When did we lose our perspective? I am but an observer to the protagonists and antagonists of this expose, as I do not reside in the United States. But I am not simply an observer, for whatever befalls America will spread like a contagion, infecting; first its neighbours, and then the world.
So having said that, – at what point, and why did people lose their ability and willingness to reason and test whether they were being mislead? I don’t mean this in an accusatory way, but I’m quite serious. When and why did people sleep walk into the current situation? For it truly feels that both sides have been ‘played’ in some respects. I clearly understand, that for some, the journey was one of slow progression from a lack of fulfilment, comfort and/or success to agitation and then, an event or action where a step backwards financially or socially occurred.
While no individual wants to take responsibility for what is now a completely polarized environment, it probably started with someone intimating that it was the fault of others, and suggesting, ‘we should do something about that’! From there it was a short trip down a slippery slope to the creation of a consistent message of blame, until finally it went from enabling to an outright affirmation and confirmation of fault. From conceptual blame to full-blown responsibility for my situation that led to hate. Congratulations America. For those who designed the methodology, it was easy to create, and for the unquestioning mind, easy, even palatable to swallow. There was a model and a plan for them to follow. One used many times before successfully to move people towards action. But what underpinned and still does, all that pure white hatred?
My guess is that it started with belief. Yes, belief. Believers thought that times would get better and that, ‘God will look after us’. Not to be confrontational, but I have to ask, – how’s that working out for you? Your in-group anger has reached a point where logic and reason have left no room in your collective minds to intercede. You don’t want to question, you simply want someone to take you back to the ‘good old days’. A place where and when your qualifications and the competition for scarce resources were irrelevant, as you expected they would be crushed by union think, or maybe you could and can be assured that they aren’t necessary at all.
And when unions failed to protect you or your town from losing its industries or manufacturing companies, you found someone who promised that he could fix it. “I can bring those jobs back,” he said, right? And you so much wanted it to be true. And so, many people held on to their belief that God would truly look after them. But things only got worse, – and God, well, God was on vacation somewhere else in the universe. You can’t blame God, can you? I mean even though he should be listening, he seems to be busy. I guess that I shouldn’t be the one to question, because so they say, ‘God works in mysterious ways’.
But will it? When someone comes along and promises to make it all better, why do you believe him or her? What if that man or woman has no principles, no morals, no ethics and only cares about you putting him or her into office for his or her’s own gain?
So agitated and seeking solace, you needed someone else to blame, because neither you, nor God could possibly be at fault, right? You got together with your friends at church, the coffee shop or on the bench outside the hardware store and only got angrier and more convinced by the 20 second sound bite, heard over and over that, “It’s their fault that you’re not getting ahead. Damn it, someone needs to change this”, and then, like a lighting bolt from the heavens, along came a man, just like a saviour, who said, “Indeed, I can change it. I can turn back the clock. Immigrants, foreigners and those people who support them, are all responsible for what’s happening to you, and I have the cure.” And angry as you were, you believed him.
You might have lost your job, and the company might either have folded or moved to a place where the costs were lower, taxes better, innovation supported and where machines could be employed without having to fight the union continuously. A place where labour costs are a fraction of what you’re being paid. So came the clarion call, “Globalization, supported by those in power, is what ails us.’ ‘Shut it down. Close the borders, and let’s get rid of all those people ‘they’, the guilty ‘they’, let in. Then it will all be better.”
And of course, you agree because you’re angry. You don’t care about them, right? “Let’s just trash the system, because it’s sure not working for me”, you say. “Better yet, I’m going to go out and find those responsible. And then they’ll want to go back where they came from, take my word for it.” Right?
Well folks, that’s right out of the fascist playbook and that’s exactly how autocrats play the game. They, almost always have no plan. They simply want you to believe that they have the answer, and that answer requires retribution and to tear down what came previously, what exists. But they have to ensure you can’t go back, so they don’t provide you with training and supports to help you help yourself. Nor do they want you to seek an education because, how will they manipulate you and keep you from realizing that the lies they’ve told you, are exactly that, if you’re willing and capable of divining the truth?
The reason they can do this is, because once they have control of you and the organs of power, the police, the military, the courts, education and control of your health care, you won’t be able to stop them, and you won’t be willing. It’s classic, just like religions, from their inception to today they have kept people uneducated and in poverty. Why? Because people without the mechanisms to change their lot, will fall on belief as it promises them an eternal life where everything they ever wanted will be given to them within God’s kingdom when they die.
And millions upon millions of you bought it.
It’s only after the autocrats and kleptocrats seize and consolidate power that people will come slowly to the conclusion that they’ve been duped, – played like a cheap harmonica. And rather than admit they were played, most of you will double down on the message, willing to go even further and seek retribution against those who are scapegoated. Anger must have a target and its day in the sun, so immigrants, minorities, refugees, – in fact anyone who did exactly what all of you angry Americans did by immigrating, (except of course the real Americans, – Native Americans) – have now become your targets.
Group think is a dangerous thing. It allows for like minds to look past their injustice and ignorant acts towards others by the justification of like-mindedness. Ethics and morals become little more than one-time constructs, that don’t apply in this unique time and circumstance. You can self-censure and justify almost anything now. You are part of the majority and your actions are inviolate.
For those who are the targets of this injustice, only one option remains. Either they acquiesce, fight or leave. Only this time, it they fight, it’s not simply resistance, it will be Civil War.
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