“A plague on you. A plague on the whole stinking lot of ya, without morals or laws….. You got no honor. It’s no wonder you all emigrated to America, because they wouldn’t have you in England. You’re a lot of savages, that’s what you all are. A bunch of bloody savages. A plague on you. I’ll be back.”
English Bob(played by Richard Harris), Unforgiven – 1992
I grew up in a household where bullies met their just ends. I was taught that cowering on the sidelines while watching a bully’s onslaught was the equivalent of a being the bully. Your energy in the cause and effect would be the same as enabling the action. Maybe at its kindest reading it would be the equivalent of extreme cowardice. I was taught neither reaction would stand in a world of moral beings. It didn’t matter the form, bullying or denigrating people is a horrendous human infraction. To be party to hurting people, or wholesale putting down of people has no place in our society. I was brought up to believe that every human contributes what they are able, and only weak, ugly, cowardly beings would denigrate other people for their level of limited expertise. To stand in judgment of someone as if somehow one would be endowed with some edict from omnipotent beings that we are the way humans are supposed to be and the specimen we denigrate deserve to be called lesser, is a heinously ugly and indelibly vile way of being. It would be bad enough if we watched this happen to an individual, but with the election of Trump we have seen it happen on a mass scale. Somehow we witnessed people that may have been friends of family give the highest sanction they could give to a man and his trademark vile behavior. They ignored his denigration of disabled people, something that would have disqualified him to join an intramural basketball club let alone President. They gave him sanction anyway. They heard him dog whistle about Mexicans, and more generally “The Other” South American immigrant, and yet not only did they not engage in defense of humans that had been marginalized, they gave sanction anyway. They saw a foreign power come to his defense, and they cheered it along. They watched him lie, and they punctuated his lies with their own spin. They saw him for decades play as close to the line with his racist pitches, and like rats they followed.
We watch now daily with horror as the man they have elevated belches out his blubbering hate speech in all directions without regard for the cause of its landing, which is always some perceived enemy whether real of just someone that recently slighted the boorish oaf. We pay our taxes to support the sycophantic drones that he trots out to lie to us. We find this disturbingly disgusting, yet our friends and family that supported this vile behavior perform feats that would enable them to join Cirque Du Soleil in order to justify this sick behavior. We watch as this man and his people steal from our taxes on a weekly basis with paid vacations at his own golf resort. So whatever cute moves our former friends and relatives have that can logically find them shelter from their ever darkening reflections is not now or ever going to fly. They supported bigotry. They supported suppression. They supported a corrupt lying Government. They supported someone that would graffiti the Earth and the environment, and do so with a predator’s glee. Some of the moves they make are boilerplate feigns, “Hilary was corrupt”, “I wanted to shake things up”, “All politicians lie”, “He tells it like it is.”(or isn’t but only if you have enough mental capacity to pay attention), “He is a businessman”. Some love to find the evil excuse that they perceive gives them the most shade. “Abortion”, “Pro Life” They scream for cover. The believe they are safe in the moral counterweight they have been trained to pretend is their trust mission, so they can make claims about a God that stands with them.
The reality is, that these people are unprincipled cowards, that don’t have the courage to proclaim that, “Yes I stood for this evil”. “I wanted to hurt immigrants because I fear I can’t compete with them”. “I just wanted a tax break, it does not matter how I get it”. “I want my 401K to go up, I don’t care if consumers can now be cheated.”
After the election, I had cowards say “Hey come hang out with your old buddies”. My response is now and will always be no! My buddies don’t support bigots. My buddies wouldn’t stand by when the poor are being ripped off. My buddies wouldn’t watch someone brag about groping women. My buddies wouldn’t stand by while POWs and Gold Star families would be denigrated. My buddies wouldn’t lack the character required to rebuke a corrupt, dimwitted con-man. Recent Pew Research Polls from June of this year showed clearly what the elevation of a reckless con-man to the highest office in America does to our standing. Hint we have fallen severely.
Many people tell me that we need to forgive people that did this. They just were uninformed or lacked the knowledge to make such a choice. I say that they have not only hurt America’s standing in the world. They have mortally hurt thousands of people. Dreamers that thought they were on their way to citizens are now legal zombies fearing for the next moves of the pawns they now represent. Supporters did this! There are now undocumented children without parents for minor traffic infractions. Supporters did this! There are now people sitting in Refugee Camps that have no means to ever break free now. Supporters did this! Some supporters claim to have done this all in the name of religion. I will tell you, there is no religion that would have someone that would do this. Be clear, whatever religious affiliation you claim is a fraud cover for these vile acts. Your claim is a denigration of religion itself!
Very few supporters now have expressed embarrassment at what this man is, and what he has done to America. They want people to not remind them what they did. I feel for them. I wish them the best in their recovery. They have been conned by a very poor excuse of a con-man. I am sorry for their plight. I understand the self-loathing they must endure to realize that you enabled such vile cowardice on our country, maybe even enabled a foreign government to play a role in picking their puppet. I am truly sorry for someone that stands there.
I saw an article recently that discussed what was going on in the 1930’s when the Nazis began their rise. Many people did not side with Nazis or their bigotry and oppression of people. Those people were under great pressure to join the Nazi party and partake of the heinous activities they were laying on society. They did so only reluctantly, and did not enjoy what they were doing. These people had a special name back then. We know the name and still use it today. They were called Nazis! They still are called Nazis!
So while I am happy that people have begun to awaken to the fact that they were unceremoniously conned by a dimwitted fraud, I cannot forgive them. One doesn’t hurt thousands of people, support bigotry or even turn the other way when bigots begin their march, and expect that society welcomes you back. While I know we may need you to beat back the scourge you have enabled, there is no denying what you have wrought. To me you will always be simply and forever “Unforgiven”!
— V.M. Smith