Have we evolved?
As I watched the president gleefully boast about the prospect of migrant prisoners in the Everglades being eaten by alligators, I recall standing in the Colosseum in Rome and picturing the Christians being torn apart by lions to the delight of the roaring crowd.
There is a cruelty feature in humans. It is exhibited along a spectrum that ranges from making jokes that are racist, bigoted, sexist, ageist or aimed at disability or personal appearance, to actively bullying, to participating in violence such as lynching. This human flaw has been used throughout history by those seeking wealth and power.
Our reactions to the brutality now being celebrated by the powerholders in our nation may range, at the worst end of the spectrum, from cheering and supporting the actions of the cruel offenders, to laughing it off, to shrugging in silence. There is great danger in becoming indifferent to the dehumanization of those we see as the “other.” We can be manipulated as a culture to gradually consider them less than human and blame them for our problems. We must reject this normalization.
I won’t even argue the fact that many of the individuals who will end up in “Alligator Alcatraz” are innocent of crime, although the broad sweep being so recklessly employed would certainly suggest so. Even if some are criminals, do we delight in their torture or prefer that they be handled in a legal and civilized manner?
The answer to that question lies within our own souls.
Marsha McAtee, Millersport
Vote the Republican out
Be assured, fellow citizens, that the Republican One Big Ugly Bill Act is much more than just transferring trillions to the wealthiest and cutting 12-17 million of us off our health care, closing nursing homes and rural hospitals, and raising national debt by more trillions.
Oh no, of course in the 900-plus pages of this worst act in decades, if not ever, are hundreds of ugly pork giveaways and nasty provisions.
But it is also cunningly crafted to make all us peons believe that beyond all the graft, greed and corruption, there are little tidbits and leavings especially included so we’ll think that there is stuff for us, too — scraps and leavings thrown our way. Shiny little things here and there that look like the answer to, “What’s in it for me?”
A couple of caveats, though; most of their little treats for us expire at the end of the Trump reign. And most deceitful of all, they’ve tried to hide their permanent, huge, horrendous cuts to our health care by not imposing them until after the midterm elections. I guess that’s also an indication of how gullible and stupid they believe we are.
You think maybe it’s time we fool them? Time to vote their sorry behinds out of our government? Yeah, I think so.
When we vote, remember out of 220 Republican House members and 53 senators, only five total voted against the monstrously immoral act. Just sayin’.
Vernon Will, Worthington
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ exposes humanity’s worst. We shouldn’t delight in torture. | Letters
Reporting by Letters to the Editor / The Columbus Dispatch
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