Political correctness has been replaced by tongues of hatred

Dana, a close friend of my daughter dating to their high school years and their parents became friends of our family, a friendship lasting over 30 years. They had a horrific experience last year.  Dana's mother Sally passed away, and last July they held a zoom memorial service because their synagogue was closed due to COVID-19. This year, another daughter of mine, age 53, passed away and we also opted for a zoom celebration of life hosted by my church pastor. Ours worked beautifully and the recording of the service is a treasure.  Sally's zoom service was hacked by Nazis and swastikas appeared on their screen.  That was just one of the horrors committed by those who felt the time was right to tout their hatred more openly. The numbers of reported antisemitic crimes have tripled since 2018 in Colorado.  Dana's recounting of the incident was featured on television and is available on You Tube. https://youtu.be/59jErmUmI4w      What makes such hate groups feel they have gotten permission to increase their public activities?

Whatever happened to political correctness? The sad state of our nation is that civility, any veneer of supporting a common good, has "gone with the wind". Too often it has been replaced by tongues of hatred and followed by some committing crimes. Even those who do not fancy themselves as hate group fellow travelers are contributing to the atmosphere that encourages them to be more public. Any attempt to castigate some for the lightest tinge of comments defending racial or religious bias is met with counter-accusations from the right of "cancel culture" and anger that "libtards" are trying to do it to them. The definition of culture they feel is under attack has been left to the imagination of others. Some on the left reacted in kind in countering what they see as racial suppression. The country has been divided as speech gloves have been taken off and anger is raw and little hindered. It is clear there is a revolt against "political correctness", once a general agreement among most Americans not to be overtly racist and anti-semitic, to keep noncorrect jokes and slurs hushed, or not to appear publicly antagonistic toward "others" that did not mirror their own ethnic, racial, or religious group. In right-wing demonstrations from Charlottesville to the US Capitol nazi and nazi derived symbols and antisemitic hate slogans are chanted or on display in banners and shirt patches among the other marchers. They and their hate-mongering ilk have always been around, but not so brazenly and publicly in many years as they are now. In the past four years, more have crawled out from under the shadows of rocks to openly flaunt their hate in the light of day. Why?

While verbal and social media barbs are thrown by both sides, the end of more recent societal ethics of political correctness can be traced to the beginning of the Trump era. Donald Trump's words had consequences. The lid of political politeness and respectful speech became something of the past as Trump ripped off the scab of a festering white resentment to the rise of the political power of minorities. Early in the Donald Trump presidential campaign, the slogan that caught fire was Make America Great Again. Reporters had no luck in getting Trump supporters to put into words on camera to which era did they want the US to return that they considered good "again". Trump's oratorical and media skill set was his ability to tap into their gut feelings and to channel them into support of public policy issues which also contributed to his own political power. No longer carried in his favored media were inconvenient facts or embarrassing videos. The media on the left responded by giving focus to what they saw as the truth and reality. Those who tuned in solely to Trump's preferred media still get a view of the world filtered to create a reality that is not shared by viewers and readers of non-Trump media. Recent polls revealed that over half of Republicans believe the election was stolen and Joe Biden was not elected legitimately. At rallies, Trump's devoted audiences cheered racist dog whistle oratory as they jeered at those they disdained. The 1/6 rioters were just tourists viewers were told and they were shown carefully edited videos that neglected to show the violence, vandalism, and combat with police that ended with some dead and 140 injured, and nearly 500 arrested and charged for their alleged criminal behavior. Even with his tweet and facebook wings clipped, Trump's threats to take revenge on non-loyalists get conveyed through other means. Trumpism is now more than just a cult of one person. It is a movement that controls the GOP and uses the fear of being primaried to keep discipline among officeholders and candidates.

Now, in any case, political correctness appears to be no longer part of the culture many assert is being canceled. What this end of political correctness means could also be deduced from which public policy initiatives those decrying political politeness supported that resembled the era before civil rights legislation and the increase in immigration from south of our border. Recent examples are cries of protest against banning Dr. Suess or the renewal of barriers to voting by demographic groups who are viewed as their political opposition. These issues have occupied the Trump media for some time. No government banned any of his books, but the publisher ceased printing several of them at the request of the Suess heirs who did not want Dr. Suess' reputation to reflect racism in a few of his illustrations and words he used in less sensitive times. The other is the wave of voter suppression legislation aimed at making it harder for students, and minorities with lower income and education levels and/or access to transportation to vote. A further objection to the exposure of the participation of neo-Nazis and white nationalist groups in the January 6 riots is also part of the same syndrome. Most of the GOP Senate closed ranks to scuttle further exposure of GOP culpability by voting against an independent commission just before Memorial Day designed by bi-partisan legislators to discover and expose to the public what happened on January 6. Sweeping that embarrassment under the rug will not work and Democrats via hearings and campaign advertisements will make sure voters understand the January 6 rioters were no tourists. Democrats branding Trumpist GOP candidates as anti-democracy will be front and center in the 2022 election campaigns. Exhibits one and two will be videos of January 6 violent rioters carrying Trump banners and airing tactics by GOP Trumpists in state legislatures to suppress certain demographics' ability to vote conveniently and to get their votes counted fairly.

Donald Trump's unique contribution to the end of political correctness was to light a fire under the smoldering sores of divisiveness, resentment of an Obama presidency, and disrespect and hatred of others not like them. . This resulted in more openly expressing intolerance of "others, couched in social media memes and postings, and advocacy of certain public policy positions.. His contribution to racial and religious divide was flagrant, from Charlottesville's new-Nazi parades to Michigan statehouse to the US Capitol, calling white nationalist militias patriots or containing "some good people", his thinly disguised racism tagging one racial group as he kicked off his 2016 campaign with the broad brush of "rapists" and "murderers" or banning another group from entering the US solely because of their religion. Others took the end of political correctness to mean it was a permission slip to be rude and inconsiderate to others or to ignore Covid masking rules and vaccinations as some liberal scam cooked up to control them, to battering innocent Asians on the streets, and to rising antisemitism. That is the sad state of our nation today.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/13/video/extremist-signs-symbols-capitol-riot.html

Why Attacking ‘Cancel Culture’ And ‘Woke’ People Is Becoming The GOP’s New Political Strategy | FiveThirtyEight

A Disturbing Number of Republicans Still Believe All the Lies Donald Trump Tells Them | Vanity Fair

Over half of Republicans believe Donald Trump is the actual President of the United States | Ipsos

Poll: Quarter of Americans surveyed say Trump is 'true president' (usatoday.com)

https://www.adl.org/2017-impact-report/racists-converge-on-charlottesville

Replacement theory revisited April 2021

 The following report inspired me to repost this  nearly prophetic August 12, 2020 blog posting on  April 11, 2021 when Tucker Carlson of FOX brought into the mainstream a slogan and the racist theory of replacement: Anti-Defamation League Calls on Fox News to Fire Tucker Carlson (businessinsider.com)

I remember Neo-Nazi chants in Charlottesville, "Jews will not replace us". The "replacement" word was picked up by many on the right and applied to Hispanics and immigrants. If this is not white nationalism, I do not know what is. The results: the words from right-wing media...and that includes Fox stars, ..inspired the El Paso shooter who used the same words to justify his murder of 22, targeting in his own words Hispanics. Those who approve or repeat such language are complicit in promoting white nationalism. ..and racism. The results will be the opposite of what they wished.

For those who protest this designation, think what the end result of their words means.  With or without "the invasion" of migrants, the demographic shift of the makeup of America to more brown and black citizens will happen anyway because of projected birth rates. So what is the goal now? Slow it down by scaring migrants off with acts of cruelty or by inspiring angry young men to kill them? 

 If the fear harbored by Republicans is that the impact of more black and brown citizens voting for Democrats,, the backlash could be much more immediate instead of farther in the future.  Not only are polls showing the important swing voters, suburban women, are more likely to vote for Democrats, because of the Trump administration's racial politics, Hispanic citizens traditionally have a large segment, 20 to 30%, who have voted Republican in past elections and that ratio could change..  The Republican party will for years be known as the party of white nationalists and enemies of Hispanics as a group.  If the RNC's goal is to suppress the growth of Hispanics voting Democrat, this strategy of embracing white nationalism and inspiring racism will backfire long term because even those Hispanics who are already citizens will be swept up in the hatred of them because of their color, race, name, and background regardless of their political philosophy or citizenship status. If the GOP fears a high turnout of African-Americans and Hispanics in 2020, they are doing all in their power to increase the turnout of those voices and voters they have attempted to suppress. It is a lesson they should have learned in the 2018 midterms. The historic turnout of minority voters turned red districts blue, including Colorado's 6th Congressional District and contributed to the House of Representatives flipping to blue. 

False equivalences and other "what abouts"

A version of this was published in the Winter Park Time, April 2, 2021, https://winterparktimes.com/opinion/columnists/apples-to-apples-and-oranges-to-oranges/

There is a  time-tested political strategy of making false equivalences to fog up clear thinking.   The term is often defined as “ comparing apples and oranges”, but politicians use it as a trick to make an issue more acceptable to voters that otherwise would have been considered unacceptable. A classic case of false equivalence was Donald Trump's calling both the neo-Nazi marchers in Charlottesville and the counter-demonstrators as  "fine people on both sides”.  Like apples and oranges, both fruits coming from trees and round that are nowhere alike on the insides, the Neo-Nazi and white nationalist marchers were shouting slogans of their inspiration, Hitler, and the counter-demonstrators were there inspired by civil rights.  Both were exercising their rights.  However, Donald Trump calling white nationalist tiki torch marchers flying neo-Nazi symbols fine people rankled many who believed neo Nazi’s were evil racists.  The howl of anger by the outraged echoed throughout Trump’s presidency and was used by his critics as evidence he was a racist and white nationalist whenever the issue arose.

Some false equivalences have had serious consequences.  Remember a year ago when Donald Trump told the public that COVID 19 was not worse than the flu,  and he admitted on tape to journalist  Bob Woodward, that he intentionally played down its danger? He knew better, even reciting COVID’s danger as much worse than the flu to Woodward.  Even as he emerged from Walter Reed for treatment of COVID 19 he told the public COVID 19 was no worse than the flu. As we later learned, he was much sicker than we were told and was nearly put on a ventilator. He kept that charade up, even secretly getting vaccinated in December before leaving office Many of his followers have become anti-vaxxers and anti maskers due to his “mixed” messages. COVID 19 attributed deaths outnumbered the usual seasonal flu deaths per the CDC by at least three times and variants still threaten that are even more infectious than the initial COVID rates.  Dr. Deborah  Birx, Trump's COVID coordinator estimates 400,000 lives could have been saved if the response had been different. Deborah Birx says Trump’s COVID response may have cost 400,000 lives: Did she do enough? | Salon.com    The anti-COVID vaxxers are harming the ability to reach herd immunity and to stop the more deadly variants. Anti-vaxxers jeopardize plans to protect U.S. against Covid (cnbc.com)

https://www.treatmentactiongroup.org/covid-19/covid-19-myth-busters/is-the-annual-loss-of-life-from-influenza-similar-to-covid-19/

Five reasons why COVID herd immunity is probably impossible (nature.com)

The false equivalences and “what about” hangovers still continue even after Donald Trump left office.  Still at it are recent media talkers who tried to paint Biden as senile because he used notes at his press conference this month to reference data. " Why Donald Trump would have been embarrassed if he did that", the memes contend flying around the internet. Fact Checkers tallied Trump's untruths as 30,000 over four years.  With that many untruths, Trump could have benefitted from some cheat sheets, too, if he cared. For him and his followers, facts and data that provided evidence contrary to his notions were to be ignored or called false.  Just riling up the crowd with repeated slogans like  “build the wall” and “lock her up” was more effective and entertaining than accurate data, negative evidence, and boring figures.   Nonetheless, polls showed that whatever came from his mouth was considered the truth to his loyal followers and it dictated public policy.

 The newer “false equivalences” are trumpeted by  Trump followers “ If you think the capitol riot was bad, what about Seattle and Black Lives Matter last summer.” The apologists for the rioters claim they were equal to the anarchists' attacks in Seattle during the summer and indeed the anarchists broke some windows and painted graffiti on federal buildings.  Loyalists to Trump have attempted to say  Seattle rioters are like the violent attackers and invaders of the Capitol. The Black Lives Matter protests last summer. were mostly peaceful, but marred by some violence, but that is where the similarity ends. The inspiration and intent of the January 6 rioters were to overthrow the government and democracy by terrorizing the legislators whose constitutional task it was to certify a presidential election and they broke police lines to enter and vandalize the Capitol. That kind of intentional action is in a league by itself. The FBI is still toying with a decision of bringing sedition charges against some they already arrested for vandalism of federal property, assault on police officers, and unlawful entry. Donald Trump’s laughable attempt to rewrite history is his claim last week the Capitol police were hugging Oath Keeper rioters and just let them in. The videos and frantic calls for backup from police when their police lines were breached damn that claim.  A hundred and forty police defenders,  one dead, were injured, some seriously by those love hugs. What about that?

https://www.coloradopolitics.com/opinion/hudson-blms-white-critics-are-in-denial/article_89693268-bc50-11eb-a285-9317456ca504.html?utm_email=5456A46524CC0479747384C978&g2i_eui=bBci0TE7Y1wN6dtnrNE6sm%2bvWR4TzXYv&g2i_source=newsletter&g2i_campaign=copo_morning_update_pref5&utm_source=listrak&utm_medium=email&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fwww.coloradopolitics.com%2fopinion%2fhudson-blms-white-critics-are-in-denial%2farticle_89693268-bc50-11eb-a285-9317456ca504.html%23utm_source%3dcoloradopolitics.com%26utm_campaign%3d%252Femail%252Fdaily-morning%252F%253Ft%253D2%26utm_medium%3demail%26utm_content%3dread%2520more&utm_campaign=MORNING+REPORT+%7c+Cover+Story%3a+Will+online+courts+stay%3f+%2f+A+stimulus+for+needs+vs.+political+messagin#utm_source=coloradopolitics.com&utm_campaign=%2Femail%2Fdaily-morning%2F%3Ft%3D2&utm_medium=email&utm_content=read%20more

Here is the newest apples to oranges deception. Georgia passed some new voter laws aimed at making it harder to vote, and especially harder for African Americans.  It was thinly disguised voter suppression.  Major League Baseball, among other corporations, took issue and MLB reacted by moving the All-Star game to Denver.  Georgia officials tried to paint Colorado laws as being similar to Georgia's in the grandfather of all false equivalencies.

My response on Facebook: How stupid do Georgia officials think we are? Cut out the misleading BS Georgia.. We in Colorado do not require pictures on our ids and we accept many different kinds of ID. 90% of voters vote by mail...easy drop-off locations. All voters get ballots (no requests, no excuses required)..just comes to registered voters. Extremely secure...ways to administer...no sweat, no problem, no suppression, no discrimination.

, no fraud.

CPR.ORG

Colorado Vs. Georgia Voting Laws: What Are The Differences?

With the All-Star Game relocating to Denver, conservative politicians hav

.. This Is Not Equal To That: How False Equivalence Clouds Our Judgment (forbes.com)

Fresh out of Walter Reed, Trump compares Covid to the flu. Experts say he's flat wrong. (nbcnews.com)

Trump deliberately played down virus, Woodward book says - BBC News

China grants 18 trademarks in 2 months to Trump, daughter (apnews.com)  Nov 2018

2019 trump pressures ukraine president beginning in July 2019 's Guiliani's fforts Ukraine Releases ‘Shock’ Call With Giuliani As Trump’s Impeachment Trial Begins | Time

False equivalency between Black Lives Matter and Capitol siege: Experts, advocates - ABC News (go.com)

How Republicans Are Warping Reality Around the Capitol Attack - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Over and over and over, arrested rioters say what spurred them: Trump - The Washington Post

What we know about the Capitol riot arrests - CBS News

.. This Is Not Equal To That: How False Equivalence Clouds Our Judgment (forbes.com)

Fresh out of Walter Reed, Trump compares Covid to the flu. Experts say he's flat wrong. (nbcnews.com)

Trump deliberately played down virus, Woodward book says - BBC News

The newest attempt to denigrate Biden is to call him senile and had to use notes. Trump would have had to leave in disgrace, if he did a recent meme went:.  That is a very false equivalency, to say the least.  Here is my answer to that BS made in a group facebook exchange 

• (Trump).. could never remember facts and just made it up or lied. He masked that in his constant repetitiveness of slogans he was sure to get a rise from his faithful crowd who believed every bit of his tall tales. He was a demagogue and a very skillful one which kept blood and hate and fear boiling. Fact checkers could never even keep up....and his loyal followers swallowed every bit up as the gospel truth.

  

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  Felicia Muftic

  
  

  

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  In addition, he was famous for not being able to comprehend the written word, having everything delivered to him in simple bullet points on one page and famous for dozing off or changing the subject. His briefers could not keep his attention. I frankly think he was learning disabled but he covered it up in bluster and blunder and bullying anyone who questioned him. What he was was an adhd auditory learner and he knew what words riled up his listeners. He got his news and feedback from the echo chamber of his FOX trusted personalities and his short blasts were suited for tweets. His early tweets also showed he could not spell or write, but in time it improved so much, I suspect he had a tweet editor. Most of this has been documented by those who tried to brief him....and one, his secretary of state, called him an f.......moron after an attempted briefing. I'll take Joe the stutterer and sticking to the facts, please, over that even if he looks at his notes. .Incidentally, Joe addressed every question asked him at the press conference with knowledge of wide-ranging subjects and he didn't stalk off the stage in a twit of rage or leaving a trail of insults behind him.
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  Here's Trump's tallies of lies and misspeaks and untruths....30,000 over 4 years. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/trump-lies-false-presidency-b1790285.html https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/04/trumps-insults-idiot-woodward-806455
•             Fox News poll: Biden leads by 15 points on who is more 'honest and trustworthy' | TheHill    a poll taken by FOX a week before the election.

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Best definition: apples to oranges