M.D. Poole's Blog, page 7

P.S.

I forgot to mention one thing:  I predict Polar Bears will become extinct as the polar caps disappear.

The Year of Irony — 2016

The Christian right, the Republicans, the family values people chose Donald Trump to be President of the United States, a man without family values.  He is on his 3rd wife, each a trophy wife, two of them immigrants. He has sexual affairs often.  He brags that he can sexually assault any woman he wants because he is a rich celebrity.  He has been indicted for child rape.  He publicly demeans people with vulgar language and insults.  His children go on safaris to kill large animals around the world.  Donald Trump lies, ignoring facts, using ad hominem tactics.
He is a millionaire who was elected by the lower middle class.    These people think he will look after their interests.  He refuses to share his tax records.  He has been legally bankrupt 7 times.  He is worth less now than when he inherited his fortune.  He is elitist and mocks poor people.  He does not have a voting record on issues like unemployment benefits, food stamps, or minimum wage because he has never had an elected position.  He often does not pay his employees or the contract help he engages, and he says this is his right.  His social contacts call him a buffoon, a con man, and a cheat.  He lies about making donations to charities in order to gain respect and tax breaks.  His university was a scam.
He is openly cruel to veterans, handicapped persons, rape victims, refugees, the obese, the poor, immigrants, women, non-whites, and workers.  And yet, these people elected him.
The voters call him their chance to escape the establishment.  This is biggest irony of all.  Donald Trump IS the establishment.  He is the rich man that the poor people are fed up with.  He is the giant who blames the little person.  He is the husband who likes women barefoot and in the kitchen.
Yes, he is a white, but he is the MAN, the one with his thumb on the head of all beneath him as if he has the right to squish them.  And they look up and lick his balls.  It is the most disgusting irony I have ever witnessed.
And I can do nothing about it except let my broken heart cry about what has happened in my lovely country.

Predictions for 2017 – 2020

Napoleon, who fought to protect and empower the populace, proceeded to crown himself emperor and take the spoils of his own country.  This happened with 2 different Napoleons.   I predict Trump will follow in their footsteps.

I predict Trump’s friend Putin will manage Trump as if the President is a 2-bit hustler.  Trump will destroy Russia’s enemies without the Russians having to foot the bill.  Trump will arrange for Snowden to be extradited, prosecuted as a traitor and executed.

I predict Trump will appoint 2 or 3 Supreme Court justices who are right of right, who will destroy abortion rights, the separation of church and state, voting protections, civil liberties and privacy protection for the individual, and who will make wholesale changes to constitutional limits of presidential powers for the sake of eliminating threats to Trump and his regime.

I predict sexual predators will receive societal acceptance and endorsement from the media, entertainment, Trump, and his followers.  But homosexuals will be branded as deviant, and their marriage will be disallowed, especially for tax reasons.

I predict the US government will go bankrupt.

I predict the US military will flourish.  There will be popular uprisings, which will be stopped quickly, and the best of the rebels will be enlisted into the national military.

I predict corporations will shrink in number and grow in strength, enjoying extraordinary tax incentives.  The Congress will back this.

I predict lynchings will be ignored.  The police will grow more confident.  Riots will erupt and be silenced.  News blackouts will occur.  The KKK will continue to grow, with off-shoots under new names.

I predict congress will consider bills to make the US a Christian nation.

I predict more news blackouts will occur, replaced by “announcements.”

I predict Trump will get mad and push the nuclear button.  If he can time the event properly, he will cancel the 2020 election.  I will be in the wrong ½ of the world when the explosions happen and will be maimed or dead, but the fallout will eventually kill the rest of the population too.

I used to be such an optimist.

Maybe 4 years will not be enough time for Trump to achieve this list of predictions.

We will see.

Turning Over and Letting Go

It is the first time I have ever said this:  I am ashamed of being an American.

But I believe in the democratic voting process.  A majority of Americans voted for Donald Trump to be President.   Can I accept it, that a sexist, racist, nationalist, narcissist is President of my country?  Yes, because it means the majority of Americans think this is appropriate.  This is reality:  a reality TV star is President.    Of course we know reality TV is not reality.  Someone is standing behind the cameras in the control booth calling the shots, making sure the viewer gets heightened entertainment while being robbed of the thrill of living.  Someone unseen is managing the outcome.  That is reality, and I accept it.

I do not like this turn of events, but I hand over my country to the new generation.  I belong to another generation and it is time for me to step aside.  I use a computer, but I prefer movies to video games.  I am part of a defunct era. 

I belong to the age where we loved America from sea to shining sea, and we were interested in preserving our pure waters, our clean air, our mountain majesties, and the fruited plain for our grandchildren.  I am part of a generation where women clawed their way into the workplace thinking they could get a fair shake and equal pay, while they gained control of their own bodies.  I am part of the generation where the Statue of Liberty was revered as an American symbol welcoming foreigners, immigrants, and refugees to a safe place where they and their families could find work, could find a place to call home.   

My generation staggered with flag burnings, and the refusal of Christian prayer in public schools, but we held fast to the tenants of freedom of speech and freedom of religion and found our way, preserving the fundamental principle of the United States, that we are a free nation where one can argue against wrongs and demonstrate peacefully, even vigorously, without punishment, where one can practice any faith or no faith at all without ridicule, judgement, punishment, and without being forced to participate in a national religion. 

We even believed in privacy, and we thought a good education and intellectual vigor improved us and the world.  My generation was proud of the population diversity of the 50 United States, and we were chagrined about its roots of genocide and slavery, anxious to make reparations.  And mine was a generation delighted in advancement, discovery, invention, and possibility.  It was a generation that welcomed the first non-white President of the United States.

Mine is a generation that has passed.  The next generation will have its own passions and problems, its own achievements and struggles.  I wish you the best.

PART 1 and PART 2

PART 1 and PART 2

Part 1

The 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave Black men the vote in 1870.  In January 2017, the second term of the first African-American President will come to an end.  President Obama has been successful.  The U.S. economy has rebounded after the Bush years.

American tradition asserts that competition brings out the best in people.  We say the field of competition should be open to all, pushing us to greatness.  We do not exclude anyone.  That is what we say.  And that competition has given us a President who is a model of high ethics and action, ability and perseverance.

Obama is an American individual.  He is smart, charming, funny, dignified, athletic, and handsome.  On top of all this, Obama is educated, he thinks before he speaks, he listens, and he cries.  He has an educated and eloquent working wife who could easily be commander in chief of a great nation, and he has two lively, well-brought-up, intelligent daughters.

Obama has the respect and admiration of most people, because he illustrates the American Dream.  But he also attracts jealousy, which can turn to anger, which can ignite deadly rage.  Obama’s success has coincided with a rebirth of radical racism.  “Why can’t I be great like that?” the cashier at the grocery store asks.  “I am white and male and Christian and I should be getting the good stuff, not him.”  “Not him” is born from the marriage of fear and jealousy.   Such jealousy creates an illusion in some white people that “better” times existed in the past, times when the field of competition excluded anyone without white skin.

Racism comes from thinking we are different, when in truth, the most profound ideal of the USA is that we are the same, all of us, no matter our religion, our skin color, our gender, our age, or our origin high or low.  America promises opportunity, and then achievement is up to the individual.

I went to a museum exhibition in Paris called the Color Line, with acres of rooms filled with art and history by Black Americans since the Civil War until the present.  The rest of the world is well-aware of America’s racism.  To see Valerie Browne paintings and Newsweek covers of Angela Davis, to be faced with photos of lynchings from the 1800’s repeated in the 21st century, to relive Rosa Parks’ courage and Langston Hugh’s magic words—these things made me profoundly sad.

The dark history of racism in the U.S. keeps us on our knees. It tarnishes our culture, even with new laws and enlightenment, even with education and change.  Its residue resides in our neighborhoods and schools and in the shadows of our minds, sometimes flaring out publicly through the actions and words of stupid politicians, small-minded radicals, and self-righteous everyday members of our society.  The self-righteous never see themselves as such, only seeing themselves as right; hence the name.

Evangelical zealots want to exclude all refugees, Muslims, Mexicans, Jews, African-Americans, and Asians from the American field.  Their frightening fervor includes intimidation, the call to arms, walls, expulsion, murder, and lynchings.  Where is the idea of love thy neighbor?  Where is the philosophy of turn the other cheek?  Where are patience, tolerance, respect, kindness, and neighborliness in the midst of this kind of rage?   Maybe the rage grows out of ignorance, or mental illness, or poverty, or fear.  Whatever the source of the rage, religion does no good if its basic tenets are ignored in order to fuel hatred, undermining our American foundation.

Part 2

Black women could not vote until August 21, 1920, the same date that the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave white women the right to vote.  Now, within 48 hours, a woman may be elected as United States President.  After an African-American President, a female President is appropriate in our American history of change and progress.

However, a woman as President offers more opportunity for backlash.  The rights of women have increased along a twisting uphill path during the last 100 years.  To have an educated and experienced woman as a candidate for President is shockingly wonderful in a country long devoted to subservient women, women who grew up pouring tea instead of reading international news, who were taught how to pluck eyebrows instead of how to demand equal pay.

It is no shock that some men do not like the idea of a woman as President, as again it expands the playing field, increasing competition which might make their way harder.  The wonder is that so many men are proud to see egalitarian progress in the USA, without rancor or jealousy, without fear or sneers.  They accept a woman qualified for the job.

Surprisingly, there are women who dislike the idea of having a female President.  Or maybe it is not a surprise, because many woman hate women.  I first noticed that I did not like women when I was in my 20’s, but the feeling began when I was a toddler and it was firmly in place by the time I entered kindergarten.  I loved my mother, and my teachers were excellent; however, I did not respect them.  My dad, on the other hand, he had the power, he made the money, he made the decisions.  Though he rarely demanded it, everyone in and out of the family deferred to his desires.

It was a given in my childhood society: the man had value and the woman did not.  If the woman got her way, it was through manipulative smiles and shouts.  I did not have a high opinion of women, yet I was one of them.  I solved that damaging paradox by being a part-time tomboy.  I threw stones and climbed trees, and I also primped to attract the men I so badly wanted to be.   I lived in a schizophrenic system where I hated the group I was a part of, a group I had no power to leave.  The system invited degradation.  It demanded a quasi-Stockholm syndrome where one agreed with and identified with abusers.

I sympathize with women who hate Hillary Clinton, because I must assume they hate themselves in the same subtle way I used to hate myself.  When they watch a woman in a prominent powerful position, the consequences of their own self-loathing are illuminated, consequences over which they had no control.  Their destinies were socially pre-ordained unless some lucky force of nature or mind or circumstance helped them.

My lucky moment came when I studied women in history, artists and politicians, female scientists and educators, chefs and engineers, and good mothers, struggling mothers, famous mothers, along with actresses and inventors, entrepreneurs and horse trainers, dress designers and florists, and on and on and on.  I learned to admire these women, and then I learned my own value.  Stumbling and stunted, I began to follow my own opportunities and my own precious life.

Many people have lucky epiphanies.  I applaud each of us for breaking though our jealousy and fear, our limits and tight little boxes of hatred.  We the citizens of the United States of America, amid backlash and un-pronounceable historical albatrosses of racism and sexism, we elected the first Black President soon to followed by the first Woman President.  We are still breaking frontiers, and I am proud.

 

 

TRUMPETTE TRAIN WRECK

I’ve had obsessions in my life.  Ah yes, David Leith in 4th grade.  Throughout high school, it was tennis.  And I’ve always had a passion for dogs.

My obsessions have been benign. 

Until now.  

My father was a man who rushed out of the house when he heard a siren.  He loved chasing after police cars, ambulances, and firetrucks hoping to see a disaster.  I prided myself on not inheriting that behavior. 

Until now.

I am in the grip of a new obsession.  It’s bad enough that it could be called an addiction.  The scream of the on-coming train-wreck has me mesmerized.

I cannot stop following the American Presidential election on Facebook.

One post after another, I gawk at unfolding stories of who said what, what has been uncovered, polls and statistics and reactions.

Minutes roll into evenings with me reading about Donald Trump:  tax evasion, sexual abuse, pornography, broken international treaties, shady business deals, close ties with Putin, 19th century levels of racism and sexism, xenophobia, narcissistic maneuvers, insults and belittling, anti-intellectualism, flights of rage, denial of constitutional principles and international protocol, drugs, vulgarity, lies and contradictions, marital sagas, repeated bankruptcy, and a range of lawsuits for his libelous and felonious acts.

Oscar Wilde said, “The public is wonderfully tolerant. It forgives everything except genius.”  And he added, “Nothing succeeds like excess.”  

Clearly Trump is not a genius.  And so, there are people who forgive his character and follow his excess.  They like being filmed for Facebook.  And in my addiction, I watch them. 

Today, it was two white women defending Trump’s unglued rage at a former Miss Universe.  They wore matching t-shirts naming themselves the Trumpettes.  They called Trump a god, just beneath the level of Jesus, and they swooned, “Finally, someone is going to save us.” 

Save them from what?  What?  If Trump’s behavior is god-like, it is a religion I reject.

I did not re-post the Trumpettes.  Yet, they and their kind make my eyes bulge and my jaw drop.  Then, I move on to read the next post instead of turning off the computer.   

I promise myself I will not re-post.  After all, anyone who is going to vote for Trump is not going to be swayed by statements from the Bush women, the living Presidents of the U.S., the Wharton School of Business, the top newspapers in the country, or the impressive array of international scientists, ambassadors, and world leaders.  

Then, as with all addictions, Facebook gets the better of me and I cannot stop myself from re-posting certain items.  I even comment on some of the posts, both the good ones and the bad.  Why do I keep scrolling down, reading post after post?    I do not understand my own fascination with the horror of this election.  Sometimes I insert a picture of a cute dog as relief from it all.

Despite polls showing the Democratic lead, despite Trump’s obvious unfitness for a national political office, especially the Presidency, still I am afraid he will win.

I am afraid he will separate my beloved country from its allies and principles.

I am afraid he will provoke a world war in order to increase his family’s profits.  It will be a nuclear war because it will make him feel powerful.

I am afraid those who like to follow the sirens will push this proto-tyrant to the top. 

Ms. Clinton is a politician, which condemns her into a certain circle of hell.  However, she is educated, intelligent, and experienced in national and world affairs.  World leaders respect her. She understands balanced budgets and has never been indicted or convicted of a crime.  She is a woman and she is strong.  She has followed through on her oaths for better or for worse. 

Ms. Clinton is calm and emotionally balanced, which is more than I can say for myself at this moment.  I am on the edge of my seat waiting, hoping for a positive outcome to this Facebook drama.

The New York Times and Washington Post assure me that my country will not lose its grip on equality, democracy, and the hope for peace and environmental progress.  I am not so sure.  My fear continues to rise.  I am afraid Donald Trump will be the President of the United States.  But I hope that we get a Hollywood outcome, where the train swerves at the last minute and everyone is saved, instead of disaster being elected.

 

 

Burkinis, A History Lesson

It’s Assumption Day.  That’s the celebration of Mary, mother of Jesus, rising to heaven.  It is a national holiday in France.  Mary was an Arab.  All the pictures show her in a shawl and veil wearing sandals.  She would have been shy about showing her body at the seashore. 

But this week, Mary would have been sent home from the French Riviera for being too modest, too religious, and too provocative, because several local governments decided to protect the laity from expressions of religion on the beach.   Mary, by default, would have been required to go topless, wear a string thong, a bikini, or perhaps a one-piece swimsuit.

The governments made exceptions.  A priest wearing a clerical collar would not be a problem, nor his counterpart nun in her habit.  Jews could wear yamikas, tzitzits with fringe, or black hats.  Jewish women in skirts with their hair covered would be welcomed.  Hindu women in sarees or shalwars would be acceptable, along with the men in kurtas and turbans.  Christian or atheist tourists with fair skin could wear pants and long sleeve shirts on the beach.  Catholic crosses, Nazi tattoos, and all types of skull and crossbones would be permitted.  These people would be expressing “our” culture, the governmental representatives said.

“Our” culture is code for racism and nationalism.   It is the polite way of saying “If you are an Arab, I hate you.”

A higher truth affirms that “our” culture is based on tolerance and inclusion, not on a superior, controlling race or religion.   

As Lafayette and Jefferson said in the 1st Article of the Declaration of the Rights of Men and of the Citizen, “Liberty consists in the freedom to do everything which injures no one else. . ..”  They made it so simple and clear.   Local governments wanting to protect their tiny realms from “non-Western dress” have forgotten this primary principle.

Article 3 states that “. . . All citizens, being equal in the eyes of the law, are equally eligible to all dignities and to all public positions and occupations, according to their abilities, and without distinction. . ..”   The same document in article 10 says, “No one shall be disquieted on account of his opinions, including his religious views. . ..” 

And the French Constitution states, “France . . . shall ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion. It shall respect all beliefs.”  In other words, freedom of religion is a cornerstone of the republic in France, just as in the USA. 

Such freedom is our true culture, and it applies to people of all colors, heritages, religions, genders, and capacities.  The French sum up this philosophy in their motto, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity,” demanding the end of power based on hypocrisy and intolerance.  This motto, etched into history by the blood of freedom fighters, should not be carelessly tossed aside because of fear, egotism, and prejudice, not even in a time of war and terrorism.

ISIS and Daesh wage war with the USA and Europe.   This does not involve the Muslim woman who has taken a small step toward emancipation by finding a modest costume which allows her to observe her religion and also enjoy the Mediterranean Sea.  In fact, it does not include most of the 2,038,000,000 Muslims in the world.   That is 28% of the human population.  For comparison, Jews form 0.22% of the world population.

An interdiction against wearing a burkini on the beach in order to protect the laity from religion?  On Assumption Day, when the streets are lined with pilgrims marching toward a religious statue?    Next it will be Internment Camps for Arabs, as the USA did in WWII for Japanese citizens.  Or worse, we will build gas chambers for Muslims.  And people will again practice their religions underground, in hiding, afraid for their lives.

 

Physicists Be Warned

 

There must be 2 communication systems coming out of the U.S. 

I read and listen to the system that portrays the Republican candidate Donald Trump as a deranged narcissist, ready to murder his opponents for the sake of publicity.

I hear his rants, and I see his flushed red face full of rage.  I get clips of him urging whites to fear blacks, of Americans to fear outsiders, of residents to fear refugees.  I see photos of his wife posing nude, his wife who came from a foreign country, while he demands all foreigners be excluded from the USA. 

I read the text of his illogical speeches, which sound like an illiterate adolescent is speaking.  These speeches ignore the basic rights of humans that Thomas Jefferson established for the USA.  It is as if he has never heard of the Constitution.   His speeches are Hitleresque, denigrating anyone who is not a healthy white male.  And if a healthy white male does not like him, he denigrates that person as well.

My sources point out that Trump cheats on his taxes, that he has been bankrupt numerous times, that he lies about his charity contributions, that he has close ties to Putin, that he has tendencies toward pedophilia, and of course that he has not been true to any of his 3 wives.

Then there are people who love this candidate.  They say he speaks the truth.  They assert that he is a straight shooter who will turn the country around and make it great again.

These followers believe that Trump loves America, that he will protect its citizens, that he knows how to create jobs and prosperity for the USA.  They think that he relates to the little people, the people who work 40 hours a week at minimum-wage jobs, that he speaks for them.  They like his pretty wife. 

I don’t understand where they get their information.  It seems to me that anyone who hears what I hear would be panicked that this uneducated, power-hungry buffoon could be the President of the United States, with the power to make national decisions and to conduct business and/or war internationally.

But they are certain of their perspectives.  Just as I am certain of mine. 

It is the most bizarre dichotomy I have ever experienced.  Physicists should study this moment in history, because it seems the United States of America is experiencing 2 simultaneous alternate universes.  We wait to see which will prove to be our future reality.  Or, maybe, there are other possible universes and choices.

We are Us

The morning sun in Chateau Park was glorious.   

She said, “Westerners are more civilized than Arabs.  Europeans, we are an advanced culture.”

I replied, “The Arab culture is older than ours.” 

“They are nomads and barbarians.”

“Their culture is rich in tradition.”

“They haven’t changed for hundreds of years.”

“Their cities are very modern.”

She waved her hand in the air like an expert and explained to me, “Arabs want to turn us into Muslims.  We should get rid of them.”

I was shocked.  “That’s a violent thing to say.”

“Yes.  They are a violent people.”

“No.  That’s not what I said.”

“They are dangerous.”

“You talk with such hatred.”

“I speak the truth.”

“You’re talking about millions of innocent people.”

“They are not innocent.  They murder our children.” 

I took a breath.  “All cultures have violent people.”

“They execute us without remorse.”

“The USA has violent people.”

“The USA is not as old as Europe.”

“What I mean is, it’s full of Europeans.  Its culture came from Europe.”

She sighed and smiled like I was an ignorant child.

I defended my position about the 2 Western cultures, “Remember Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson.  Remember The Rights of Man.”

“Occidentals do not decapitate innocent people,” she replied.

“Not all Arabs do that.”

“They all applaud when it happens.”

I tried to stay calm.  “Westerners are the ones who invented weapons of mass destruction.”

“We don’t use them,” she said.

“You are wrong.”

She was surprised.  “I’m not wrong.”

“Westerners kill hords of people, targeted by satellite reconnaissance, with drones.”

“We don’t show it on the internet.”

“Everyone has the capacity for violence.”

She smiled, “Our civilization has progressed beyond violence.”

“You are talking about the civilization that directed 2 world wars, about people who have tried to exterminate numerous groups of people.”

“We are good people.  It’s in our genes.”

If strangling her would have opened the mind of this woman, I would have done it, but like all violence, it would not have helped.  I said, “We are not ‘them’ and ‘us.’  We are ‘us.’  We are all full of anger and ready to kill.”

She walked away.

I followed.  “We’re human.  We all are narcissists.  But also we all are able to reflect, empathize, laugh, and hope that human beings don’t focus on differences and power, but on our roots, on our children, on the future and unity.”

She looked over her shoulder at me, and kept walking. 

Talk did not help any more than violence.

 

Nice France 2016

I grew up learning that Negroes smell different. Men are good at math. Catholics want to take over the world which is why they have lots of babies. Germans are cold-blooded. Jews are good with money but they are cheapskates. Mexicans are lazy and slow.

The list went on. Queers are dangerous and sick. Women are bad drivers and can’t be given responsibility because they are too emotional. Doctors play golf and bankers are conservative. Japanese are smart. Politicians make money off of war.

These are not bad things, I learned. It is merely the truth, and it is always good to tell the truth.

Every group had a disparaging name, the Congregationalists and Lutherans, the Baptists, the Hari-Krishnas, the French, the Indians, and the Russians, even college graduates and poor people. Terms like “spic,” “egg-head,” and “kike” were said with a smile, because we should feel sorry for such people. Each name announced, “Don’t trust them” and “We are better than them.”

When I met people outside the descriptions — a woman who was a good driver, a boy who was better in Latin than math, a Mexican with a successful business — I realized there were exceptions to the rules I was taught.

Exceptions. I was female but I drove fast and well. Was I an exception? Did the description of the group limit the exceptions? If one generous Jew existed, if one woman was smart enough and unemotional enough to be President, if one politician believed in principles above personal gain, did the stereotype of the group silence that exceptional person? Could the stereotype control a group instead of describing it?

I grew up in America, the land of the free. As an American, I am a mutt. My blood is not pure, so it is easy for me to believe that diversity is good. Acceptance of diversity makes a person and a people stronger. The American dream infers that diverse people can live together peaceably. It is not only that we can, but we should diversify if we are to be resilient.

Diversity exists because we let people be who they are instead of forcing them to fit the specifications of the group. Diversity is the opposite of stereotyping. Diversity exists because of the exception, the exceptional, the individual. The individual can pull himself or herself up, or down, by his/her own bootstraps. The idea of the individual is my true American heritage.

An acquaintance told me today, “It was an Arab who killed those people last night on the Promenade,” as if that explained everything. I stared at him so he continued, “They hate us and they won’t stop until they kill us all. They hate Americans too.” This is the man who tells me, “All Americans are fat.” It is his nature to generalize.

Before I am an American, I am an individual. I am from the United States, and I am skinny. Not wealth or lack of it, not parentage or religion, not skin color, birth place, or gender predicts the life of an individual. The individual, not the group, is responsible for his/her choices. To think otherwise is to stereotype, the trap of false reasoning, the trap that kills individuality.

The man responsible for the attack in Nice had lived in France since his adolescence. His family came from Tunisia where the language is French. It has a population smaller than New York City and was French for 75 years. The killer was not religious or political, and was not part of radical Islam. He was in the middle of a messy divorce, which can drive anyone over the edge, especially in the face of happy people during a celebration. He is proof that killers come in many shapes and sizes.

Crazy people exist. Angry people exist, and terrorists exist. War exists. Political groups organize violent events, or take credit for them, or blame other groups for them. In 1986 Patrick Sherrill killed 14 of his co-workers at a post office in Oklahoma without being a fanatic of any sort. 700 years ago, the Catholics tried to purge the world of infidels, and not long ago at all, Hitler wanted to rid the world of Jews, homosexuals, cripples, and a list of other categories, to improve the world. Violence is not exclusive to one era or organization. There is no accurate stereotype for violence.

Stereotypes are easy. Arabs are bad. Arabs are not French. Arabs are Muslim. They are killers. They hate white people. They live off the social services of other countries. They are dirty, they lie, they dress funny just to provoke us, and they are dangerous. It’s us versus them.

I know people who say such things, but they are wrong. I know that every group has good and bad people in it because I believe in the individual instead of stereotypes. We all contribute to the culture of violence with our silence and our reactive fear, but that is not the same as launching a grenade into a crowd. That is the terrible choice of an individual.

As a child, I was taught certain things, but as an adult I get to choose what to believe. I hold onto the ideas of the individual and of diversity, because I have let go of the blindness born from stereotypes. I choose to associate with people who grieve over the 84 deaths in Nice on the night of the Bastille Day celebration, and then transform that grief into creative ideas to increase tolerance and peace instead of hatred and fear.