If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention!

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  NBC News, August 9, 2019, “What ICE did and did not do for kids left behind by Mississippi raids:”

...The Mississippi raids swept up almost 700 workers. Because of the lack of preparation for the impact of missing parents, local authorities had to improvise. One school district said it instructed bus drivers to make sure they saw a parent or a guardian at the bus stop before dropping off a child. In that district, children without parents at home were taken back to school to spend the night.

   "What I saw was traumatic, painful," said Elizabeth Iraheta, who witnessed the raid on a food processing plant where she works in Morton. "I'm thinking of the separated families, fathers and mothers deported, children left alone because their parents were arrested."

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   But who read this article, who heard this story, who saw a video or TV broadcast? Here we are, in the 21st century, with the greatest communication technology ever conceived! But rather than experience the illumination of knowledge, too many of us choose the titillation of attitude reinforcement, the triviality of games, the ignorance of political agnostics.

   “Big data” brings us information tailored to our prior preference, no chance for challenge, introspection or growth. Information true or false, fact or fiction, filtered through the sieve of our own preference and prejudice. The decanting of these media reflections of our present and prior self takes place in “information silos,” and there is no impetus to inform, clarify or educate, only to count clicks and click-throughs, monetization with no regard for quality of information.

  We are faced with a supreme irony: the technology that once seemed destined to liberate us is instead allowed to divide, anger and inflame - placate,  obfuscate and misinform. The early days of radio, the advent of the public address system enabled the rise of Hitler. Make no mistake, we are now witnessing the power of the “narrowcast” to once again spawn a regime based on hatred and objectification of other humans based on racial and regional differences. So handy to blame “them.” So easy to cast doubt on the reports of our atrocities. And the president himself is a self-avowed student of dictatorial history and techniques.

   The citizens of the US, and the world, are being impoverished by the onslaught of the corporate mentality, and soulless governmental enablers lacking in empathy are their “bottle boys.” Congressional opportunists using their position to gather wealth and notoriety are nothing but pimps and procurers for the 1%. They couldn’t care less that their penchant for self enrichment contains the seeds of destruction for American democracy, and indeed the whole of planet Earth.

   As the vise tightens on the citizenry there is less opposition - we’re too busy trying to make a living and simply enjoy our life. The purpose of a government is to insure and promote the liberty and security of the populace. Instead we see a facade of pseudo-concern and a studied semantic dance hiding a steady dismantling of hard won benefits and protections. The anti-hero who was to rescue us from the political swamps and lift us up from decline is the worst monster yet, ascending from the depths of failed real estate deals, a fornicator making his smarmy way to the top riding the cult of his own ego.

   The evening news is rightfully concerned with the recent cluster of mass shootings - Gilroy, El Paso, Dayton - and evidence attributes these murders to a climate of hate attributable to or at the least not discouraged by presidential rhetoric. A sinful misuse of the bully pulpit. New meaning for an old phrase: It’s the bully’s pulpit now, and he uses it for self-aggrandizing, creating confusion and reinforcing his demographics. Is he helping the farmers? Bringing jobs back? Improving health care? America, we’re being robbed. Nothing delivered but distraction and inaction.

    We are being victimized by the greatest political con job ever, a study 75 years in the making. Redefining words that describe higher ideals: liberal, democrat, socialist - and turning them into scornful epithets. Embracing the politics of division as a convenience to assure reelection. Removing societal safeguards to ease cost requirements for industries, providing tax breaks for corporations and the rich. All the above, bad enough! But If you want to understand the true nature of the self-righteous, just listen to their accusations and realize they are revealing their own mental makeup, the contents of their own mind, their own dark methodologies. And the worst sin of today’s power elite is encouraging and employing a scornful misapplication of law enforcement power.

   Nights of unrest in Ferguson, amused inaction in Charlottesville, family separation and inhumane conditions at the southern border. Acting in our name, our government is perpetrating unnecessary cruelty and defiling America’s reputation in the eyes of the world. And on Wednesday, August 7, 2019 our nation consciously and cruelly chose the first day of school to round up and harass suspected violators of immigration laws in Mississippi, leaving distraught children stranded with no understanding of where their parents had disappeared to.

   The callousness and evil implicit in the planning and timing of this ICE roundup is no less than diabolical. We should be crying out against this heartless and conscious effort to disrupt and sadden innocent lives! And for what? To exemplify the mental anguish and pain of the affected families and children, to discourage immigration and thoughts of asylum? This is power run amok. There is some conjecture and concern that our president is indeed mentally ill, and the evidence is mounting. The August 7 ICE police action leads one to imagine a heartless villain plotting maximum heartache and cackling with satisfaction at the effect of his nefarious deeds. 

   The evil we have just witnessed is not only diabolical, but preventable - and provocative! It is a challenge to those who believe in moral and ethical principles. There was no kindness, no respect for human dignity in this action. It runs against every noble quality America has been known for. People of good conscience everywhere must now stand and decry this administration’s studied application of acts of cruelty. Atrocities are being committed in our name. This is inflicting pain for political expediency. If we let this action slide without recognizing it for what it is - torture! - we will surely see more. It’s a provocation and a probe to see if we have become numb, disconsolate and too tired to respond.

   And it’s a test to see if the modern media’s segmented delivery of information is able to shade ever more unconscionable acts of despotism. It’s time to stand for what we know is right, to prevent heartless acts of violence and cruelty and restore the highest ideals of humanity as our credo.

  "Help ever, hurt never"