It Is Not Just Trump That Has Emboldened White Supremacists, It Is Our Entire System
20 August 2017Damir Rafi
After the truly shocking vehicle attack in Charlottesville on Saturday which
killed one and injured at least 19 others, senior politicians, media figures
and, eventually, the President of the United States, came out to denounce
white supremacist organisations. However the nature of some of their
condemnations seemed phoney and hypocritical, devoid from the realities of the
often toxic spheres which they themselves inhabit. Throughout modern times,
elements of both the political class and the mainstream media have been
embroiled with scandals and controversies. When the levels of moral corruption
at the top levels of society are high, then violence caused by emboldened
groups in lower socioeconomic classes becomes inevitable.
Examples of inflammatory and hateful rhetoric among US politicians are not
difficult to find. Despite condemning the Charlottesville rally, Republican
Senator Lindsay Graham has previously publically stated that he believes
'Iranians are liars.' Current White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon has
been accused of homophobic, misogynistic and Islamophobic speech on numerous
occasions, and Ted Cruz, second to Trump in the Republican leadership race in
2016, called for police to 'patrol and secure' ordinary Muslim neighbourhoods
during his campaign, and yet after Charlottesville accused those responsible
for being 'bigots who want to tear our country apart.' Bill O'Reilly, former
host of The O'Reilly Factor - the most watched cable news programme in the US
for over 14 consecutive years - repeatedly made disparaging comments against
minorities, including claiming that many African-Americans were 'ill-educated
and have tattoos on their foreheads.'
Of course, this is just scratching the surface, and doesn't even mention the
brash and divisive language of the President himself, including his recent
astonishing remarks in which he levelled blame at the 'alt-left and apparently
called some of the white supremacists at Charlottesville 'fine people.' The
fact is that when the highest profile individuals within a nation are
responsible for essentially urging their citizens to view entire societal
groups and minorities through the lens of suspicion and mistrust, then like a
spreading cancer, this attitude seeps down to the ordinary folk in society.
Given the backdrop of slanderous, sweepingly stereotypical verbal attacks that
the political and media elite have levelled against minorities over recent
years, there is a strange irony to these same individuals condemning the
Charlottesville attacks as though they had nothing to do with them.
The moral corruption of the elites extends beyond simply their words, however.
Fox News has recently faced a sexual harassment scandal dating back decades,
which has caused the resignation of senior figures including CEO Roger Ailes,
and Bill O'Reilly himself. Sex scandals have embroiled several governmental
figures in recent years, spanning all sides of the political spectrum.
The highest echelons of society are no strangers to financial controversies
either. Whether it be the former Mayor of New Orleans using the Hurricane
Katrina disaster funds to pocket bribes, or the revelation that Bill and
Hillary Clinton together earned over $153 million in paid speeches over 15
years, or Trump considering himself 'smart' for not paying his fair share of
income tax, it clear that trust between citizen and politician is weaker than
it should be.
Even though there are great numbers of caring and decent politicians and media
figures who serve their country with dignity and honour, still we live in a
culture in which it has become acceptable for many to cheat and lie. Those
whom we expect to uphold the law, often consider themselves to be above it. In
this context, though the abhorrent behaviour of neo-Nazis and white
supremacists is on a different level of evil, it could be argued that they are
the inevitable worst products of a morally corrupt system, which at its very
core, sees the fulfilment of personal desires at its highest ambition.
After Charlottesville, for the political elites to condemn white supremacists
and move on is not enough. Simply denouncing terrorism will not prevent future
incidents of it. What can prevent it is to completely remove the climate in
which such heinous far-right groups are able to thrive. Therefore as well as
the hearings and policy reviews into tackling domestic terrorism that are
required, also necessary is a greater sense of accountability on the part of
those in the highest rungs of society. Furthermore, removing the climate for
the alt-right to gain traction involves those with political influence working
together to demonstrate more compassion towards minority groups, currently
dehumanised by the sweepingly toxic rhetoric which is heard on an almost daily
basis.
If we fail to truly realise the commonality that we all possess, and the hopes
and dreams that each of us shares, regardless of our faith or ethnicity or
gender, then acts of mass violence and terrorism may haunt us for years to
come. The election of President Trump signalled an appetite within the nation
for a kind of political revolution, and a weariness towards typical
establishment politics. However to truly reform our world for the better, it
is a moral revolution that we first need.
Damir Rafi is a Medical student and writer Damir Rafi on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/d_rafi1
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