Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Programs like Trump's VOICE encourage discrimination and provide bad statistics

I read a funny tweet about how Trump's “VOICE” line for reporting crimes was by illegal immigrants was being overwhelmed by people reporting space aliens. Yes, it is funny until you consider the thing as a whole. We are telling people to report on our friends and neighbors because they maybe an illegal immigrant and committed a crime. First, if you suspect a crime is being committed or was committed then call 911 don’t call the VOICE hot line. Why? Because it is nothing but a way to get numbers Trump can use to justify his claims, and there is no guarantee that all the claims are factual. In reality a large number of calls are either made up or made by someone who thinks their neighbor is an illegal immigrant just because of their ethnicity. This is dangerous.
Why is it dangerous? Let us look at History. First up is the French Revolution. Inspired by America the French people rose up to free themselves from rule by the nobility; at first this was a good thing but then turned ugly. It was not just enough to get rid of the monarchy and nobility, the people wanted revenge. Soon the Revolution devolved into what is now know as “The Terror”. People would report on others they didn't like or for other reasons to say that the accused was a sympathizer to the nobility or an enemy of the Revolution. The accused would be arrested their property seized and put in prison to await the guillotine. Many innocent people lost their lives because of pettiness and greed.
There are examples throughout history that go along the same line, like Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, or where any other authoritarian regime was in or is in power. I chose to use the French Revolution to show how populist movements can turn ugly real fast if the guiding principles of what True Liberty and Democracy are set aside. What starts out like Trump’s VOICE can be perverted into a nightmare beyond measure. Trump and his cronies are leading America into its own version of The Terror where American citizens are targeted because of race or other factors. It will become equivalent to a government sanctioned lynch mob if programs like VOICE are allowed to continue.
I can be found as @ceparmele on twitter.

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