Define "racism"
Considering how obsessed the Left is with race, one would think they would have a working definition of racism. But apparently they don't.
The lead story on CNN when I checked concerned Trump's weekend tweets. Here's a section from it:
One doesn't even need to look at Trump's actual tweets to see that the author of this article is very confused about racism. Trump is telling them to go back to their countries, and countries are not race-based. If he told a British person to go back to England, the author wouldn't call that racist. He is injecting race because the (putative -- see below) targets of the tweets are not white. But Trump made no mention of their race.
Who exactly was Trump targeting? Well, it's hard to say because he doesn't name names, he only mentions "'Progressive' Democrat Congresswomen." Apparently the media have decided he must be referring to a group of four freshman Congresswomen. I have no idea how they came to this conclusion. I do know that the representatives in question have attacked Trump, but so have a lot of other people that he obviously wasn't referring to. One might conclude that he was attacking Congresswomen from other countries. The only example of this is Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia.
Would it make sense that Trump was directing his tweets at her? Yes, it would, because he says they "originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe," which is a fair assessment of Somalia's government. Would it make sense that Trump was referring to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Not so much, since she was born in America. But he didn't say he was referring to her, so for a journalist to complain that it "makes very, very little factual sense" for Trump to tell her (and two other Democrats) to "go home" when she was from America, is a matter of projection. He didn't say that; the journalist inferred it without any evidence.
(Is it possible that Trump would say such a thing? Sure, he says a lot of things without thinking them through. Are there not enough actual examples for people to point to without having to make up other ones?)
Focussing on Ilhan Omar for a moment, Trumpt said that she originally came from a country with a terrible excuse for a government. That is factually indisputable. The fact that she is now in America and is an American citizen is irrelevant. Is it racist to say that Somalis have a terrible government? No, Somalia is a country, not a race. Is it racist to say that the culture and values of Somalia contributed to their government's failure? No, culture and values have nothing to do with race. You may like or dislike certain cultures but, unless you think that culture is entirely dependent on ones genetic makeup -- which would be racist -- you are not saying anything about the biology of the people who have that culture.
Trump was saying that (a) some cultures have produced disastrous governments, and (b) Americans don't want to try out those same cultures here. There is an infinite shade of ways to express that; he, as usual, chose the bluntest and coursest. But I don't see how, even under those terms, that can be considered racist.
The lead story on CNN when I checked concerned Trump's weekend tweets. Here's a section from it:
So, telling them to go back to their "totally broken and crime infested placed from which they came" makes very, very little factual sense. But Trump isn't terribly concerned with the facts here. It's the sentiment that matters to him.And that sentiment is racist. Again, this is not an opinion. This is a fact.Trump is telling 4 non-white women that they aren't from here, their views aren't welcome here and they need to get out of here. Rather than staying here, they need to go back to the hellhole countries where they are from.How does that behavior not fit the textbook definition of racism? (That definition, according to Merriam-Webster: "A belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race.")
One doesn't even need to look at Trump's actual tweets to see that the author of this article is very confused about racism. Trump is telling them to go back to their countries, and countries are not race-based. If he told a British person to go back to England, the author wouldn't call that racist. He is injecting race because the (putative -- see below) targets of the tweets are not white. But Trump made no mention of their race.
Who exactly was Trump targeting? Well, it's hard to say because he doesn't name names, he only mentions "'Progressive' Democrat Congresswomen." Apparently the media have decided he must be referring to a group of four freshman Congresswomen. I have no idea how they came to this conclusion. I do know that the representatives in question have attacked Trump, but so have a lot of other people that he obviously wasn't referring to. One might conclude that he was attacking Congresswomen from other countries. The only example of this is Ilhan Omar, who was born in Somalia.
Would it make sense that Trump was directing his tweets at her? Yes, it would, because he says they "originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe," which is a fair assessment of Somalia's government. Would it make sense that Trump was referring to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez? Not so much, since she was born in America. But he didn't say he was referring to her, so for a journalist to complain that it "makes very, very little factual sense" for Trump to tell her (and two other Democrats) to "go home" when she was from America, is a matter of projection. He didn't say that; the journalist inferred it without any evidence.
(Is it possible that Trump would say such a thing? Sure, he says a lot of things without thinking them through. Are there not enough actual examples for people to point to without having to make up other ones?)
Focussing on Ilhan Omar for a moment, Trumpt said that she originally came from a country with a terrible excuse for a government. That is factually indisputable. The fact that she is now in America and is an American citizen is irrelevant. Is it racist to say that Somalis have a terrible government? No, Somalia is a country, not a race. Is it racist to say that the culture and values of Somalia contributed to their government's failure? No, culture and values have nothing to do with race. You may like or dislike certain cultures but, unless you think that culture is entirely dependent on ones genetic makeup -- which would be racist -- you are not saying anything about the biology of the people who have that culture.
Trump was saying that (a) some cultures have produced disastrous governments, and (b) Americans don't want to try out those same cultures here. There is an infinite shade of ways to express that; he, as usual, chose the bluntest and coursest. But I don't see how, even under those terms, that can be considered racist.
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