Thursday, July 21, 2016

Donald Trump's America - Arrogant Ignorance

I often lament the state of affairs in American society today and make the case that much of the toxicity and poisonous atmosphere is due to the right wing politicians and the Christofascists and white supremacists.  Worse yet, when these individuals are not busy disseminating hate and discord, they are focused on embracing ignorance and undermining safety regulations, employment protections and addressing growing problems such as global warming.  Hatred, bigotry and the celebratory embrace of ignorance are the hallmarks of these people and groups which have found their personification in Donald Trump. Facebook friend Brody Levesque has a piece at  The New Civil Rights Movement that lays out this menace Trump and his followers pose to America.  Here are excerpts: 
The past month or so has been especially bloody between the slaughter of innocents at the Pulse nightclub, the murders –  actually summary executions of unarmed Black men by law enforcement in extremely questionable circumstances – to the homicides of police officers in Dallas, Texas, and then Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The problem, however, is that these acts of violence very much are the current reflection of reality of life today in the United States.
Contemporary society of the United States is in deep trouble; it is unsafe and discriminatory (read: racist/misogynistic/homophobic/xenophobic.) It is awash in a virtual ocean of guns, most of which have no business being in the hands of civilians or law enforcement alike. The deep divisions that now exist in terms of economic, political, and religious status are propelled by well funded minority "family" or religious groups tied to the American right/conservative-Christian movement, threatening to undo any real form of progress forward for the American way of life, especially on so-called "cultural issues."
President Barack Obama has attempted to be a voice of reason as he asks Americans to pull together and make an effort to stop the violence, saying that such violence is not the American way nor reflects American values as a nation.
The President's efforts have been met by the right-wing with accusations that his actions and speeches actually foment the violence, and those in opposition blame him personally. Of course in Washington it is a rarely acknowledged open secret that a majority of the President's right-wing opposition – read: Republican – are angry that he is even sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office in the first place. They'd rather he were wearing white gloves, a snazzy formal tux, and was standing next to the desk while serving a white guy seated behind it.
The so-called cultural wars have now turned from rhetorical into actual combat. . . . . [the] reality is that the right-wing, supported by radical Christian fundamentalists, have over the past 45 or so years not only accumulated vast political power, but additionally have succeeded in holding the American governmental system at local, state, and federal levels hostage to their narrow vision. This vision, this divisiveness as evidenced by the total lack of legislative work product out of Washington to address the issues that plague everyday Americans, has now completely paralyzed the federal government.
The Christian right-wing's taking control at a local level of school boards, governments, and statehouses over the past forty years, along with their marriage to the Republican party, has created a state of erosion of the American educational system. This in turn has created a scenario where ignorance in key critical areas of sciences and civics has primarily contributed to the national state of arrogant ignorance. It has also led to a sense of meaningless hyper partisan religious centric ideology which has devolved governing into a state of inaction and hyper-gridlock.
While the United States may have fought a bloody civil war in the mid-nineteenth century to end slavery, it has never shook off its problem with its embedded racism. These days, fueled by recent acts of terrorism and abetted by that same so-called Christian ideology that literally affirmed biblical approval for slavery over a century ago, has now given arise in a resurgence xenophobia, which previously included Irish, then Chinese, and Italian, now lashes out at Muslims, and others of color in particular who don't fit the “ideal” model of what is deemed "American."
These worst traits have been embodied and personified in the Republican nominee in the presidential race, Donald Trump, whose public statements reflect this sorry state of affairs. From immigrants to women's rights to Muslims, Trump has unashamedly and unrepentantly bashed them all.
Of course it is more than just an issue of racism. The right-wing have also demonised women's choices over their own bodies and reproductive health issues, as well as targeting LGBTQ persons by categorising them as little more than deviant and pedophiles – sinners who merit only damnation, judgment, and ostracism by the "acceptable proper Christian society" and culture that upholds "true American values." The right-wing's open warfare waged on the American transgender community and its allies claims that they are upholding true Christian values, American values, against the "predators" that, supposedly, are the transgender persons. 
This whites only, Christian only, privileged thinking is further aided by a complacent and sometimes active co-conspirator/partner in the form of the right wing media, particularly Rupert Murdoch's Fox News Corporation. 
Columnist and political pundit Andrew Sullivan summed up Monday evening's RNC: 
The degeneracy of conservatism – its descent into literally mindless appeals to tribalism and fear and hatred – was on full display. You might also say the same about the religious right, the members of whom have eagerly embraced a racist, a nativist, a believer in war crimes, and a lover of the tyrants that conservatism once defined itself against. Their movement long lost any claim to a serious Christian conscience. But that they would so readily embrace such an unreconstructed pagan is indeed a revelation.
The problem is that as a whole, it seems that Americans are loathe to confront their demons, especially the grand daddy of them all: religious influence. While the First Amendment grants "freedom of religion," it also grants freedom FROM religion and the unholy marriage of the Christian right to the American body politic needs to have a divorce.
Americans need to confront the fact that white privilege exists, it is a reality, and it has no place in modern society. Americans need to wrap their arms around the fact that like in the other species that inhabit this planet, there are variants and natural occurrences and that human beings who are LGBTQ are just that; human beings. Americans need to recognise that the United States by no means is the "superior" culture and society in the global community.
Finally, Americans need to reevaluate a political process that allows a person like Donald Trump to even be considered as a viable candidate for the Office of President of the United States.

Very well said!

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