One of the most nonsensical arguments in years is ramping up and going viral around the country, maybe even around the world for that matter.
Is it a concentration camp? Is it a detention camp? Is it summer camp? Does it really make a difference what we are calling what is going on at our southern border courtesy of this administration?
The use of the term "concentration camp" is fraught with historical significance and imagery. The administration apologists are screeching that it is an insult to Jews around the world, and especially the survivors of the Holocaust to call them concentration camps. This having been said, I don't hear a word from these same people about what is going on in those camps. I would further note that I do not speak for an entire people; however, I am a Jew, and I am one of the lucky ones. The part of my family that got out in time included my father's parents. The rest of the family is gone. On behalf of at least myself, I would note that this Jew is not at all insulted that some are calling these abominations concentration camps. I also do not believe anyone should be insulted by the truth ingrained in the term as it applies to what is going on.
But...
Maybe it is too much for some people to call what is going on at our southern border concentration camp. Maybe we ought to hold off on calling the hellholes and the conditions that immigrants, and especially immigrant children are being held under "concentration camps". Maybe by doing that, we are allowing them to get away with hijacking the argument and getting us all stuck in semantics, thereby ignoring the real problem.
And we all know what the real problem is.
The real problem is not what you call these hellholes. You don't like "concentration camp"? Fine. I don't imagine you want to follow Laura Ingraham and call them "summer camp". At least at the summer camps I attended and worked at, they made you shower, they made you brush your teeth, they gave you a real bed to sleep in, even if it was not all that comfortable, and they turned out the lights at night so you had a fighting chance to get some sleep. At summer camp, they also took pains to make sure you were writing regularly to your parents, and making efforts to keep parents advised as to how you were doing.
So call them what you want. Concentration Camps. Detention Centers. Summer Camps. Hellholes. Heck, call them the White House Annex for Marauding Hordes of Displaced Hispanic Children.
Just don't get caught up in arguing semantics and lose sight of the real atrocities taking place right here, right now, and right in front of us.
We are separating children, including infants and toddlers, from their families all because their parents came here seeking asylum from the violence and poverty of their own countries. While statistical certainty exists to believe that not every single one of those seeking to come to this country are angels, our history, our heritage, indeed what makes this country the United States of America is that we accept those seeking asylum into this great melting pot, thereby enriching us with their customs and traditions, and expanding the greatness of what is this country. What we ought to be doing is welcoming these people with open arms into our society. Helping them assimilate and start new and productive lives here.
Instead, we are treating them like animals. No, we are treating them worse than animals. At least we feed our pets, and if they are sick, we take them to the vet. We are now starving children. We have created an entire generation of young people who are likely to carry the scars of their detention in these hellholes the rest of their lives, regardless of how this now turns out. We are reading stories of ten year olds having to cuddle and nurture two year olds, all the while having to remind us that they are children too. Do we really need to be reading this sort of thing? Then we are reading about volunteers bringing food, clothing, soaps, diapers, etc., to these hellholes, only to be denied entry and only to have the donations refused.
So do not get distracted by the greatest distraction machine ever to manipulate public opinion from what really matters. Do not get caught up in what to call this. Regardless of label, it is an atrocity and a crime against humanity.
Do not let those who try to distract and say this would stop if only the Democrats would agree to immigration reform. Remember, this administration and their apologists have the ability at any time to stop this. You do not commit acts of barbarity to score political points at the expense of children. This is not American. This is not who we ever were, let alone who we aspire to be.
Remember when...
Give me your tired, your poor
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free
The wretched refuse of your teeming shores
Send these, the homeless tempest tossed to me
I lift my lamp beside the golden door
Emma Lazarus must be weeping.
So should the rest of us.
