A couple of recent episodes have triggered an important–and confounding–debate about the importance, including the strategic importance, of civility.
The incidents involved Sarah Sanders, the President’s spokesperson, who was asked to leave a restaurant unwilling to serve her, and patrons of two Mexican restaurants who heckled Steven Miller and Kirstjen Neilson, who were (inexplicably, given their official disdain for Mexicans) dining there.
Inhospitable and rude reactions are inconsistent with the way most of us were raised. Parental admonitions not to discuss religion or politics rested on concerns that passions might lead to impolite behaviors. The American devotion to free speech is based upon an underlying premise that everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. Furthermore, civil debate and discourse are essential to genuine communication.
For all these reasons, nice people don’t call each other names, or accuse those with whom they may disagree of lying or evil intent. One of the most appalling features of an appalling President is precisely his flouting of that social convention–and the encouragement his boorishness provides to others to do likewise.
As Adam Gopnik points out, in an eloquent New Yorker comment, that deeply embedded preference for civility, for giving others the benefit of the doubt and a place at the table, runs into an equally potent concern based in history and human decency: the need to stand up to immoral and malevolent behavior.
Nice Germans looked away–they “didn’t notice” the disappearance of their Jewish neighbors. “Polite” Southerners who recoiled from lynchings and other racist injustices nevertheless failed to come forward to testify or protest.
When do moral imperatives outweigh the undeniable virtues of civility? And what about the more strategic argument–that naming and shaming the bigotry implicated in current anti-immigration attitudes and Trump support simply acts to harden deeply-rooted antagonisms, making it more difficult to persuade–or at least communicate with– those who may have more mixed motives or less hardened hatreds?
These aren’t easy questions, and they don’t have easy answers.
Recently, a Washington Post editorial criticized the restaurant that refused to serve Sanders. A friend of mine–ironically, one of the most civil and courteous people I know–responded on Facebook.
Those who share the politics of this flack, her father, and her boss refuse service to gays, harass women seeking to exercise their lawful right to abortion, and open carry weapons at rallies to intimidate their political opponents. The response of moderates on the left and right is, in essence, yes these people are ignorant and beneath contempt, but we must practice the noblesse oblige of modeling civility and not respond in kind. And we must refrain from criticizing the vapidity of their political base. I suppose that makes us feel superior, but I’m not sure I see what else it’s really getting us. Perhaps it’s true you can’t win a pissing match with skunks like Huckabee and Trump. The Republican right has vast stores of cruelty, meanness, hypocrisy, and irrationality that Democrats cannot and would never want to match. But increasingly I think that refusing to play hard ball with these liars, quislings, and religiofascists is merely its own form of condescension. The Republican Party is already batshit crazy, and politeness by its opponents hasn’t made it less so.
Jennifer Rubin, a columnist for the Post, highlighted an important distinction.
On CNN, Ana Navarro tartly observed, “You make choices in life. And there is a cost to being an accomplice to this cruel, deceitful administration.” So, are these reactions to Trump aides reassuring and appropriate acts of social ostracism that communicate to the cogs in a barbaric bureaucracy that they cannot escape the consequences of their actions? Alternatively, should we view these as a sign of our descent into incivility, evidence that we are so polarized we literally cannot stand to be in the same room as those with whom we disagree?
It depends on how you view the child-separation policy. If you think the decision to separate children from parents as a means of deterring other asylum seekers is simply one more policy choice, like tax cuts or negotiations with North Korea, then, yes, screaming at political opponents is inappropriate. Such conduct is contrary to the democratic notion that we do not personally destroy our political opponents but, rather, respect differences and learn to fight and perhaps compromise on another day. If, however, you think the child-separation policy is in a different class — a human rights crime, an inhumane policy for which the public was primed by efforts to dehumanize a group of people (“animals,” “infest,” etc.) — then it is both natural and appropriate for decent human beings to shame and shun the practitioners of such a policy.
There are obvious dangers here. Plenty of political partisans–left and right– label every policy with which they disagree “immoral.” There are legions of insulated and self-righteous “defenders” of this or that religious dogma or political ideology who are always primed for down-and-dirty battle. These zealots manage to be both uncivil and counter-productive.
Nevertheless, I think Rubin’s differentiation is key.
There is a point at which behaviors are so detrimental to democracy, so damaging to the social fabric and to human and humane behavior that failure to “name and shame” them is moral cowardice. Fair-minded people can debate–politely– where that point lies. We can–and should–feel genuine anguish when we believe we’ve reached it, when our desire to give others the benefit of the doubt can no longer justify responding to viciousness with silence or forced civility.
Individuals must locate that tipping point for themselves. For most of us, I hope, it will come only after we have given those with whom we disagree a great deal of latitude.
Being human, however, requires possession of a moral sense, and failure to speak out when that tipping point has been reached–failure to condemn actions that are an affront to human decency– is both a moral and human failure.
Some people have forfeited their right to a seat at the community table.
We’ve already had this debate. In 1934. We had it when a Quaker professor decided to lecture a room full of rabbis, telling them Jews needed to be more civil to Hitler.
New York Times, June 15, 1934.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1934/06/15/110041420.html?pageNumber=15
I can only say to America, “Watch a 14 minute video on PHILOTIMO….” . America has it. It is in our DNA….But some of us have forgotten it.
Yes, we do have the free speech in this country, although it has become diminished under Obama and Trump. What we also must accept is the consequences of our speech and actions. This is where the right falls apart and claims victimhood.
You can post racist memes or comments on your Facebook wall, but when they are pointed out, the response is always is the same…victimhood. Closed minded people see the world differently than open-minded people.
The conformists in the middle always cry for civility because they don’t want to rock the boat. Changes never occur from the middle…these are the status quo huggers.
When your existence is predicated on depriving others of their rights, then you’ve crossed the line. I like Gary Younge’s take on this in The Guardian:
“The question of where one draws the line on these matters is a legitimate one. But we should not be in any denial that there is always a line. If a group of fully robed Klansmen or neo-Nazis in full regalia walked in, some liberals would be far less squeamish about removing them. The question has never been whether you draw a line between what is and is not acceptable, but where you draw it. Trump crosses that line routinely – stoking divisiveness, encouraging enmity and violating basic human values in policy and pronouncement. This moment calls not for civility but civil disobedience.”
We are undergoing substantial changes…we can go one of two ways from here and I for one am not interested in living in an authoritarian state run by Fascists.
Here is the link for Gary’s article:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jun/26/donald-trump-sarah-huckabee-sanders-red-hen-restaurant
“A couple of recent episodes have triggered an important–and confounding–debate about the importance, including the strategic importance, of civility.”
“The incidents involved Sarah Sanders, the President’s spokesperson, who was asked to leave a restaurant unwilling to serve her, and patrons of two Mexican restaurants who heckled Steven Miller and Kirstjen Neilson, who were (inexplicably, given their official disdain for Mexicans) dining there.”
Does anyone here in Indiana recall the terms “civility or morality” being ignored when Pence was in the process of twice passing his RFRA based on his religious beliefs? Did Indianapolis Mayor Ballard use the terms “civility and morality” when he quickly enacted protection of LGBTQs here to protect tourism? Were the terms “civility and morality” used by Kim Davis in her family owned and operated (she replaced her mother as county clerk) Kentucky Clerk’s Office when she denied marriage licenses to same-sex couples? Has Trump used the terms “civility and morality” as his reasons for denying Muslims entry to this country or placing immigrant children in concentration and/or internment camps?
In the early 1960s when my interracial friends married, they had to go to Chicago because it was still illegal in Indiana. When the law was repealed they decided to remarry here at home with friends and family to celebrate with them. The little old white woman in the Marion County Clerk’s Office refused to issue them a marriage license stating they would be committing bigamy. Not legal, “civil or moral” but let’s give her points for originality.
“Some people have forfeited their right to a seat at the community table.”
The line for me was that first time a child was taken from his/her parent and thrown into a dog cage. Seeing pictures of that I recalled the scene in the TV series John Adams where he returns to Abigail from the battle of Bunker Hill to tell her, “Well, there can be no mistake about their intentions now.” For all of us, there can be no mistake now about what the Republican/Trump/GOP/Conservative/Evangelical/KKK/Alt-Right intentions are. As for me, no more Mrs. Nice Guy!
I have no problem with people being willing to call out the perpetrators of this decline into fascism, but what do we do about family members & friends that helped to elect them? I struggle daily with my gut feelings about those I know helped this indefensible crew get into office and even now continue to defend them. I cannot create disharmony in my work place and I am sad that I really don’t want to be around certain family members who have “drank the kool-aid.” Will is come down to “brother against brother”?
Kathy,
I was getting ready to comment something flippant and you really hit a nerve with me about family members and friends who support Trump. I need to reflect on this more fully.
@Todd, I would argue that change is NOT REAL unless it occurs in the middle. I have seen too many elected executives try to govern with executive fiat (orders, instructions, directives, etc.), all of which can be undone on day one of the next elected executive’s term. We are a democracy and for change to be real and permanent, it has to have support by a majority to be codified in law/statute… and you can’t do that without support of the middle. While I share many people’s frustration these days, I am not willing to abandon or to avoid the true democratic process.
Over the past fifty years the religious right has stolen far too much power in our country. They have stolen it via intimidation, hate-filled rhetoric, false claims of victimhood, bigotry, lies, hypocracy and mean spiritedness.
They now seem to be drunk on the power that they have managed to steal. They were able to take this power because others refused to speak up. It is past time for us to speak up. We must not fear the consequences of speaking up for those who have been so disenfranchised that they cannot speak up for themselves.
In my experience the only way to fight bullies is to play their game. We have to fight them by making them experience the pain that they have been putting others through and we cannot let up until they back down. When they are forced to live through the same pain that they cause others they will claim victimhood, but we cannot allow them to get away with that claim. We must fight back until they finally decide that living in pain themselves just isn’t worth it.
It needs to be pointed out early and often the bogus potus is a pathological lying, orange colored. spoiled 4 year old brat. Being nice has nothing to do with the truth.
Kathy,
We seem to all be in that same boat.
In my family, the problem has been solved by some of the Trump supporting relatives themselves. They have cut me out of their lives. When I look at our past relationships, I realize that we were never all that close anyway. We never did have the same values or ethics or principles. As for the few other Trump supporters, my heart breaks. Like our country itself, our personal relationships are never going to be the same again.
Henry Cadbury, the Quaker professor alluded to above, was wrong then. As a founder of American Friends Service Committee, he may well have been influenced by the Quaker programs that fed thousands of German children during the blockades at the close of WWI. He was, however, doing as he thought right. Each of us must do as we think right. As a Quaker, I believe that I would speak – as lovingly as possible – words of caution and correction to these folks. (Although a staffer for Rep. Brooks asked me to lower my voice last week.)
Let’s not be cowed by right-winged extremists lecturing liberals about civility. I nearly choked when I heard Newt scold the left for incivility. Does anybody here remember GOPAC? Newt and Frank Luntz taught all of the GOPers that they shoud go ahead and call Democrats traitors. GOPAC encouraged use of vile names for any Democrat with the temerity to challenge a GOP candidate.
But let’s not get distracted. While we are all outraged by whatever new insult to our humanity this administration perpetrates, Congress is silently cutting billions from programs that help the poor. If you wonder why Congress doesn’t speak up, might I suggest that this provides perfect cover for their own inhumane actions.
To me the uncivil authoritarians are part of a culture modeled after Archie Bunker and Rush Limbaugh, people who are no smarter than either the entertainment character or the one played by Carrol Connors are wannabe bullies happy that their inner child has been freed from the bondage of civility.
We all have been exposed to much kids advice about bullies and it rarely is to be nice to them and they will change their ways. Mostly the advice is don’t be bullied because allowing it perpetuates it.
People in this community largely earn civility but many in other communities don’t. That is a simple fact but in my experience being polite to those who aren’t changes nothing while reflecting their behavior often surprises them and gets their attention.
In the end of course minds don’t wander too far from the culture that they have absorbed so there isn’t a ready solution to our problems except to out vote authoritarians and take away their power.
It IS a dilemma to ponder whether or not to feed the red meat beast in the White House with outrage that he turns into more incivility, lies and hate-mongering. His base, because they are base to begin with, eats this stuff up and becomes more entrenched. The outrage coming from liberals is EXACTLY what they want to justify their fictional victimhood. That’s how this orange bastard got elected.
The civility argument cannot be one-sided, but we live in a democracy – so far – and can change the music on the stands. While I agree that we should shove the right-wing/Trump bullshit back into their faces, we must also be prepared to fight for our elections and our candidates at the same time. Peggy is correct when she cautions us that Congress is happily hiding behind this smoke screen of vitriol to give the rich bastards what they’ve always wanted: NO social services. NO public funding. NO safety net. NO public education.
We must keep fighting in whichever arena we choose, but we MUST fight them. We must NEVER surrender.
Theresa – It’s probably immaterial to your/the overall point, but assuming that you were talking about seeing the photo of the toddler in the dog cage – he/she was not in a holding camp. That was a photo from a protest done this year where the girl’s/boy’s parents put her in the cage to make a point about detaining children. She/he was rotated in and out with other protesters over the course of the way.
I mean, what’s going on now is awful. But, that specific photo isn’t an actual example.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/toddler-cage-photo/
At a certain point you have to realize that you’ve already been pulled into the mud whether you like it or not, and pretending you haven’t been is just delusional.
We can all bemoan the loss of civility all we want but honestly doing so comes from a place of privilege. We complain that African Americans are not protesting police brutality the right way, we complain that students who’ve seen their classmates murdered in front of them aren’t protesting properly, we complain because they are pointing out the problems in our system that we really don’t want to look at.
Who is the fool who keeps posting the slogan they want used as Trump’s current immigration solution; “I’m sorry, but you can’t come in.” Trump is NOT the least bit sorry; this is what he campaigned for and his wishes are coming true, with a few glitches, but his Executive Order is still basically being carried out with Zero Tolerance and a few thousand children are still separated from their parents and families.
I have always had a problem with some people putting the pedal to metal concerning speech such as calling others Nazi’s or Communists. How far do you take the rhetoric?? At a point going over the top in terms of rhetoric, makes it meaningless.
How far do you go, from an article in The Guardian: Butchers in France have asked the government for police protection from animal rights activists, claiming their security was being threatened and that vegans were trying to impose a meat-free lifestyle on the nation.
The French federation of butchers wrote to the interior minister saying shops had been sprinkled with fake blood and covered in graffiti. It claims that a growing media focus on veganism was threatening butchers’ safety.
===============================================================
The Swiss government opposed on Wednesday a grassroots campaign for a nationwide ban on facial coverings (burqa) in public that will prompt a binding referendum, the latest twist in a Europe-wide crackdown on burqas championed by anti-Muslim activists. (Side Bar ** What next a ban on woman wearing halter tops and Daisy Dukes in public??)
Predating Trump (Agent Orange) in 2009 Representative Joe Wilson, interrupted the president with a shout of “you lie” as Obama declared that illegal immigrants would not be covered under a health insurance reform program. House Republican leader John Boehner said, “Joe Wilson’s a good man”.
President Agent Orange has without any doubt aided and abetted the unfettered use of insults and out right lies 24/7/365, a Jerry Springer Show from the WH. I suspect Agent Orange with his crude, rough insults define him in his mind and the minds of his Trumpters as very masculine.
Good news:
Democrats see major upset as socialist beats top-ranking US congressman
Joe Crowley, 10-term Democrat expected to be party’s next House leader, loses to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 28, in New York. With 98% reporting, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a former Bernie Sanders volunteer and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, took 57.5% and Crowley had 42.5%, in a race for a district of New York City that included parts of Queens and the Bronx.
“The message that we sent the world tonight is that it is not okay to put donors before your community,” Ocasio-Cortez added in her victory speech late Tuesday. “The message that we sent tonight is that improved and expanded Medicare for All, healthcare for every single person in America is what we deserve as a nation.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/06/26/seismic-political-upset-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-landslide-over-wall-street-favorite
Today it seems most of you are on the same page. I will say that up until now civility has survived just under the surface. Short of violence I believe anything goes when it comes to getting the message out that we are not going to take this crap lying down.
Regarding “the true democratic process,” I will be a good little girl and vote, but what I am most concerned about (aside from everything else that’s going on) is the upcoming White Supremacist oh hell, just say it, Nazi demonstration/meetup/mess-that’s-coming-our-way. More trouble.
Only more fuel added to the ‘civility’ issue along with being a welcome addition to the Trump “govern by chaos” strategy.
Regardless, my response to the loss of friends or family in this climate is I have a brother I have not spoken to for many years mainly because of his devotion to Rush Limbaugh. Even without the Trump effect my brother and I long ago parted company for the same reasons many are doing so now. This pathetic excuse for a president is simply an extension and representative of the Limbaughs which include most of Fox and Fiends….yes, I know a typo…but not really.
Persisting can many times mean pain.
Dirk,
I was not referring to the picture from the protest, but rather to the numerous pictures taken at the “detention” camps where children were being held behind fencing in large cages, the kind used for dog runs and kennels. And you’re right…”It’s awful.”
Looking for some sanity? Volunteer at a preschool ctr…..children will bring the light back in your life……as for the dump……he has caused more problems in childrens’ lives than anyone can image. And it will haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Fran, let’s agree to haunt this slob with regret for his stupidity for the rest of his life by voting NO to his GOP supporters at the polls in November thereby replacing the GOP majority in Congress and again in 2020 when we can finish the job by emasculating this blowhard at the polls when we elect a benevolent replacement. In this way we can protect SCOTUS and preserve our democracy from the already evident evils of Frumpist fascism. We can also send the threat of Pennies, the King of Toadies, to retirement at the same time and save our country from further erosion of faith in the Prince of Peace. We can get rid of the Frump Cabinet and focus the military on their jobs OUTSIDE of civilian government.
It’s going to be a huge job by many people to get our country back on the right track but we must not fail in the first step: November, 2018.
November is going to be the Midterm Election of our lives! VOTE “YES” FOR ANYONE EXCEPT GOP.
Ask yourself WHY is SCOTT PRUITT still on the payroll?
Or, WHY are babies being held in jail or lost?
Or, why does Pennies beam adoringly while Draco signs executive orders? The answer to all questions is: GROSS INCOMPETENCE. We can oust a bunch of them in November. Remind your friends and relatives that it takes no time at all to vote by pushing one single key – FOR anyone EXCEPT GOP.
ML,
I’m glad you posted that article about Ocasio-Cortez, especially when you look at who funded Crowley. Do you honestly think he served the people in New York?
No chance. He was a corporate stooge for the DNC. Next in line to take over Pelosi’s chair. Of course, Nancy defended Crowley and being corporate whores by dismissing claims the DNC was moving to the left. “It’s not happening everywhere.”
Nancy needs to retire…
#Delusional
From the radical center, a statement of the obvious: the dramatically increased influx of people at the border magnifies an age-old, complex and difficult situation. Yet, among all of the intelligent voices, none are offering creative solutions. Can we just stay with potential solutions to this problem instead of line-drawing justifications to sling mud? What SHOULD we be asking of Congress, given that we aren’t prepared to take care of everyone who is showing up at the border? Focus!
To disagree with someone else’s politics is one thing. Politeness and civility should be observed if human rights aren’t involved. However, to leverage the emotional distress of innocent children, including infants at the breast, to gain leverage for building the southern border wall Trump promised his racist base, is a crime against humanity. Rachel Maddow showed video inside one of these baby prisons, which included comments by the woman who created and then smuggled out the video before she quit. As insurance against retaliation, she is represented by Michael Avenatti.
The former worker was speaking with a child of about 5, whose name was “Jessica”. Jessica was crying and inconsolable. She wanted her mother. The jail worker said that rules strictly forbid them from touching, hugging or otherwise comforting these kids in any manner. Infants and young children depend on touch for their emotional development, especially if they are frightened or in distress. These kids are likely emotionally scarred for life. Trump is 100% responsible, but his syncophants like Sanders and Nielsen and the tone-deaf Republicans in Congress bear some blame, too. If some other country did this, we’d be up in arms, and the UN would be involved.
It is immoral to stand by and watch helpless, innocent children suffering emotional abuse and to say and do nothing. Good citizens have a duty to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves. That’s why Trump, Neilsen, Sanders, and especially the Hypocrite-in-Chief, Pence (who cares about unborn babies, but not brown ones already born), should be publicly shamed. They should be ashamed to show their faces in public.
What would have happened if Germans had lined the streets in droves, heckling Hitler? Would the German army have sided with citizens or Hitler? If enough of them did this, and if other countries stopped him after he invaded the Sudentenland, the Holocaust might not have happened. Awareness of the plight of the migrant children and resulting protests have already brought about change. Trump was ordered yesterday by a federal judge to promptly reunite these children with their parents. Civility has no place when innocent children are being systematically and intentionally abused.
I am all for taking “the high road” but, unfortunately, in the real world that works out to be akin to the “Good German” thinking (or non-thinking) that Hitler was just a passing radical and would go away as the center would hold. It didn’t, and ours may not hold if left unattended.
I have therefore adopted a personal position based on the biblical injunction to “Do unto others as you would have them do to you” to “Do unto others as they are doing to you.” Low road? Not if you are guided by history – we have to meet our adversaries on the real battlefield and not one we have concocted to meet our “nice guy” standards. The Trumpies are coming at us with no quarter given and I recommend that we give them none.
It’s more and more painfully obvious that we are dealing with big-time mental illness here. Most rule books on what to do next just don’t apply to what is going on.
Marv,
Get back in here and help us!
An an unrelated, but miserable, note – swing vote Anthony Kennedy is retiring. And, I believe, the Supreme Court nomination threshold is now a mere 51 votes. I suspect any number of women’s rights, minority protections, etc. are not long for this world. Happy Wednesday everyone!
Two notes concerning the Supreme Court:
WASHINGTON—The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that government workers can’t be forced to contribute to labor unions that represent them in collective bargaining, dealing a serious financial blow to organized labor.
The court’s conservative majority scrapped a 41-year-old decision that had allowed states to require that public employees pay some fees to unions that represent them, even if the workers choose not to join.
Justice Neil Gorsuch, an appointee of President Donald Trump, provided a key fifth vote for a conservative outcome. “Big loss for the coffers of the Democrats!” Trump said in the tweet.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/supreme-court-ruling-is-a-major-setback-for-unions/
Just in case anyone forgot Joe Donnelly voted for Gorusch to have a seat on the Supreme Court.
====================================================================
Joe will get another swing at bat –
Supreme court justice Anthony Kennedy, who has provided crucial swing votes in cases governing core progressive issues including abortion rights and same-sex marriage, announced his retirement on Wednesday in a decision likely to send shockwaves into every corner of US civic life. Kennedy’s retirement takes effect on 31 July, after which Trump will be free to put forward a nominee to replace him. The White House maintains a list of possible Trump nominees.
Agent Orange probably has Pastor Pence by his side right now looking for a Right Wing Reactionary Evangelical.
Will Joe go spineless again and vote with Trump (Aka Agent Orange) like he did with his vote for Neil Gorsuch, Pompeo and Gina “Mommy Dearest” Haspel??? Decisions, decisions, decisions.
The right lecturing the rest of us on civility is like a prostitute expounding the virtues of chastity.
With Kennedy leaving, Democracy as we have experienced it , just might be over. Mitch McConnell must be leaping for joy. I feel like crying.
Kathy; we seem to lose a little more each day, democracy, civil rights, human rights, all semblance of logic and common sense has been removed from government. We now need to be protected FROM them; they no longer offer any protection for us as Americans citizens and our voices have been stilled.
That “rough beast slouching toward Bethlehem, it’s time to be born is here. Can we view this as being a birth forced on us by the anti-abortion faction?
What I’ve posted and trumpeted: “Joe Donnelly is GOP-Lite”.
See the following for confirmation
“Monotonous Languor
June 27, 2018 at 3:21 pm
“Justice Neil Gorsuch, an appointee of President Donald Trump, provided a key fifth vote for a conservative outcome. “Big loss for the coffers of the Democrats!” Trump said in the tweet.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/supreme-court-ruling-is-a-major-setback-for-unions/
“Just in case anyone forgot Joe Donnelly voted for Gorsuch to have a seat on the Supreme Court.”
Betty,
“It’s more and more painfully obvious that we are dealing with big-time mental illness here. Most rule books on what to do next just don’t apply to what is going on.
Marv,
Get back in here and help us!”
At the deepest level you’re dealing with a MIND VIRUS of HATRED; a similar virus the German people had to contend with in the 20’s and the 30’s which has been labeled by a few authors: THE HITLER VIRUS.
Our present affliction is much more difficult to deal with than the PANDEMIC which occurred throughout most of Western Europe back then. The present PANDEMIC involves much more CHARADE and DECEPTION at the GROUND ZERO of the virus, when combined with the INTERNET, allows it to spread much more rapidly.
The new virus would be best described as a TWO-HEADED TROJAN HORSE as it affects both the OPPRESSOR as well as its VICTIM through a new form of MODUS VIVENDI which has been in place for almost 50 YEARS in America.
IMPORTANTLY, it is now a TRANSATLANTIC VIRUS which could, in the long run, be a “blessing in disguise.”