The natural world in which we live is neither cruel nor merciful. But our man-made world can be both. It is a reflection of our peaceful, loving, destructive and hateful values in practice. For the most part, we in The First World have enjoyed a state of stability for over seventy years. But during the last few years there has been a disturbance in The Force. The Yin/Yang model of good/evil has swung wildly over to the nasty side. Most modern democracies are currently experiencing variations of this phenomenon.
Here in the land of E Pluribus Unum, we've undergone a massive shift over to coarse and unconscionable public discourse, cold and uncaring governance, demonstrable lies as standard operating procedure, and a Me-First political philosophy. I got mine, pal. You gotta problem? Go cry to a Lib.
While typing this, "breaking news" indicates that Trump will reverse his No-Tolerance Policy regarding the separation of children from refugee parents seeking asylum, and those termed "undocumented immigrants". If so, Thank God and all those who applied public pressure. If not for the immense scale of public outrage and the threat of HUGE rallies and marches, this abominable practice would be maintained.
And for what purpose? The Wall. Trump has not been able to get his #1 Campaign Promise to become realized. It's what animated his early base of supporters during the Republican Presidential Primaries; it gave him enough nomination votes to get past the other 16 ne'er-do-well candidates. Everything he does is done with keeping this "base of deplorables" on his side. He knows if he loses them, all is lost.
So what to do? Create a policy that criminalizes undocumented immigrants. Such policy demands the removal of children from parents upon arrest. Moreover, this has included the criminalization of refugees who are seeking asylum in our country. Even at Port of Entries, they are coaxed to cross the border where they are arrested, with their children being removed as a policy consequence.
Now you have kidnapped hostages. And the ransom is The Wall. The ransom note has been the Administration's insistence that it is following the law, biblically. Not convinced about this argument? Check out these facts on the matter from our friends at The Washington Post:
Yeah, Fake News all right. If you have any Fox News/Hate Radio friends or family who spout off about how Obama did it, too, or that there isn't a policy, or that it's the law, or these parents are to blame, or the kids are crisis actors, or it's like a summer camp/boarding school, or Shut Up He Explained, please direct them to the WaPo link. It does require the ability to read, and to think about what the words mean. Tell 'em there are even videos they can watch if they get bored.
Meanwhile, the President, who is supposed to be a leader and a uniter for the common good, fans the racist rhetoric, because, you know, his base. Yesterday, he said:
"Democrats are the problem. They don't care about crime and want illegal immigrants, no matter how bad they may be, to pour into and infest our Country, like MS-13. They can't win on their terrible policies, so they view them as potential voters!"
Huh. "Infest our Country". The last time there was a First World government referring to people as vermin, it looked like this:
"Let's go with 'Things Hitler said about the Jews' for $100." I understand there is a sensitivity about calling this Trump stuff out as Nazi-like. And it's blessedly true that we haven't gone Full Nazi. But consider Germany in early 1933. Most people then couldn't imagine what Full Nazi would be like in a few years, either. We need to call it by a recognizable new name that will connote its full fascist meaning. Hmmm. How about simply MAGA?
Sheesh, this is all giving me a complex! But one has to wonder, what happens next? If Trump succeeds in the criminalization/stereotyping of a whole group of people seeking American protection and betterment, where does it lead? Well, lemme tell ya. The next step will be excluding all Muslim immigrants. Then we'll keep out all immigrants of color ("shithole countries"). Finally, in a Steve Bannon-inspired triumph of the will, we'll exclude ALL immigrants.
But wait, the fun continues! Once the borders are "secure", the long and painful Eye of Sauron will scan the domestic scene. If you're not MAGA pure, you may end up with a real problem. Yes, it sounds ridiculous now, but goddammit this is how fascist states begin!
As this whole controversy developed over the last few weeks, I've been thinking about the audacious and brilliant 2006 movie, "Children of Men". While it follows a different kind of story line (in the near future, mankind has lost the ability to reproduce) there is a very chilling feature that resonates. As the world goes to hell, nations erect border walls with massive military presence to keep refugees out. And inside... there are heavily guarded internment camps filled with arrested refugees and "others".
Do yourself a favor and watch "Children of Men" for the first time, or see it again. It's amazing virtuoso film-making that seems much more relevant today than it did when it was first released.
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20161215-why-children-of-men-has-never-been-as-shocking-as-it-is-now
And to end things on a high note, let's all contemplate the words of the great Jane Addams while listening to the wise words of Hal David (and Burt Bacharach) via Dionne Warwick. Corny, but true:
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