Assuming that Elizabeth Whitcomb [“Intolerance growing in our country,” July 24] is sincere in wishing to understand, I can provide her with answers to her questions regarding racism.
No, Trump’s comments of “send them back” were not racist, nor is racism a problem in this country. If Ms. Whitcomb wants to discover the source of her misunderstanding, she should ask herself how she came to her conclusions. I doubt if she simply read Trump’s comments and said “Those words are racist.” Similarly, I doubt if she made the discovery that this country is racist while going about her daily activities: going to work; shopping; dining out. Simply put, someone likely told her these things, and she chose to espouse them, disregarding her own experiences and ceding to others her right to synthesize her own conclusions.
There is more that unites us as a country than divides us as a people, but you don’t get people to open their wallets, listen to your commentary, or cast their vote without providing them some enemy to hate, and there are untold numbers of professionals who earn their living dividing people into malleable categories by stoking anger. Indeed, the current presidential hopefuls fall over each other in attempts to be the most outraged candidate. Race, gender, nationality, religion, the environment, have all been weaponized in that quest for relevance. Exploiting the human need for belonging, even in an atomized society, social media abets this tribalism by demanding compliance to whatever your social group dictates you must think. Why chance a “dislike” by expressing a divergent opinion when you can be validated by accumulating re-tweets? Besides, it feels so good when you show you are superior to others in virtue and thought – that you belong to the correct group.
So, it’s really not surprising that Ms. Whitcomb feels so strongly about positions she had no role in formulating, but still feels compelled to perpetuate. Considering the passionate, hate-filled opinions that appear almost daily in The Recorder, those who eagerly divide the country as they grasp for power are having fabulous success.
John Blasiak
Greenfield