"Spot On" Regan! I am amazed at some of the commentary and observations I've seen the past four or five days, and this column is a classic example of liberal Secular Progressive fantasy.
On Sun, Nov 13, 2016 at 10:46 AM, Regan Duffy <[email protected]> wrote: > Good Lord the left is full of pearl clutching hysterical ninnies. The > early indications, surging stock market, world leaders falling over > themselves to come to Trump (Mexico and Canada conceding that NAFTA needs > to be reformed), gas prices coming down, all directly refute the idiotic > assumptions of these fools. There is no racism or white supremicism > driving this movement, just common sense and a return to government by the > people, not beholden to the global oligarchs. The only people acting even > remotely fascist are the rioters throwing a tantrum because they didn't get > their way and their leftist supporters because they see the gravy train > spigot being turned off. > > *Sent from my Verizon 4G LTE Droid* > On Nov 13, 2016 9:51 AM, MJ <[email protected]> wrote: > > > 10 NOVEMBER 2016 > > *Spoiled Americans now want to flee what they created * > *The reactions of many Americans to the Trump victory is a symptom of > their political immaturity. *Malak Chabkoun > Malak Chabkoun is an independent Middle East researcher and writer based > in the US. > > Many Americans woke up on November 9 (or didn't sleep to begin with) > panicking about the future of the United States. > > Citizens of other countries, particularly in the Arab world, were probably > observing this mass panic with a smirk, thinking, "and now it's their > turn". Certainly, not out of spite, but in the hope that Americans would > finally understand where they were coming from. > > The reality is, citizens of the US - minorities or otherwise - do have > reasons to feel fear and disgust under a Trump presidency, not only from > his proposed policies of alienation and repression, but also from those > supporters of his, whose white power aspirations have now been made > official. > > However, it is also true that citizens of the US, particularly Arabs and > Muslims, must not allow this election result to force them to act as > frightened children. > > Murmurs of migrating to Canada if Trump won apparently translated into > reality, with the Canadian immigration website reportedly crashing as it > became clear the electoral college votes > <http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/11/09/why-electoral-college-landslides-are-easier-to-win-than-popular-vote-ones/> > were in his favour. > > These reactions make one pause and wonder how long these same people would > last under the Arab and African dictatorships and occupiers the US has > propped up and maintained positive ties with over the years. > > We now have a version of a "dictator-elect" in the US, and rather than > promising to fight the changes he has threatened to implement, the initial > reaction of many Americans has been to plot ways to flee. > > Honestly, the arrogance of Americans who are threatening to flee is > breathtaking. They assume that the world will now welcome them with open > arms because in a few months, they will be ruled by a less-than-desirable > leader. One which, the world will be quick to mention, was actually chosen > by Americans and not imposed on them by occupation or intervention. > > > *Political immaturity *As young elementary school pupils in the US, we > are programmed during our "social studies" classes to hold our civic > duties, such as voting and obeying laws, near and dear. > > In middle and high school and even college, we run for "political office", > setting up small governments within our schools that give us an illusion of > holding power. > > Schools hold mock voting days and colleges invite political officials to > come and encourage American students - young and old - to be active > participants in the political process. > > Even naturalised citizens of the US go through a political socialisation > process; one that details their rights and responsibilities as a citizen of > the US and reminds them that citizenship is a promise > <https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/learners/citizenship-rights-and-responsibilities> > to commit to the US and its form of government. > > Yet, all of this political socialisation has apparently left us unprepared > to deal with the sometimes unexpected and undesirable outcomes of the US' > version of democracy. > > In fact, our reactions to the results of the 2016 election have shown us > exactly how our political socialisation has failed us and made us > complacent and passive rather than proactive members of our political > system. But this is only one small symptom of our political immaturity and > decay in the US. > > > *Ignorant of suffering *Contrary to what we may believe, we Americans > aren't the centre of the universe. Our country's policymakers are often the > cause of suffering overseas - the very suffering we are fearful of at the > hands of Trump - but, as citizens, we tend to take one of two paths. > > We either shy away from taking responsibility, blaming it on elected > officials and claiming we aren't responsible for their missteps in the > Middle East and North Africa region, or we don't even have a clue > <http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/09/survey-geography-foreign-relations-americans-students/> > about the kind of suffering our policies contribute to. > > Worse than that, we are quick to judge what Arabs and Africans should and > should not do while living under dictatorships as we are sitting > comfortably in the democracy we love to shove down other countries' throats. > > Americans have a hard time fathoming why Syrians would "abandon their > country" and run from barrel bombs or why Egyptians would run from the > threat of forced disappearances. We accuse refugees of "putting the lives > of their children at risk" by getting into overflowing boats to escape > extremism of all kinds - Islamic or otherwise -judging them harshly for > these choices. > > Yet, one little brush with a leader who might put us in a position even > remotely close to citizens living under Bashar al-Assad, or Abdel Fattah > el-Sisi, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, and we want the > entire world to not only understand our urge to flee but also to coddle us > and be concerned about our feelings. > > > *Not unexpected *A US under Trump is not going to be pleasant, on that we > can agree. However, it is not the first time minorities were targeted and > unwanted in the US. > > African-Americans at some point in history were denied citizenship and > their movements restricted. Japanese-Americans were actually placed in > internment camps on US soil. > > Even ideology has been a target of US government - for example, the First > Red Scare. Yet, despite this, members of these groups did not flee the US > in droves. > > We have had months to digest that Trump had a chance at this race. We knew > minorities would be facing some type of backlash. For some reason, however, > we continued to arrogantly think that a Trump presidency couldn't happen to > us here in the US. > > But it did, and perhaps that is what will finally force us to address and > understand what it is about our political system that finally brought our > aggression abroad to haunt us right here at home. > > http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/11/spoiled-americans-flee- > created-161110075835725.html > > -- > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "PoliticalForum" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > -- > -- > Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. > For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum > > * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ > * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. > * Read the latest breaking news, and more. > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "PoliticalForum" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PoliticalForum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
