Traditions a-plenty find their way to the homes and hearths of America this time of the year.
High up, if not first, on that list of traditions is the holiday gathering of kith and kin around the actually big, or made big by shoving fold outs together, dining table for the family holiday meal.
One tradition within that tradition getting increasingly more difficult to honor these days.
Avoiding, by any means necessary, any whiff of a hint of discussion of the terrible two, the twin topics that are guaranteed to set fire to the frivolity, put a stop to the celebrations, turn the carving of the Thanksgiving turkey or the Christmas ham into a potentially catastrophic carving up of one another.
Like tigers on the Serengeti. Sharks in the water. Partridges in a flaming pear tree.
Politics. Religion.
Hey, all you bickering brothers and sisters and maters and paters and grannies and grandpas, it's 2018.
There's a new kid in town.
Immigration.
Naturally, a case can be made that the topic of immigration is actually a sub-topic easily found under the heading of either politics or religion or both.
But. thanks to a presidential candidate who decided a couple of years ago that inspiring people was for pussies, inciting people was electoral gold, Jerry, gold and so undertook an historic uncorking of the vial where the more virulent strain of the virus bigot-us prejudishus had, at least, been somewhat contained in recent decades, immigration managed to break free of its second tier status and has found a home in an every growing bulge of a folder all its own.
Hold that thought for a minute. Because a question suddenly comes to mind I'd like to inject here.
Did you ever stop to think why people from other countries, who must obviously know what a hot button, spit and snarl subject their desire to come to this country has become in recent months, still risk limb and/or life to come on-a our house, our house-a come on, no matter what?
Well, there is the obvious "if they stay where they are, they're subject to poverty, starvation, persecution, torture, genocide, you know, all the things that make living somewhere else pretty much a buzzkill thing" thing.
If that's your first answer, you get credit for not going all "burning cross/towelhead/they're only coming to murder my family in the name of Allah" on me right off the bat, but, that's really the easy answer, so, think for a second and try a little harder.
And, if perchance, your first answer was to go all "burning cross/towelhead/they're only coming to murder my family in the name of Allah" on me, then, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and suggest you're probably not going to find the rest of what I'm offering up here all that worth your time, so, scootle along, now.....buh-bye.
And allahu akbar to you and yours. Hey, I'm just messin' wit ya. Merry Christmas.
Seriously. At the level that suspicion and mistrust and hostility and downright hot bed hatred have been ramped up to in this here land of the free, home of the brave these days, you've gotta ask why these people knock, knock, knockin' on Uncle Sam's door would want to risk the aforementioned limb and/or life to accomplish what is, one could articulately be convincing in calling, pretty much just a brutal, dangerous journey from the frying pan of one nation to the fire of another.
Other fairly common go-to answers, of course, include more from the evil intent seats in the peanut gallery, you know, take our jobs, recruit our kids, infect us with their blasphemy, take a few french fries from our bag when our backs are turned.
And then, as the evil intent club refers to them, the bleeding heart, snoflake libtard faction comes along with the Hallmark card tested and approved axioms of a better and richer life, the seeing of dreams coming true, giving their own kids a chance at the kind of happiness they would never otherwise find in life.
You know, just more of that insulting, liberal, Pollyanna bullshit. Those moonbeams of malarkey that further blind those who go through life already badly blinded, what with being afflicted with starry eyes and all.
Lately, a little inadvertent research has given me pause for considering a possibility possibly not considered before.
It's about freedom.
And, yes, I know that freedom is already prominently featured on the list of features that come with the premium package here in the land of the free, home of the premium package but I'm not talking about those trying to cross the river or tunnel under the fence or climb over that high tech, state of the art wall, you know, once, and if, there's actually ever a high tech, state of the art wall for them to climb over, wishing to come and live here so they can see their dream of trial by jury finally come true. Or so they can read or hear, each day, all the facts and truths and need to knows that result from living in a nation that honors, respects and critically needs a free press. Assuming, of course, that by the time they get here, that "enemy of the people" shit has run its course and we're not starting our days with " I pledge allegiance / to supreme leader / and his trusty sidekick, Sean Hannity."
But the freedom I'm talking about is a little more abstract, a shade more subtle, a mite more microscopic.
At first glance, the helpers who hear these broadcasts and read the blogs will elbow in and "help" by chirping "free speech!". You're just talking about "free speech!"
Well, first, why, thank you, Mr or Ms. Helper. Now you get your Hot Pocket out of Mom's microwave, have a seat and shush.
Second, credit where due, you're correct. It is about free speech. But not just free speech. It's way more comprehensive and complex than that.
Allow me to elucidate.
Came across a social media posting of a link to a news story published in the Nashville Tennessean. It related the story of a mother of four walking out of an area WalMart with two of her sons.
The woman's name is Ayat Abu. She covers her hair with a hijab. She is a Muslim.
As she walked out of the store, a man walking into the store looked her up and down and had a single comment to make.
"Terrorist", he said.
Let's skip the knee jerk, go-to, frankly, exhausting, enough already back and forth about hijabs and Muslims and freedom of religion and terrorism and lions, and tigers and bears.
Instead, here's some sadly predictable comments made in the thread that followed that social media post. And while I don't usually name names in cases like this, I'm making an exception this time for a specific reason, which I will explain shortly. I'm also not violating anyone's privacy or rights as these are public posts, easily found by you or anyone else, so, there is no presumption of privacy. Thanks again, Mr. or Ms. Helper. Hot Pocket. Shush.
Kyle William..."go home, witch".
Danny Robinson..."no part of me believes this actually happened."
Mark McCammon..."liberalism is a mental disorder,"
Pat Price..."are you sure that's a woman?"
Regenia Rose Clifton..."all Muslims want to conquer the land they live in...AAALLL OOOF TTTTHHEEMMM!"
Kim Raspatello..."you never know what they are hiding in there."
By there, of course, one assumes she is referring to the scarf covering Ayat Abu's hair.
Previous documented incidents, of course, relating the stashing of knives, grenades, missile launchers, jet fighters and the occasional fully armamented aircraft carrier under those, more than occasionally, brightly colored silks.
You'd think they'd know better than to call attention to themselves with the bright colors and all.
In fairness, a laudable number of comments in response to those comments offer kindness, compassion, rational thinking and even a very humanitarian apology or two for the crude, rude, classless carping of the less tactful in the tribe.
But the compassionless carving there whittles down to this point.
Lots of countries, and/or those who are "in charge" of said countries, talk a good game about privileges and rights and freedoms.
But the pudding so often has a nasty way of being proven to be lacking the proof part.
America, meanwhile, puts its money where its mouth is.
And props and a shout out thanks to the very American voices of Mr Williams and Robinson and McCammon and Ms. Price and Clifton and Raspatello for their, surely, unintentional participation in proving the point.
That, in this country, when it comes to freedom, we don't just talk the talk.
We babble the brainless.
We conversate the contemptible.
We dish the disgusting.
We spew the spewage.
And still get to wake up in the morning, sip that espresso, wobble on down to work, eat, pray, and love, such as it is, without fear of retribution or incarceration.
If there truly is a logical reason why, when its all said and done, tens of thousands of people would risk limb and/or life to live in this land of the free, home of the blowhards, it transcends mere freedom of religion and freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Who wouldn't sacrifice anything and everything to spend their lives in a land where anything goes, free of retaliation, retribution, incarceration.
In America, obviously.....anything goes.
Anything.
We don't just have free speech.
We've got unlimited free speech.
Take that, A.T & T.
And not only no limit on how long you can talk or how much you can talk, but, with the possible exception of literally threatening to assassinate the President, any President, pick a President, literally no limit on what you can say. No matter how distasteful. Disturbing. Disgusting. Racist. Sexist. Bigoted. Mindless. Moronic...
...or just good old fashioned garden variety stupid it might be.
And thank the Founding Fathers and the good Lord above that that good old fashioned garden variety stupid totally falls under the protective umbrella of free speech in this country.
If it didn't a lot of families would be about to have a terrible, heart breaking holiday, what with their loved ones being locked up and keys being thrown away and all.
Instead of tinsel and holly and egg nog, it would be tears and heartache and weekly visitation.
For the families of Mr. Williams and Robinson and McCammon.
Ms. Price and Clifton and Raspatello.
No Dancer or Prancer or Comet or Vixen.
Just a 6 by 8 cell. And Christmas dinner with no fixins.
That might not be the reason for the season.
But bet your berka that's a heavy duty reason that those who come come at the risk of losing limb and/or life.
You'll probably still want to stay away from politics and religion.
But it might do some good for you to talk about that at the holiday dinner table.
Better yet....
...make it a tradition.
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