the regime at the expense of others.
I write this as many are sounding the alarm that our Government is shuttered. Many people I know and consider friends are trying to “lecture liberals” about the importance of funding the Government. That is, after 100+ days that they didn’t care CHIP wasn’t being voted on, or 3 months after random people were literally being picked up on the street. So focused on the plot line that liberals aren’t allowing the Government to function, that they’ve ignored both the last 100 days when compromise was at hand… and the last 400+ days where rhetoric beating the most vulnerable of us (including myself) just didn’t matter so much.
My relatives and friends will all sleep well in their beds tonight secure in having taken a position on issues they feel is important. At the same time, Heather Heyer’s parents will never have their daughter at their dinner table ever again. Don’t let those words slip by too quickly. Two parents will *never* have their daughter at the dinner table again.
I’m not sure I can look these folks in the eye, even when they explain their deep detest for these types of grotesque behavior, because in reality, they don’t detest it “that much.” When they use their time, money, and efforts to support Trump’s gun views, flag views, or economic views instead of speaking forcefully about human beings, I can’t stop thinking of my grandparents and what life became.
Entrenched racism and genocide didn’t start with 11 million people magically dying in one night. It began as a series of steps where seemingly reasonable people, each day, went on with their lives supporting beliefs that the “ends justified the means.”
Two years I have been off Facebook. A question is always asked “what is your redline” to stand up publicly.