No longer should I like to hear talk regarding the moves of current president Trump as
âunprecedentedâ or any other variation. My father, just yesterday, came to me with a rather appalled expression upon learning of the latest airstrike on foreign, unknown boats in the Carribean. Otherwise, the unjust murder of unknown persons for supposed (not even alleged and certainly not proven) crimes of drug smuggling. One may think of these airstrikes on unsuspecting, unknown boats in the Carribean as a security guard shooting (and murdering) anyone who approaches without question nor conviction on entirely baseless pretense of supposed crime. Returning to the topicâmy father was beyond shocked to learn that the military, after striking the boat, killed survivors in the aftermath. I asked my father, âwhy is this, of all things, surprising?â and he explains to me the military rule of engagement regarding surviviors, and the provision on murdering survivors who escape the aftermath of an attack such as this one. I ask him again, âWhy is this, of all things, what shocks you?â This shock over the murder of survivors, and simply not at the murder of unknown individuals without any amounts of due process to begin with? It is akin to outrage overânot the burning down of a building with people insideâbut the killing off of anyone who manages to escape the original crime commited against them. This is where we draw the line? Of course, this is a senseless question for no line exists any longer andâif it doesâit is in constant motion, adjusting itself to every unjust, cruel, and blatanaly corrupt movement of Trump and his cronies. This fact reminds me of a quote, by Hannah Arendt, âThe death of human empathy is one of the earliest and most telling signs of a culture on the verge of descending into barbarism"
I do not think we have yet reached the pinnacle of this barbarism, even with families being torn apart, and children forced into dirty camps with foil for blankets. I do not think we have yet reached the pinnacle of fascist barbarism. We are indeed too jaded to care for these thingsâand more importantly, we are too distracted to even recognize the true nature of these things. For example, already the media has surely forgotten the footage leaked by a former top-lawyer of the Isreali military, exposing the rape of a Palestinian woman by isreali soldiers. While the genocide occurring in Palestine is enough in itself to raise moral outrage, we are as well too jaded and too distracted to give it our outrage for very long. This too pairs with various other genocides occurring in the world, such as the Congo which receives even less media attention. And of course, we are already jaded to the publicly available footage of our military murdering unknown individuals at sea without any amounts of due process, prosecution or any other legal ramification. Do the American people not yet understand what certain members on the left mean when they sayâwhen one person, or group of persons, do not have the legal right of due process, neither do you? It means that, when the immigrant, legal or not, is accused of illegal status unjustly (meaning without concrete evidence of this accusation or disregard for proof disproving this accusation), and rendered by that status bereft of legal protectionâyou too can be accused, regardless of your legal status. You anger the wrong person? Youâre an illegal. And because I have now termed you illegal on the same unjust basis of those before, you have no right to due process for this newfound status. Do you not understand this, American? Do you not understand this is the consolidation phaseâthe phase in which the public becomes jaded to once outrageous acts of murder and the tearing apart of families. Are you not entertained enough? Entertainmentâthe crutch of this era and the reason for our deteriorated state of attention. How flexible are your morals? How undisciplined is your constitution? I ask this because, one day, if not already, you will be met with a flagrant violation of bothâit will be right before you, perhaps in the form of your own family being torn apart or the very public and unjust execution of a political enemy (A stage of fascism which we are steadily, perhaps rapidly, approaching) and you have to ask, where is your line drawn? When do you begin to flinch at cruelty? When do you begin to employ within yourself that âmade-up, new-age termâ of empathy and care enough to resist the movements of the oligarchy?Â
It will not be till the masses, myself included, cannot eat, that we will begin to see development regarding an unwavering opposition to the regime. Whilst Iâm not sure of my capabilities in convincing a person to simply care about others, I know for certain that, once the animal part of us takes the reins in ensuring our personal preservation, we will be forced to care. This perspective is cynical, yes, but I do believe it is accurateâhistorically speaking. There was the personal financial suffering of the American colonies which drove them toward independence (and even then, more than a few were not on board with the idea) and of course, the famed French and Russian revolutions, in which the people were literally not eating. Do not mistake meâfor I do believe there are more out there with good intentions, and righteous feelings, than selfish, hateful onesâbut I do, also believe, that many out there are not willing to employ the necessary courage to enforce their righteous feelings without a survival driven push. Once the masses no longer feel there is anything at stake more important than the basic survival of themselves and their immediate families, we will see revolution.
