Daffy Donald proposes to ban Muslims from entering the U.S., while journalist Glenn Greenwald recently reported on the frightening upsurge in attacks on Muslims. As I write these words, I am listening to John Williams’ score for the movie “Schindler’s List.” The music never fails to move me deeply. Whatever historical flaws or misrepresentations the film might have, the undeniable suffering of the Jewish people, along with millions of political dissidents and other “undesirable” human beings—the Untermenschen in Nazi parlance—is an escapable part of our history. And now the fascists and neo-Nazis among us aim to reawaken the very same mentality that led to the unimaginable cruelty and barbarity of their predecessors during World War II.
What is particularly distressing in this recent outbreak of blind prejudice among a growing number of my fellow Americans is their apparent ignorance of our country’s role in generating the humanitarian crises affecting Syria, Iraq and other Islamic countries in North Africa and the Middle East. Were it not for our almighty benevolence and exceptional commitment to bringing democracy to the oppressed and downtrodden, an untold number of innocent human beings would still be with us, here on Earth, living their lives, practicing their faith, loving and being loved. But our savage, power-driven, myopic leaders insist on carrying out their interventions, always according to God’s plan or some equally demented design formulated in think tanks and board rooms and the halls of Congress with the noble goals of regime change and absolute control of energy resources firmly in mind.