"Let's be FAIR to that Motherf*****!!!"

If the far left want to be listened to, and treated fairly by the opposition, they should listen and be fair to their opposition. This is especially important for one of the only voices in congress that supports Palestinian rights, and the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS).
I think it is great that the Democrats have opened up to listening to the far-left (though they might have gone too far by stealing the Green Party’s platform, without giving them any credit). Our political solutions will not come from one party, or one ideology — this is why political diversity is so useful (isn’t this notion liberalism 101?).
It wouldn’t hurt, as a principle, to stop and listen to conservatives.
When Donald Trump won the presidency, I was breathing into a paper bag — I thought I would faint in despair and disbelief, until my kids (7 & 8 years old) started making distressed remarks about the ‘bad President’, and the ‘bad red team’ . I quickly got ahold of myself.
I told them that my team lost, and that means that I will now listen to the other team’s ideas, and deliberate. We’ll have another election in 4 years. No one is just good or just bad — everyone has both good and bad in them. Actions are good or bad — not people--and there are people who do bad things on the blue team, too.
My kids understood this, because this is how we talk about treating others (and ourselves) in everyday life. Besides, I lived through Bush, who sent my little brother to a ‘fake news’ war, erased first and fourth amendment rights, instituted mass surveillance, and rounded up American Muslims with no evidence. The fight to end these threats would be there no matter who won the presidency.
I was struck with both hope and fear when two Muslims were elected to congress. Hope that the fight against real threats to our nation, felt most intensely by Muslims, would have a voice. Fear that our new Muslim representatives would be persecuted and no one would stop it. If that happens it will signal the fate of all of us who support justice for Muslims.
Then, Rashida Tlaib made her first impression as a congresswoman screaming, “Let’s impeach that mother******!!!!” Her first comment was to punitively punish someone she doesn’t like — because of his skin color? because of his gender? because of his socio-economic status? because of his political ideology? Isn’t this exactly what we want to stop from happening???
Next, in an interview with The Intercept, Tlaib continues her hypocrisy defending her uncouth behavior. One thing people don’t know about her, she said, is that she “curses like a trucker”:
“But yeah, I have, you know, dropped the F-bomb. I have had these moments but at the same time it’s like people are — it’s like this moment that I think people — ”
She was interrupted by the interviewer who offered that people are just being racist when they say she shouldn’t swear.

Trump’s excuses for his uncouthness are that he is being honest, and not politically correct. In the end, our culture (including Tlaib, apparently) shares some of the worst facets of his character: racism, bigotry, misogyny, narcissism, and adolescence (who wants to adult?!).
If the people should look past Tlaib’s uncouth behavior and just focus on policies, then the same should go for the opposition. If one is not fair to others, they might not be treated fairly in return.
As a representative who purports to be a voice for BDS, this principle of fairness is paramount. Tlaib will not take her bad karma alone — the embattled movement to protect the rights of Palestinians, American Muslims, and those who support them, will also take the hits.
The ‘new anti-Semitism’, which instantly replaces any argument for Palestinian rights, is already hurting people in the U.S., and defending Israeli human rights/international law violations. Half of U.S. states have passed legislation to punish those who support BDS. Individuals have been fired, put on lists, and threatened for supporting Palestinian rights.
Tlaib said in her interview with The Intercept that she wishes people would not focus on the ‘motherfucker’ part of her statement, but instead focus on her campaign to impeach the President. Her ground for impeachment is that Trump has not fully divested from his companies. The president cannot be impeached for not divesting.

Those who oppose BDS, Palestinian, and Muslim’s rights should not be able to punish Tlaib, or others, because of support for those things. The anti-BDS laws passed in the U.S., along with the surveillance and persecution of Muslims are not constitutional.
Tlaib would have spent her political capital better if she had focused on what she wants, instead of what she hates. As it is, her political capital might already be spent, putting all of those who advocate for Palestinian and American Muslim rights in greater political debt, and danger.

Comments

  1. Let's be fair to my m ... ing congresswoman

    Before Rashida Tlaib made national news for cussing in a viral video of a private gathering she was a social worker, got a law license, served six years in the Michigan House of Representatives, and worked as a labor & civil rights attorney.

    She also explained in a Detroit Free Press op-ed [1] reasons she thinks Trump should be impeached: obstructing justice; violating the emoluments clause; abusing the pardon power; directing or seeking to direct law enforcement to prosecute political adversaries for improper purposes; advocating illegal violence and undermining equal protection of the laws; ordering the cruel and unconstitutional imprisonment of children and their families at the southern border; and conspiring to illegally influence the 2016 election through a series of hush money payments.

    Her concerns are about Trump's ethics, not his skin color, gender, socio-economic status, or political ideology.

    More disturbing - and not from you - are the slanderous, knee-jerk, mindless claims on the internet that Rashida is anti-Semitic. Surprising then that her first political mentor - whose parents left Europe to escape the Holocaust - didn't notice it. Nor have any of her other longtime Jewish supporters.

    As a state rep Rashida won re-election through stellar constituent service. In fact she was the only state rep who had a district service office. That she's smart, passionate, gutsy and strong also has helped her win election. (And no, the district is not heavily Muslim - that would be Debbie Dingell's district.)

    Rashida has a long record of working for civil rights for all and boring, day to day, down to earth issues like limiting car insurance rates to a reflection of your driving record (not your credit rating, gender, zip code, etc) and trying to limit the pollution that the local refinery can spew through the neighborhood.

    At a recent rally where she spoke I walked over to some conservatives who were protesting her presence. The one who presented as the spokesman for their little group said I was wrong that she stands up for civil rights because she supports gay rights & opposes that Colorado baker's "religious right" to discriminate. So some disagree.

    Me, I'm proud to have worked with her on some projects and glad she's in Congress.

    1- https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/contributors/2019/01/03/donald-trump-impeachment/2463127002/

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    1. Thank you for your comment.

      I have no doubt that Tlaib has, can, and will contribute valuable things to her community.

      However, as you condemned the knee jerk reactions that people have against her, the same should go for her knee jerk reaction toward Trump. Vicious, unsubstantiated attacks send a tsunami of hatred right back at her...and if she claims to be a voice for BDS -- back at that movement.

      Do you think she has helped the BDS movement? I think she has hurt it.

      Perhaps DT will be found to be in violation of the emoluments clause...but she has no evidence to make such strong, aggressive accusations at this point--and she made those accusations with indecorum.

      Trump, nor any of our Presidents, are dictators. Immigration, and the situation at the border is under the purview of congress. There is much more she could and should do, along with her colleagues to address the crisis at the border, and immigration in general. Arbitrarily targeting the President, or those carrying out laws (which congress has the authority over), will not solve any of our problems, but just increase animosity, fighting, and radicalization in our culture. Yet, this is where she chose to spend her political capital.

      I am glad to hear that you have witnessed her being an effective rep. to her constituents. I would like to see the same! I am very concerned about the delaying of funds to the border. It truly is an emergency.

      There are much more important things to focus on than hating DT. And what can she really do about him being in office? There is an election about 1 year. Shes wasting time and energy, and her aggressions are backfiring. :/

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