I heard Van Jones' "white-lash" comment on election night when he said it live on the air. In some respects, I don't doubt that there is truth to that statement or to these in this video, nor have I changed my mind about disliking Trump on-the-whole, but as Limbaugh said this afternoon, when blacks, Hispanics, gays, or any minority group INCLUDING women (who aren't even minorities in the numerical sense) vote based on THEIR self-interests, it is celebrated and applauded. When whites even appear to do the same thing, it's condemned as racist, sexist, bigoted, and representative of an alleged desire for segregation, isolationism, and so-called "traditional" values meant to oppress and abuse women. When those groups say or stand up for something that scares or offends whites and/or Christian conservatives, the latter's reaction(s) are attributed to ignorance and bigotry, laughed and joked about when people like Obama hold power by almost ALL of the sarcastic pricks on late night television and cable programs like The Daily Show and Colbert, etc. When something scares THEM, though, it suddenly becomes the responsibility of not just white, but SPECIFICALLY male, straight, and Christian Americans to "hear the fear" and pain and shoulder the responsibility of having to understand and help heal divides. And while statements like the ones made by a Muslim guest on CNN today about words having consequences may be true, what about actions?
Beyond some hearings and some bad press, what were the consequences for what was basically confirmed to be Hillary Clinton's dangerous negligence, at the very least, in handling confidential and classified information while using her private E-mail server as Secretary of State? Where were the consequences when Former Secretary Clinton and/or members of her staff LIED about what really motivated the protests in Benghazi that left Americans dead, then callously and arrogantly asked a panel of government representatives why the reason even mattered? What were the consequences when Clinton called "half" of Trump's supporters people that should be put in a "basket of deplorables?" I would love to see what would happen if Sean Hannity were asked why so many white cops seem to shoot black, unarmed suspects, and he replied by asking why it maters. The difference between those scenarios is one of degrees and proximity to everyday life.
I don't condone the way Trump worded a lot of his viewpoints during the campaign, but wanting to enforce immigration law and expect other nations to respect our borders is NOT racist towards Hispanics or Muslims or anyone else. There would be instant, harsh, and maybe legal and military condemnation from other countries if 2,000 or more white people suddenly moved to some small nation in Africa, for example, and started demanding that the culture and the economy there adapt to THEM and not the other way around. Yet that's exactly what is expected of America when it comes to illegals from Mexico or refugees from Syria despite the FACT that America has a system in place for immigrants, which I believe helps everyone by teaching them about the country and its people and ENABLING them to demand, as integrated citizens, fair wages and government protection paid for by tax payers like them, as legal citizens. Where is the same sort of outcry from Van Jones over the consequences of Obama's disastrous ultimatum over Syrias chemical weapons that was never followed-up, thus allowing a major power like Russia to not only protect Assad's murderous dictatorship, but now help him bomb his own people and towns like Aleppo almost out of existence?
To me, the fundamental roadblock on the path to more social progress is the inability or refusal to understand that while we're all created equal and that equality in the form of equal rights can be bestowed by government, true tolerance has to be earned or achieved through education, experience, and the kind of HONEST discourse that is currently impossible to have between whites - mainly male Christians and conservatives - and the other races and creeds in America because as soon as something is said that just makes a minority group uncomfortable, anything else said by the white and/or majority group is usually dismissed as either dishonest or bigoted. Last night, Don Lemon confronted a guest about this issue, hypothetically asking what the difference is between what Trump says and basic honesty as to one's perhaps politically incorrect or even bigoted perspectives. The guest's answer was, "civility." If that's true, though, then it's incumbent upon EVERYONE - regardless of race, creed, heritage or history - to not only practice that civility, but come to some kind of consensus as to what that specifically means in terms of wording that is both acceptable AND honest.
I realize that non-white and non-Christian minority groups have had some traumatic history and experiences here in America, but if things like marriage or any other forms of equality are truly to matter and have staying power, that history needs to be set aside - not forgotten, mind you, but also not used to negatively generalize, accuse, provoke, and/or to guilt people and government into giving them what they want.
