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.
