This is another of those posts that might very well offend. I don’t set out to offend people (like perhaps Tucker Carlson on Fox News) but my thoughts are my thoughts. Unlike Tucker Carlson and others of his ilk, I am not trying to cause division and hatred, I’m just trying to make some observations in hopes that people start to think about issues critically and realize what is really going on in this country. Unfortunately, our country’s democracy is being dismantled brick by brick. I think the ’that could never happen here’ mentality is all to prevalent and a lot of people will be shocked when ‘it happens here.’
One of the things continually being talked about by Carlson and others is ‘white replacement theory.’ The continued propagation of this nonsense is just another chink in the armor of democracy. The sad truth behind ‘white replacement theory’ which seems to be the motivation behind the recent shooting in Buffalo that left 10 people dead and other racially motivated mass shootings in recent years, is that it is just pure bigotry disguised with different words. If people really believed what the Declaration of Independence says, i.e., “all men are created equal”, then it wouldn’t matter whether people were white or not. The fact that there are those stoking fear that white people are being replaced, clearly do not believe that all men are created equal and, in fact, clearly believe that white people are superior to others.
The people who are pushing this theory, including Carlson, seem to have forgotten a very important history lesson. White people are not native to the United States of America. White colonialists came here and stole the country through violence and manipulation from the people who had lived here for thousands of years. The Native Americans were the ones who were ‘replaced’.
That is, no doubt, one of the lessons that conservative Republicans probably do not want taught in school. I’m sure the version of history many of those folks would like the schools to propagate is the version minimizing all of the bad things the whites did when they got to American and concentrate instead on their ‘benevolent’ actions to ‘civilize’ the natives. This just helps to propagate the myth that the white race is better than all of the others.
Given the colonialization efforts by many European nations throughout history, perhaps the correct interpretation of ‘white replacement theory’ should be that white people feel like they are entitled to replace (and subjugate) various populations around the world with white people. That was certainly the thrust behind Hitler’s Aryan race theory. And it was certainly the thrust behind the violence that resulted in white settlers stealing the land of Native Americans.
We might as well call a spade a spade. Those espousing ‘white replacement theory’ and stoking fear and division are no different than Hitler’s followers who believed in the Aryan race theory. What White Replacement Theory really means is ‘White Rule Totalitarianism’. Those who espouse this theory are not afraid of diversity per se, they are afraid of losing the ability of white people to write all the rules! It’s about power, like so many other things, just like Nazism.
“Nazism’s ideology was shaped by Hitler’s beliefs in German racial superiority and the dangers of communism. It rejected liberalism, democracy, the rule of law, and human rights, stressing instead the subordination of the individual to the state and the necessity of strict obedience to leaders. It emphasized the inequality of individuals and “races” and the right of the strong to rule the weak.”1
If that isn’t an accurate description of what some of the current right-wing Republican party are advocating, I don’t know what is. Does the phrase, “necessity of strict obedience to leaders,” remind you of anyone you know? [As we all know, if Trump is re-elected in 2024, his top priority will not be foreign policy nor domestic policy. His top priority will be revenge against all of those who were not obedient to him. That you can bet on.]
In the era of desegregation many years ago, there was a phenomenon called ‘white flight’ which was the result of many white families leaving cities and moving to the suburbs to escape the impact of desegregation. What seems to be happening now is that there is a ‘white flight’ to the Republican party, particularly to the Trump, evangelical wing of the Republican party (which seems to be the majority these days) with the hope of continuing to implement ‘White Rule Totalitarianism’.
Just take the above definition and make a few substitutions:
“White Rule Totalitarianism’s ideology was shaped by radical Republicans’ beliefs in white racial superiority and the dangers of socialism. It rejected liberalism, democracy, the rule of law, and human rights, stressing instead the subordination of the individual to the state and the necessity of strict obedience to leaders. It emphasized the inequality of individuals and “races” and the right of the strong to rule the weak.”
If you think ‘it could never happen here,’ as I’ve said before, you’re not paying attention. And if enough people are not paying attention, the fact is it can happen here.
I could help to notice the recent MAGA / CPAC was held in Hungary, outside of the United States. WTF. If I got that correct. Could not make this up if I had to. A country with a strong man dictator, and supporter of Russia. Carlson and folks gravitate towards authoritarians. Never ends well.
could NOT help notice. yes, my brain is popped a vein.