HILLSBORO, Ohio — Almost immediately after the horrific mass shootings over the weekend in nearby Dayton, and El Paso, Texas, many leading Democrats and media analysts predictably laid much of the blame at the feet of President Donald Trump.
The shootings came on the heels of pundits in recent weeks attempting to end any remaining debate and declare the question settled: Yes, they determined, Trump is an anti-immigrant racist, particularly after his tweets telling members of "the Squad" to go back to where they came from, and then criticizing Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and his city of Baltimore.
Trump's tweets about the Squad were stupid, confusing and childish. The congresswomen in question are American citizens, and three of them were born in the United States. His follow-up attack on Cummings and Baltimore was somewhat less contemptuous, considering that evidence shows similar criticisms of the city over the years by others, including Cummings himself.
Coming from Trump, though, the double-barreled tweets were deemed not only insensitive, but, of course, racist – but only after the dots were connected for us by those who are self-anointed experts.
What prevents meaningful discussion about tragedies such as gun massacres is the employment of the broadest strokes to paint as enablers anyone who disagrees with the prescription of more gun laws, although even some Republicans, including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, and even Trump, are this week expressing more openness to restrictions on some firearms sales.
Trump's flaws are many, but using race as a wedge issue is hardly exclusive to him or Republicans. [size=150]Democrats have created divisions over race for decades, [/size]casually calling Republicans "racists" and deliberately generating as much fear and loathing as possible among minority constituents toward the GOP.
Few in the media seem interested in being better. A growing number of reporters and editors, both print and broadcast, no longer adhere to the standard that once required them to reference others calling Trump's pronouncements "racist." Instead, they call him a racist themselves. They have appointed themselves the deciders.
At the risk of spoiling this united front, it is obvious, based on recent polls, that only about half of all Americans – while they might agree that Trump is insensitive – believe he is a racist. A similar portion of the country believes that the United States is more racially divided because of him. (In a Pew Research Center study from April, almost 2 in 3 Americans say it is more common to "express racist or racially insensitive" views than before Trump was elected.)
I am one of the few conservatives who acknowledges that we have yet to achieve racial equality. I believe we still need affirmative action programs, because the inequalities in economics, education and opportunity that existed here for centuries still endure. We have made admirable progress, but whites still enjoy institutional advantages. These days, overt racism is not the problem. Entrenched systemic inequality is to blame. But systemic inequality is not racist. It is simply unfair.
That is not to say Trump couldn't do more. After the 9/11 attacks, peace-loving Muslims condemned radical Islam, and President George W. Bush made sure to stress the distinction between the two. Likewise, Trump and white conservatives in general should readily condemn white supremacy groups, without worrying about the fact that many Democrats and media pundits will lump them together anyway.
The danger of making "racist" such an offhand accusation is that it ends up alienating millions of Americans who support Trump and are constantly lectured that they are racist for doing so. They don't buy it, because they know their own hearts. It is true that most white people – in rural regions in particular – spend little time reflecting on racial inequality or social injustice. It doesn't mean they don't care; it means such concerns are simply not part of their daily existence. Likewise, it is safe to say that most minorities lose little sleep worrying about hog futures, or whether the Midwest's Corn Belt will get enough rain, or whether a factory will reopen in West Virginia to restore local jobs.
We remain a people more in need of empathy and understanding for each other than tags and labels and nicknames. But falling short of perfection does not make us evil, heartless or deplorable. It especially does not make us racist, a previously significant term being made frivolous by its abuse.
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/abernathy-trump-is-not-a-racist-his-voters-arent-either
The Democrats are playing a dangerous game by demonizing the sixty plus million Americans who voted for Trump. They should be reaching out to them not beating them over the head with a big stick with the word racist on it.
May I assume that the few lines after the citation are your thoughts rather than Abernathy's?
Quote from: "Peaches"
If you can't say anything positive, say nothing at all. :laugh3:
Trump spoke out against white supremacy after the El Paso shooting..
Why won't the Democrats disavow Antifa after the Dayton shooting.
He never says anything racist..
Saying that Baltimore is a rat infested place, is not racism.
Its racist against rats... Implying that rats are somehow bad..
Quote from: "Odinson"
Saying that Baltimore is a rat infested place, is not racism.
Its racist against rats... Implying that rats are somehow bad..
And many Democrats have admitted the city is dysfunctional.
Quote
The Democrats are the ones dividing Americans by race. The media have thrown out journalism and joined in the partisan dog pile.
The Democrats are the racist party. If you don't blame and shame working class white Americans than you are a racist Trump supporter. :crazy:
Quote from: "seoulbro"
Quote from: "Peaches"
If you can't say anything positive, say nothing at all. :laugh3:
Did you overlook my question?
Quote from: "Peaches"
Quote from: "Peaches"
Quote from: "seoulbro"
Quote from: "Peaches"
If you can't say anything positive, say nothing at all. :laugh3:
Did you overlook my question?
Quote from: "Peaches"
In all fairness to Seoul, all he saw was this
The media blames Trump for El Paso, but they don't blame the Democrats for Dayton.
Quote from: "Peaches"
Quote from: "seoulbro"
Quote from: "Peaches"
If you can't say anything positive, say nothing at all. :laugh3:
Did you overlook my question?
Quote from: "Peaches"
I'm not being "unfair." I realize that he posted while I was still editing, so I gave him a day or two to revisit HIS thread. When he did not, I very politely called his attention to the question I had posed.
Naturally he is free to ignore my question, as some here are wont to do. :JC_howdy:
Quote from: "Gaon"
True. Nor do they blame the Democrats for for the hundreds of blacks murdering blacks in most every inner city .. all cities that have been run by Democrats for 5 - 8 decades
The numbers of these 2 incidents cause a big scene .. while the daily / weekly / monthly / annually count of inner city murders and maimings dwarfs these 2 events ... and instead of front page and accusations get silence ... much less ideas for solutions
Quote from: "Peaches"
Quote from: "Peaches"
Quote from: "seoulbro"
Quote from: "Peaches"
If you can't say anything positive, say nothing at all. :laugh3:
Did you overlook my question?
Quote from: "Peaches"
I'm not being "unfair." I realize that he posted while I was still editing, so I gave him a day or two to revisit HIS thread. When he did not, I very politely called his attention to the question I had posed.
Naturally he is free to ignore my question, as some here are wont to do. :JC_howdy:
Maybe Seoul didn't see your edited version..
Next time he's here, I'll remind him of it.
Quote from: "Peaches"
Quote from: "Peaches"
Quote from: "seoulbro"
Quote from: "Peaches"
If you can't say anything positive, say nothing at all. :laugh3:
Did you overlook my question?
Quote from: "Peaches"
I'm not being "unfair." I realize that he posted while I was still editing, so I gave him a day or two to revisit HIS thread. When he did not, I very politely called his attention to the question I had posed.
Naturally he is free to ignore my question, as some here are wont to do. :JC_howdy:
That's a PKB there, old friend.
Quote from: "Gaon"
They don't blame the Democrats for James Hodgkinson either.
Quote from: "Herman"
Quote from: "Gaon"
They don't blame the Democrats for James Hodgkinson either.
Whatever happened to him?
You can blame the democrats every time a mexican, groid, muslim kills some1.
Quote from: "Odinson"
Why not?
Quote from: "Herman"
Quote from: "Odinson"
Why not?
You can but its not acceptable..
Even though the lefties/democrats are directly inciting them to use violence.
Trump is just saying that border jumping is not okay.. And if that causes violence, its not his fault.
Quote from: "Odinson"
Quote from: "Herman"
Quote from: "Odinson"
Why not?
You can but its not acceptable..
Even though the lefties/democrats are directly inciting them to use violence.
Trump is just saying that border jumping is not okay.. And if that causes violence, its not his fault.
I read that as you can't. Of course you can blame the democRATs.