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Thursday, October 6, 2016

Donald Trump's Campaign Makes America's Racism Socially Acceptable Again

Edited by Azizi Powell

Here's a comment about United States Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump's campaign that I read in the discussion section of this October 6, 2016 Huffington Post article: Sean Hannity Freaks Out After Megyn Kelly Mocks Him As Trump’s Safe Space

Comment posted by Imain Pandant, 10/6/2016
"A gentleman named Bill Howell eloquently wrote the below letter.

Dear Mr. Trump,
It’s taken me a while to realize this and to admit it, but I’m grateful to you.

For the past few months I’ve spent a good deal of time lamenting your campaign and the poison it has so effortlessly generated. I’ve watched our country imploding, our public discourse become polluted, our political climate grows ever more corrosive, and wrongly assumed you were to blame.

It’s only lately I’ve come to understand that you haven’t manufactured our current national ugliness—you’ve simply revealed it.

By saying the irresponsible, mean-spirited, ignorant things you say so freely and so frequently, you’ve given other like-minded people license to do the same. You’ve opened up the floodgates for our corporate sewage to flow fully. People no longer conceal their vile mess, they now revel in it, they broadcast it and retweet it.
You’ve made bigotry and racism socially acceptable again and that has been a kind of twisted gift because it’s allowed me to really see people; not as they pretend to be on the surface—but in the very depths of their wounded, weaponized hearts.

Over and over as your campaign has persisted, your supporters would tell me that they like you because you “speak your mind”. It wasn’t until recently that I’ve realized that you speak their minds. You’ve given credence to their prejudices and made those prejudices go mainstream.

Thanks to the terrible ground you’ve broken, politicians, pastors, friends, and strangers, both in person and on social media now regularly out themselves as hateful, intolerant, and malicious—and they remind me just how close they are to me, just how deep the sickness in us runs, and just how far we have to go together.

You’ve emboldened people to be open about things they used to conceal for the sake of decorum, and though it turns my stomach, I know that this is the only way we can move forward; to have that cancerous stuff exposed fully so that it can be dealt with. Our progress as a nation is predicated on authentic dialogue, no matter how brutal and disheartening that dialogue is.

In other words, you’ve let us know what we’re really dealing with here and while it’s been rightly disturbing, it’s also been revelatory. That’s the thing about that kind of harsh light: you’re forced to see everything. Beauty and monstrosity equally illuminated.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think you’re the least qualified, least knowledgeable Presidential candidate we may ever have had participate this far into the process, and if you somehow were elected I’d fear gravely for the world my children would inherit—should it survive your Presidency at all. I believe you’re reckless, bitter, and completely reprehensible; the very worst kind of bully.

But whether you win or lose, you’ve already allowed me the blessing of Truth; about me, about you, about other candidates, about our nation.

And in the process you’ve also shown me that I am not alone in resisting you and this ugly thing you’ve revealed about us.

You’ve generated an equally loud, equally passionate response to it and this is where I find my hope these days.

I find it in those for whom equality isn’t just a cheap buzzword, it’s the most precious of hills to die on.

I find it in those people who refuse to be silent in the face of our impending shared regression.

I find it in those willing to be bolder in defending the inherent value of all people.

I find it in the growing army of those who will not tolerate hatred as a core American value.

I find it in those who reject violence as our default response to dissension.

I find it in the ever rising voice of people who will not let malice and bitterness represent them in the world.

Today I find my hope in those who, like me, will not be complicit in allowing bigotry and intolerance to become a source of national pride, because we’ve seen where that leads.

Yes, Mr Trump, you’ve unearthed our hidden sickness and you’ve allowed it to go viral.

You brought every awful thing about us out into the open.

You will NEVER Get My Vote!


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2 comments:

  1. As a person who is interested in astrology, I'm struck by how Donald Trump's campaign -as I believe is truthfully described above- fits the astrological signature for the present position of Pluto in Capricorn.

    Here's a comment about Pluto in Capricorn from http://astrology.about.com/od/plutoincapricornto2023/qt/PlutoCap.htm Pluto in Capricorn (2008 to 2024) - Life on Earth
    "Pluto has many faces, but at its heart, it's to do with power and powerlessness...

    ([That] Editor's Note: This part was written after the 2008 bail-out in the U.S.)

    Pluto's dark powers of control, through money, is a theme that each of us will wrestle with, in some form or another. The specter of debtor's prisons has risen in the news here and there, but it's not likely to go that far. There's a potential for profound healing of our relationship with money, and a release from the prison of burdening debt.

    We're apt to see the mighty fall during this transit. The monied elite are in Pluto's hot seat, with an investigative eye on what's hopelessly unsustainable. For example, the formerly hidden truths about the Federal Reserve, are coming to light. Since they charge interest on the money they print for the U.S. government, each dollar issued by this private bank adds to the national debt. Simple truths like this are being uncloaked in the mainstream, and that could ultimately lead to reform of the whole system. It's Pluto's time to follow the money with the promise that by exposing the hidden hands, any inherently destructive power structures can be dismantled.

    Since Capricorn is a sign of enmeshed authority, we could be shocked by the fall or exposure of rotten-to-the-core leaders. Capricorn is the sign of the mentor and the archetypal patriarch...the Grand Poohbah. We will see the end of blind faith in paternal leaders to shape our world, especially ones with a do as I say, not as I do attitude.

    This transit enables us to see the dark truths about corporate greed, and the destructive force that puts profit before people (and in fact, all life on Earth). The part we each play to create a sick or healthy society, by how we spend our money, is brought home in a big way.

    Though Pluto can take us to a hopeless place, there's always a rebirth on the other side. It's a planet that transforms whatever life energy it touches. And it does that by shattering the outer structure, so that the core gems can be ferreted out. That nucleus of what's real and true, becomes the foundation for the new.

    The Earth is the ultimate change-agent in this scenario, and may surprise us all with her lessons. The end result will be a return to earth wisdom, where we all become back to the landers. And each of us has a role to play in re-creating society, and coming back into a give & take harmony with the Earth as the living entity that sustains us."

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  2. I was tempted to write this title as "Donald Trump's Campaign Makes America's Racism More Socially Acceptable Again" because I think that there never was a time in the United States when racism wasn't socially acceptable for some people depending on who they are, who they are with, and where they are. Indications (if not proof) of that can also be read online.

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