We often believe exactly what we want to believe, confusing ignorance with freedom and knowledge with subjugation. Yet the truth remains that blindly following someone or something because you want it to be true does not make it true, or as Mr. Spock so eloquently stated; Insufficient facts always invite danger.
There is no excuse for following or condoning the words of the ignorant be that in your actions or your silence.
On September 4, 2020, President Donald Trump directed federal agencies Friday to end diversity training programs, calling them “Divisive, anti-American propaganda a sickness that cannot be allowed to continue.” This decision comes amid a nationwide reckoning on racial injustice that Trump has adamantly opposed.
There is a reason Trump disparages those who would educate America on issues of racial injustice. Why he looks to paint those who do so as radical left-wing unamerican extremist, it is so he can easily mislead a segment of American society, to continue to tap into their ignorance and hate, to ensure that his lying and use of misinformation is seen as truth.
Because Trump knows that:
Misinformation leads to ignorance.
Ignorance leads to fear.
Fear leads to isolation.
Isolation leads to mistrust.
Mistrust leads to intolerance.
Intolerance leads to hate.
Hate leads to division.
And division ensures that we as Americans never band together as one but continue to fight each other over the crumbs he and his kind continue to toss us. It is to ensure we remain victims to ensure their way of life.
Matthew 12:25 New King James Version
But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. –
It’s from a place of arrogance that a republic willingly embraces ignorance among it citizens and expects to thrive. It’s from that same place of arrogance that those citizens bestow leadership on and blindly follow those who peddle ignorance for their own personal gain and expects to survive.
Target employee has arm broken for asking a customer to wear a mask
Supermarket workers physically assaulted for asking customers to wear a mask
Health care workers threatened and called communist for supporting the wearing of masks
State Governors receiving death threats for trying to protect their constituents with stay at home orders
To paraphrase the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Ignorance and selfishness is indivisible, ignorance and selfishness anywhere is a threat to intelligence and community everywhere
How was it that Donald Trump, when all the exit polls showed otherwise, was able to capture the Presidency of the United States?
How is it that Donald Trump, when polls show he has one of the lowest approval ratings of all time, able to keep GOP politicians from revolting against him? Why is it that Donald Trump has made such little effort to expand “his base” and seemingly is unconcerned about it? I’m here to tell you it’s because of America’s dirty little secret. You see, when we watch one of the many “campaign rallies” Trump held before the election and amazingly continues to hold after, at taxpayer cost, we see what many liberals characterize as his base. Low income, poorly educated white males and females. Liberals see a stereotypical person they likely refer to as Billy Bob with a smirk and his wife sporting Make America Great Again hats, spewing hatred and fear against people of color. It’s why Trump continually uses the wall and cherry-picks acts of violence and other criminal activities by immigrants in his speeches.
Why he throws out lines like shithole countries, liberals summarize Billy Bob is so poorly educated that he easily fooled by Trump because Trump appeals to their greatest fear. That they are losing a grip on “their” country, but what Trump and the GOP know is a number of well educated, highly compensated, extremely polished individuals who deep down harbor the very same fears. They are Trump’s shadow base. They have friends who are people of color. They’re children play with your children. They are registered Democrats, and they never say they like Donald Trump. Their social media is likely littered with posts you’ve liked denouncing Trump. But when they get behind that voting curtain and are all alone, they’re pulling the lever for Trump. Why? Because way more than “Billy Bob,” this was their country.
White men of power had a long uninterrupted run of success in this country. They were the majority, ran all the big corporations, and controlled the country’s politics. But then census data projected the US would become ‘minority white’ in 2045. More and more people of color began showing up in the executive lunchroom and on the country club golf courses. Then the unthinkable happened Barack Obama won the Presidency. Not only did he win, but he and his family were also looked at with the highest level of respect around the globe. It wasn’t so much about Obama’s politics. However, it would be naive to dismiss that completely; it looked at a well educated, articulate man of color stand in front of the world as America’s leader. Sure there had been plenty well educated, articulate men and women of color in the spotlight before Obama, but none had ever been President. Obama represented a glimpse into the future of this country. For some, that was a frightening future now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t think the vast majority of white people are arming themselves and storing canned goods to prepare for the coming brown people apocalypse. I’m more hopeful than ever that this country is headed in the right direction, if ever so slowly, concerning race relations. But there are still a few dinosaurs out there who hide in plain sight, fearful of the future. They’re America’s dirty little secret. They’re Trump’s shadow base, and it would be best not to underestimate them again in 2020.
.The surest way to control the narrative, to ensure that the few can control the thoughts and choices of the many through clever slogans and sound bites, is to endeavor to keep the many ignorant. An uneducated society is the biggest threat to our democracy. The founding fathers understood this as Thomas Jefferson stated:
“Educate and inform the whole mass of the people… They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.”
Public education has been under attack by some for many years now. Last week, The Washington Post reported that the Trump administration’s initial education budget would strip $10.6 billion from federal initiatives. Many of the cuts would disproportionately impact poorer school districts. Something the founding fathers would be dismayed at. John Jay was quoted as saying:
“ I consider knowledge to be the soul of a republic, and as the weak and wicked are generally in alliance, as much care should be taken to diminish the number of the former as of that latter. Education is the way to do this, and nothing should be left undone to afford all ranks of people that means of obtaining a proper degree of it at a cheap and easy rate.”
And John Adams wrote:
“The whole people must take upon themselves the education of the whole people and be willing to bear the expenses of it. There should not be a district of one-mile square, without a school in it, not founded by a charitable individual, but maintained at the public expense of the people themselves.”
Turning a blind eye to the dismantling of public education is to, in essence, relinquish our democracy over to the few who will continue to deceive the masses to maintain their wealth and power.
Carl's Place 