I don't doubt Ben Casnocha's sincerity here. In Eurasia, where multiple languages, peoples and cultures are interacting in regions smaller than some midwest states, the paranoia about anything foreign in some American circles is nearly incomprehensible. And Trump has to seem baffling to most thoughtful people around the world.
But I do think that we can make Donald a beautiful example. We can show the world that in the US we allow free speech. In fact, we're so committed to it that we don't just let people with bad ideas talk. We let them run for office. We don't shut them up. We give them a microphone and TV appearances. So in this, we're different from other countries but even better, it doesn't end there.
We don't hide bad ideas or let their owners take office by force. We put bad ideas out into the market place of ideas and reveal just how bad they are. Donald Trump's ideas have to compete with other ideas and, in the end, show themselves better. Nobody is talking about shooting or censoring or imprisoning Donald Trump. Instead, his ideas are getting air play and they are being exposed as ridiculous. He's safe in the US. His ideas aren't. They're grounded in fear not facts and this becomes more obvious to more people every day.
I know this can be confusing for people but it's hard for me to imagine a better example of how to deal with bad ideas and offensive people than this.
1 comment:
Not sure if it's true but it seems loony tune (hhuuuge?) personality types with controversial opinions like the Donald stay relevant longer due to the increased media exposure they (he) enjoys in the U.S., which results in longer mainstream relevancy. Still, tough to explain away the high polling numbers.
But America doesn't have the market cornered on xenophobia as I'm sure you're aware. You might have even written a post on that.
Another interesting point is that American Muslims to best of my knowledge, are commonly considered to have 'integrated' more successfully to American culture than have their European counterparts.
Not sure what my main point is, other than I believe the principles behind the 'American idea' (relevant to this discussion) are succeeding in practice when compared with many Western European countries, despite Trump's craziness and Casnocha's sentiments.
http://www.loonwatch.com/2013/01/european-attitudes-towards-islam-and-muslims-britain-germany-france/
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