This is America in the age of decay: How we became a civilization dominated by racism & rage

[applegrove]

This is America in the age of decay: How we became a civilization dominated by racism & rage

by Daniel Denver at Salon

http://www.salon.com/2015/11/18/this_is_america_in_the_age_of_decay_how_we_became_a_civilization_dominated_by_racism_rage/

"SNIP.............


ISIS, in a statement, described Paris as “the capital of prostitution and vice.” They no doubt knew, and perhaps even preferred, that their victims would be many colors and religions, speaking many languages.

Cities are simultaneously the spatial realization of oppression and a bulwark of decency and joy amidst chauvinism and racism; they are a built environment remade each day by commuters, outdoor chess players, carpenters, musicians and bored teenagers. They are the Kurdish proprietor of my neighborhood pizza shop giving me a free pie, made lahmajoon style, after I confided that I thought Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is an autocrat and warmonger.

That is the city that nationalists and bigots want to destroy. That includes the American right wing which, like its European counterparts, quickly found its own use for the innocent blood spilled in Paris.

“President Obama and Hillary Clinton’s idea that we should bring tens of thousands of Syrian Muslim refugees to America: it is nothing less than lunacy,” said Ted Cruz, who has also suggested that the United States stop worrying so much about civilian casualties from air strikes. Refugees, apparently, should remain in Syria, living under the Islamic State or the Assad regime and resigning themselves to slaughter at one hand or another.



...............SNIP"

[DFW]

1. Maybe to show Cruz how tough we are....

We should start kicking out selected Cuban refugees as well as their offspring, and ones not born in the USA are the first to go...

[applegrove]

2. +1

[gollygee]

3. At what time in our history were we not dominated by racism and rage?

I get it, but this isn't a new problem. We were founded on racism.

[applegrove]

5. But the GOP has not allowed the South to heal from racism. They keep it alive. Other countries admit

the sins of their forefathers' and foremothers' systems. And reconnect to the world in new ways. Canada exploited the French in Quebec. The rich in Quebec were all English descendants. We admitted our mistakes in the early 1970s. We kept the country safe from Terrorists and we started French immersion schools in primary school throught out the country at the very same time. Now a good percentage of Canadian kids are in the program. There turns out to be a huge developmental benefit to knowing two languages as a child. Point is there is a new reality. We are not perfect at all still. Now we have to tackle indigenous issues. But by accepting our part in the problem we changed our actions and our ways. And we benefit from that growth.

[hifiguy]

4. Fascism plus imperialism is

the inevitable result of capitalism in decay.

And we are there.