Rampant Xenophobia

"As the world falls into its winter slumber, my mind burns with the heat of summer."

I'm not the most intelligent of people. I'm skilled in many things...but a master of nothing. My grades were average and I was never the top of my class. I say this because although I have a rudimentary understanding of the mechanisms that move a society. There are still many things I can't decipher. For example, in modern society all races, skin colors, genders and ideologies (minus the hate) would be appreciated. This society would have problems like most civilizations but be inclusive for everyone. 

What I'm seeing happening in the streets, on the news, on the internet, and around the world, is extreme exclusivity! Again let me express that I'm not the smartest person. Therefore perhaps my perspective is a bit askew. It's just that what I've observed is the rampant spread of xenophobia moving faster than the pandemic. When this all started the former president (whose name I won't mention) was calling it the Chinese virus. All around the world people started discriminating and in some cases violently attacking people of Asian decent. It didn't matter if they were from China, Korea, Japan, or any other part of Asia. If they were perceived as being Chinese they were a target. 

Then for a while there was a claim that migrant's mostly from Latin countries like Mexico were causing the spread of the virus. This was of course later disproven since its completely false. It didn't stop an increase in crimes against migrants. Currently I'm seeing Africans (anyone with dark skin tone) are being blamed for the spread of a new variant. Some variant was found in South Africa. Now there's a travel ban for the world to and from there. With each new variant there seems to be racially charged rhetoric accusing a specific group. On top of all this there's a global division between those who have taken the vaccine and those who chose to stay unvaccinated. 

If you're wondering if I'm a conspiracy theorist. The answer is, "No." I'm not like them. I'm a whole different breed of animal. While they would be sitting around with their tin foil hats arguing over who shot Kennedy or if there really was a spaceship at Roswell. I would be in a different corner with two electro-magnets (mini Tesla coils) attached to my tin hat with a cord ready to be plugged into the wall socket. I would try testing the Philadelphia Experiment on myself to see if I could teleport out the room. The whole time I would be hoping the hat didn't fuse to my skull when the cord got plugged in. I don't waste time on hypothetical scenarios. I'm a man who likes to test things out first hand with data. 

To test if race was really part of the pandemic dialog I asked people. First I started with the woman who braids my hair. She's from Nigeria. When I talked to her she thought it was spreading from China or India. She said both places are over populated. Then I asked some friends, colleagues, then random people on the streets and on public transportation. Everybody associates some race or the unvaccinated as the cause of the spread of the virus. The effect is fear mongering and extreme xenophobia. Everyone is scared of each other. To see this happening in what's supposed to be a civilized society is disturbing. 

For me racism is real insanity. Not ignorance. Racism. There's a difference. When I was in Marine bootcamp. I met a guy who had never seen a black person in real life. He told me that he heard from his grandmother that black skin washed off in the shower. He was curious about us and asked questions. Some of them were ignorant. Later we became friends. The guy who called me a "dirty ni**er," outside a bar in Alabama. He was racist. The difference is the intent behind the interaction. If someone is asking questions (even if they're ignorant) to learn more about a group or culture, that's positive intent. If a person only cares about pushing stereotypes and prejudices on u that's negative intent. 

All around me I'm seeing, hearing discriminations and prejudices with no scientific evidence to support them. I hope that with the coming of the new year governments can get their collective act together and start using data to calm the fears of the masses. Based on the current track record I'm not getting my hopes up. Even if society doesn't get right, you the reader can. If u read this blog that means two things. One, how u think probably pushes the boundaries on what is accepted as "normal". Two, science, technology, art, literature, and other information about the world are of interest to you. So I request that starting this moment, you the reader stop helping the fear mongering. If u don't have the facts, then don't spread the rumor. That's all.

Until Next We Speak, Be Well

Tha One an Only