I usually avoid “whataboutism.” But sometimes it is relevant and called-for. In 'I
thought our country was beyond that,’ says [New Jersey Senator and 2020
Democratic presidential candidate Corey] Booker, condemning Trump rhetoric as
racist, Jonathan D. Salant (NJ
Advance Media for NJ.com) reported:
“I thought our country was beyond that,” Booker said on CNN’s
“State of the Union.” “This reality is this is a guy who is worse than a
racist. He’s actually using racist tropes and racial language for political
gain. He’s trying to use this as a weapon to divide our nation against
itself."
Booker was referring to Donald Trump’s “go back”
harangue against four Democratic congresswomen (more on that later).
I posted these comments, edited and expanded for
clarity:
This is rich. Booker belongs
to a political party in which racism is embedded in its ideological DNA, in the
form of its collectivist group identity, including racial identity, politics.
Furthermore, Booker just embraced slavery reparations. [Booker’s bill calls for a “study” of
reparations. But give me a break.] Morally and logically, reparations are a
form of restitution paid by the actual perpetrator of rights violations to his
actual victims. But Booker’s reparations bill necessarily means forcing the
transfer of wealth from innocent white people to non-victim black people—“to
right the economic scales of past harms,” as Booker frames it. But the premise
underpinning Booker’s reparations is that guilt and victimhood are transferred
from generation to generation through the individual’s genetic lineage or
bodily chemistry. That is biological determinism, the very definition of
racism, which holds that a person’s character, ideas, actions, station, and
moral standing is biologically determined and that the individual can never
escape that biological legacy regardless of his personal morals, choices, or
actions.
Booker’s charge against Trump
is not entirely inaccurate, though not in the way he means. But if Trump’s
comments are racist, he is merely ripping a page from the Democrats’ more
polished and highbrow playbook. The Democrats’ collectivist “social justice”
ethos—which disregards individual dignity and identifies all individuals by
groups, pitting group against group regardless of the innocence or guilt of
actual individuals—is the essence of dividing a nation, and the epitome of
using race for political gain.
-------------------------------------------------------
"We don't need any more brown faces that don't want to be a
brown voice. We don't need black faces that don't want to be a black voice. We
don't need Muslims that don't want to be a Muslim voice. We don't need queers
that don't want to be a queer voice."
In other words, you’re not an individual. You
must tow the ideological line imposed by your group thought leaders.
So interesting to see “Progressive” Democrat Congresswomen, who
originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total
catastrophe, the worst, most corrupt and inept anywhere in the world (if they
even have a functioning government at all), now loudly and viciously telling
the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on
earth, how our government is to be run. Why don’t they go back and help fix the
totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back
and show us how it is done. These places need your help badly, you can’t leave
fast enough. I’m sure that Nancy Pelosi would be very happy to quickly work out
free travel arrangements!
On these comments, Salant reported:
Trump was
condemned by the
Democratic-controlled House last week after he told four Democratic
congresswomen, all women of color, to “go back” to where they came from.
Three of the four, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York,
Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, were born in
the U.S. and the fourth, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, was a naturalized
American.
Trump nevertheless continued his attacks on the four lawmakers
Sunday.
When he said:
I don’t believe the four Congresswomen are capable of loving our
Country. They should apologize to America (and Israel) for the horrible
(hateful) things they have said. They are destroying the Democrat [sic] Party, but
are weak & insecure people who can never destroy our great Nation!
Now consider further comments by Booker:
“The language he uses is actually tired old tropes that have been
used by demagogues all throughout our country’s history,” Booker told CBS.
“This president is yet another sad chapter. But what we’ve done all the time as
Americans, black and white from different backgrounds, we’ve always joined
together and beaten those demagogues, and and [sic] hate-mongers and
fear-mongers. That’s where Donald Trump will be relegated.”
Reread the comments of both Booker and Trump,
and then notice whose language injects race into the conversation. The
Democratic-controlled House. Corey Booker. Not Donald Trump.
Trump’s comments are ridiculous. People (or
their antecedents) come here to escape corrupt and oppressive countries and
cultures, and America is better for it. It’s ridiculous to say they can’t
criticize America's government unless they return to the place that they (or
their ancestors) escaped from and fix those problems rather than speak their mind.
Trump’s premise reminds me of the turmoil of my
youth. I initially supported the Vietnam War back in the 1960s. But I never
agreed with the “love-it-or-leave-it” mantra that some on my side leveled
against the anti-war activists. I’ve never bought into that tactic.
Trump’s comments are uncalled-for. He should be
countering the congresswomens’ arguments for “how our government is to be run”
with intellectual arguments of his own. His response to these Democrats is
ideological, in a shallow sort of way, but ultimately empty. And they are
childish. And yes, they are offensive, and can even be characterized as
demagogic. If someone told me to “Go back to Italy” from which my grandparents
emigrated, I’d be furious. It
may be that Trump is racist; a lot of people more knowledgeable than I, other
than Leftists, think so. But Trump’s comments, in and of themselves, are
clearly not racist. Racism belongs primarily to the other side, which “sees” racism where none exists or
exaggerates the lingering racism that does exist. Race has become a major
political tactic—an argument
from intimidation—of the American Left.
As proof, I give you the Democrats’ reaction to Trump’s inane comments.
Related Reading:
No comments:
Post a Comment