My family was close to the Willard Pendletons, with Mom & "Aunt" Gay practically BFFs. Because of that connection - and their infectious love of the sport - I grew up exposed to the highest levels of college wrestling, seeing some incredible matches. At least what I saw through the fingers covering my eyes (still find it hard to watch - youch!).
Remembering one match - I must have been a little kid - where a Lehigh wrestler was complete toast, headed for defeat. Then in one shockingly fast Switch Reversal, he'd completely flipped around the situation, pinned his opponent & won. I wasn't very old & not a wrestling fan, but even I knew what it meant when someone was on his back, his upper shoulders pinned to the mat, the referee stretched out to confirm - it was a pin. A reversal pulled off in breathtaking split seconds.
A reversal pulled off with breathtaking speed ~ welcome to America 2016! Eight years ago, folks - more conservative than liberal - talked about how Barack Obama's election signaled we were in a "post-racial" USA. Liberals didn't go there because they knew such claims to be wishful thinking.
Sheez, was it wishful thinking! 2010 saw a Switch Reversal when SCOTUS passed Citizen's United, giving "campaign finance reform" a whole new definition. And another with the triumphs of the Tea Party, which presented a predominantly white face & "return to our hallowed traditions" pleas. Then came 2013 & another, when SCOTUS scuttled key portions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act & ALEC-designed legislation started making the rounds of state capitals, resulting in new ways to legally disenfranchise the poor, students & even a traditionally conservative voting block, the elderly.
When the current primary season opened last summer, barely concealed racism & bigotry rippled just below the surface of our society. And then came Donald Trump, who said the unspeakable, who expressed a view of our nation that millions & millions had held in their hearts yet were forbidden to acknowledge. Here was a symbol of restored freedom to be honest about actual feelings of contempt & distrust & even fear of someone who didn't look like, act like, or believe like - The Other.
The folks at Morning Joe literally freaked out when Rob Reiner dared suggest that many Donald Trump supporters are racist. At one point, Mika actually did look as if she was "clutching her pearls," her hands at her neck in a gesture of alarm.
Joe said to Reiner, "I can't believe you're going there" & counter-claimed that Trump supporters are workers who feel left behind by the GOP establishment. Yes, they are - and Donald Trump has, in true demagogue status, handed them convenient scape goats to harangue & hate. Aka the GOP Establishment, Mexicans, Muslims & blacks. His every word & gesture assures his supporters...
Blame them, don't blame yourselves for voting in time & time & time again politicians who clearly in cycle after cycle after cycle promised the moon & never delivered.
Blame them instead of the times, which find stunning #s of young Republicans among the countless who don't see a problem with their same-sex or transgender friends. Abortion rights - yes, they still hold firm against them, but gender issues... nah.
Blame them instead of the administrations that came long before Barack Obama's - Democrat & Republican - that weakened our economy by gutting our jobs & trashing "Made in America" industries, that still push the image of businesses as job creators, knowing those jobs are found outside the USA.
In a shockingly swift Switch Reversal, we've seen politicians & others openly go after our nation's social safety net with scissors, knives & machetes.
What brought home to me how much our society is being pinned to the mat by narrow-minded people was the response to the news that Malia Obama will be going to Harvard after taking off a gap year. Fox News had to shut down their posted story's comment section because folks posted such disgusting comments that revealed a dark underbelly of America, it shamed even Roger Ailes. In a sure sign that what was hidden is now glorified, many folks posting comments too vile to share apparently signed off with their full names!
Thanks to the Switch Reversal named Donald Trump, it's okay to be openly bigoted & flagrantly racists - such folks seem to feel that's part of what will make America great again.
Until writing this post, had seen the name JULIA IOFFE numerous times on the internet, but hadn't a clue about who she was, other than some sort of writer who had riled a lot of people. Did know there were claims of racial slurs - so was pretty sure she'd incited Trump supporters rather than Bernie or Hillary fans - and even death threats, but it wasn't on my radar. Until after the situation with Malia. Got curious. Turns out an article she wrote for GQ is what has people up in arms. Described as not "a particularly flattering profile of Donald's third wife," it's also not a hatchet job like have poured out of the conservative press about the Obamas. Not even close. It was well researched, well written, and with the exception of the salacious tidbit about Melania's apparent step-brother, fairly uncontroversial. If anything, it reveals a strong woman who is an apparently ideal partner for The Donald. To me, it personified "fair & balanced." But Trumpites went nuts!
Ioffe received anti-Semitic insults, threats, reviled for writing an article that doesn't glorify Melania Trump but certainly doesn't demonize her. The references to being Jewish seem weird (it has nothing to do with the article), but the ones dragging in the Holocaust should make all of us shudder with awareness of just how close to the surface old ugliness currently ripples.
In her HuffPo article, The Newly Emboldened American Racist, Jennifer Sabin writes, "This election is about much bigger issues. It’s about the way way we look at people, and talk about them, and care for them. It’s about the soul of America and its relationships to the world. If you care about that, you cannot vote Trump, or stay home, or vote for a third party spoiler."
To which I reply - "Sorry, sister, that ship has sailed." There is no calling the genie back into to bottle. The forces of open ugliness, hatred, bigotry & - yes, Joe - racism have been legitimized, given voice, given sway over our nation.
Am wrestling with the reality that forces we never imagined a year ago have taken our nation's ideals, thrown them into a Switch Reversal & pinned them to the mat. I don't know who's the winner, but the United States of America is most certainly the greatest loser.
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