[liberationtech] Price of the #MuslimBan

[Yosem Companys]

There are good Democrats and bad Democrats. There are good Republicans and
bad Republicans. And then everyone, depending on their idiosyncratic
backgrounds and experiences, has their definition of what good and bad is.

The truth is that people -- Democrats or Republicans, Greens or
Libertarians -- are just those affected by circumstances and trying to do
the best they can under those circumstances or take advantage of them.

The truth is that people are complicated: As we know from psychology,
people have biases -- they sometimes hold seemingly contradictory and
conflicting political views.

For example, Antonin Scalia was despised by liberals for his conservatism
but did a lot to protect privacy rights. The Koch family gives a lot to the
arts and cancer research but funds conservative causes.

Nothing is black or white.

That brings us to President Trump: President Trump has managed to annoy
most of the country and the world, many Republicans and Democrats included.
He is a bit of an enigma. His policies are neither traditionally Republican
nor traditionally Democratic.

Social psychology teaches us that people form in-groups and out-groups.
People in in-groups form bonds of attachment and support with each other.
People in out-groups are often demonized if they don't conform to certain
political views. People in in-groups create their own beliefs about the
out-groups and judge them accordingly, whether rightly or wrongly. In
today's parlance, you could call some of these beliefs "fake news."

But people are typically more complex than their orthodox views. And, when
they are forced to choose, they can always opt to withdraw.

As far as I can tell, Republicans and Democrats pretty much hate each other
on everything except on the need to have a strong foreign policy and strong
military and become involved in foreign entanglements around the world.

As Eisenhower warned,

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of
unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military
industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced
power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this
combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take
nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel
the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense
with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may
prosper together."

Eisenhower also said,

"Down the long lane of the history yet to be written America knows that
this world of ours, ever growing smaller, must avoid becoming a community
of dreadful fear and hate, and be instead, a proud confederation of mutual
trust and respect. Such a confederation must be one of equals. The weakest
must come to the conference table with the same confidence as do we,
protected as we are by our moral, economic, and military strength."

"To all the peoples of the world, I once more give expression to America's
prayerful and continuing aspiration: We pray that peoples of all faiths,
all races, all nations, may have their great human needs satisfied; that
those now denied opportunity shall come to enjoy it to the full; that all
who yearn for freedom may experience its spiritual blessings; that those
who have freedom will understand, also, its heavy responsibilities; that
all who are insensitive to the needs of others will learn charity; that the
scourges of poverty, disease and ignorance will be made to disappear from
the earth, and that, in the goodness of time, all peoples will come to live
together in a peace guaranteed by the binding force of mutual respect and
love."

From: http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html

This message should bring us all together regardless of political
orientation, creed, religion, gender, race, ethnicity, and so on.

On Mon, Jan 30, 2017 at 10:35 AM, ernesto ortiz <ernestortizcu at yahoo.es>
wrote:

>
> El 30/1/17 a las 6:51 p. m., Rich Kulawiec escribió:
> >> I've tried to avoid commenting too much on Trump's election to avoid
> >> demonizing Republicans and people in my network who support him.
> > And that's fine, and noble, and nice of you.  But understand very,
> > VERY clearly: they will not hesitate to do that to you.
> Really? Are you sure that Republicans here -all of them- are so bad that
> undoubtedly do not hesitate to demonize the others? That's precisely the
> typical scheme of someone who demonise the people just for having a
> different ideology or creed.
> >
> > If you're not a (a) white (b) Christian (c) American citizen then you're
> > going to be targeted.  It's not a question of "if", only of "when".
> > (And some people who are all three will be targeted anyway: women,
> > LBGTQ, journalists, academics, scientists come to mind immediately.)
> >
> >       When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag
> >       and carrying a cross.
> >               --- Sinclair Lewis
> >
> > This current episode is just a test to see what kind of reaction ensues.
> > It's a probe for weaknesses.  It has NOTHING to do with stopping
> terrorism:
> > in fact, it's designed to increase the probability of attacks -- because
> > that will make subsequent steps much easier.  (Note the careful exemption
> > of majority-Muslim countries in which Trump owns hotels/resorts.)
> >
> > ---rsk
>
> --
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