Springfield: Cat Returns
Strange Days
Springfield Ohio is trying to return to some semblance of normalcy.
The governor of Ohio has deployed state troopers to protect Haitian residents, standing firm against intimidation, alongside the local city government. People are parading the streets in solidarity with the immigrants, packing Haitian restaurants to express their emotional and financial support. The local churches have rallied around the Haitians. They are doing their best to ease the pain of the Haitian residents and make them feel more welcome, and I applaud their efforts.
At this point, a lot of people are asking, what the heck happened? How was anyone ever taken in by this? When did America become this gullible? A look at history will show this gullibility is not new, but that's not the first place to look.
Trust is a thing that is easily abused, and I think we need to focus on the perpetrators to understand what happened. On this subject, when dealing with Trump, facts are often elusive, but his underlying message is clear--that immigrants are unwelcome (by him and his followers). Trump made no apologies for his false claim but passed the buck to his apprentice Vance.
Vance, when questioned about his complicity (on Fox news, surprisingly), said he would totally make up stories if needed, if it furthered the agenda. Not exactly an apology either. The way it played out suggests that he had no deep plan or knowledge, he was just re-posting inflammatory content he got from right wing extremist channels. But ignorance is no defense.
Bypassing a convoluted path, we come to Drake R. Berentz, and the group known as Blood Tribe. They claim credit for initially creating the viral meme. Blood Tribe, in case you don't know, is an extremist organization tracked by the FBI. Although the origin of the ongoing bomb threats to Springfield schools has not been identified, they are probably involved. I don't know how to gently explain what they are, but if you see their flag, you'll understand. As for Berentz, he goes by the alias "Nate Higgers"--I'm sure you can spot his "clever" wordplay and conclude what you will about him. So, I doubt those guys will apologize--given that they want a civil war.
Vance, having effectively acknowledged that he had no good evidence, delegated some of his campaign funds to do some digging, and see what his staff could come up with. Which means, I suppose, that people who donated money to Trump's "Save America" PAC weren't just funding Trump's legal defense bills, err I mean campaign, but also bank-rolling this initiative for division and splintering of America. Out of this maelstrom there came a mundane triumph of ugliness. Aside from the picture of a guy with a duck in Columbus OH, they found a police report filed by Anna Kilgore, a Trump supporter, alleging that her Haitian neighbors had eaten her cat. Believing the theory to be vindicated, Vance forwarded his info to the Wall Street Journal for wide dispersal. However, the Wall Street Journal was not entirely convinced, and with good reason.
Anna Apologizes
Allow me to fast-forward a bit: the cat, named "Miss Sassy Pants" was hiding in the basement, and reappeared a few days later. We can rejoice, no pets were harmed, not even Miss Sassy Pants. The WSJ did something right: they reported the cat had been found. Of course, the cat was never the real point, and the harm to the reputation and well-being of Haitians remains.
One of the people responsible, though, has apologized, in a matter of speaking. Anna's neighbors speak French (so, just a little further North in Quebec, there would have been no language barrier). Therefore, Anna apologized by way of a translation app on her phone. Can we take a moment and just imagine the overwhelming awkwardness of that scene? The tension would be entirely too much for me. I hope she at least took down her Trump sign. One can dream.
What Now
In some ways, it feels like the fever has broken, the conclusion of the story revealed, like one of those Scooby Doo cartoons where the supernatural forces turn out to be just flawed men in costumes, consumed by their own greed. But it might be premature to conclude it is over.
It will take some time to heal, for the Haitian community. I read accounts of Haitian dads keeping their kids inside and avoiding bike rides, of Haitian moms not feeling comfortable going to the grocery stores, or begging for advice on how they can get a one-way ticket to somewhere their children will be safe and free from harassment. And I know that this is just the surface of the same pain that has been inflicted on many black, latino, asian, and other vulnerable communities. The hateful accusations against them should never have been even remotely tolerated.
For myself, I feel that in my attempts to be friendly and neutral, I have been entirely too accommodating to individuals and perspectives which can not be accommodated. Perhaps realizing what an idiot I look like can help me internalize this point emotionally rather than just analytically. Enough is enough, as they say.
On the other hand, perhaps I am right to address these claims, since a recent poll finds that over half of Trump voters thought the pet claim was probably or definitely true, while some 81% of Harris voters thought the claim was definitely false. Uh... Only 81%?? I was hoping for a higher percentage.
Propaganda can be effective even when we understand that the facts are thin to none. Strange associations can still occupy space in our heads, and the deep division and uneasiness within America can still remain even after debunking the original disinformation, such that our adversaries, whether domestic or foreign or some temporary alliance thereof, achieve their harmful objectives. We must not be such easy marks. We do not have to suffer the same fate as Germany did in 1933; it is worth investing some effort now to avoid a bigger problem later.
To Kill a Meme
Sometimes you need to do more than just ignore a bad meme or make fun of it; sometimes you need to create a cancelling meme that replaces it with a contrasting message.
In this situation, the first thing we need to unpack is that all this anti-immigrant talk is but a mask for racism which is not acceptable in America.
Those who know their opinions are not socially acceptable often expose their true selves in private. But publicly, they can hide behind the anti-immigrant camouflage, knowing that those who think like them will decode the non-white part.
We Are All Immigrants
(With apologies to my Native American friends, who have the strongest claim to America of anyone, going back thousands of years).
领英推荐
Did you know that Trump is only a 3rd generation immigrant himself? You'd never guess that, listening to him rant. But it's true, his grandfather Fred Sr immigrated to America to avoid military service, running a series of saloons and brothels during the gold rush. His father Fred Jr, the one arrested at a KKK rally, was a real-estate tycoon and profiteer, who left behind a fortune. Donald inherited from his father a distrust of black people, but not much business acumen. They say wealth never survives three generations--less in this case.
But there are a lot of wealthy individuals that lean towards racism. Consider that when Musk pushes anti-immigrant messages on Twitter, it's not accidental, and yet clearly he's not meaning himself, despite that he is an immigrant from South Africa. There's some sort of connotation related to race that we're supposed to understand and internalize, and it is often subconscious.
And this is what must be undone. Because the melting pot story America told the world isn't just hot air, it is the literal truth of our past, present, and future, that we must internalize and embrace.
When you hear "immigrants," erase race from the mental image. Think not just Satya Nadella (1st gen), but also Henry Kissinger (1st gen). Not just Yo-Yo Ma (1st gen), but also Audrey Hepburn (1st gen). Not just Barack Obama (2nd gen), but also Steve Jobs (2nd gen). Not just Jessica Alba (3rd gen), but also Bill Gates (3rd gen). Not just your neighbor, but yourself. Do you suppose 4th or 5th generation changes something? It does not.
So remember: We're All Immigrants. Let this be our mantra, our defense against the veiled racism hiding behind anti-immigrant rhetoric. America is a place for literally everyone, and with the exception of Native Americans, it doesn't really belong to anyone; the social realities we construct must serve the objectives of social harmony, co-operation, and unity of the broader assemblage of humanity, and when a construct or an individual does not serve that purpose, it belongs in the ignorant past rather than the enlightened future.
Just Say No to Disinfo
Each of us has a moment before we share an unsubstantiated, incendiary attack, where we could easily ask ourselves whether there is evidence, and who the message serves. We should be in the habit of doing that. To that end, I included some links to support my claims, so it can be verified that I am not making all this craziness up.
We should also be opting for platforms that encourage quality discourse, rather than encouraging extremism. In that sense, LinkedIn is doing better than a lot of the competition, but one can imagine social media networks that are yet more robust against misuse. And we owe it to ourselves to imagine these things, and create them when appropriate. Now is a good time to imagine a saner, more responsible future.
Thanks for reading.
Some References
If you have time to glance at one, I recommend the medium article from Gwen.
* https://www.hmd.org.uk/learn-about-the-holocaust-and-genocides/the-holocaust/rise-of-the-nazi-party/
Programmer
2 个月Meanwhile, Louisiana Representative Clay Higgins (R), unaware that actually the cat is fine, has doubled down on the claims which everyone can see were obviously false. He's taking it a step further, saying that the Haitian people are "nasty" and saying they'd better get out of the country before January 20--despite that most are here legally and thus have as much right to be here as he does. What does he think is going to happen on January 20? And how does a person who resigned from the police force for inappropriately beating someone handcuffed (who was innocent but black) and then lying about it during an internal investigation get elected to Congress? It can only be that there are many Americans who are as ignorant as he (and the others pushing this false narrative which is nothing more than thinly veiled racism).