Why I'm afraid of becoming a refugee
When I talk about fear and current global politics, I am looking at the way hate is being fed in society's lower ranks. Every country has a citizen underbelly full of dis-ease. Political figures like Trump are like a bacterial injection, infecting and spreading the sickness to the heart of the compromised person--a heart that was already weakened by fear.
It's like the world is a bar and fear are the only shots being served.
When I talk about my personal fear of returning to my family's history as refugee, I am looking at people drunk on those shots, ready to hurt me because my skin is too dark and therefore my religious background is suspect. There are terminable levels of acceptable off-white. I fall just on the wrong side of the line for white folks who are either a) disenfranchised or b) overprivileged. And let's add an option "c" here as well to include people who fall in both categories, because skin tone is everything.
I'm not saying this on the sly or to provoke. I have been hurt by the people I am talking about--white individuals who see my presence in "their" country as an infringement on their right to exist, own, have, love, and on and on specifically because I am different than they are. We've established that I'm Other here. I am also not Christian , not male and am bisexual. I'm practically the holy grail of hate targets. To put it bluntly, it sucks.
I try not to let worry consume me. Even though I have been repeatedly targeted by a uniform group of individuals, I see that they are individuals. If I stop seeing the white people who have hurt me as single people and start seeing them as a representative of their skin tone, I fall victim to the same sickness that makes these people believe the drivel that brown people are Muslims are Arabs are terrorists. I become a cog in the hate machine. No thank you.
While I don't ascribe the terrorist mindset to all of white humanity, I do recognize the mob potential and the danger the political propaganda poses to me and my family. Phrases I am intimate with include "Why don't you go back to your country?" Despite that I was born and raised here (in America). Despite that I have an American accent. Despite despite despite. It's tiring and frightening.
So, yes, I am tired and frightened. And at this point I can't even tell how clear this is. I simply want to say I am also not giving up or anything like that. I guess I want to share that it's hard to feel safe when the world keeps supporting Trumps.
I'd love to hear your thoughts and experiences.
It will sort itself out. The world is currently only afraid of muslims because of recent muslim terrorism. 30 years ago, no-one was scared of muslims.
Muslim terrorism is a function of Saudi exporting their zealotry, and trying to "arabize" other muslims who have very different traditions. Saudi has only been able to do this in the last decade or so because the oil price was so high and they had a lot of money to spend on supporting terrorists etc.
But take heart - the oil price is now about $46, and it has been down since the end of 2014. If the world can just keep the price low for another three years, that should smash Saudi's ability to spend money on terrorism, they'll have to cut the financing because they'll have more pressing things to spend on at home.
Once the money for terrorism is gone, the terrorism itself will dissapear, fear will dissapear and life will return to normal for everyone.
Irish terrorism is a great example of this. It was being financed by American citizens who thought it was fun to blow up innocent people in England. Then Bill Clinton banned the IRA from travelling to the US for fund-raising purposes. The IRA had to go to the negotiating table because the money to continue terrorism just wasn't there. The Good-Friday agreement was signed in 1999 and ratified by referendums. But in 2003, the IRA once again flounced out and threatened to start killing again. George Dubya Bush listed them as a banned terrorist org which meant that any American financing them would go to jail - and the IRA stopped and went back to the negotiating table.
It's nearly twenty years later - and things have normalised. True some splinter Irish terrorist groups still manage to get a small amount of funding from Americans and they try to set off bombs in schools elc, but most of the time they have been thwarted. As a result of the peace, people don't look at the Irish as deviant terrorists anymore.
The rule is that prejudice is always motivated by fear and that a few people can cause the majority to fear an entire group and label them all as killers. But once the money is cut off from the terrorists, they are unable to operate, and the majority realize that the bulk of the minority were not bad people, and things normalise.
Just pray that the oil price stays low for the next five years, and everything will improve.
I have never heard this perspective before. It's fascinating!
"I am also not Christian, not male and am bisexual..."
It's just a real silly nonsense!
Come to us at Donbass (Ukraine)
I'll show you a real problem!
I don't get one thing-- why you are 'the holy grail of hate targets'?
And definitely not all the muslims are terrorists.
I feel like I hit every intersection. Other, female, non-Christian, queer. I don't think it gets much more unacceptable.
@honeyscribe The US of A invaded and murdered millions of people in Iraq and Afghanistan alone! But continue to call anyone that defends their home the "terrorists"?
It pains and insults my intelligence when I hear the blatant Islam lies and rhetoric constantly repeated in the "main media". I could not imagine how Muslims feel living under this bigotry.
I am personally Atheist but respect freedom of choice and mind. Best wishes and I personally look forward to being a refugee in a few years (sailing the Caribbean)
Hillary is no different than Trump! I am afraid you fell for the illusion of choice. Central banks write the checks but we are told the recipients/governments are the ones in charge?
I don't honestly see much choice between Hillary and Trump other than she is less openly racist. Sometimes that's enough when it is versus rallying people to murder others.
I appreciate the good sentiments. It's always lovely to hear that others see through media rhetoric. It's a spell they're casting, and ignorance is magic.
Wow. What an insightful post! I had never even considered what it's like to be a refugee - only how the presence of them effects me. Wow, insigtful. Thank you.
Not all Muslims are terrorists, but near all terrorists are Muslims.
Criticism of Islam is not racism. Islam is terror. Read the Koran to understand.