Gratitude and mirrors.
This morning, I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to those brave members of the #Nashville #Jewish community who came out last night to support the only #Hanukkah show of its kind ever staged in Nashville, and quite possibly the south. Thank you to Belcourt Taps for being generous enough to host it. And thank you to my friends who performed: Eric Schwartz, Steve Goodie, Sasha Aaron, Gabe Price, and Steve's friend whose name escapes me at the moment. Which is a perfect segue to today's editorial blog posting…
Dear #America, have you lost your f^cking mind? Let's forget about the need for sensible gun control for a moment, forget about all the senseless killing because of your lack of critical thought, analysis, and adherence to logic and reason, and we can even forget your collective complicity in the gun deaths of 33,000 Americans every year. We're going to let that slide for moment. Because what you are enabling is far worse and will lead to the slaughter of millions.
Let me ask you a question, America: Which group of people would you like to exterminate from the planet today? Let me ask this again: Which group of people would you like to exterminate from the planet this morning? Take a moment, let it sink in, and please think deeply about it. I promise to come back to that question at the end.
Donald Trump. Mr. #Trump has been successful at one venture and one venture alone in his lifetime: entertainment. His foray into the world of entertainment was shocking as it was wildly successful. The size of the ego one must have to propel a failed and corrupt business man to the highest ranks of society could not possibly be contained by the halls of #NBC/Universal. So, they fired him. But that wasn’t enough power for him anyway, and firing him only made him stronger. He finally had the platform and attention he had been searching for all these years. Everything in his life before that show was a complete lie, smoke and mirrors, flat out corruption. The stuff of mafia legend perhaps, but nothing rising to the level of #genocide. That's right, genocide. And that my friends, is what we need to be talking about today on Hanukkah, the festival of lights. Not of darkness.
There was once a man with a giant ego who felt he didn't receive enough attention in the art world. He had a complete lust for power and control. He, like Mr. Trump would give loud rousing speeches to frustrated disenfranchised people professing the problems in his country and dangerously pinning it on one particular people he hated. My people. The Jewish people. This is the classic tale of the wolf wearing the sheep's clothing. But now the veil has been fully lifted. Donald Trump at this stage is no better to the #Muslim people then Adolph Hitler was at this stage to my people.
Draw any comparisons you would like to, but they all hold up. A bitter and hateful failure is given a megaphone and a platform and is able to change the course of the world and exterminate race of people. This is not 1930, This is 2015. I hear many Trump aplogogists claiming ‘he doesn’t really mean that’ and ‘he will never become the President of the United States.’ But the problem is right now. The damage he is doing to the United States of America, to Muslims, and to the entire world is massive and it must be stopped.
While the world as a whole condemns his hateful vitriolic words about Muslims, even members of his own radical party are starting to condemn them as well. It is hate speech, bigotry and racism. However, the more rageful and hateful he is, the more powerful he grows. And you are enabling him. That’s right, America, a huge part of the problem is you. Yes my country, America. You are the problem, and you can fix the problem.
The people that support Donald Trump are on the whole very fearful and susceptible to hateful speech. They are not happy with their lives because the party they support and consistently vote for over the last three decades claims to represent their values, but doesn't care about them or their needs. And they fail to be able to see that. Those people would be voting democratic if they could wrap their heads around the truth. They are being played like a philharmonic orchestra by a small handful of masterful conductors.
Then along comes #Hitler (Donald Trump). With a dynamic voice, a rousing performance, and ridiculous combed over hair. All that's missing is a small mustache. He even has the Sieg Heil salute down perfectly. Just check Getty images from yesterday.
As most of you know, I am far from a religious person. I'm a man of deep morals and convictions, of right over wrong, but not a man of faith. I know many Muslim people. They are my friends. They are peaceful. They condemn every terrorist act that happens on this planet ‘Jihadist’ or ‘Christian’ as it is in their religion to do so. As any sane person would. There is so much hate against Muslims now on the internet, I can’t even give you the quote anymore from a NON-hate source, but here is the gist: to kill one person is to kill the world, and to save one person is to save the world). There is nothing especially Muslim about that, or Christian, or Jewish, or Hindu, or Atheist. That is just being a good human. Golden rule stuff. The way most people on this planet try to live.
I know many Christians. They are my friends. They are peaceful. They condemn terror. I know good Christians of great intent who support the #NRA (even though they are by all measures a violent and racist hate group). And even among those people are NRA supporters that truly believe the outright and painfully obvious lie that the second amendment provides them unfettered access and rights to his many guns and bullets as they desire. Historians and well-educated people know full well that this was NEVER the meaning of the Second Amendment. However, I know many of those people, with many guns, who are peaceful people. In their minds (despite all proof otherwise) they are simply protecting their families. They do not wish for the extermination of a race. I know many many many levelheaded Jews that despite enduring repeated terrorist attacks over decades and non-stop oppression for 5776 years, know and love many Muslim families, and know that they are peaceful. They wish them no ill will. To do so would perpetuate this sickness known as terrorism. If anything, smart Jews pity many of these Muslims, because they are victims of the worst horrific crimes of these terrorist organizations.
These terrorist organizations are not made up of Muslims, regardless of where they steal their disgusting warped ideology from. There is no difference whatsoever in a "radical jihadist, who quotes random verses from the Qu’ran to justify hatred and murder then a white male “Christian” Jihadist in the United States who quotes Bible verses to justify his; nor in a Jewish terrorist who commits atrocities in the West Bank or Gaza. All of them might use some sort of religious justification to commit their crimes. But lift the veil and they are all the same: Vile, disgusting, soulless murderers and terrorists. Not Christians, not Jews, and not Muslims. (And not Atheists either, thank you very much)
So I want to circle back to my original question to you now. America, which group of people would you like to exterminate from the planet today? Which group? Muslims? Jews? Christians? Someone else? Because if you support a large group of screaming people, foaming at the mouth like the Nazis did… and if you show up to wildly cheer for a leader no different in rhetoric whatsoever than Adolf Hitler, I promise you will not like the results. I know first hand. My family knows first hand. My people know first hand. And I promise you too will know first hand. For if you set out to rid our country or our world of an entire race of people, you end up exterminating America and destroying the world. And trust me, like those Syrian refugees you want to turn away, no one else wants us.
