THE NEXT TARGETS

by Ruth A. Sheets

It should be unbelievable the fervor with which Republicans have jumped in recently with their anti-LGBTQ bills and laws designed to hurt children and adults, but it isn't.  Republicans have always despised the LGBTQ community, immigrants, Black Americans, well, anyone who is not white and male, and yes, rich, but not to the level they stalk these groups now. 

Republicans are pursuing this line of attack because they believe Rowe v. Wade will be overturned this summer or sooner and they are trying out (test ballooning) the next groups toward which to turn their venom.  They have to pick someone because once they lose abortion as a rallying point, they need a group to attack to maintain the attention of their base.  Hate, anger, fear, lying, cheating, and deceit have worked well for Republicans over time and are all they have.  Republicans have no positive, constructive ideas to offer.  Hell, they couldn't even support the most qualified candidate for the Supreme Court in decades because she was Black and a woman, two of their hated, feared groups. 

Republicans are regularly sending up test balloons to see which of their rights-limiting, bills and laws stick with their scared, malignant base.  Among their techniques, book banning, blaming/accusations of whatever they can dream up, "don't say "gay" acts, lying about a graduate study course Critical Race Theory taught in kindergarten, calling LGBTQ folks, and anyone they can, pedophiles, banning doctors from helping trans kids, and so much more. 

Republicans are also doubling down on women because they fear that despite their draconian anti-abortion laws, women will still find a way to get safe abortions.  Can't have that!  So, go after abortion even more strongly by wanting to criminalize everyone who thinks abortion should be a woman's decision.  In the meantime, also go after contraception, interracial marriage, and whatever comes into their pathetic white male, and white female surrogate brains. 

Can we expect help from our Congress or Federal courts?  No!  Democrats currently have among them some who are OK with all of the above and Republicans are just waiting for November when their seeds of hatred will drag their loyal base to the polls.  The courts are often willing to agree with whatever Republicans come up with (Texas abortion ban). 

One answer, we need to stop them by getting more Democrats to vote this year.  Oh wait!  I forgot, Republicans have targeted voting too, particularly voting by people of color and poor people, groups which tend to vote for Democratic candidates.  It is worth noting that if we can't stop the Republican rush to the bottom soon, we all lose, and will be paying for it indefinitely.

So, stop feeling stressed and let's get to work.  First of all, most of these attacks on women, LGBTQ persons, immigrants, and others began in the former Confederacy.  It seems those states just can't let go of the idea that certain groups are unworthy of rights and respect so, deserve white male ire.  They can make any laws they want to keep those people down.  Well, the Confederacy lost, so let's stop pretending this new iteration has anything to offer the rest of the country.  Unfortunately, the infection of dishonorable laws is spreading from its consolidation in Texas, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, to the Confederate wannabees:  Oklahoma, Kentucky, Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas, even to the "blue" states, pushing the disgusting anti-American legislation even further.  The purpose of all this evil is to keep everyone under the control of white men and the few white women they permit a bit of power. 

Republican insurgents are running for office even though our 14^th Amendment to the Constitution forbids it.  The same thing happened after the Civil War when rich white former Confederates ran for office to drive out the Black men who had been duly elected.  Repeating history is not a good idea.

We the People need to put power into the hands of the groups targeted by Republicans.  If Republicans propose a bill anywhere in this country right now, its aim is to harm one of their target groups or to give away some good stuff to the corporations who donate to their party's candidates.  We know this, so it means we who care must stand against and when possible, ignore the laws they rubber-stamp across the former Confederacy and vaccinate Americans against this horrific political illness.

Writing to and calling legislators who are on board with the Republican hate movement and writing letters to the editor can draw attention to the illegality and anti-American positions they are taking.  Republicans are targeting our children, our schools, our churches if they are not Catholic and evangelical, and they are working to take away rights of people living in this country to make decisions for themselves.  These are the same men who often put their friends, family, and neighbors at risk because like scared little kids, they wouldn't get vaccinated for COVID-19, (definitely the easiest vaccine I have ever had).  I can't help but wonder which group will be the next target after these child-men have put down women, LGBTQ persons, people of color, and immigrants.  Will they go after each other?  

I refuse to give up hope, though.  Democrats shouldn't give up either.  Right now, nearly everything I get from candidates and people currently holding office has its primary purpose, securing donations.  I understand it takes money to run a campaign against folks who have tax loopholes and other structures to oil the Republican machinery, but more important than the money is the message.

The Democratic message should be one of practical solutions to people's  real problems.  Dems need to point out where their constituents are strong and have weathered some hard times, giving them hope they can continue strong with some positive assistance.  Constantly reenforcing people's negativity and directing their frustration at other people may win some elections, but does not solve problems.

Dems must identify real needs as well as successes, and how the people can participate in the solutions to the problems.  Start simple.  Gas prices are outrageous?  Encourage people to now and then walk to somewhere they usually take a car and point out what they might notice along the way:  the spring colors, the butterflies, the deep blue of the sky, things they can't pay attention to while driving.  Encourage folks to raise the home or office thermostat in summer to, say, 78 or 80 degrees when it is hot so it won't be such a shock when coming in from the heat.  In winter, lower the thermostat a couple of degrees below 70 and wear a sweater around the house.  Mention these as money-saving activities.  Then provide practical help to get folks through the more difficult struggles.  Regularly check in with voters to see what they actually think and what they still need.

We could fix this Republican need to do harm if we acknowledge that we are all in it together, then help people to have a more communal approach to living.  Question every bill proposed in any legislature to see who gains, who loses, who is targeted, who is doing the targeting.  That's a lot of work, but if we can stop some of the destructive bills before they even reach the floor of a legislature for a vote, we could avoid a lot of pain and suffering.  It is worth employing our humanity to protect the humanity of our fellow Americans.

The Tyranny of Scared Men

The last pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong has folded.  What did it publish that was so terrible, so frightening to the powers that be?  It told the truth.  It seems lately that the scariest thing in the world is the truth and the ones most frightened of it are men, specifically, men in power.  And to cover their own fear, they create fear, promote fear, establish a list of the specific things and folks people must fear.

You can see it all over the world, starting right here in the United States.  Men who would be successful in their run for office if they are Republicans or conservatives these days must have an agenda of fearmongering that is as extensive as their constituents can handle.  Those fear targets change periodically to meet their current needs.  For example, a candidate may be afraid that people of color might out-number us,” so the fear de jure is immigrants which includes undocumented persons, refugees, asylum-seekers, anyone who didn’t come here “the right way” has their own ancestors did and does not have a skin as white as theirs.  This is a particularly good  fear to promote because it covers so many other potential fears that are the products of racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, and so much more.  These candidates will claim that hoards are crossing the southern border.  They are mostly criminals, disease-carrying “animals,” people who are after my job and don’t or can’t understand the American dream and so on. 

This one as most fear these days is often tied to fear of inner-city or “urban” people (code word for Black) who are takers while, of course, the candidate’s supporters are the givers, always providing for those “good-for-nothing” lazy poor people in the cities.  Mitt Romney actually called them “takers” during his 2012 presidential campaign, Conservative white candidates and their handlers may not specifically use the racial and class terms, but they convey their position very clearly referring to welfare queens, thugs, and the unwilling to work.

The candidates really do fear these people; they might actually rise up and demand their rights as American citizens.   Or, refugees and asylum-seekers may demand their rights by international law.  Can’t have that!

Once the fear and the target of the fear have been set, the scared male candidate then needs to claim that he will take care of the problem and he is the only one who can.  How does he plan to protect the white victims of these immigrants and urban (Black) people -- law and order, stop crime by whatever means, keep or drive the unworthy out as fast as possible, cut regulations of all kinds, ramp up the drug war.  

So many people here and around the world have been raised to think that if a person (male) says something loud enough and long enough it must be true.   Why bother thinking about the words.  Go with the feelings.  Vote for the guy.  Then cleave to him indefinitely because he (based on his own claims) is the only hope.

Sound familiar?  Donald Trump practiced this fearmongering skillfully with the help of people who were even more willing to fearmonger than Trump himself.  For power, Trump and those like him sacrifice their integrity, (if they ever had any) and often their constituents in the process, but neither notice.

I can’t help wondering if men are scared all the time, from the first time they encounter people who challenge their supremacy.  That’s got to be exhausting and may explain the need that some men have to have complete control over everything they see.  They need to infect everyone around them with the fear that will instill an urgency to protect this man.  Give people around you just enough authority to pass the fear on and to inspire followers, often with some kind of religious implications.  If done well, the man faces no accountability, and hopefully no one will discover the depths of his fear.

Whenever the community faces a challenge, scared men, jump in to push everyone else out of the way so they can rule with impunity at whatever level of society they can dominate from a household to a nation.  Globally, there are scared men in power right now, in ?Russia, China,  Turkey, Iran, Israel, Hungary, Ethiopia, Brazil, India, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Poland, North Korea, and more.  To stay in power, these men have started wars, murdered people (sometimes many), , killed and imprisoned opponents, tortured people for minor infractions, stifled women’s education and other rights, and a lot more, because the people’s fear lets them. 

We just dumped our own fearmonger though his fear and ignorance are causing him to claim he is still president.  Trump’s fear would have led him to do even more harm to our democracy had he not been voted out.  He still has an enormous following who have swallowed whole, his fear and the conspiracies that support it.

In every case, steadfast followers allow themselves to be led, even into destruction.  Why?  They get to bask in the light, community, and importance of the leader putting all their energy into maintaining their position in the leader’s project.  That is often more recognition than they have ever had in their lives, even though they are actually invisible to the man in charge.  The feeling of belonging and holding the secrets of the group are powerful, and controlling people they think are inferior is intoxicating.

There are real things we can fear like global warming, the rape culture in society and the military, voter suppression, poverty, deportation, COVID.  Real fears don’t work well for scared leaders because it means the leader actually has to have ideas, to listen to people, to cooperate, to motivate, and to get something positive done.  The manufactured fears are so much easier because they are unending.  The leader needs to do very little except run his mouth and enlist others to help him promote and expand on the “causes” of his fear de jure and keep that fear spreading throughout the population.

We the People can fight this here at all levels by calling it out whenever we see it. 

It’s difficult to address the fear in leaders in other countries, but sometimes it works to shine a light on it.  A journalist at the meeting between Presidents Biden and Putin actually asked Putin about his incarceration of his opponents.  Her final question, “what are you so afraid of?”  Yes, Putin is scared.  Donald Trump is pretty scared too.  He is currently scared of a life with little or no power and a name spoken with scorn.  These fears make both men and their adherents dangerous, even violent as with the January 6, 2021 insurgency at the U.S. Capitol. 

The media can help by actively working to avoid false equivalencies in their coverage and can point out examples of fearmongering when they show up.  Some already do but it needs to be expanded.  

Fear is a powerful tool and when wielded against people and ideas for power over and political gain is a serious problem.  Lets stop fearing our neighbors and potential neighbors and exercise our fear, (if we need to ) on homelessness, uninsured illness , rising sea levels, wildfires, animal extinction, loss of voting rights and other human rights.  You get the idea.

Then, we need to stop following men (and now a few women who want to be like them) who stoke fear and distrust, and make outrageous promises of fixing things by blaming groups of people whose presence or actions they say are the cause of their resentments.  These would-be tyrants are not worthy of our attention.

So, Hong Kong has surrendered to the Beijing fearmongers.  The rulers are so scared of the people of Hong Kong, and throughout China that they have to eliminate rights, watch the people every moment, commit genocide, and disappear people they don’t like.  Courage by one or two will change nothing.  It will get folks stuck in labor or concentration camps and have all kinds of horrific things done to them.  Things change when a whole people gets fed up with the insanity and stands against it. 

I’d love to see that here in the good old USA.  We got rid, at least temporarily, of our fearmongering president, so now let’s work on the fearmongering in Congress, the courts and all other offices.  We need to expose some of the fearmongering ideas for what they are. 

Here is a start.  White people, you are not being suppressed by discussing race, gender, or sexuality.  Learning about Black history will not destroy your kids and make them feel too guilty.  Spreading fear of vaccines is destructive and can cause people to die.  There is no Democratic pedophilia ring, and Q-anon conspiracies are truly lies. 

Stop inoculating others with your own fear and hatred.  Stop voting for people just because they fearmonger for your vote.  They truly are not worth it.  You and all of us deserve better so let’s demand better.  Let’s grab our courage and stop permitting fear to be used as a weapon against ourselves and others.  Let’s go for the truth.

OPPORTUNISTIC INFECTION

by Ruth A. Sheets

Last week I read a book written about 20 years ago, The Least of These My Brethren by Dr. Daniel Baxter.  It is a memoir of a doctor who served on an AIDS ward among the poor and homeless of New York City in the 1990's.  The book took me back to my time working with people with HIV and AIDS in Nashville a few years earlier.  The illnesses from which Dr. Baxter's patients suffered were similar to those experienced by the people I worked with.  I heard again the names of the diseases and had flashbacks to the late 1980s and the suffering I witnessed. 

The diseases people with AIDS suffer from are referred to as opportunistic infections because they arise from the destruction of a person's immune system.  HIV, however,  is the actual underlying cause. 

A flash of insight came to me.  Donald Trump's election to the American presidency is an opportunistic infection in the American system.  The underlying cause is as insidious to our country as HIV is to the human body.

Our nation's HIV is inequality.  At some level, pure equality is not possible.  Many factors help to determine each person's starting point in life.  Where were you born?  Who were your parents?  What genetic contributions did your family make?  What environmental contributions did your family and community make?

Clearly people have different abilities, different gifts, different likes and dislikes which may or may not come from birth.  The shaping of these into the person each of us will be is steady and ongoing. For many, our birth circumstances provide advantages which generally only increase over time.  Others' disadvantages are so overwhelming any improvement is nearly miraculous.

Probably, if you asked anyone  living in America, the response would be that equality is a goal toward which we should strive.  Everyone should have the same rights.  Everyone should be able to vote, have a job, worship as they wish, be able to speak freely, and pursue happiness.

The problem with equality has been identified often, most recently for me by my sister who reminded me that to someone who has privilege, equality seems like oppression.

Privileged Americans do not actually want equal opportunity.  They want their advantage (which of course, they see as equal opportunity).  Since people of privilege, in their own eyes, work harder, create more, in short, deserve everything they have and earned it "fair and square."  They achieved it entirely on their own. 

Their belief structure says poor people are poor because they are lazy.  They don't work very hard.  They don't care about their homes or neighborhoods, or anything else for that matter.  So, "if they worked as hard as I work, they would have the same opportunities I have." 

Privileged Americans have a similar set of beliefs about every group that is not their own.  Women aren't as dedicated to their work and besides, belong in the house taking care of the children they must have.  People of color just aren't as good.  God made them to be less, so they should be grateful and happy with what they are given.  Refugees and immigrants in general are going to take my job and wreck my neighborhood, so we can't let them in. 

The American government is supposed to support these beliefs.  The most recent tax law makes that clear.  Cut taxes on the rich because they earned that money and the folks who need assistance are takers and don't deserve it.  We give them too much already.

The challenge is that some of these thoughts are not conscious. Most privileged Americans do not go around thinking, I'll sue that college for letting that obviously inferior black guy in instead of me (although some have done that).  They don't say to themselves, "I'll sexually harass that woman to make her feel more inferior than I actually think she is."  But privilege allows these beliefs to be manifest on a regular basis.

When challenged that their actions are racist or sexist, privileged folks claim they most certainly are not and that we are all just too PC (politically correct).  When managers are being held to a new, hopefully corrected standard, they whine that they are being picked on  and targeted.

Into this land of privileged advantages came Donald Trump, a bearer of privilege disguised as sympathy for those who could have what he has, if only those horrible other people didn't always get in the way, taking their jobs, moving into neighborhoods where they don't belong, getting handouts, leaving the givers poorer.

Mr. Trump has infected the nation with a cancerous nationalism that can ravage the body if not checked.  His "me first" approach to everything introduces a creeping fear that "maybe I won't get what I am entitled to, since we are giving so much to the undeserving."

Equality does not mean that everyone has exactly the same things, the same amount of money, lives in the same place, etc. etc.  That kind of system will never work, but it does mean that one's color, gender, nationality, educational background, religion, name, or any other factor does not automatically get you anything or deprive you of anything either.  It means we all have access to affordable health care.  We all have the right to choose what happens to our bodies.  It means we all have the same educational opportunities and chances to get meaningful jobs and affordable quality housing. 

If we had this kind of equality, someone like Mr. Trump would have gotten no traction.  He would have been seen as the pathetic human being he is.  He does not care about anyone but himself.  He claims to be a genius, but never reads, makes serious inquiries, or takes time to think through anything.  He throws tantrums like a toddler and bullies like a 3rd grader on the playground.  He is a terrible business man who cheats and lies his way through life, expecting everyone to be OK with that.   

Until we can figure out how to effectively treat our nation's underlying inequality, we will have to treat the opportunistic infections of racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, privilege, fear, and so much more.  Let's get going.  It's going to take a lot of us to rid our society of these deadly infections.