To many of us, it seems the lunatics have taken over the asylum. Reports since Election Day show a worrying uptick in expressions of hate against minorities, foreigners and LGBTQs. We’ve always known that this was an ugly part of America’s underbelly and our history of straight, white, male supremacy, but we could be excused for thinking that the weight of pluralism and the vast majority of decent people in our country would keep it in check.
It may be a temporary victory rampage, an unleashing of pent up energy by a bunch of sore winners emboldened by Trump’s win. It may simply be an increased focus on these incidents by a scared and shaken country. It may be the media, having spent this election chasing ratings rather than truth, failing us again. Regardless, it is unacceptable. It always was. And now more than ever decent people must face it down.
Things will get worse before they get better. Donald Trump takes no responsibility for the consequences of his actions, launching accusations of conspiracies, biased media and rigged elections, rather than accepting that a public figure — and an abrasive, dishonest, polarizing one at that — will naturally attract critics. But reacting is not conspiring. Reporting is not slander. Opposition is a direct result of abhorrent behavior.
Not 24 hours after a victory speech promising to unite the country and be a president for all Americans, Trump has chosen to blame the media for inciting protests rather than heed the call to condemn the incidents of racist violence. Even if Trump did condemn the violence, he's taught us to never take him at his word. Anything conciliatory is wink-wink, nudge-nudge, fingers crossed behind his back, before he rationalizes, pivots and inevitably returns to inflammatory bluster.
Like all despots, Trump will find foreign and domestic “enemies” to scapegoat for his failures. And he will have many failures. His promises to the angry, white working class will go unfulfilled because he has proven throughout his lifetime to be self-servingly duplicitous and unprincipled. He will stoke anger, he will twist the truth as he always has. He will continue to use innuendo and uncertainty, scandal, and a relentless war on hope to lull, distract and dispirit us into inaction.
This will be our most dangerous moment. Bush’s patriotism gas-lighting after 9/11 will seem like child’s play in comparison.
We must resist the brainwashing propaganda. We must resist the dulling effect of everyday life and self-interest that accommodates atrocity. We must resist the moral licensing. We must resist the assumption that just because something has the patina of authority, it naturally deserves our respect. It doesn’t. Remember that decent people are in the majority and remember the words of Irish statesman Edmund Burke that “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Trump's politics will be bad enough, but the behavior and discourse he has normalized is atrocious. Many of us will pass below the bigots' radar because of our name, our money, our gender, our gestures, our accents, the color of our skin. We must use this “white privilege” to be the sleeper cells of decency. It is our responsibility especially to speak up and stand down every single instance of injustice with outrage, both in politics and in person. Do not give the bullies space to act. Do not give their ideas air to breathe. Do not worry about being rude or making a scene. Do not feel you are alone in this. Do not let fear allow you to tolerate intolerance.
When I read yesterday a woman's story of being verbally assaulted by a man behind her in line at a coffee shop for speaking a foreign language on her cell phone, I immediately thought, but what about the man behind him? What about all the other people in the coffee shop who heard him and said nothing? Had a single one of them spoken out, loudly, they would have unleashed a wave of scorn that would have reminded him that he is the real minority here, and it is one of his own choosing.
While we must take care of ourselves, like the ACLU, we cannot let our guard down for an instant. Most of us are physically and emotionally unprepared. It takes mettle to stand up to a bully, but prosperity and the facade of civility, have made us soft. This will take more effort than we are used to. Maybe more than we can currently imagine. But we have it in us. I strongly recommend that you read Charles Kaiser’s book, “The Cost of Courage", the true story of a bourgeois Catholic family’s experience in the French Resistance.
We are used to avoiding conflict, of staying out of other people’s problems. We no longer have that luxury. Wear the pin to show others that they are safe with you. (This is not just another symbolic ribbon of solidarity, it is a commitment to act!) Learn how to intervene in an act of bullying. Walk with people who need protection. Donate money and effort to the ACLU, the HRC, Planned Parenthood, and other national and local organizations that protect freedom and the rights of individuals. Hold the feet of our politicians and our press to the fire.
We can respect our differences only as long as those differences do not oppress the rights of others to exist. The deplorables wanted our attention. Now we must make them regret it.