George Takei on scapegoating

The following extract is a powerful, heartfelt message for everyone, everywhere, not just in America, because bigotry and hatred and scapegoating know no national boundaries.

‘When I was 5 years old, I didn’t understand what a scapegoat was. All I understood was that, because of Japan’s aggression that pulled the United States into the war, my family and I had to leave our Los Angeles home at gunpoint, taking with us only what we could carry.
…We were rendered destitute, then held without charge or trial behind barbed wire, all for the “crime” of looking like the people who’d bombed Pearl Harbor.‘

George Takei: https://jilldennison.com/2023/08/18/george-takei-speaks-from-experience-we-should-listen/#comment-217184

That was in the US, but Australia has it’s own dark history. Only now are we starting to learn about the murders of gay men that were ignored by police simply because the victims were gay.

And now it’s the 21st century, and trans people have become ‘the enemy’ because politicians have discovered that hate is good for their careers, and trans people are low hanging fruit ripe for the plucking. Why? Because the general populace are woefully ignorant about what it means to be transgender, and because tormented teens can’t fight back.

But do we really have to use trans people as surrogate punching bags for our anger and general dissatisfaction with life?

Some people will always hate, but they are, and should remain, a tiny, twisted, psychopathic minority.

One of the best things about living in a democracy is that we-the-majority can vote those unscrupulous politicians out. And keep them out. This is our superpower. If we don’t use it to protect those who need protection the most, we may find that somewhere down the road, the same weapons will be pointed at us. Because we stayed silent. Because we thought ‘Not my problem’.

The abuse you ignore is the abuse you empower.

Meeks