Many wonder how can regular, everyday people (if there is such a thing), seemingly good at heart, friendly, kind people, many beneficiaries of all the Government can do to support its citizens, from Police and Fire Departments to Medicare, fall for the right wing trap that Donald J. Trump laid for them, at the behest of a higher power. How can these people, many of them our neighbors, endorse such hate, such inhumanity, when we have watched them behave like decent human beings for years?
It has always been an enigma, the fact that so many people support the GOP against their own interests, and to be honest, in the old days, much of this irrational attraction for the Republican Party was explained by simple truths, like the conservative appeal on issues like Defense, Taxes, Immigration. And of course, the American Dream. Never mind that if one started working when Jesus Christ was born and earned a very good salary from then until now, we would still be billions of dollars behind any of the one percent top income bracket of the US population. That's not happening, never was, but one can dream! And the dream implied that when one gets "there", taxes must be close to zero, or exactly zero. So greed explained a lot of this collective delusion. But not anymore.
Today we watch perfect model citizens in all respects, as far as we have known them, follow this Nazi ideology, its words, its hate, its swastikas, its homophobia, its utter intolerance, and yes, its racism, without a care in the world, like its second nature to them. And we wonder how could they have been such hypocrites all their lives. Recently I came across a very good opinion piece, written as a letter to the author's grandfather. It moved me, and then... Not. Because something was off. At first I couldn't put my finger on it. But then it hit me. That was it. This is the piece I am talking about.
Counterpoint
by Jeffrey Zalles
The writer lives in Southport.
Dear Grandpa:
You have been such an important part of my childhood. From my earliest days, the lessons you taught me have served as my guide to a good and proper life. When I denied taking cookies from the cookie jar, you taught me why it was wrong to lie.
When I asked you to do a homework assignment that I would later hand in as my own, you taught me that cheating was wrong. When I got into an argument with a neighbor, you taught me to be kind to others, to respect their opinions even if I disagreed with them.
From you I learned that all people were created equal. That looking out for those less fortunate was nothing short of divine. I recall our walks together in the park and the times when you would bend over to pick up someone else's litter. So often, you marveled at the beauty of nature and spoke of our responsibilities as stewards of the Earth.
And who can forget the time we walked down the aisle of the supermarket, and coming toward us was a young boy who limped and seemed to wave his arms uncontrollably? As I laughed and pointed, you got down on your knees and grabbed my shoulders with your big, strong hands. You looked sternly into my eyes and told me never, ever make fun of someone with a disability.
And today, as I listen to you praising President Trump, you have taught me yet another lesson. Sadly, it is a lesson I would have preferred not to learn. For now, I understand the meaning of hypocrisy.
This is a powerful piece. But what bugged me from the very initial paragraphs and hit me soon after I finished reading it was the fact that nowhere in this article is the word "BLACK". And I imagined the author's grandfather neighborhood, rows of nice middle class houses, picket fences, people walking dogs or pushing baby strollers, fire engines going by, the familiar sound of an ice cream truck. And everyone in that idyllic picture... is white.
So the grandfather, who had such high and just morals, who taught his grandson valuable life lessons, is now able to embrace Trump and all his Nazi bulshit, not because he was being an hypocrite. He meant every word he told his grandson, believed and walked the Earth according to those principles. But he only meant it if the beneficiaries of those actions were white, just like him. And he just kept his bias, his grief, his racism under wraps. Because he knew he was not supposed to voice it, to act upon it. He was aware of his sin. And if he did come out, people would point to him on the street, even if secretly they were just like him, and no one would come to his rescue.
And then, Trump happened. And out of all the crazy, stupid, evil, hateful, dangerous things that came out of his electoral win in 2016, the worst was this.
He allowed these seemingly "normal people" to come out, because he was just like them, and they were just like him, and he was the President of the United States of America. And like one other crook said once, "If the President does it, it's not a crime." So it was just fine. And suddenly, America was great again. He could walk the streets with a red hat with white "MAGA" letters on and his neighbors would salute him, he could call the Police on some black kid he didn't think belong in his neighborhood, and his neighbors would back him up. Hell, he could even shoot the son of a bitch if he dared ring his door bell! It's all good.
This is why these people are not examples of hypocrisy, as the author of that letter thought. They were ALWAYS like this. They just did not have permission to be that way, until Trump came along, and suddenly the sun was shining on their pretty picket fences as if it was the Fourth of July of 1955. The good old days are back. And this time, they will fight tooth and nail to keep us trapped in the past with them. They don't want to lose their precious white America again. And no matter what they got to lose, Medicare, disaster relief, insurance, lower salaries, higher gas prices, that's all bulshit compared to the satisfaction of shooting a negro on their front lawn.
And this is why we need to defeat them, and push them back to the dust of History, where all the other Nazis just like them are. Because if we don't, they will do it to us all. In a fucking heartbeat.
[finis]
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