Will Someone Please Stand Up for a Mad Woman Like Me?

Wow, I have not done this in seven years, but I just wrote an unforgivably long FB comment that I cannot post on someone else's feed. Instead, I will post it here. Probably no one is reading, but I will hope for catharsis.

Witty-Thoughtful-Cousin just posted a lovely quote on FB:

"If you find yourself in any conversations about the latest attack and ISIS and Islam are equated, kindly and firmly remind folks that this terrorism was carried out during the holy month of Ramadan, where, literally, Muslims the world over fast and abstain from fighting. ISIS is not Islam."

-Reverend Micah Bucey, Associate Minister at Judson Memorial Church

I cannot overstate how much I LOVE that sentiment.

One commentator on the post was, however, concerned that the ISIS risk is not being given due consideration and noted that part of what helped us win WWII was that we "knew who and what the real threat was." While it is true that patriotic Americans united to sacrifice all they could to vanquish a tyrant (Grandpa-GI-Joe served honorably in both Europe and Asia), it is also true that America stood by for YEARS and watched Hitler rise and push his evil agenda.

Before we liberated Auschwitz, we officially refused to accept Jewish refugees when their plight was known, abandoning them to die in Europe. We thought it was someone else's problem. We wanted to stay neutral. As a result, we missed an opportunity to save so many. As someone who loves America and democracy, I have to ask, have we learned our lesson?

Right now we are facing the biggest humanitarian crisis since WWII. There are currently some 11M displaced people (coincidentally that is the same number generally sited as total Holocaust victims), and many call for a ban on Syrian refugees coming to America. Based on dooms day news reports, you would think we were awash in Syrian refugees, but fewer than 3,000 have been admitted into the US in the last four years. Are we doing our part? Am I?

Many Americans seem to fear these Syrian Refugees as part that "known threat" without understanding that, in fact, these refugees are displaced by ISIS (and Assad). Islam is not ISIS. ISIS is at war with true Islam. Do we really know our enemies from our friends?

In the spirit of love and good will, I implore my Americans brothers and sisters to please beware of charismatic leaders who tell you that the problems in society are not our fault and then provide a list of others that we can blame in oder to provide a solution. Hitler blamed Jews, gays, communists, union leaders, etc. Today we have a would-be leader blaming Mexican immigrants, Muslims and other minority groups. I am not merely trying to be inflammatory when I say that I see a lot of similarities between the rise of Hitler and our current political climate.

Hitler used racism and people's fears to rise to power. He called for mass deportations to make Germany great again. He was an anti-Jew Fascist. Sound familiar? Surely we learned our lesson! We cannot have forgotten the obligatory Holocaust lessons that shocked our tender hearts in middle and high school! The America I love cannot possibly support an anti-Muslim Fascist for President. We must stand up for the good in all of the minority groups that comprise our beautiful American family, as well as the displaced peoples of foreign lands. In my ears, the beautiful plea of Reverend Micah Bucey rings familiar, and I recall the words of another religious leader, Pastor Martin Niemöller. You remember it from middle school. "First they came for the Socialists..."

So, I must stand up and post this annoyingly long blog that no one but my mother will ever possibly read (and even if they do, they will write it off as partisan fighting or silly babble from a mad woman who needs to go to bed) in the hopes that when the day comes that the intolerant blow-hards come for me (as they will inevitably come for each of us) SOMEONE will be left to stand up for me.

Now I must publish before I lose my nerve.