Anyone who has a hard time reciting the Pledge of Allegiance does not deserve to reside in America.
There’s been a profound cultural shift in the wake of the Paris attacks which has led many in the West to question whether or not Islam is fundamentally compatible with their civilization. The question is valid–the Paris attackers were all citizens of France or Belgium and likely incubated in French banlieues, which comprise de facto Islamic colonies on French soil.
Imagine the detailed and expansive logistical planning required to execute the French attacks. A network from Syria to France had to exist: automatic weapons had to be acquired and smuggled into the country, ammunition had to be stored, bombs had to be made in a lab in France or elsewhere, personnel had to travel from Europe to Syria and back again. Communications had to be made under the nose of French surveillance.
In the run-up to the suicide operation, the attackers had to walk past neighbors, speak with shopkeepers, old classmates, members of their mosque, and various others in their community on a daily basis. They had kin, wives, and friends local to the area as well. That such a savage and sophisticated attack could emanate just miles away from downtown Paris suggests that there is indeed an enormous social problem beginning to bubble up in Europe and the rest of the Western world vis-a-vis the Muslim population….
What this demonstrates is that there is a sentiment in the French Muslim community that is radically anti-Western and, even if it is not being openly acknowledged, there is now a concomitant and rapid growth of suspicion and hostility towards all Islamic communities across the West.
Shortly after the attacks, a football match was played in Turkey where a ceremonial “moment of silence” was to be held in honor of the French victims before kickoff. The Turkish crowd booed and jeered throughout the procession. This wasn’t surprising to me, but I remember reading comments of many shocked Westerners on social media who couldn’t believe the insensitivity of the Turks. This anecdote is tangentially related to the fact that there is now considerable anti-Western sentiment commonplace in the Muslim world…
I recently attended a Trump rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I’ve had an on-and-off interest in Trump since he announced his candidacy. What he’s espousing is essentially what’s been advocated among the “alternative right” for a while now.
If you don’t know, the alt right is an amalgamation of conservatives, traditionalists, and fascists. They comprise what is an internet-based bloc of people who, before Trump, were at the fringes of mainstream politics in the West. Now they are very much a part of the action, much to the horror of roughly half of America and most of the world.
Trump interests me because he represents, at least in the abstract, the contours of a leader who will absolutely create an industrious, confident, powerful America that I want to live in. He believes that the middle class is the engine of America’s economic might. His platform on the Middle East is sound: an end to regime change, support Putin in his destruction of Sunni Jihadists in Syria, no foreign policy centered around Israel–all practical ideas that demonstrate he’s (probably) not going to make the idiotic mistakes of past presidents.
However, his stance on Muslims in the West places a bright red target on me. The lack of nuance to his approach to Islam signals that I would not be “in” on the Trump America–that is, a White Christian America.
As a Levantine from a Muslim upbringing, it would be idiotic–even dangerous–to count on my being accepted by a quasi-fascist White American bloc. For the most part, I don’t want to belong to it either.
Thus, I am in the position where the movement I align with in the ideological abstract is hostile to me on the basis of my inherited, inextricable identity, and the people on the Left who would otherwise accept me on the basis of “ethnic diversity” outright repulse me. I went to the Trump rally unaware of the breadth of this fissure in my identity. Also, more practically, it was free of charge and only about 40 minutes away.
When I got to the stadium where The Donald was set to speak, it was packed with a live, energetic atmosphere. The capacity of the venue was 10,000 and it was brimming with people a couple of hours before Trump would even appear on stage. The Secret Service, who I found out are far more friendly than the TSA, were stationed everywhere in their white and black uniforms. I arrived an hour and a half early, but seating was already gone by the time I’d gone through security (no, I was not subjected to a special search), so I’d been relegated to the standing section next to the podium where Trump would be speaking. The upside was that I was about ten feet away from the man the whole time, which was pretty cool.
As you might have expected, the gathering was virtually 100% white, middle class folks. Did I get any nasty glances? No. Did I feel unwelcome? Nope. Just another face in the crowd, really.
Before the man himself came onto the stage, there was the Pledge of Allegiance. I’ve hated this pledge since a young age. Growing up during the War On Terror where I was regaled day in, day out, with news reports of Arabs being butchered by the truckload by the American war machine, I developed an ingrained enmity towards the American nationalism in whose name the slaughter was performed. At a very tribal, instinctual level, I cannot salute the American flag without being disgusted with myself deep down. This will never change and, yes, I realize that admitting this publicly affirms, perhaps even vindicates, Trump’s stance on Muslims.
