Sunday, March 17, 2019

Racism and Islamophobia On The Rise- Why?

Over the last few days, multiple incidents of racism have been in the news, as well as two terrorist attacks on mosques in New Zealand:

https://utahjazzmafia.com/2019/03/14/utah-jazz-fan-allegedly-tells-russell-westbrook-to-get-down-on-his-knees-like-he-use-to/
http://www.freedomofspeechtwentyfirstcentury.com/2019/03/white-idiot-basketball-fan-who-shouted.html?view=mosaic
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2019/03/15/utah-jazz-owner-backs-russell-westbrook-tells-fans-we-are-not-racist-community/?utm_term=.cc36888472a2
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26273966/report-jazz-ban-2nd-fan-called-westbrook-boy
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/15/asia/new-zealand-christchurch-attack-what-we-know-intl/index.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/zealand-mosques-attack-suspect-praised-trump-manifesto-190315100143150.html

A common theme in these incidents? Embracing Donald Trump.

The fan who told Russell Westbrook to "bow down on his knees" used the hashtag "MAGA" on his twitter, and the New Zealand mosque shooter praised Trump in a manifesto. These incidents, along with a series of mysterious bomb packages mailed to notable liberals before the midterm elections last year (https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/24/us/bomb-packages-timelime/index.html), have been part of an increase of racism and hate, that have escalated ever since the rise and presidency of Donald Trump. Is this all a coincidence?

Nope.

Trump, in his campaign, used nationalism in order to win over conservative voters, who are dominant in more rural areas of the country, such as Utah and the southern states. Racism has had a dominant history in these rural areas, as it was prevalent in the southern states until the rise of Malcolm X and Martin Luther king Jr. in the 1960s. Since then, racism and hate has for the most part been dormant ever since then, until Trump. Did Trump make these people suddenly become racist again?

No!

To put it mildly, the only reason these hate crimes have increased during the last few years is because Trump made it "cool" to be racist again. Under Obama, Clinton, and Bush, these people would have been condemned for their country-dividing actions, whereas with Trump they don't get condemned at all. In other words, these people are cowards. And let's be honest, Muslims and people of color are NOT the real enemy; that is only a smokescreen used to hide the real enemy, which isn't too secret at all:

The 1%.

The wealthiest Americans bribe our elected officials to vote on their behalf at the expense of the rest of us. This has gone on for the longest time, and many of us have caught on already. Out of fear of losing their power, Trump and the GOP have made an attempt to distract us from this by painting these "other" people as our enemies: blacks, Hispanics, Muslims, LGBT, etc., while the rich continue to get richer. While all this nationalism has been going on, Trump signed a HUGE tax cut for the wealthy in late 2017, and I have no idea why these people haven't taken out their frustrations on THAT instead of on these "other people". Yes, "blue" states, such as the coastal states, the northeast, and the Great Lakes area, are known for their higher taxes, but these taxes are mainly used for GOOD purposes, such as helping out the poor, fixing roads and highways, improving public transportation, investing in green energy and solar panels, etc. rather than being used as corporate welfare, and the "red" states are notorious for their low minimum wages compared to their "blue" counterparts. Taxes may be lower there, but progressive taxation is a GOOD thing. Throughout the years, it has been the Democratic presidents that have left the country in a better place than it was when they came in, as the economy was booming throughout Clinton's presidency and Obama improved the economy tremendously despite the GOP congress trying to block any positive change. Reagan and Bush both left with the country in recession and Trump will likely do the same with his tax cuts for the wealthy as well as the tariffs he implemented, unless he gets forced out early because of the Mueller Investigation. These people view taxes as excessive government intervention into their personal lives, but they are necessary. "Trickle down" economics has proven to be a failure time and time again, yet it continues to be implemented by the Republican Party because of the stronghold their donors have on them.In order to distract the public, the GOP has implemented wars and nationalism in order to distract us from this, as the Reagan and Bush eras were known for their wars and the Trump regime will likely be known in history for making racism "cool" again.

How do we stop this?

It isn't easy, but it can be done. First off, we need to remember that whatever our skin color, beliefs, sexual orientation, etc. is, that we all came from the same place. I am of the belief that there is one higher power, and this is shown by how astrology is so accurate in terms of defining people's individual and generational personalities. Despite the differences we all have on the outside, notice the color of your blood: it's red. Every human on earth has red blood, so why don't we focus on THAT instead? Also, we need to realize that while we all have our own differences, wouldn't it be really boring if EVERYBODY was the same? Different cultures, customs, ways of life, etc. are what make the world such an interesting and fascinating place, at least to me! To make it simple, we need to EMBRACE our differences, as there are WAY more of us "little people" than there are of the politicians and oligarchs who oppress us for their own personal gain. We need more of this:


And less of this:


No comments:

Post a Comment