“During the late 1940's and early 1950's, the prospect of communist subversion at home and abroad seemed frighteningly real to many people in the United States. These fears came to define -- and, in some cases, corrode -- the era’s political culture.” - History.com
We could rewrite that exact statement to reflect the political atmosphere of the past two decades. Just replace “communist subversion” to “terrorist intentions” and we describe the current sentiment of American politics. We were complacent with the hate that slowly grew into the norms of our society. For the longest time, we thought our hate was justified and we made mistakes, but the real mistake we made was thinking we were past the hatred and vitriol that stewed right below the surface. I’m not saying we are all like this; most Americans are kind and open individuals. It’s the select but vocal members of society that are happy to live in their ignorance and worse yet spread it to others that are the problem.
The idea that we could scapegoat all the problems of the world to one religion or creed is the worst part of history repeating. The fear of extremists is pushing this small band of ignorant individuals to become their own version of extremists with their hateful language and violent intentions. America is the champion of accepting more than one idea; it is a safe harbor for people fleeing persecution for being different, and an international symbol of hope. This ignorance has been a threat to America for a very long time but only recently have they gotten any legitimate traction.
The hate is not the only reason for this growing infection in the heart of this nation; it’s also the complacency. Like I mentioned, the majority of the citizens are accepting and genuinely nice people. The reason we rarely hear about them is what I can only describe as a nation-wide bystander effect. They never bothered us directly so we never addressed them. Which is an awful way to live, but we have already learned that lesson. All that standing by has finally come back to haunt us. Now the hate that has gone by unseen has gained a platform, a leader, and, unfortunately, legitimacy.
Under the promise of the false statement “Make America Great Again,” these unorganized and unseen voices think their claim has legitimacy and has grown into this awful mob mentality where, ironically, all types of hate can come and congregate. The worst part is, it's not just America, recent actions have shown that our close ally, Great Britain, is slowly following the same movement our country is going through.
However, all hope is not lost. We still have a chance to take back our country. We can say enough is enough and send the bigots back into obscurity. We can redeem our negligence towards the state of affairs and apologize for letting it get this far. Just remember to get involved, vote, rally, and don’t accept any form injustice, big or small.
