Intelligent people judge others by the content of their character

From his latest temper-tantrum on Twitter, I have no words to express just how horrifying it is to see the outright lack of any kind of neural activity, in the form of reason or empathy, in the brain of the unapologetically-racist US president - someone who has the single-handed capability to decide whether or not to lock children in cages or to launch nuclear wepeons. We truly are witnessing an idiocracy unfolding in front of us. The worse part being, approximately 44% of Americans still support this guy. That means, 44% of Americans, who all likely profess to be patriotic, will likely not stand up against hate and ignorance towards their fellow Americans, in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and other liberals, who seemingly make up the majority of the American population, according to Americans' support for such liberal policies as single-payer healthcare, for taxing the rich and for legalizing cannabis.

Nor will a majority of these people, as evidenced by the US president's increasingly-brazen behavior but steady poll numbers, stand up for others risking their lives to leave violence and oppression in their own home countries in order to make a new life in an unknown land and in a country that has seen hundreds of millions of immigrants land over more than 400 years, many by choice but many others by force, as is the case during the slave trade that helped the American economy grow in its infancy to eventually become the powerhouse it is today.

So why is this Canadian talking about the US? Well, not only is the US our number one trading partner, but we share both the world's longest land border and a culture that is heavily influenced by traditional media and the ever more anti-social social media. The type of vitriol that is being exported from south of us is not just confined to the stereotypical aging, white southern American. It’s a plague exacerbated by economic inequality that is spreading throughout the entire Western world and many emerging economies, from Poland to Brazil to Hungary to Russia to Turkey to the Philippines to even the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Norway, France and Germany.  Every day, we are seeing right-wing populist and nationalist (aka fascist) movements become ever more energized and numerous.

As I have mentioned in the recent past, Canada is not immune to this hateful behavior by mostly scared and uneducated individuals, as evidenced by the Yellow Vest movement and people like Faith Goldy and the man who shot and killed five people at the mosque in Quebec City. I also have known acquaintances, colleagues and sadly, family, who support or enable this type of behavior in the most multicultural country in the world, where a majority of us come from families who immigrated to and colonized Canada only in the past 200 years.

I have spoken against the enabling and spreading of xenophobia and racism from the beginning but I cannot do this alone. I need you, my friends, family and sympathetic reader, to help put an end to the judging of people based on the colour of their skin and the country they are from. The fact is, we are all human and we are collectively facing issues like we have never faced before, from climate change to economic inequality, and we cannot solve these while we are fighting each other over such petty and irrational things as speaking a different language or wearing different clothes. The powers at be are laughing on their golden thrones as they continue to extract more and more wealth and see the blame for these problems move from them to minorities who have little power to stand up for themselves, let alone feed themselves and their children a healthy meal.

Intelligent people judge others by the content of their character and not by the colour of their skin. And that can only happen if we stop being afraid and start learning to understand one another. To try to find common ground so we can relate and perhaps find some mutually-beneficial solutions to climate change, economic inequality and other wide-spread, generational issues. So please, be that better person and speak out against racism and xenophobia. Let’s come together and tackle these problems facing all of us - not as Canadians or Americans - not as conservatives or liberals - not as Christians or Muslims or atheists - not as whites or Asians or First Nations - but as humans.