Killers, Victims and Bystanders
By D. S. Mitchell
Screaming Mad
I have spent the last couple of years figuratively and in real-time screaming my head off. I do it on Twitter, on my blog, sometimes just at the television screen, and yes, even at those I love. I cannot accept what is going on in the Trump administration and my frustration just boils over.
Nefarious Means
I was doing a search through www.calamitypolitics.com archived blog articles when this piece from 2/25/17 came up. It just reminded me that I need to keep screaming and banging the drum of outrage. I grew up with kids from dozens of different backgrounds, of various colors, and a multitude of religious faiths and I learned so much. We as a country are so much better than the Orange George Lincoln Rockwell that has seized the White House by foul and nefarious means.
Brown Bodies
As I read it through my old post from 2/25/17 I thought it was valuable enough for us to take a look at it again. In 2017 Trump told the country that the asylum seekers were those brown “criminals” and “terrorists” from Syria. Today Trump’s rhetoric of hate is directed at the brown “criminals” and “terrorists” at our southern border. He must be talking about those diapered and shoeless babies running from the tear gas. There is a consistency to Trump’s message. Unfortunately, it is an ugly message that offers no benefit to us as a country. It seems to me the Syrian refugees may have been the lucky ones in this story.
Pain and Despair
“Elie Wiesel, teacher, writer, philosopher and Auschwitz death camp survivor, said in a speech before the US Congress in 1999, “indifference can be tempting-more than that, seductive. It is much easier to look away from victims. It is after all, awkward and troublesome to be involved in another person’s pain and despair.”
Indifference
Furthermore, “to be indifferent to that suffering makes the human being, inhuman. Indifference is always the friend of the enemy, for it benefits the aggressor-never the victim, whose pain is magnified when he or she feels forgotten. The political prisoner, the starving children, the homeless refugees-not to respond to their plight, not to relieve their solitude by offering them a spark of hope is to exile them from human memory. And in denying their humanity, we betray our own. Indifference, then, is not only a sin, it is a punishment. Where I came from, society was composed of three simple categories: the killers, the victims, and the bystanders.”
Today’s Bystanders
Today’s “bystanders,” want to look away from the victims, to look anywhere but in the direction of the suffering. “I’m a good person,” President Trump said last week during a news conference. A man with a heart, he tells us. Why then Mr. President do you ignore the plight of the Syrian refugees? The plight of these children is horrific. We have all seen television clips of bloodied, crying and even dead Syrian children. I have seen their pain. I have heard their pleas.
Syrian’s Asylum Seekers
President Trump, are you listening, are you seeing, or are you just another bystander? We are the wealthiest country on earth and home of the most generous people on earth and our basic instinct is to help, not turn away. The American people want to help the world absorb the displaced refugees of Syria.Give hope to those 1200 refugees currently housed by Australia. Come on President Trump, don’t continue to look away, show your heart, show that “goodness” you were bragging about.
Fast Forward
In February 2017 Trump had been president only a month. His early actions were surely a warning of what was to come. On that date the Mango Menace was refusing to take 1200 Syrian refugees being housed by Australia. In fact he became so enraged over the potential that he slammed down the telephone receiver on the Australian Prime Minister. Totally unprecedented and totally predictable move by the chaos king.
Reading Tea Leaves
But, I don’t think even the most pessimistic of us ever could have imagined the chaos and criminality that would soon mark the Trump administration. None of us could have imagined how dangerous Donald Trump would prove to be. Homeland Security has over the last two years separated thousands of children from their parents. The Trump administration has “lost” many of those children. Criminal, evil and totally unnecessary and more than anything heartbreaking. These families will probably never see their relatives again.
So, as I said, I’m still screaming and I just want to make sure that everyone of you are also screaming your heads off.
Love,
D. S. Mitchell
Resist
