The Trump Effect: A Time For Introspection And Pledges

Perhaps the next round of protests would be seen as meaningful when those participating would have pledged to themselves, not never allow any form of discrimination and abuse to go unchallenged, within their own communities or elsewhere, both domestic and foreign, coming from the White House or the House of Saud.
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One fine Saturday after Trump's inauguration, millions around the world marched to warn Trump not to act on his manifesto pledges; he started signing one Executive Order after the other anyway.

Women's rights groups and feminists joined hands with known Islamists, in the hope that they'd deter the man in the White House from touching women's rights; he went ahead and pulled funding from NGOs providing reproductive health services in other countries.

People carried placards with "refugees welcome" and "no more walls" messages; he placed the first symbolic brick on that wall with Mexico and put curbs on immigration and entry of refugees from some seven Muslim majority countries - out of the 50 in this world.

Net result from these protests apart from lots of opportunities for social media posts and smiling selfies; zero!

Had they waited for him to start delivering on his promises, and had then taken up specific issues to protest against, in a similarly coordinated manner, there is a tiny chance Trump's advisors might have paid more notice to them and would've given it some more thought the next time he'd be preparing to sign an Executive Order. Regrettably, the allegedly spontaneous protests couldn't achieve their objectives other than pumping up the ego of a man who thrives on controversy and rubbing people the wrong way.

Till now, his policies have been evidently ill-conceived and poorly executed, nevertheless they are pledges he made during his campaign and is fulfilling those promises.

The latest blow to his opponents and critics has come in the form of Trump picking up a list of countries that his predecessor had compiled and acting on it in the form of increased restrictions of their citizens travelling to the USA.

During the same week, an otherwise seemingly harmless white terrorist opened fire on a mosque in Canada killing six Muslims. Justin Trudeau and the rest of the left leaning western society were appalled at this mass shooting just as they were at Trump's actions during his first few days in office listed above.

Neither what Trump's enacted policies are surprising, given that he's been saying he'd do all that for the past couple of years, nor is the opposition to his actions unanticipated, by the very people who said they'd oppose him no matter what.

What requires a moment of introspection or perhaps longer, is the fact that what most people are protesting against, has been a norm in front of their eyes, if not in their own backyards, then certainly around the world.

Take for example the mosque shooting in Canada. There have been hard-line Islamist preachers from Canada who have been travelling to other nations to promote similar attacks on the houses of worship of minority groups there. Apart from a few groups who tried to bring this fact to the authorities' attention, there was no uproar in the social circles of the largely peaceful and welcoming country. Shia mosques and Sufi Shrines get attacked regularly across the Muslim world, by other Muslims. Whilst they burn the vast majority of Sunni Muslims don't even bother to take a brief pause to feel sorrowful. After all the victims are considered apostates at best or deviant sinners at the least by many.

The left embraced the American Flag hijabs as a symbol of female empowerment dished out by very Islamists who indoctrinate young girls as little as 3-4 into believing the sight of their hair might incite lust in older men and boys their ages alike thereby enforcing the garb upon their heads and minds, sexualising them. The same Muslim leaders who led pro-choice anti-Trump protests alongside feminists, proudly act as champions of Sharia Law and hold celebrity status within extremist groups opposed to abortion rights.

These Islamist leaders took this opportunity to bolster their credentials within the emerging Islamist-Left Alliance who act as apologists for the regressive Neanderthal laws of Saudi Arabia and have never spoken out against the inherent racism within the Middle East, whilst complaining about racism in USA because of populism promoted by Trump.

Had it not atleast ticked an fairness box if the protestors had also been vocal against the proposed border wall between Mexico and Guatemala, or the restrictions placed by Muslim nations on prospective visitors with even an airport stamp suggesting they'd ever been to Israel?

Trump will certainly face difficulties imposing enhanced security upon Muslim travellers from any given countries for the simple reason that unless their attire or names would give it away, or they admit to it themselves, determining one's faith is a rather difficult feat to accomplish. However in the case of some Muslim countries their discriminatory laws that force people to accept that their version of Islam is not acceptable to the state, and whose passports carry a "religion" section, it would be exceedingly easy for US immigration officials to allow the non-Muslims to pass through without much of a hassle.

Genuine Syrian and Iraqi refugees will bear the brunt of the new administration's policies barring them entry into far away USA for a period of 90 days, esp when they're not even allowed into neighbouring rich Arab states. Iraqis suffered the same treatment in 2011 under Obama, however tactfully it was implemented, painful it still was. Atleast Trump's not barred Rohingya Muslims from entering, knowing there's no chance in their lifetimes these most deserving people could ever even contemplate reaching the US shores. How can they, when their co-religionists wouldn't turn their attention away from the Middle Eastern politics and the plight of self-professed superior Muslims in the divinely-promised yet massively disputed piece of real estate and surrounding nations to even consider the ongoing genocide of the Burmese lesser Muslims as remotely important?

Across the pond from the land of dreams, in the UK, a petition has been doing the rounds, with over 1.7 million people having signed a petition (from around the world to be correct) to ban Trump from getting invited to a state visit. The same was honour bestowed upon the Chinese premier and the King of Saudi Arabia, both carrying beacons of human rights and democracy when they arrived, yet didn't attract a fraction of the protests that people are joining in anticipation of the President's tea with HM the Queen.

In the light of the above, it would be better for the protesters, both Muslims and non-Muslims, Americans, Hispanics and Asians alike, to indulge in a bit of serious introspection to examine for themselves where they loose out on retaining moral high-ground. Where exactly, as a result of them applying double standards on issues like freedom, equality, human rights and dignity, do their slogans begin to appear hollow.

Perhaps the next round of protests would be seen as meaningful when those participating would have pledged to themselves, not never allow any form of discrimination and abuse to go unchallenged, within their own communities or elsewhere, both domestic and foreign, coming from the White House or the House of Saud.

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