The Immigrant

I administered a speaking test via Zoom tonight to a new ESL student who is a refugee from anti-Muslim violence and "ethnic cleansing" in a country in Asia. He will start in our Basic Literacy class, as he has only a few words of English presently. He was able to answer the question, "Do you work?" "Yeah," he said. When I asked him, "Where do you work?" it was more English than he knew and he could not respond.

It struck me how tough this mild mannered young man must be. Via text messages I exchanged with his roommate before the test, I gathered that he works full-time during the day. He is living in Chicago, getting to and from his job on public transit and working all day. This, after fleeing for his life from his birthplace. I tried to put myself in his position – torn from my country and in a large Asian city where I can only understand a dozen words of their bewildering language. Such circumstances could really break a person; I am not at all sure how I would fare. And yet here he was, registering to take English classes at night online.

One of the things he was able to communicate to me was his name. Out of concern for his privacy, I can't say it. I will say, however, that it is an English language word, with an altered spelling, that refers to a tool of survival that many creatures possess. It signifies strength. He is exactly the type person that Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, and Steven Miller are seeking to prevent from having refuge in the US.

Theirs is a level cruelty, stupidity and evil that beggars belief.

What About Gavin McInnes?

Gavin McInnes. He moved to Brooklyn in the 90s, dressed like a passive aggressive fool and fop, co-founded VICE and is credited with "inventing the hipster." His obnoxiousness gets him run out of VICE, he co-founds a hipster marketing company called Rooster and, shocker, he's asked to leave Rooster after a few years. Too much of an asshole and a sexist. Addicted to attention, Gavin forms a polo shirt army of desperate American men named Proud Boys, in a nod to a song written for "Aladdin" but not included in the Disney movie. In the song, the young Aladdin addresses his mother, telling her he'll stop causing trouble and getting into mischief and make her proud one day. The song was written by two Jews (a people Gavin hates) within a story borrowed from Arab culture (a people Gavin hates). Ah, but this irony is not lost on Gavin because, similar to his hero Donald "John" Trump, all is a big, cynical joke to Gavin. Isn't that cool?! He's a fascist hipster! He's ironic whenever it suits him! Moral and intellectual consistency?! That's for losers!

The all male Proud Boys are "Fight Club" without the mystery and complexity, are "Clockwork Orange" without the imagination and social critique. They are morally bankrupt chumps whining about trans people and trumpeting "Western chauvinism." Did you catch the final word of the last sentence? Gavin thinks it's cool to privilege a culture that can be credibly accused of being on a 500-year crime spree - plundering, marauding, enslaving people and fouling the natural world - and not defend it on its merits, but on "chauvinism."

No matter! Violence and misogynist rhetoric are all just one big jolly romp for Gavin! This is fascism for handlebar mustache hipsters. Mussolini for the craft beer and tattooed man set. Gavin speaks about violence as something recreational and therapeutic. Funny, I've not noticed its salutary effects. Anybody I've ever known who is really into violence either ends up dead or a deeply embittered psycho. For Gavin, the fascist ethos of "might makes right" is a plucky fashion statement. The cheesy, retro Proud Boys logo looks like a cologne brand for eternally adolescent men. Funny, Gavin still stinks.