'Once Upon A Time'
Once upon a time, (I wish), there was a place and time that Americans actually related to one another and got along with no real issues. But we know that would be a big fat lie. When our forefathers immigrated here from Europe to escape persecution, they couldn't even get along with the already resident Native Americans, who incidentally, themselves migrated, as in 'immigrants'..., here from possibly the African Continent well before the Europeans. As far as getting along with others, even the Native Americans were fighting with Other Native American clans for territory and food. Not to be outdone, the immigrant Europeans thought these savages and heathens unworthy of even existing in the same world, especially their Own, as themselves, and so our forefathers began a systematic destruction of all thing Native American, including the Native Americans. We simply don't like people and things that are different from ourselves, especially when we don't, or won't, learn about, or even try to understand them. So, we just kill them. Ka-Pow! 'Move along folks, nothing to see here'. And so we, or They, rather, did, or at least most of them, and took their land while they were at it. And then, we wrote some snappy little songs 'This Land Is Your Land', and, 'My Country Tis Of Thee' well, not 'theirs' anymore because we couldn't find a way to get along and coexist. And later on, our immigrant ancestors became very lazy and saw that farming was a thing better 'owned' than actually worked on. And so we imported African Human beings who just happened to be People that had been illegally captured in their own homelands, placed in chains, packed like human sardines in the festering holds of Slave ships, and shipped to The new America where for about 300 years they, and their descendants continued to be owned and Enslaved against their will, like so much farm equipment that could be bought, sold, or disposed of without cause. Later on, a great, and horrendous civil war was fought between Americans who wanted to end the institution of Slavery, and those who just loved 'owning' other humans to do their dirty work for them, and which they were too good, and virtuous, to do themselves. Of course the Slave owners lost that one but 152 years later we still haven't figured a way to get along with, and coexist with the descendants of those former Slaves. Of course after the era of Slavery, new immigrants began arriving on the shores of America seeking better living condition, and freedom from persecution. Orientals, Irish, Scottish, Italian, Poles, Slavs, and more. Not to count a variety of religions mixed in among these new immigrants. Scary things indeed. And of course the 'established' Americans saw these new immigrants as a threat to their own toe hold on the America 'they' had worked so hard killing, and enslaving other humans all these past years to enjoy. All the while conveniently forgetting that they, themselves, were the offspring, or descendants, albeit many years down the line, of immigrants not so different from these new arrivals that seemed such a threat to the American way of life. And true to life, the Americans treated these new immigrants like so much trash, just like as in the past they could find no way to get along with or coexist peacefully with humans they did not understand, and saw as a threat to 'their' America, and their 'way' of life. But as time went by, the descendants of former Slaves, and new immigrants and the 'established' Americans somehow found an uneasy balance of sorts of coexistence, relative peace, and eventually those who wanted to, assimilated, and became Americans. It would be a stretch of the imagination to propose that all Americans get along with all other Americans, even today. Human beings just don't do that. But somehow, someway, it worked well enough to count, depending which 'side' you're on.
Then, along came the Presidential campaign of 2014. Again, immigration was a hot button among 'established' Americans. Immigrants from the Middle Eastern countries were the 'button' this time. Mostly because a clutch of ignorant radical militants who twisted, and misinterpreted their own religion and 'bible' to fit their own murderous agendas in order to murder their own people, but especially 'infidels' from the west, as in American's. And Muslim immigrants were, and still are the hot button that was made the big issue during the Presidential campaign, specifically by Republican candidate Donald Trump, who suffering from a serious case of Islamophobia, seeing a terrorist behind every tree that no doubt to him looked just like President Obama the out going President, paranoia, and conspiracy theories that constantly riled up his followers, and turned America, and American politics on its head, maybe to never recover. He turned Americans, who for whatever reason believed every hateful thing he falsely spouted about Muslims, Mexicans, Blacks, Gays, and anyone else he could defile, against Americans with common sense who could see through his hateful rhetoric, and vice versa. He brought out of the woodwork militant groups that espoused hatred for all those groups that Trump professed distaste for, claiming that Trump speaks for them, and for what they themselves believe in, that is being a White America void of contrasting ethnic and religious groups, or "Make America White Again", as they see it. Trump even went so far as to appoint an obvious 'White Nationalist' leaning person as his senior advisor. And Trump, true to his own mental makeup, continues to tell serious lie, after serial lie, conspiracy theory after another even when proven wrong. And so, again in America's history we have a divided Nation where hateful politics has turned friends, relatives, States, into a seething, never ending saga of seedy intrigue, one tweet after another, all pitted against one another to the point of serious distrust, and wondering, where has America gone. The rest of the world has no clue as to where America has gone or if it will ever return to 'normal', and hoping that the 'normal' does not become what they now see.
As long as Trump is given stage for his hateful words, and lies, and is never held accountable for his actions, the divide will continue to widen, distrust of the government will continue, the immigration issue which Trump exacerbated will worsen. The agencies that he strives to abolish will wither away to the detriment of all Americans, the publics distrust of one another due to his hate mongering of all things he himself hates will simply worsen, and it will take generations to repair, if at all possible, the damage done to America, and America's image to the rest of the world.
All this may sound a bit 'dooms day' in a fashion, but if we do not learn from the past, we cannot expect the future to be much different, and America's President is setting the 'example' that he expects the rest of America, and the World to follow.
Once upon a time, (I wish), there was a place and time that Americans actually related to one another and got along with no real issues. But we know that would be a big fat lie. When our forefathers immigrated here from Europe to escape persecution, they couldn't even get along with the already resident Native Americans, who incidentally, themselves migrated, as in 'immigrants'..., here from possibly the African Continent well before the Europeans. As far as getting along with others, even the Native Americans were fighting with Other Native American clans for territory and food. Not to be outdone, the immigrant Europeans thought these savages and heathens unworthy of even existing in the same world, especially their Own, as themselves, and so our forefathers began a systematic destruction of all thing Native American, including the Native Americans. We simply don't like people and things that are different from ourselves, especially when we don't, or won't, learn about, or even try to understand them. So, we just kill them. Ka-Pow! 'Move along folks, nothing to see here'. And so we, or They, rather, did, or at least most of them, and took their land while they were at it. And then, we wrote some snappy little songs 'This Land Is Your Land', and, 'My Country Tis Of Thee' well, not 'theirs' anymore because we couldn't find a way to get along and coexist. And later on, our immigrant ancestors became very lazy and saw that farming was a thing better 'owned' than actually worked on. And so we imported African Human beings who just happened to be People that had been illegally captured in their own homelands, placed in chains, packed like human sardines in the festering holds of Slave ships, and shipped to The new America where for about 300 years they, and their descendants continued to be owned and Enslaved against their will, like so much farm equipment that could be bought, sold, or disposed of without cause. Later on, a great, and horrendous civil war was fought between Americans who wanted to end the institution of Slavery, and those who just loved 'owning' other humans to do their dirty work for them, and which they were too good, and virtuous, to do themselves. Of course the Slave owners lost that one but 152 years later we still haven't figured a way to get along with, and coexist with the descendants of those former Slaves. Of course after the era of Slavery, new immigrants began arriving on the shores of America seeking better living condition, and freedom from persecution. Orientals, Irish, Scottish, Italian, Poles, Slavs, and more. Not to count a variety of religions mixed in among these new immigrants. Scary things indeed. And of course the 'established' Americans saw these new immigrants as a threat to their own toe hold on the America 'they' had worked so hard killing, and enslaving other humans all these past years to enjoy. All the while conveniently forgetting that they, themselves, were the offspring, or descendants, albeit many years down the line, of immigrants not so different from these new arrivals that seemed such a threat to the American way of life. And true to life, the Americans treated these new immigrants like so much trash, just like as in the past they could find no way to get along with or coexist peacefully with humans they did not understand, and saw as a threat to 'their' America, and their 'way' of life. But as time went by, the descendants of former Slaves, and new immigrants and the 'established' Americans somehow found an uneasy balance of sorts of coexistence, relative peace, and eventually those who wanted to, assimilated, and became Americans. It would be a stretch of the imagination to propose that all Americans get along with all other Americans, even today. Human beings just don't do that. But somehow, someway, it worked well enough to count, depending which 'side' you're on.
Then, along came the Presidential campaign of 2014. Again, immigration was a hot button among 'established' Americans. Immigrants from the Middle Eastern countries were the 'button' this time. Mostly because a clutch of ignorant radical militants who twisted, and misinterpreted their own religion and 'bible' to fit their own murderous agendas in order to murder their own people, but especially 'infidels' from the west, as in American's. And Muslim immigrants were, and still are the hot button that was made the big issue during the Presidential campaign, specifically by Republican candidate Donald Trump, who suffering from a serious case of Islamophobia, seeing a terrorist behind every tree that no doubt to him looked just like President Obama the out going President, paranoia, and conspiracy theories that constantly riled up his followers, and turned America, and American politics on its head, maybe to never recover. He turned Americans, who for whatever reason believed every hateful thing he falsely spouted about Muslims, Mexicans, Blacks, Gays, and anyone else he could defile, against Americans with common sense who could see through his hateful rhetoric, and vice versa. He brought out of the woodwork militant groups that espoused hatred for all those groups that Trump professed distaste for, claiming that Trump speaks for them, and for what they themselves believe in, that is being a White America void of contrasting ethnic and religious groups, or "Make America White Again", as they see it. Trump even went so far as to appoint an obvious 'White Nationalist' leaning person as his senior advisor. And Trump, true to his own mental makeup, continues to tell serious lie, after serial lie, conspiracy theory after another even when proven wrong. And so, again in America's history we have a divided Nation where hateful politics has turned friends, relatives, States, into a seething, never ending saga of seedy intrigue, one tweet after another, all pitted against one another to the point of serious distrust, and wondering, where has America gone. The rest of the world has no clue as to where America has gone or if it will ever return to 'normal', and hoping that the 'normal' does not become what they now see.
As long as Trump is given stage for his hateful words, and lies, and is never held accountable for his actions, the divide will continue to widen, distrust of the government will continue, the immigration issue which Trump exacerbated will worsen. The agencies that he strives to abolish will wither away to the detriment of all Americans, the publics distrust of one another due to his hate mongering of all things he himself hates will simply worsen, and it will take generations to repair, if at all possible, the damage done to America, and America's image to the rest of the world.
All this may sound a bit 'dooms day' in a fashion, but if we do not learn from the past, we cannot expect the future to be much different, and America's President is setting the 'example' that he expects the rest of America, and the World to follow.
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