Of hurricanes and stupidity | GilaValleyCentral.Net

Editorial By Mike Bibb

You knew it was just a matter of time before President Trump was blamed for causing hurricanes. Not only that, he’s also responsible for making the storms racist.

In a Facebook post on Sept. 4 that has since gone viral, garnering more than 72,000 shares and 41,000 comments, user Breanna Danielle informed the social media crowd that the president was directing the storms to strike Texas and Florida because these areas have a significant population of Hispanics and other ethnic minorities. He’s doing this, according to Danielle, to “flood them out.”

One wonders why the president – even if he could – would want to flood them out?  

Breanna commented, “So they say Hurricane Irma is headed for Miami. Did y’all realize 70% of Miami is Latino, Hispanic or Cuban?? 44% of the Haitian population in the US resides in Miami. Miami is like Houston in which it is FLOURISHING economically. Coincidence?  Trump wants them off our land so what better way than to flood them out.  Read between the lines people.” (sic)

Her initial post undoubtedly has been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people.

It’s certainly no secret President Trump has become the primary suspect in virtually every conceivable political ploy, social misfortune, economic ailment, and now even weather disturbances.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we soon find out he’s remotely launching missiles in North Korea and blaming it on Lil’ Kim Jong Un. After all, if he can form-up hurricanes, a ballistic missile shoot from several thousand miles away shouldn’t be particularly difficult.  

But before we dismiss Breanna’s remarks as the ravings of an oxygen-starved mind, maybe there’s a more logical explanation – stupidity. 

Apparently in her zeal to link the president with Hurricanes Harvey and Irma (with Jose close behind), she’s apparently forgotten – or didn’t know – that most major tropical Atlantic storms are spawned off the coast of Africa and spin across the ocean to strike the New World. If there’s any racism involved, Breanna needs to take her complaints to the various west coast African nations and demand they stop it. 

If that doesn’t work, she can appeal to the United Nations. Although to be truthful, I can’t remember the last time the UN successfully halted a hurricane, typhoon or even a dust devil.

There were many replies to her post that didn’t share a similar opinion. Actually, from the several dozen or more that I reviewed, most were amazed at her unfounded conclusions or felt pity for her lack of knowledge and common sense.

But if only 15 percent of the responses agreed with Breanna’s statements, that represents a substantial portion of society. And most of them are socially attached through the various electronic gizmos that permeate our lives. They may not know the obvious differences between Antarctica and Alabama, but they possess sufficient aptitude to quickly connect to each other via the Internet or Verizon Wireless.   

While it’s becoming an accepted truism that “you just can’t fix stupid,” it’s equally evident it can’t be restrained in today’s cyber world either. 

The views and opinions expressed in this editorial are those of the author.

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