"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.