Thursday, December 12, 2019

Just Wondering

I woke up this morning to information from a reliable source who told me that The New York Times was reporting on a Trumpian Executive Order that would, this very morning, define Jews as a nationality.

This did not resonate with TBG.  He didn't feel the shiver up his back, though he certainly noticed mine.  He's as sensitive as a Protestant-raised-educated-white-guy can be; half a century with me has tuned his radar.  But he was surprised at the depth of my reaction.

I was terrified.

Sure, I was mortified for our country and I was disgusted that such a thing could come from the Office of the President.  The lack of intellectual rigor that underpins every word the man speaks was, once again, appalling.  But mostly, I was scared.

I'd have a lot more cousins is my standard response to Holocaust questions.  I was a child when G'ma insisted I watch the black and white films of the liberation of the death camps on our Motorola tv.  We put the cat in a bedroom when my survivor cousin visited; no need to remind her of how hungry she once had been.

That's ingrained in me.  It's part of who I am.  Not-Kathy was surprised that I laughed when she said of course, Jews are white.  Neither were the Irish or the Italians. 

It never bothered me.  It was just a fact. 

Anyway, that's why I was afraid this morning.  By lunchtime, Big Cuter had sussed out the facts and there is no mention of Jews being a nation in the Executive Order.

And then I began to wonder.  My reaction was so strong, so visceral, so publicly shared..... were my strings being pulled by a Russian dis-information campaign?  It's not the facts so much as the reaction that the Russians are seeking. That The New York Times (which couldn't even get my age right) printed something quick and wrong might just show how deep the tentacles are reaching.

If Putin's goal is to divide America against itself, this was a sure-fire way to do it. 

6 comments:

  1. I feel like it's not so much Putin but us doing it to ourselves through what we accept from our media. You called them out. Good for you. We have media (on both sides) that distort the information to suit their agenda. I keep trying to find a fact based news that will not leave out what it doesn't like. I am still looking, which is why I read more than one.

    I came in here earlier and saw that troll, who had also posted on my blog. I don't know how that happened as we are not linked but maybe it followed back that I comment here as you don't comment on my blog. Glad you deleted it. I did too and added-- hate-filled as another thing that won't make it into my blog.

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    1. I'm going to post about that troll sometime next week. I permanently deleted it after I copied it. I suppose we should be honored to be found important enough to be trolled??!!??!!

      We screech at each other from opposite sides of the room, sometimes. I hate it. Where's Walter Cronkite telling me what's true?????

      Read Big Cuter's comment below... I think he's nailed it.
      a/b

      Delete
  2. All I'd say to the Russian Troll side off things is the fact that it wasn't just the NYT, but also WaPo, and CNN that had articles about it suggests that it was the messaging from the White House to those news orgs that got confused. Based on how the law in question works, and the obvious suspicions that should exist towards this administration, I can pretty easily imagine a conference call where the WH says something that gets misinterpreted as Jews=Nationality, rather than "clarifying and reaffirming the existing guidance that says religions can be covered by the law that would normally only apply to national origins."

    Basically, incompetent I think is a better rationale in this case than intentional evil.

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    1. I'll buy that; incompetence is easy for me to swallow from these people.

      But what about the troll?!?!?
      a/b

      Delete
  3. Coincidentally, I watched the event where the measure was signed. There was no confusion in what was said or why it was needed. As for WaPo and CNN, they are lined up with NYT. It's how it is right now, which is why it's good to get news from multiple sources and remember that some of it (on both sides) wants to scare and make people angry.

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  4. Go with incompetence. It's usually the reason for anything coming from the "commander in chief". I just sort of half listen any n=more, and wait for it to get straightened out.

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