All Things Real: Why are People Angry?

This post has been on my mind for a couple of weeks now, or perhaps months. I've noticed that many people are.....ANGRY. And for some reason, people like me (who share some of the same worldviews that I do) are to blame, and I can not for one, figure out what we've done wrong? Let's take this back a few weeks for just one specific example, shall we?

A few weeks back, a friend of mine who I served with in Germany, shared a story about Vets being deported. The story was from Snopes.com. It was from 2016, but the posting on Facebook, a public forum, gave the impression that the Vets were being deported due to Trump's immigration ban. I researched the claim, and I stated on the Facebook post that the story was from 2016, that it was not part of Trump's immigration ban, but during Obama's administration.

To make it clear, my response was simply stating that the story being posted was just bad timing due to the impression that it gives regarding the illegal immigration issue. There is nothing for or against Trump, the immigration ban, or anything like that. I just wanted to point out to my friend that his post was bad timing due to what's going on in the world.

And, someone responded. He responded to my post saying that Vets shouldn't be deported. My response to him was that if they aren't US citizens, then they are here illegally, regardless if they served for the US or not. This went back and forth for some time, even after I told him that the US is one of the only countries that you can join and serve and not be a US citizen. I told him that I had done research for the Army in Austrailia (which pays quite of bit more than the US), but that you had to apply for citizenship prior to joining. You also have to have citizenship in England, Canada, Germany, and S. Korea before joining the Army in those countries. (There are too many countries to research, but for every other country that I researched, you MUST become a citizen first, or apply for citizenship BEFORE joining another country's Army!)

Then, suddenly, the conversation turned. The guy got angry. Very angry. He accused me of not wanting anything to do with anyone that didn't speak the "white devil tongue." He accused me of being racist, fascist, and using "white privilege" to get my way. The conversation turned because I stated my personal stance on the immigration issue, and here it is: If you are born here, you are a citizen. If you come here legally, file the paperwork to gain citizenship, then you are a citizen. Otherwise, you are here illegally! (Outside of marriage to a US Citizen.) I also stated that if I wanted to move to Germany or any other country, that I would have to not only fill out the paperwork to apply for citizenship, I would also have to learn to speak that country's language. I have friends that are living in Germany, and they have to take a German language proficiency test, both written and oral.

Look, I'm for immigrants. Thousands of people come to the US every year legally and become citizens, and do great things.

But my problem is, this guy, who knows nothing about me, accused me of being racist, speaking the 'white devil tongue' and using white privilege to get things my way. He accused me of being a horrible, racist person, and he was seriously angry at me. The thing that is most puzzling to me, he's white! He's a white, Jewish, American citizen that lives in Maine. His facebook cover picture is a graphic that says #endfascism. I'm a white, Christian American that spent some time growing up on the streets and in and out of poor neighborhoods. We are both white, and we are both Americans. The only difference between us is our religion and the fact that he's from the north and I'm not. Yet, I'm the racist one, and he's angry. And for what? Why is he, and the rest of America SO angry?

And just to make things clear, it is sad that Vets are being deported; however, it is easier for people who serve in the US Military to file for citizenship and to gain citizenship should they chose to stay in America once their service to this country is done. Vet status or not, if you are in America illegally, then guess what, you are here illegally. It's a jagged little pill to swallow to some, but it's the law of the United States! Regardless if they are American citizens or not, all Veterans of the US Military who served honorably have earned their Veteran benefits and get to keep them regardless of which country they live in.