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You Are Still Crying Wolf

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104 points primodemus | 2 comments | 17 Nov 16 14:22 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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JamilD ◴[17 Nov 16 15:06 UTC] No.12977998[source]▶
I tend to agree with this article; I don't think Donald Trump, a New Yorker and a businessman, is a racist.

However, the people who he surrounds himself with, are. This article makes no mention of Steve Bannon, who suggested too many Asian CEOs is a threat to civic society [0], and ran a website that peddled anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim conspiracy theories. Come January 20th, he'll be the chief strategist for the nation's highest office.

Nor does it mention Kris Kobach, the Kansas Secretary of State who has ties to white nationalist groups [1]. He's now on Trump's transition team.

I don't doubt Trump's intentions, but it's looking like the alt-right is using his campaign (and will use his administration) for their own ends.

[0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-bannon-flattered...

[1] https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/11/02/what%E2%80%99...

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ilostmykeys ◴[17 Nov 16 15:14 UTC] No.12978087[source]▶
Not renting apartments to black people is not racist? Proposing a ban on Muslims is not racist? Fear mongering about Mexican immigrants is not racist? Assigning strategic roles in his new admin to the likes of Bannan and Horowitz is not racist? Also, he's got 400 lawsuits against him including the fraudulent Trump University. That last point does not add to his racist credentials but surely it does undermine the notion that he has any moral standing by being a "businessman from New York"
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scrollaway ◴[17 Nov 16 15:30 UTC] No.12978256[source]▶
I feel like you either didn't read the article or completely missed its point.

But to answer your four questions, none of those things are racist. Two of them are discriminatory, one is addressed directly in the article and the last one is plain and simply concerning, but it's not racist.

Again, not defending them, just recontextualizing. You're doing exactly what the OP is calling out: Painting everything as racist rather than attack the actual issues. This is how we got in this mess.

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ilostmykeys ◴[17 Nov 16 15:47 UTC] No.12978433[source]▶
A registry for muslims is being pushed by the Trump transition team. So how much are we willing to re-contextualize? Until they've gone after every minority group? Irish, Jews, Italians? No, you don't think?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trum...

It is against all principles that America is founded on. It is utter bigotry and yet it is happening.

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1. scrollaway ◴[17 Nov 16 16:10 UTC] No.12978651[source]▶
You're still missing the point. It is a discriminatory agenda and he is appointing abhorrent people to his staff. I personally find most of Trump's agenda repulsive. I'm not denying this, neither is the article.

At the core of these issues you'll find people who are being sold solutions to a problem they personally have, regardless of the problem being valid. Labeling those issues and people as racist does nothing to help, and it's certainly not a solution. Especially when the labeling is wrong - I know a lot of trump supporters who want nothing to do with any of the discriminatory bullshit, yet people call them racist as soon as they speak out. This is a real problem, it's not something that's happening to a couple of guys out of 300 millions.

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2. ilostmykeys ◴[17 Nov 16 16:19 UTC] No.12978747[source]▶
I think you are missing the bigger point that racist campaign promises weren't a deal breaker for people who voted for him, so just as most Germans in WW2 didn't think they're racist they voted in Hitler and the majority of them did nothing to stop the extermination of the Jewish people in Germany and across Europe. They didn't think of themselves as racist. There you go I simplified the moral equation for you.