Donald Trump is supposedly
unfit for office. He allegedly has
neither the brains, nor the moral stature to be president. Totally out of control, and bereft of any
semblance of human decency, he has no right to occupy the White House.
Sentiments of this sort have
become conventional in the mainstream media.
The national press corps is constantly instructing us on the
inadequacies of our chief executive.
Meanwhile, not just liberal politicians, but many conservatives, have
taken to lecturing Trump on his moral shortcomings.
What has brought forth this
flood of vituperation and moralistic posturing?
Our president’s single most egregious deficiency was purportedly his
recent failure to distinguish between white supremacists and peace activists.
When, in the aftermath of
the Charlottesville riots, he stated that there were good people on both sides
of the melee that was too much. Too
suggest that neo-Nazis and Black protesters were equivalent was the height of
insensitivity. It bespoke an inner
racism.
But guess what, there is a
moral equivalence between the neo-Nazis and the Antifas. They are peas in the same deplorable
pod. The extremists on both sides of the
recent Confederate monuments controversy have more in common than liberals
would have us believe.
Trump was not “unhinged” to
say what he did. There are good people
on either side of the political divide.
Pointing this out was his way of saying that we should not confuse the
KKK, and other bigots, with those who hold right wing opinions.
But let us look a bit more
closely at what happened in Virginia. To
begin with, the white supremacists did not initiate the squabble. Those on the left cast the first stone. They, out of nowhere, demanded that venerable
memorials be torn down. Poor Robert E.
Lee had done nothing, recently, to merit their opprobrium.
Despite accusations that
confederate statues were rallying points for bigots, there was no evidence to
that effect. Nor did the theoretically
anti-bigotry protestors need to confront the demonstrators who, in fact, had a
valid permit to march. They could have
held a counter-event the next day.
The neo-Nazis are not a
savory group. Their opinions are odious. That they chose to piggyback on the
grievances of defenders of Southern traditions was unfortunate, but to depict
this as an assault on democracy was ridiculous.
Despite the torchlight processions and vile slogans, they are the fringe
of a fringe.
As a Jew, I do not condone
anti-Semitism or racism. Nonetheless,
these neo-Nazis were not actual Nazis.
They are home grown fanatics.
There is no Hitler for them to rally around. Nor will there be concentration camps or a crystal
nacht. They are merely malcontents using
a hated symbol in order to be provocative.
But the same can be said
about the other side. The Antifa and
Black Lives Matter crowd are equally provocative. They too are a small band of malcontents who
latched on to a larger controversy to gain attention and suppress free speech. To portray them as injured innocents is
absurd.
Those who watched the
Charlottesville disturbances on TV would have been hard put to distinguish the
combatants. They wore similar protective
gear and wielded comparable weapons. The
only difference was the flags they flew.
So I say, they were undoubtedly
morally equivalent. Both sides are
loathsome. To convert one into heroes for
protecting American values, while condemning the other as attacking them is fatuous. Both sides were assaulting our nation’s
traditions. They both deserve our
disgust.
The Culture Wars have grown
so vicious that the participants have lost sight of elementary moral
truths. In order to win victories over
their foes, they portray complex social questions as black and white. For these combatants, there are no subtleties
or clemency. They refuse to take any prisoners.
We are, however, living
through perilous times. If we are
together to solve the problems we confront, we must exercise good will. To dismiss those with whom we disagree as
unrepentant bullyboys—on either side—is a grievous mistake.
Mean-spirited extremists are
callous, wherever they are found. Let us
thus not confuse them with well-intentioned folks, wherever the latter stand in
the political landscape.
Melvyn L. Fein, Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University
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