As I've noted over the past couple of weeks, as an Empire approaches or enters collapse, the value of citizenship is eroded as the central government eliminates the rights and privileges of citizenship and/or extends those same rights and privileges to non-citizens. At its terminal phase, the collapsing government and the faction that controls that government, will even began treating its citizens that belong to other factions as enemies of the state.
Biden's speech above, made when he was Vice-President under Obama, is telling of this transition as he categorially states that there is nothing special about being an American. He explains that there is nothing--religion, race or ethnicity--that distinguishes Americans from the rest of the world. This isn't really true: the United States is still primarily a Christian nation. And, prior to the 1965 Immigration Act, the United States was primarily a white nation comprised mostly of Western and Northern Europeans with an Anglo-German culture overlay. Prior to the mass migration of the latter half of the 19th Century, the nation was even more ethnically concentrated, being of mostly Anglo-Dutch descent with a large number of Scots to boot. So, until the Federal government began the process of diluting the population, there were both religious and ethnic characteristics that were uniquely American.
We are deep in the phase of citizenship being devalued. Not only has citizenship been diluted by mass immigration, but the last decade has seen strong pushes to extend the rights of citizenship to non-citizens. The roots of this lie much farther back. For instance, we can see this at work in the Supreme Court's 1982 decision in Plyler v. Doe, 457 U.S. 202, where the Court struck down a Texas law denying funding for public education of the children of illegal aliens. But the trend has accelerated with some states allowing non-citizens--even illegal aliens--to be employed by state and local governments, allowing illegal aliens to obtain professional licenses, and the push to extend voting rights to non-citizens. See, e.g.:
- "Noncitizens May Soon Be Eligible To Vote In New York City" by Rachel Cohen, The Intercept.
- "Noncitizens Are Slowly Gaining Voting Rights"--PEW.
- "Is it time to let noncitizens vote in local elections?" by Nicholas Goldberg, The Los Angeles Times.
We pay taxes, immigrants say. We run businesses. We send kids to public schools, drive the roads, ride the subways and fight in America’s wars. We are stakeholders in our communities and shouldn’t be excluded from the decision-making process that affects us.
There’s currently a bill before the New York City Council to let legal permanent residents vote in municipal elections — up to and including mayoral elections. Since 2018, San Francisco has allowed noncitizens to vote in school board elections, regardless of whether they’re in the country legally or not. Chicago allows it for school council elections.
Here in Los Angeles, the L.A. Unified school board authorized a study more than a year ago on how to extend voting rights in school board elections to noncitizen parents, grandparents and caregivers. The study — which would presumably lead to a ballot measure — was delayed by the pandemic but will be revived as school reopens.
As you could probably already guess, Goldberg is all in favor of letting the camel's nose into the tent by allowing non-citizens to vote in local elections.
More concerning is the portrayal of whites as potential terrorists. Of course, we've long seen the federal law enforcement raise the white supremacists bogeyman since at least the 1980s and continuing to the very latest National Strategy for Countering Domestic Terrorism.
Under Federal law, “domestic terrorism” is defined as “activities that involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State; appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.”
But let's ignore the deaths, mayhem, and destruction that has followed in the wake of the Antifa and BLM riots and attacks intended to intimidate conservatives, force local, state and the national government to reduce funding of police, change law enforcement policies, influence the 2020 Presidential election, and coerce governments and organizations everywhere to engage in "anti-racism" which is racism against whites. That, according to our betters, is legitimate protest.
No, instead federal law enforcement has stated that the number one domestic terrorist threat is "racially or ethnically motivated violent extremists who advocate for the superiority of the white race." This, notwithstanding the fact that Islamic motivated terrorists have killed about the same number of people since 9/11 as all so-called right-wing extremist groups according to this article (from 2017, I believe) at New America. That article relates:
Since 9/11, jihadists have killed 107 people inside the United States. This death toll is similar to that from far-right terrorism (consisting of anti-government, militia, white supremacist, and anti-abortion violence), which has killed 114 people. The United States has also seen attacks in recent years inspired by black separatist/nationalist ideology and ideological misogyny. Individuals motivated by these ideologies have killed twelve and seventeen people respectively and those with Far-Left views have killed one person. America's terrorism problem today is homegrown and is not the province of any one group or ideological perspective.
The number of dead due to Jihadists is undercounted, however, because not all Jihadist attacks have been categorized as terrorism. For instance, the 2009 attack at Ft. Hood by Nidal Hasan is not classified as a terrorist attack although Hasan had been corresponding with the Yemen-based Imam Anwar al-Awlaki, Hasan described himself as a soldier of Allah, and that Hasan's colleagues had been aware of Islamic radicalization. Hassan killed 13, so just adding those to 107 listed above put the post-9/11 Islamic terrorist deaths in the United States at 120--more than the "right wing" attacks--and there are still other Islamic terror attacks that were never counted as terrorist incidents.
And that leads me to the second highest domestic terror threat identified by the federal government, which is "anti-government or anti-authority violent extremists, such as militia violent extremists"--a greater threat than ISIS, according to FBI Director Christopher Wray. You know these people. They run the gambit from the ones that were involved in a plot to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer (a plot thought up by and encouraged by the FBI), through the people that think Trump actually won the 2020 election, those that disagree with Covid shutdowns and mask mandates, veterans, Christians that hold to Biblical values, and, of course, those that believe the Second Amendment is supposed to be a limit on federal power and authority.
Consequently, as Republican Rep. Chris Stewart told conservative legislators from around the country, "the Biden administration is allowing organizations in the intelligence community such as the CIA, NSA and others to cross over into domestic law enforcement issues 'because by their estimation, white supremacy and domestic terrorism is the greatest threat facing our nation.'"
By itself, the foregoing probably might not be concerning to most people. After all, the FBI has generally held white supremacists to be the number one domestic terrorist threat since the FBI was caught illegally wire-tapping left-wing Jewish and black extremist groups in the late 1970s.
What is concerning, though, is the concerted effort to "other" white Americans. As one article explains "othering":
Othering is a phenomenon in which some individuals or groups are defined and labeled as not fitting in within the norms of a social group. It is an effect that influences how people perceive and treat those who are viewed as being part of the in-group versus those who are seen as being part of the out-group.
Othering also involves attributing negative characteristics to people or groups that differentiate them from the perceived normative social group.
It is an “us vs. them” way of thinking about human connections and relationships. This process essentially involves looking at others and saying "they are not like me" or "they are not one of us."
Othering is a way of negating another person's individual humanity and, consequently, those that are have been othered are seen as less worthy of dignity and respect.
On an individual level, othering plays a role in the formation of prejudices against people and groups. On a larger scale, it can also play a role in the dehumanization of entire groups of people which can then be exploited to drive changes in institutions, governments, and societies. It can lead to the persecution of marginalized groups, the denial of rights based on group identities, or even acts of violence against others.
The Montreal Holocaust Museum is a bit more pithy in its definition:
Othering is a process whereby a group of people is made to seem fundamentally different, even to the point of making that group seem less than human. This process can trigger instinctive emotional reactions towards members of that group. In many instances, othering has been used to degrade, isolate, and render possible the discrimination, abuse, or persecution of a group.
This "othering" of white Americans is why 13% of the population now makes up more than 50% of actors in advertisements. It is why no new television program or commercial shows a white couple, but instead show a mixed race couple if they have any whites at all.
It is why Gateway Pundit can run a headline stating "Former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden Says It’s a 'Good Idea' to Drop Off Unvaccinated Trump Supporters in Taliban-Controlled Afghanistan."
It is why the Washington Examiner will tell its readers that "Democrats trust the Taliban more than their fellow Americans."
It's why Coca-Cola told its workers to be less white.
It's why Donald Moss was able to publish a paper in the Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association which abstract started with the line: "Whiteness is a condition one first acquires and then one has—a malignant, parasitic-like condition to which 'white' people have a particular susceptibility."
It's why Damon Young, writing at The Root, wrote that "Whiteness is a public health crises," and that "White supremacy is a virus that, like other viruses, will not die until there are no bodies left for it to infect."
It's why Medium felt comfortable about running a column titled "Yes My Dear, All White People Are Racists" or a columnist with the Jackson Free Press called one of his pieces "What Is Wrong with America Is Us White People".
It is why, after reading that the number of white people in the United States had declined, Washington Post writer, Jennifer Rubin, joyously tweeted: "a more diverse, more inclusive society. this is fabulous news. now we need to prevent minority White rule."
Whites are second-class citizens. The “American” government discriminates against us, “American” schools shame our children, the government hands out contracts by race, and anti-white mobs tear down our history. Media and academia have successfully broken many whites to the point they have a negative bias against their own group. “American” law enforcement is selective. Corporate America funds Black Lives Matter and other anti-white movements. If this were happening to any other group, many Republicans would say it justified military intervention in the name of human rights.
But it goes further than this. It appears that the U.S. government and the faction(s) which control it are waging war against its citizens.
Earlier this year, Robert Zimmerman analyzed the data concerning excess deaths allegedly caused by Covid-19 and concluded that "the COVID-19 epidemic for the past year was not something that warranted a panic. It was simply nothing more than a variation of the flu, though clearly more deadly to the elderly sick. Had we treated it like the flu, we would have acted to first and foremost protect that elderly sick population, while letting everyone else go about their lives normally." Accordingly, "this epidemic was simply not devastating and that all the harsh lockdowns, mask mandates, and panic were simply unnecessary."
The long term impact of the Covid lockdowns is still being evaluated, but the Wall Street Journal has reported that "[t]he pandemic resulted in the permanent closure of roughly 200,000 U.S. establishments above historical levels during the first year of the viral outbreak." According to a September 2020 Brookings Institute paper, "COVID-19–related job losses wiped out 113 straight months of job growth, with total nonfarm employment falling by 20.5 million jobs in April" of 2020. GDP saw steep declines over two consecutive quarters, and "U.S. industrial production dropped sharply in March and has since only partially rebounded." (For more up-to-date information on employment, see this August 2021 report from the University of New Hampshire).
Unfortunately, while the U.S. has been recovering since the lockdowns were lifted, there rumblings about re-imposing lockdowns in response to new variants. And the push to take the largely untested and ineffective vaccines continues. Worryingly, what started as recommendations to take the vaccine has become more strident and oppressive. For instance, the idea of requiring a vaccine passport to leave your home or access places of public accommodation has not only been adopted in some localities in the U.S., but, according to CNBC, "A survey found 81.8% of Americans support the idea of vaccine passports, digital or physical proof of vaccination against Covid." Robert Zimmerman, in another piece, notes an article about Quinnipac University in Connecticut adopting a policy to fine students that do not get vaccinated.
No longer is the left screaming “My body! My choice!” Then that mantra for abortion worked to garner it political support from naive followers. Now the mantra is “Your body is ours! Let us do to it what we want or we will oppress you!”
It is a very short leap from merely punishing those who refuse a vaccine to rounding them up in camps to isolate them from the rest of society. From there, it is an even shorter leap to imposing mass executions to keep society clean from such unpure individuals.
This is the direction the left is heading. And if you doubt me try to remember how the demands to fight the Wuhan flu have steadily morphed in the past eighteen months. ...
America is at a very dangerous crossroads. It appears that she is being led by an incompetent moron, but it's probably worse than that: she is led by people who wish to "fundamentally transform" America and place purported global goals above American well-being, and who don't care how many people die to achieve their goals.
At the same time that the Biden Administration has effectively armed the Taliban with military weapons--including select fire assault rifles--it is pushing ahead to disarm American citizens of even owning semi-automatic weapons. The latest outrage on the Second Amendment front being the ban on the importation of inexpensive ammunition from Russian manufacturers.
As the popular meme states, "The only reason our government would want to disarm us after 243 years is because they are planning on doing something to us that we would shoot them for." I believe there is more truth to that observation than most of us realize.
Wonder how thick my file is?
ReplyDeleteIt is a Catch-22: if they don't have a file on you, but you request one, then they will create a file on you.
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