Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Shame on you republicans (continued)

So, a young reader asked me why Trump’s comments about the Tiananmen Square Massacre is a big deal, and why it, not his comments about suppressing the 1st amendment, or describing Mexicans as rapists and Muslims as hate filled terrorists, set me off.
Well, dear young reader, click here to read about the event
In broad outline, a million Chinese took to the streets in protest, calling for modest reforms of their government, and their government responded by sending in the military with live ammo and tanks, ultimately killing around 1,000 protestors.
Trump calling those protestors “rioters” and saying the government's response was “strong,” is plainly wrongheaded.
But why did it especially shake me?
I was a six-year-old living on a NATO base when the massacre took place. All the adults on the base talked about how this was why they fought, this was why America was engaged in that great Cold War against authoritarian communism, because no government is legitimate that murders its citizens and suppresses basic speech and dissent with the bullet.

Yes, of course, at 32 I am much more aware of the faults of my own country and the many layered hypocrisies and deals with the devil America engaged in during the Cold War… but still,
to laugh at the very ideals we fought for, to side with a violent authoritarian government against the little guy speaking up to make his country better… I just can’t imagine someone who wants to lead the free world saying that.