Yes, I have been unable to eat or sleep since Tuesday. Yes, I do understand that you’re just trying to help, and I honestly love you for that. But this is reality:
So please stop. You are not helping.
I know you want to believe that humans are basically good. I know you want to believe that your neighbors don’t actually want to do bad things. But again, reality.
When you try to tell me he couldn’t possibly do what he promised multiple times to do, you are telling me that either you are completely ignorant of history and don’t know that large groups of good members of our species has at various times been led by, tormented for, killed for, suffered under, and died under the likes of
- Mao Zedong
- Adolph Hitler
- Idi Amin Dada
- Josef Stalin
- Leopold II
- Kim Jong Il
- Hideki Tojo
- Ismail Pasha
- Pol Pot
- Nicholas II
- Mengistu Haile Mariam
- Kim Il Sung
- Robert Mugabe
- Vlad the Impaler
- Caligula
When you tell me you just don’t believe that those who voted for our lunatic President Elect were voting for him due to inspiration from his hateful rhetoric, you are telling me you are unaware that some on the above list were elected. People wanted them in power. You are telling me you are unaware that human beings have the capacity to hate on a massive scale, and that they have demonstrated this capacity repeatedly.
If your are not ignorant, and you say, oh yes, I know all that, but this is America. We’re not like that, then you’re telling me you believe in magic.
I don’t believe in magic.
I believe people are predictable.
I believe that Americans are human beings, and will behave as other human beings have, both in good ways and in bad ways.
Your reliance on ignorance and your belief in magic do not comfort me.
They do not convince me it will all be ok. They reduce me to tears again, because ignorance of what has already happened multiple times in multiple cultures all throughout human history is exactly what allows it to happen again. Not grasping that it can happen here — belief that this group of humans is different from and better than those other groups of humans — is exactly what allows it to happen here.
Indeed, the signs have all been there, and the signs remain and grow stronger.
President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign staff temporarily redirected the webpage detailing his controversial proposal to temporarily ban Muslim immigration into the United States, one of the most divisive and controversial policy ideas of his campaign, but swiftly sought to restore it after reporter inquiries Thursday.
The proposal is detailed on a page titled, “Donald J. Trump statement on Preventing Muslim Immigration.” Starting on Election Day, that page redirected to a new page where supporters could donate to the campaign. “Thank you America,” said the banner on the new page. “We showed America the silent majority is no longer silent.”
“The website was temporarily redirecting all specific press release pages to the homepage. It is currently being addressed and will be fixed shortly,” the campaign told The Post in a statement.
The website detailing the controversial ban was restored Thursday afternoon.
So stop, if you really want to comfort me, stop telling me it will all be ok. Stop asking me to believe in magic or to ignore history.
This is not ok.
Nothing about this is ok.
It is not going to just be ok.
It is very bad, and history tells us the path from here easily leads to evil.
Above all, never, ever use the words, “It’s not the end of the world” in my presence again.
Our country has elected a climate denialist who has promised to, and by his suggested cabinet appointments, committed to extracting every scrap of coal and every drop of oil he can from our corner of the planet. If he follows through, it will, indeed be the end of our world. Literally. He’ll turn our planet into another Venus.
I’m old enough to remember when the episode from which the below snippet is derived first aired. It made a vivid impression on me. That episode in its entirety should be aired every single day in this country for the next 4 years until hundreds of millions of people have it memorized, and its images burned into their minds;
- until they fully understand, this is the way things work.
- until they fully understand, laws of physics govern this phenomenon, not mean, greedy scientists.
- until they understand, this is the real threat, not some different religion or different sexual orientation or darker skinned human.
- until they are committed to solving this problem above all others.
Again, I don’t believe in magic. I believe in the laws of chemistry and physics.
If you actually want to comfort me, commit to doing this:
1) Acknowledge that this is not ok, and that it is dangerous. Acknowledge that the USA has quite possibly made a fatal error.
2) Reach out to and reassure every
- non-Christian (Muslim, Jew, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, agnostic) you know
- Person of Color you know
- disabled person you know
- person with a pre-existing condition you know
- person who relies on public services you know
- LBGTQ person you know
- woman you know
- young person you know (and this one makes me cry just writing it) who will have to live with the consequences of the election of a climate denialist
that you love them, will protect them, will stand up for them, will be their voice to the greatest extent possible, will do everything in your power, limited as that is, to preserve their futures.
Then follow through.