Do you ever wonder why Americans can’t pass a healthcare reform bill? Do you ever wonder how in the world George W. Bush, after lying about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and showing four years of overall boobery, was actually re-elected for a second term? There are plenty of intelligent people living in the United States of America but unfortunately, they’re are also a lot of uninformed and easily manipulated toy soldiers. This clip shows how debate on healthcare degenerated into religious, racial, xenophobic nonsense that includes the IRS, global warming, the end of America, abortion and more. Groups of people who called themselves “Tea Baggers” passionately united against Obama’s plans in protests across the country - problem is none of them really knew why they were there. They were only told they had to be. If there was ever a downside to democracy, undoubtedly the best form of government ever invented, this is it.

America is currently passing through a Renaissance of sorts. As is usually the case, those in politics and the media represent the growing trends of the day.  The current champions of  the newly forming American Renaissance are figures like Rush Limbaugh. The words and thoughts he is throwing around as of late are that of a bygone era being reborn. He was recently touted as second to only former presidential candidate John McCain in terms of Republican Party leadership ability and has even been touted as a possible candidate for 2012 himself. His recent thoughts on Haiti and President Obama reveal what a frightening prospect this is and how America as country is socially digressing, the fabric of its triumphant evolution into a world leader disintegrating before our very eyes.

Before even mentioning his latest barrage of hatred, no one should be surprised that this man is capable of outright racism. This is a man who has referred to the President of the United States as a halfrican, an affirmative action candidate, and even Barack the Magic Negro. He has also called Obama more African than American, more Arab than African, and has claimed that Obama’s Presidency is all about making reparations for the suffering of Black people in the United States. This is man who said “They’re only 12% of the population. Who the hell cares?” when refering to the numbers of African Americans living in the United States and “take that bone out of your nose and call me back” to a black woman on his radio show.

All this is why no one should be surprised at what he said following the horrors unfolding  in Haiti. His words are below:

“In the Haiti earthquake, ladies and gentlemen, in the words of Rahm Emanuel, we have another crisis simply too good to waste. This’ll play right into Obama’s hands — humanitarian, compassionate. They’ll use this to burnish their, shall we say, credibility with the black community — both light-skinned and dark-skinned.”

Limbaugh also seemed to suggest that Americans had no need to donate to relief efforts:

“We’ve already donated to Haiti. It’s called the U.S. income tax.”

There is much that is right with America. Thousands of troops on the ground in Haiti to help with recovery efforts and 100 million dollars came almost instantly is a prime example. What’s wrong with the United States of America is that a man like Rush Limbaugh can say all that you see above without consequence and worse still, be seen by others to be worthy of leading. Stop letting this man embarrass you America. Do something about, before it’s too late.

From David Anthony Hohol…

Throughout human history, race has been our most defining characteristic. By extension, race has consistently produced powerful forms of judgment and continues to do so today. Although the concept of race scientifically does not exist and is purely a social phenomenon, the social reality of race permeates every part of human life. More than anything, visible immediacy perpetuates its superiority as a master status and the lines of racial division are systemically ingrained within our thought patterns from the moment we join the empirical rabble of humankind. RELATIVITY OnLine’s Indonesian correspondent Rezwan, starkly recounts his past’s perspective of being a Bangladeshi living in Germany – a country with dark past of xenophobia and fear. His words remind us all that although we have come so very far in terms of race relations, we are still a long way from home.  

I wrote earlier about how Roland Koch, the governor of the western state of Hesse in Germany stirred an uproar with his anti-immigrant rhetorics possibly as an election strategy (from 2008).

The Spiegel Online International recently did a soul searching on “Germany’s homegrown intolerance“. Spiegel Online editor David Crossland, who was born in Bonn to English parents argued, “rather than rail against ‘criminal young foreigners,’ the country ought to be doing more to welcome its minorities“.

He cited the racial discriminationshe faced for speaking in English in U-Bahn (underground) although being a white person and opines:

“Maybe it’s the Germans’ romantic yearning for purity and cleanliness, for a “Heile Welt,” a “Perfect World,” that renders them prone to a collective xenophobia. This nation of dog lovers goes for pure breeds.”
….
“So instead of telling its immigrants not to slaughter sheep in their kitchens, Germany would be well advised to be nicer to its immigrants. Like it or not, they’re here to stay.”

It sparked a lot of reactions. In the same article the Spiegel Online International announced that they are collecting the experiences of foreigners living in Germany — both good and bad. And here a Pandora’s box was opened. More and more readers talk of Germany’s invisible Xenophobia and it ain’t pretty.

Spiegel’s first batch of readers opinions revealed horrid portrayals of silent xenophobia and some questions which the Germans probably have never thought of this way. We also look at some examples of foreigners living without such discrimination and how Germans view it.

“I was exposed to a subtle yet stubborn kind of racism on a daily basis. This mostly takes the form of social exclusion — I always felt that I am not and will never be allowed to become a normal member of society, despite holding a promising academic record and decent linguistic skills.” – A Chinese scholar from Munich.

“I have a German name, I have a German passport, but I look Asian, and therefore am a foreigner.” – Veronica

“One more issue that I feel is a barrier to any kind of integration is the fact that almost no Germans that I knew had friends of a different culture or skin color — the exception being North Americans, North Europeans and Australians, etc. Even so-called liberal, ‘tolerant’ people simply did not have foreigners in their circles of acquaintance. Friendships and relationships are essential to any type of integration, and as long as the Germans keep immigrants at arm’s length, the immigrants will never feel like they belong.” Yvonne Jacoby from Ireland

“I have come across some of the finest individuals in Germany, and the opposite too. It’s extremely hard for a foreigner to find out whether a German likes him/her or not. I hope most of the foreigners would agree if I say life for a foreigner is like that of Satan in heaven — you have been admitted into the country but not actually into the society.” – Madhu Balan from India

“I do have German friends and a German wife and a lot of Germans are kind and nice people. But I never feel like I belong to this place because of my skin color. And even the nicest Germans will often ask, when I say I am American: “But what are you really?” – Mike Silva from USA

“In some parts of Germany I would not like to have dark skin — sad, don’t you think?” – An ex-British soldier.

“If my friend, who is white, crosses a street when the light is red, she is in a hurry. And if I do the same, someone is waiting to say “schwarze Schlampe” (“black slut”) or something similar.” – An Indian Student in Berlin

On the other hand some foreigners said that Germans were helpful to them and the extent of racism and xenophobia in Germany is often exaggerated. Some opined that Germany is not perfect and there are more hate crimes reported in many countries whereas only few Germany.

A German man with a Polish wife shared the treatment his wife and a South African friend faced and opined:

“The only chance I see for success is the integration of our society into a European society as a whole where immigration, cross-border movements and ‘foreignness’ are considered to be assets for a functioning society.“

An Indian scholar defends Germans and suggests:

“They just expect that people should at least speak and understand their language and culture. Germany needs to do more to have the best brains from around the world. This is where the future lies.“

Read the Spiegel Online article for details.

In the second batch of reader opinionsin Spiegel a discovery comes from a German who is living outside of Germany for five years:

“The kind of discrimination that immigrants in Germany face is already deeply rooted in the system and accepted as the norm to such an extent that most people will not notice it. This discrimination may not be apparent to someone who is living in Germany and surrounded by it every day, yet not affected by it.“

In my town there are a lot of immigrant children of my age, from Turkey, Russia, Italy and many other countries. Yet how many of them went to a “Gymnasium” (university-track high school — Ed.) like I did? The sad answer is not a single one. My entire high school class consisted of German, white, middle-class kids who were, like me, oblivious to the diversity of people living around them.

It happens all around us — it is just a matter of opening your eyes to it.

Here are some examples confirming it:

“I discovered, while procuring my residency papers, a higher benchmark was set for my documents than those of my white American friends who were kind enough to compare their experience with mine.” – A Haitian American

“My wife, in spite of being a European citizen, was given a permit as if she was an Indian wife and she was not allowed to work any more. When we inquired to the Ausländerbehörde (foreigners’ office) about her getting a Freizügigkeitsbescheinigung (‘freedom of movement’ permit, issued to EU citizens living in Germany) we were told that she had lost all rights as an EU citizen by marrying a third-country national and she would now be considered as an alien’s wife, not as an EU citizen.” – An Indian scholar married to a Lithuanian girl (working in Germany).

“When I first got pregnant, I couldn’t believe the look on one of the nurses’ face when she looked at my insurance card and saw that we were not Germans. She immediately started hinting to my face that we were here making a great living and stealing their jobs away, while they were struggling with recession.” -Andreaa Sepi from Romania

And some reality the Germans perhaps do not consider:

“Even the most cosmopolitan of my German friends could not conceive that I might plan to stay in the country after graduation. For them, it was unthinkable that a foreigner would come to study in Germany and legally stay on to work. (After graduation I moved to the United States and use my German education to make money from an American company. Too bad for the German tax-payer.)” – A Brazilian

“Germans probably travel more than any other nationalities, and yet in their own country they act as if they’ve never seen people of color.” – name withheld

My suggestion to Germans who really want to see integration work, is simple: Talk to a foreigner! Wherever you are, on the bus, walking down the street, don’t hesitate to talk to a foreigner. Make us feel welcome, just a little nod and a short hello would suffice.

“Immigration has always been part of Germany’s history, in one way or another — be it the Huguenots in the 17th century or Russian Jews after the pogroms in Russia in the 19th century — only that a lot of Germans aren’t aware of it. I blame the politicians and the media in Germany for doing so little to promote immigration and integration, to show how society can benefit from immigration — where are, for instance, the Turkish TV presenters?” – Martin Sauter, a German

While we also see some counterpoints:

“Germans have the right to model their own country and culture. The same is true for Saudi Arabia with its non-tolerance of Christians, and India with its discriminatory caste system or Japan with its homogeneous ethnicity.” – An American

“There is always one option for those who do not like it: Go home. No one is keeping them here or in any country where they do not feel wanted.” – Paul Sanders

“Maybe Germany, including the SPIEGEL, should realize that Germany is not a special country but average, and that the phenomena you discuss here are not specifically German but human. It’s called in-group-preference and out-group-avoidance. I’m afraid we’re not going to get totally rid of that anywhere in the world.” – A German living in Canada.

“The emphasis (in the debate on “foreign” criminals (more…)) should not be on the word “foreign”; rather, it should be on the word “criminal.” If the criminal element — regardless of age — chooses not to respect the laws of their country of adoption, then they should be deported, pure and simple. The tax payer should not support this ilk.” – Vera Gottlieb.

My view to this debate is that any criminal foreign or local should be tried under law. So why the fuss about deporting foreigners? What do you do with the local criminals? I think Ms. Vera do not know the asylum laws in Germany which grants political asylums to people from other countries. Some of those granted are fugitives from the rule of law of their own countries. Perhaps the issue of human rights come into question then. What an oxymoron!

I like to end this roundup with an American’s words:

“Here in the States, the history of prejudice is different, the effects just as constant, but the origin similar: fear of that which is different. This fear breeds hatred and violence, sometimes planned and carried out over time, at other times opportunistic and random. Passively and actively, it is then passed to the next generation.“

Xenophobia, racism, and extreme nationalism or regionalism, are all so ugly because the potential for these exists in all our hearts.

Despite the liberal tolerance of our New World, racism still thrives in societies the world over. East and West, Third or First world, it’s always there; sometimes beneath the surface and sometimes in our faces. With that said, when the black son of an African Muslim, Barrack Hussein Obama, becomes the President of the United States, we can at least say we’re headed in the right direction. RELATIVTY OnLine’s David Anthony Hohol talks racism, straight forward and to the point. 

Many of us will live out our entire lives without ever truly experiencing being unlike all those with which we surround ourselves. It’s hard for many to understand what it’s like to walk into a room and have everyone take notice of our presence simply for being the only one. To fathom the self-image born from being a member of what society calls a minority can be very complicated for those standing amidst the towering forest of the status quo. Perhaps most importantly, it’s difficult to comprehend the enveloping sense of judgment and conversely, the tremendous feeling of solidarity amongst the membership of a societal out-group.

Throughout human history race has been our most defining characteristic. By extension, race has consistently produced powerful forms of judgment and continues to do so today. Although the concept of race scientifically does not exist and is purely a social phenomenon, the social reality of race permeates every part of human life. More than anything, visible immediacy perpetuates its superiority as a master status and the lines of racial division are systemically ingrained within our thought patterns from the moment we join the empirical rabble of humankind.

Whether it’s been random or evolutionary adjustments to the environment, the fact is that the physical disparity amongst us is due to genetic mutation. In the days before global or even continental travel, isolated gene pools created common ancestries with similar traits, and even communal diseases, but never has there been a sub-species to the human race. Nevertheless, race is unquestionably a very significant part of our lives and is repeatedly used to explain such cultural nuances as skin color, ethnicity, values, traditions, or ancestry.

Pre-conceived notions and socially conditioned images of race are downloaded onto the human psyche via television, music, film, and the ever-manipulative mass media. By the time children reach their tenth birthdays, the socially constructed images of Black, White, Indian, Asian, or Arabic have been fully installed and are an integral part of the massive hard drive that is our subconscious mind. With the music and film industries working as system engineers for the youth of every generation passed, one can begin to see the fateful stereotypes that shape the minds of today’s youth in preparation for adulthood within the walls of the Western World and beyond. Whether it’s the White angry banger bands or the even whiter super-hero, the Black pimp daddy hip-hop bands or the blacker still foul mouthed criminal, ideas of what it means to be Black or White are ingested constantly. Further still, whether it’s the cerebral Asian computer geek, the scheming Arab terrorist, or the money loving Jew, a pre-determined and entirely misleading range of archetypal racial images rain down upon us from all sides. Whether pejorative in nature or not, these images can thus be defined as a fundamental part of our societal matrix from which all thought stems.

The differences amongst the human race and the significance attached to them have been the cause of conflict throughout our long and arduous existence. Simultaneously, we must take care not to subscribe to the flawed belief that recognizing the differences amongst us is synonymous with the proliferation and sanctioning of inequality.  Many like to claim that the recognition of differences is integrally linked to discrimination. This kind of naïve fear-mongering is wrong, but has unfortunately become a knee-jerk reaction in the hypersensitive, politically correct minefield of today’s world. We are often made to feel as though we are not supposed to overtly recognize the differences amongst the human race. In other words, many of us have been conditioned to withhold thoughts and ideas about the differences amongst us for fear of being labeled a bigot or a racist; an accusation, whether true or not, that permanently stains an individual’s character. At times, we even catch ourselves questioning our own thoughts – I know I have.

Come on now, be honest; how do you really perceive Blacks, Whites, Indians, Arabs, Asians, or any other so-called race different than your own?  Look into the mirror and be completely honest with yourself… no one else has to know. 

There are many differences amongst us and there are no absolutes, this much I know to be true. Contrarily, we are more alike than different, no matter how difficult it may be to initially recognize the similarities. It’s in our nature to see the differences amongst us before we see that which is the same, but when given the chance to truly see, like a blind man regaining his sight, what was always right in front of us can become an emancipating vision of truth.

Experience – tangible, first hand experience with that which we don’t know makes all the difference. It is then when we feel the comforting cloak of legitimacy. Behind every fallen lie within our intricate puzzle of existence will stand a piece of magnanimous truth, and when put together they will create a picture of clarity and conviction. It’s a process to which I have become addicted and it continues to this day.

We all need to shine a light upon that which makes us feel uncomfortable, odd, hurt, or even angry, so that we can see inside ourselves and begin to understand. The result will be the inspiration to learn more, to experience more, to understand that which we do not, and see that which we have never seen. By extension, people all around us, regardless of who they are become more like the person we see in the mirror each day. In the end, exposure and experience bring understanding and hope, and the further we reach into the bottomless depths of empiricism, the smaller our majestic world becomes.

From David Anthony Hohol…