March 21, 2019
The news stories of Jussie Smollett and his fake hate crime accusation and former Coast Guard employee planning a mass murder plot shows America needs to stop demonizing those who have different viewpoints of our country. It will lead to violence.
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The election of 2016 and its effects was the first major battle about the major divisions within the United States. For liberals and Democratic voters, Donald Trump's shock victory led to immense anger. From the moment President Trump took the oath of office, half the country (at least what the media portrayed) wanted to see the new president impeached for a variety of reasons. His supporters, who sometimes wear the now infamous red "Make America Great Again" hats, are public enemy number one with those who dislike the President. Trump supporters wear the hats as a badge of honor and pride, and in some cases, use it to trigger immense emotions of Democrats in my opinion. Several events over the past few months have brought this anger and vitriol towards those who wear the MAGA hats.
The first was the incident at the Lincoln Memorial, where boys from an all-boys school in Kentucky, Covington Catholic, were seen congregating at the memorial, while a militant group, the Black Israelites, started to spew invective towards them. During the event, a former military veteran, who was also a Native American, approached one student banging a drum, allegedly trying to defuse the situation. The media picked up on one particular student, Nick Sandmann, who stood still and smiled while the veteran, Nathan Phillips, sang and chanted at Mr. Sandmann. National media ran with this story, especially the so-called liberal media, CNN, MSNBC, Washington Post, New York Times and commented on the arrogance of the MAGA student. He was vilified in the press and was appropriated as the face of arrogant Trump supporters. Celebrities on Twitter condemned him to a representative of white supremacy. Some implied that those who knew where he lived or see him in public punch him in the face.
Mr. Sandmann did not make any rude comments, or tried to goad Mr. Phillips into a confrontation, but simply stood and smiled. Liberals took that smile as simple arrogance and a proxy for the extreme views of a tiny segment of those who support President Trump. It painted a young man as an enemy of all that is good, at least amongst liberals. Nathan Phillips was portrayed in a sympathetic and heroic light and was painted as a sympathetic figure fighting Trump voters. It was later found out that Mr. Phillips was mischaracterized as having deployed overseas during the Vietnam conflict when in fact he was just active duty in the Marine Corps. This was overlooked in an effort by certain media outlooks to paint Mr. Phillips in a heroic light when "fighting" bigotry with the Covington Catholic kids. CNN and MSNBC wanted to create a sympathetic figure in Mr. Phillips while portraying the mostly white students as the aggressors (some reports alleged the boys did not act the angelic part either earlier in the day, to be fair).
Jussie Smollett is a bit character on a Lee Daniel's produced show on Fox, called "Empire." It was a huge hit for the network, but the numbers over the last few weeks have seen viewership decline, including after Jussie was alleged to have created the incident himself. In February of this year, it was reported that while Mr. Smollett was walking home after picking up a Subway sandwich, he was attacked by two men wearing MAGA hats, shouting racial and gay slurs while he was fighting them off. Additionally, he reported that one of them put a noose around his neck, details which further inflamed people who heard about it. After an investigation by the Chicago Police, it was determined that Jussie Smollett created the scenario and got two Nigerian immigrant brothers to commit the attack on himself, primarily because of an alleged letter sent to Fox Studios (where the show is produced) threatening him with violence. It is alleged Mr. Smollett sent the letter himself as well. He was angry about a lack of response and assumed he was of no value to the show since he did not command a high salary. Many Democrats and liberal media political pundits poured gasoline on the fire, and it seemed they relished with glee that this happened to an African-American actor, and the assailants were the new enemy of the progressive left, white men wearing MAGA hats. Once it was found out that the alleged attack was not real (some say hoax, but a trial will ultimately determine that), many progressives, including the media did not apologize and kept even a small hope that Mr. Smollett will be proven right.
Coast Guardsman Paul Hasson was arrested once it was found out he was making racist and white supremacist diatribes online for years and was caught by someone within the Coast Guard headquarters in Washington, D.C. where he worked who tipped off the FBI about his posts. The FBI raided his house and found out he had stockpiled numerous weapons for a predetermined attack on society, where he had hoped to kill hundreds of people. Federal prosecutors alleged he was amassing weapons since 2017 and planned on assassinating prominent Democratic lawmakers, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Senator Kamala Harris and Speaker Nancy Pelosi and additionally members of the media from MSNBC and CNN. I no doubt believe he was motivated by the hostility many Americans show towards those whose political views differ sharply from their neighbors, friends, and co-workers. There are some Trump supporters who use the polarizing president as an excuse to commit violence. While I feel that does not reflect the many of the president's supporters, this type of behavior by a small few should be prevented at all costs. Most importantly, we as citizens should speak out against it whenever it happens. Americans need to be vigilant and report suspicious behavior to their local law enforcement, or the FBI. Many of us who care about courteous and passionate political discourse would want those who wish to harm others arrested and prosecuted by law enforcement and the judicial branch.
These specific instances were discussed because of the challenging times during the Trump Administration. Politics has become more savage, and attacks against current legislators, especially potential candidates have become exponentially worse. These three examples of how dangerous American democracy has changed the way we talk to, and about each other. With the Covington kids, there were celebrities tweeting about literally punching Mr. Sandmann if anyone were to see him in person. This is a high school kid, who was caught in the political crossfire and some progressives wanted to make an example of him, simply because he resembled a typical young Trump fan. More importantly, it seemed Leftists (militant liberals) wanted him to become what they hated about Trump fans (who are predominately white, I presume) and hoped to exercise their anger at them.
It was similar to those same progressives and Leftists who thought the Jussie Smollett attack was real. There is some serious anger by progressives at those who voted for and continue to support President Trump, and incidents with the preferred villains are cause for spouting vitriol and at times, violence against fellow Americans. On the other side, Paul Hasson, the Coast Guard officer who wanted to actually commit violence against liberals is treated much the same way by militant supporters of the president. If he was not caught, one cannot imagine the carnage he might have caused. I wanted to bring up these examples of how angry the country's citizens are at each other. The Civil War had its beginnings with similar opposition amongst Americans to see the humanity in each other (notwithstanding those Africans in bondage who were brought over from the west coast of the African continent).
Democracies must find a way to bridge conflicting viewpoints and try to compromise on some level. Our Constitution's Founders wanted the American experiment to feature divided government and with its implications for elected legislators to work out policy between the opposing viewpoints. The United States is a Constitutional Republic, in that we elect our leaders, but the Constitution and the Bill of Rights protect the rights of all, against a tyranny of the majority. As a nation, we are hurtling towards serious conflict. There are blogs and message boards discussing a 2nd Civil War. This kind of talk is shameful. Armed conflict will ruin any chance this country has of healing and working out differences in a humane way. One of the goals of the Christchurch shooter was to cause mayhem between "civilized" whites of European descent and ethnic minorities in most Western-style countries. I would hope calmer heads will prevail and get people to recognize that we all have different opinions about issues that are of importance and a better way awaits those who are brave enough to find it.
These specific instances were discussed because of the challenging times during the Trump Administration. Politics has become more savage, and attacks against current legislators, especially potential candidates have become exponentially worse. These three examples of how dangerous American democracy has changed the way we talk to, and about each other. With the Covington kids, there were celebrities tweeting about literally punching Mr. Sandmann if anyone were to see him in person. This is a high school kid, who was caught in the political crossfire and some progressives wanted to make an example of him, simply because he resembled a typical young Trump fan. More importantly, it seemed Leftists (militant liberals) wanted him to become what they hated about Trump fans (who are predominately white, I presume) and hoped to exercise their anger at them.
It was similar to those same progressives and Leftists who thought the Jussie Smollett attack was real. There is some serious anger by progressives at those who voted for and continue to support President Trump, and incidents with the preferred villains are cause for spouting vitriol and at times, violence against fellow Americans. On the other side, Paul Hasson, the Coast Guard officer who wanted to actually commit violence against liberals is treated much the same way by militant supporters of the president. If he was not caught, one cannot imagine the carnage he might have caused. I wanted to bring up these examples of how angry the country's citizens are at each other. The Civil War had its beginnings with similar opposition amongst Americans to see the humanity in each other (notwithstanding those Africans in bondage who were brought over from the west coast of the African continent).
Democracies must find a way to bridge conflicting viewpoints and try to compromise on some level. Our Constitution's Founders wanted the American experiment to feature divided government and with its implications for elected legislators to work out policy between the opposing viewpoints. The United States is a Constitutional Republic, in that we elect our leaders, but the Constitution and the Bill of Rights protect the rights of all, against a tyranny of the majority. As a nation, we are hurtling towards serious conflict. There are blogs and message boards discussing a 2nd Civil War. This kind of talk is shameful. Armed conflict will ruin any chance this country has of healing and working out differences in a humane way. One of the goals of the Christchurch shooter was to cause mayhem between "civilized" whites of European descent and ethnic minorities in most Western-style countries. I would hope calmer heads will prevail and get people to recognize that we all have different opinions about issues that are of importance and a better way awaits those who are brave enough to find it.
