Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Roughing Up Free Speech

I woke up to the news that white supremacists had gunned down five protestors at a Black Lives Matter rally in Minneapolis last night.

The three shooters had apparently done surveillance on the planned protest for days, then showed up at the event and fired into the crowd of peaceful demonstrators before fleeing.

This is terrorism, y'all. Call it what it is.

Christians in America mow down people, too. It's not just "those brown people" who practice "that other religion" who come from "over there."

The wounded are all in stable condition, thank God.

But this is what you get when you have Donald Trump, the leading GOP candidate, endorsing supporters who punched, beat, kicked and choked a black man at one of his events,. The man was shouting "Black Lives Matter" from the back of the hall when several white men surrounded him and punched and kicked him and continued punching and kicking him after he fell to the ground. Trump called from the podium, "Get that man out of here!" As hands closed around the demonstrator's neck a woman on the video could be heard screaming, "Don't choke him! Don't choke him!" When asked by news media afterward what he thought of the violent actions of his supporters toward the demonstrator, Trump said mildly, "Maybe he should have been roughed up."

This from the candidate for president who has proposed a national database to track all Muslims and the closing of mosques nationwide.

This from the candidate who claimed at a rally that thousands of New Jersey Muslims cheered when the towers came down on 9/11. That simply isn't true.

This from the candidate who tweeted a fake graphic that blacks are responsible for most killings of whites. Again, simply not true. The bogus graphic, it turns out, was originally put out as propaganda by Neo Nazis.

Has Trump read no history or does he just not care that America was founded on the principle of religious freedom?

Does he really intend to sound like he's advocating the policies of Nazi Germany?

He must, because he keeps doing it.

It's an unwritten rule in journalism to not compare anything to Nazism. Too inflammatory. But what do you do when no other comparison matches as exactly?

Trump is a dangerous dude.

This isn't a carnival sideshow anymore. This is a hate fest, conducted by the irresponsible posturing blowhard who is the leading Republican candidate for president



Photo from StreetArtGlobe (formerly Banksy)



13 comments:

  1. I couldn't agree with you more. I simply do not understand it and I am horrified at the seeming ignorance and hatred that Trump's popularity seems to expose.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The absurdity of it all astounds me. I keep thinking that perhaps I'm caught in a very long, very vivid dream. The fact that this is real life and not a nightmare of some sort blows my mind and troubles my spirit.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I agree with Nerd Girl. This just doesn't seem real and yet it is and that is crushing and infuriating. Group think and stupidity are a bad combo... though I think Hitler was a tad smarter than Trump, but as far as the hair and the similarities you pointed out, pretty similar.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Just call him a fascist, that covers it and leaves out the Nazi Germany bits.
    Watching all this in recent weeks makes me wonder whether the public and the politicians in the US either consider him a clown who will disappear soon enough or whether this is all supposedly part of some weird idea of freedom of speech. Shouldn't there be rallies against this kind of thinking? Some show of decent humanity when he comes to town? Flowers, confetti, dancing and drumming, whatever, to drown him out?
    Thanks for your statement.

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are so right. It is horrifying. The man seems to have no decency; not a shred. If he does, he is sure hiding it well. Unbelievable.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I woke up and started reading blogs and come across this post. The only thing that this evilness can be compared to is Hitler and is evil propaganda. It makes me afraid.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very well said!. Keep spreading the WORD. Maybe the Voting Public will WAKE UP! God Willing as my Mother would have said.

    Irish Celt. ( the one who wrote without a name , a while back)



    ReplyDelete
  8. Fear-mongering and hate-mongering from a man no-one should trust. Disgusting.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yes. Trump is a fascist -- he really is, and I can't imagine "They" will let him go on.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I couldn't agree more. Trump provides an atmosphere in which our own domestic extremists can become more vocal and more violent. His whole candidacy is just so bizarre -- both in its tone and its astonishing positive reception by a large number of voters. I've long thought Trump was playing to the lowest common denominator, but lately he's been so brazen in his misinformation I'm wondering if he isn't secretly trying to torpedo the Republicans' chances!

    (That is a GREAT photo. When did Banksy cease being Banksy? I'm not aware of this occurrence!)

    ReplyDelete
  11. We had a prime minister just recently who was preaching hatred and bigotry. We got rid of him. Trump is a scary man, not just for his own views but because he knows how to stir up others and plays on their fears. Trump is doing damage to the US by being allowed to continue on his with his sideshow of fanaticism.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Trump is terrifying. i can't believe he is the frontrunner. the presidential race has become a joke with the only person who actually as a political background is the underdog. And now this the state of affairs. islamophobia, racism, homophobia, and just plain STOOPID politics. this is scary

    ReplyDelete
  13. I missed this posting. I'm commenting now because I find it amazing that this was not NEWS over here. I still can't get to grips with this awful racism that still seems to exist over the pond. Of course there are still a few die-hards over here, but in general we all get along fine. This piece saddens me.

    ReplyDelete