JD Vance needs to be expelled from the Senate
I will be the first to admit that there are aspects of human persuasion that are subjective. Much of what we believe in general comes down to taste. I have, for example, certain musical tastes, classical and classic rock, and I am neither surprised nor bothered when others do not share them. It doesn’t trouble me in the least if you find the music I love personally unlistenable. In fact, I don’t believe I would be thinking clearly were it otherwise. I welcome a variety of musical tastes. It makes the world more interesting.
But there comes a point where the word “belief” fails us. For example, I don’t “believe” that the earth is a sphere. Rather, I understand that it is. It’s not an opinion, it’s an acknowledgment of an overwhelmingly obvious fact. There is no room to argue this point because it’s not a matter open to discussion.
And yet, a growing number of people “believe” (or claim they do) that the earth is flat. Their stated belief is made entirely without evidence. They support their inane conclusion with disturbing accusations that thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, or even millions of people are lying to us about the shape of the earth for a sinister and poorly articulated “reason” that makes absolutely no sense. Such beliefs are a form of madness.
This kind of madness isn’t confined to the belief that the earth is flat. It’s become endemic in the world of politics. For example, I don’t “believe” it’s morally wrong to persecute entire peoples grouped by gender or race or ethnicity, I know it is. It’s not a matter open to opinion. It’s a self-evident truth in the Jeffersonian tradition. And yet, many people do not believe it’s wrong.
In the 21st century we shouldn’t tolerate the proposition that any group of human beings are born inherently inferior. It’s the kind of thing that certain monsters of the 20th century entertained and started barbarous wars about. We ought to have learned a terrible lesson at a horrible price. Clearly many of us did not.
This is why it cannot be stated often enough that the Republican intolerance of ethnic minorities is NOT a political one. It’s a monstrously evil aberration of human behaviour that should not be tolerated. The mainstream media ought to reject it with revulsion.
The evil that has recently been committed against the Haitian population of Springfield, Ohio, is a case in point. They are there lawfully and peacefully. They were welcomed and specifically invited by members of the city government to migrate there. They have recently become persecuted by a lie that was spread and encouraged in part by Ohio Senator JD Vance, a man who willingly — even eagerly — betrayed citizens of his own state in order to provoke the racist and disgusting impulses of MAGA bigots.
The grotesque havoc Vance has perpetrated against his own citizens is horrifying beyond all belief. Springfield Haitians (whom Vance says are from “Haitia”) now live in fear of verbal and physical abuse because of the lies spread by this asshole. Vance took a lie created from whole cloth, that Springfield Haitians were killing and eating the pets of white people, and saw it as an opportunity to turn hatred into votes. Vance proved once and for all and beyond question that he is a man of irredeemably vile wickedness.
This is not my opinion, it’s a demonstrable fact. I don’t care if it’s done in the name of politics and politics is “supposed to be dirty.” I get it when Donald Trump exploits such things because he is psychotic. But Vance knows better and he does it anyway. The mainstream media needs to start calling this what it is. Evil. JD Vance needs to be formally expelled from the Senate of the United States. TODAY. And, as ever, ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters, comrades and friends, stay safe.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.