A Modest Challenge

I understand the charges of bigotry levied on Trump supporters and I agree, some people are motivated by racism. But I have a hard time lumping people together and I see that from our side all the time. Treating Trump supporters as NASCAR, Jesus freak, red neck, bigots is itself racist. We are the pot calling the kettle black. Merely dismissing all of them in one sweeping generalization makes them our favored untermenchen. Our Jews. Our Niggers. The ones it’s OK for us to revile.

There is an old saying; “If you are not a part of the solution then you are a part of the problem.”

We have done nothing but look for scapegoats since November 2016. A tired page from the cold war 70 years ago has been resurrected. Russia did it. Even Masha Gessen, who is a Russian dissident and civil rights activist who writes prolifically and critically of Russian society and her president, has said that the chances of Putin having interfered with our election are, and I quote, ‘Vanishingly small.’ That’s from no friend of Putin’s.

So it didn’t happen, folks, your narrative is false, your excuses refuted and your fault finding is flawed. She goes on to say that that narrative only detracts from the legitimate criticisms of Russia and makes her and other civil rights activist’s jobs harder. Why? Because while everyone is distracted by a fairy tale, real things are being discredited, real issues are being ignored and real people are being hurt. Keeping on with this fantasy only makes things worse. Let’s juggle napalm while we’re at it. The same is happening here.

Why not blame space aliens while we’re at it? That’s as good a conspiracy theory as any other. Or the Cigarette Smoking Man? He’s everywhere! The sad, indigestible truth is that we failed. We failed half of the population of the United States. We failed to have anything to offer them, instead presenting a platform that was repugnant to them and a candidate who reviled them. We failed to have anything to say to them other than insults. Deplorables? Red necks? Fly over country yokels? Bigots? What did we expect? Hearts and flowers? Flocks of followers under the banner of anointed queen Hillary? Seriously? I don’t blame them for being revolted. So am I.

The truth we are covering in Russian dressing is that we had our asses handed to us in the last election. Swallow it and get on with it. The DNC was revealed to be a corrupt organization that anointed Hillary over Berny and we only had one symbolic sacrifice in the firing of Debby Wasserman Schultz. Why aren’t we demanding a complete investigation? Why aren’t we asking ourselves how we failed our blue collar brothers and sisters? What is it that they wanted that we failed to offer to them? We should be doing some soul searching if we want to be at all relevant in the future.

BTW. Off subject, but if you want to see what Putin has done for Russia over the past 18 years and why he has an 80% approval rating among Russians, I recommend this documentary. Yes, it was made by a Russian journalist and represents that bias, just like documentaries made by the BBC, NPR, or by Ken Burns for that matter. But you can’t disagree with the history it talks about even if you question the conclusions or the spin.

We should question everything, of course. Starting with ourselves. But we can’t question something if we don’t look at it honestly and critically. I implore you to do both. This is definitely sobering.