X.29.2018 - Hate & Tyranny
“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.”
- Elie Wiesel
In addition to our corporate, private sector work, Whitesell & Company has worked diligently with governments and non-profits in our efforts to better understand and offer our expertise to deal with gender-based violence, income inequality, housing and homelessness, human trafficking and other societal issues that remove opportunities for people to flourish, grow and pursue happiness. In my lifetime, I have seen progress based on the positive, aggregate change but it still disappoints me that progress has, sometimes, been erratic. And, this is one of those times.
Although I have to rein in my esoteric musings at times to make my writing “crisper” as editors prefer (and Twitter mandates), I tend to speak directly in person. That is what I intend to do here, and I hope that I can be clear about what I’m saying. What has been widely described as the right/left divide in our politics is a symptom of a bigger problem — apathy and inaction in the face of hate and tyranny.
The evidence is overwhelming that the United States is being led by a malignant narcissist who is more concerned about his own financial empire (and fear of prosecution) than he is about the future of the country. The aphorism that when America sneezes, Canada catches a cold is appropriate. The denial of climate change that has crept into our political discourse when we should be focused on solutions to a potentially existence-threatening phenomenon confirmed by 97% of scientists. That is just one example of the relentless virus. Hate crimes in Canada are rising according to Statistics Canada and the Toronto Police Services reported a 60% increase in hate crimes against Muslims last year. Other groups such as South Asians and Jews have also been targeted in increasing numbers.
The intentional attack on our values from a platform of lies and conspiracy theories by the forces that the POTUS represents is abhorrent. Daniel Dale, the Toronto Star correspondent based in Washington, documented that Trump has amassed more than 5,000 lies in less than two years. We have traveled too far as a nation to succumb to the worldview and power of an increasingly dangerous megalomaniac. Was POTUS responsible for the 14 bombs and the attack on the Tree of Life synagogue this past week? No. But, there is no doubt that he set the table with his rhetoric.
My friends in the United States know that the November 6 mid-term elections is an opportunity to slow down this assault on their country and, perhaps, it will be the beginning of the end for the Trump disaster. Even my Republican friends agree that mad King Donald must go.
Remember the wise words of Elie Wiesel.