As much as I hate social media, they really have my number sometimes. Sometimes, I see something that I just have to say something about. I try to make a number of positive comments, but when I see a particularly atrocious thing reposted by someone in my family, I just can't shut up.
This was exacerbated over the summer while I took a step away from the blog. I was itching to write something critical. And the algorithm decided to show me the below piece of drivel reposted by my... I think second cousin? I forget the exact relation. But let's just say this isn't the first time this has happened with this individual.
Pictured: An incredible image I stumbled upon and had to use.
I want to make it extraordinarily clear. The below image is terrible. I'm about to explain exactly why it is terrible. But I want to make sure I'm not "promoting" this. Unfortunately, this kind of reasoning wasn't exceptionally common in certain circles and I'm sure this isn't the first time you are seeing something like this.
Pictured: Absolute poppycock. If you actually follow this line of "reasoning", well, read to the end.
I initially responded with something short in response:
You kind of are [racist] if you actually believe this inflammatory and misinformed drivel (and that’s me being nice).
Actually, not just kind of. You are. Congrats! I’d clap if it were something to be proud of.
My relative liked the comment and I thought that would be the end of it. But then someone else posted some equally unenlightened drivel about the image being true because they lived in the Middle East once. And my relative liked that comment too.
So, clearly armed with too much time, I wrote the below. I put too much time and thought into it to not immortalize here (though I edited it a little to make more sense without the other context of the post). So enjoy! And, if you actually believe the above picture, you really need to read this before it's too late.
Without further ado, here you go!
A logical fallacy! I like these. They’re fun to pick apart. I normally wouldn’t bother to do a response but, hey, I’m feeling inspired. I doubt you’ll listen to the voice of reason (and given your… argumentative proclivities, I’d say this is likely going to be one of the few warnings you’ll be getting before it’s too late for one reason or another), but here you go! Don’t say you weren’t warned.
Oh, before we get to the fun part, the words you can look up are “false equivalency” though to say there is only one logical fallacy at play here is to undersell it. But I’m going to be stretching your vocabulary enough by explaining that one, so we can cool it.
So here’s the thing. You are equating well documented human rights violations under theocratic power with purported “goals” of immigrants.
In reality, they are completely different and any “parallels” you are drawing are clearly coming from a place of ignorance and prejudice. How do I know that? Because there really isn’t any other way to connect the two.
If you live in a theocracy, it’s a theocracy (note I’m calling out theocracies of all kinds, not just one faith). I think basically every single one of those ever didn’t work out super well long term for similar reasons. At some point, some person is going to be wielding political power they either (I) truly believe is divinely ordained or (II) doesn’t believe is divine but everyone else believes it is. Which ones come out worse? Hard to say. But that’s a statement about the nature of political power and governments and individuals who have power and abuse it.
Immigrants, on the other hand, are about as politically powerless as a person can get. It’s why they make good scapegoats by people telling you what to think. They have little to no recourse for being treated unfairly, both due to being unfamiliar with how bureaucracies function in the day-to-day as well as good old fashioned structural racism that is reinforced with talking points like this.
Think about it for a second. Your country of origin sees you as a traitor (have you seen the oath immigrants have to swear before becoming a citizen?), so they aren’t going to be doing you any political favors any time soon. Meanwhile, you can’t vote (much less run for office or implement sweeping reforms) until you go through the lengthy naturalization process. While you still, thankfully, have some protections as a human being if you’re harmed in the meantime, your political recourse is effectively zero.
And those basic human protections against harm? They’ve always been hazy due to racists like you saying shit like this but those protections have become particularly theoretical as of late due to an executive branch that’s embraced a playbook that sees due process as an inconvenience to subvert at any opportunity instead of, you know, a pillar of the country’s founding principles.
Indeed, immigrants coming from theocracies can be some of the most disillusioned individuals you’ll ever meet as they are familiar with what life looks like under that kind of rule. They left not because they liked it, but because they hated it and decided to take a country whose foundational identity is often credited to people fleeing persecution (the Mayflower, despite commercial hubs forming earlier) up on its seemingly standing offer to be a place of refuge for the downtrodden.
Instead of, you know, following through on that promise to take the world’s “huddled masses yearning to be free” in, they face this bullshit. Indeed, they probably even expect this bullshit. But they believe in the principles of this country so much, that they’re willing to deal with this crap because they believe that they’ll be given a fair shake at some point.
Thats more American spirit than I can say for you, [the person who shared this in the first place], or the person who originally created this.
If this is a bot, congratulations on taking my attention for a moment. You won the battle you sought to win. But you just sharpened my skills in undermining the shit you are trying to peddle. Do I speak up as much as I should against family members spouting off hatred they’re repeating? Probably not. But you just emboldened me. Thank you for equipping me with better tools to fight racism where I see it. I’ll be protecting my country and family, one uncomfortable conversation where I make someone squirm in their seat at a time. But the threat was ignorance, not immigrants.
And, if you are a real person, I want to confirm something you probably suspect. Yes. I am insulting your intelligence. This is profoundly stupid. You need to take a long, hard look at yourself as to why you’re afraid.
Dewy
