The Way It Iz

Racism is dead.

It took us until the year 2021 C.E., but humanity has finally been able to successfully wipe out racism. To be clear, we are not talking about “racism” as a concept. No, racism is alive and well, and unfortunately, I doubt anyone reading this will ever live to see that completely wiped out. What is dead is the word “racism.” Calling someone a racist has lost its meaning. Referring to an act as having been spurred by racism has been rendered hollow. Over the past four years, “racism” has become a catch-all meaning for “bad.”

One long-standing stereotype of Jews is that we love to complain. One only need log in to any kosher restaurant group on Facebook to confirm this categorization. However, while this may be the most accurate stereotype of Jews as a whole, if there is one thing that social media has taught us, it’s that this is not an exclusive trait to members of The Tribe. When boiled down to its essence, Twitter is just a bunch of people complaining, and then responding to the complaints with more complaints.

First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist

 Picture a conspiracy theorist in your mind. You’re probably thinking of some crazed individual ranting about government coverups, international cabals, and alien landings. You would be forgiven for thinking that all conspiracy theories produce the tin-hat-wearers referenced by “Weird Al” Yankovic in his song “Foil.” In fact, most of the more famous conspiracy theories do produce the wild accusations wherein there would have to be such a large number of people in on the plot that by now one would have come forward. And you know these theories already: The JFK assassination and 9/11 were inside jobs; there are aliens in Area 51 in Nevada; the moon landing was faked. The list is pretty comprehensive, and almost always include the phrase, “a vast government coverup.” And you have every right to question the sanity of people who raise and propagate these insane ideas.

At the end of any president’s term in office, we are able to look back and determine if they have delivered on the promises that they made when running for the position. President Joe Biden made many such promises while running for president - perhaps none more important that bringing the country closer together. After the divisiveness that has plagued us for the last four years (and let’s be honest, that was building for the previous sixteen), all Americans want right now is to feel like a country again. Sure, we may disagree on healthcare, foreign affairs, gun control, and a myriad of other policy-related topics, but if we can’t just accept that there are those who disagree with us without condemning them as morally depraved communists, or racist nutjobs, we are lost as a country. It is therefore with utmost imperativeness that President Biden succeed in uniting the country. And here’s how he can do it.

 2020 was the year of the lockdown. 2021 will be the year of the breakdown - the year we start to see a clear divide of the public areas of interest break down into Right and Left in the country. Places that were once unencumbered by politics are now rife with them, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. It’s not like we should be surprised by this; we’ve been heading here slowly for the last 10 years or so. The news used to be one of these public spheres of influence. We all used to just accept that the news was the news. Such phrases as “alternative facts” and “fake news” didn’t exist. One of the issues we have now when it comes to civil discourse is that half of the country gets its news from CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times, the Washington Post, and Pod Save America, and the other half gets it from Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, Ben Shapiro, and talk radio.