The Power of Words

Alyssa Hirsch

Dr. Muck

PSC 222

01/14/18

The Power of Words

“A warm good morning to everyone except Donald Trump. Love to everyone from "shithole" South Africa”. The presence of the South African flag icon followed by a classic yellow smiling face just served as the cherry on top of this beautifully crafted tweet from attorney and self-proclaimed “politics junkie”, Grant Caswell. This post, while superbly witty and full of grit, highlights a terrifying presence amongst American elites of prejudice and racism that should strike fury in the hearts of anyone who has even the remotest grasp on history, which clearly, the president of the United States does not.This, unlike other things you hear about, is not just “news”. This comment rumored to be stated by President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, on January 11th during a meeting in the White House to discuss immigration matters, serves to glorify a nation that single handedly brought misery to an entire continent during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The repercussions of this statement will no doubt affect the United States socially, economically and politically in the future.

The key to conducting international relations in an effective way is to first have courtesy and respect for the other individual or individuals. In some way and in some mode, everyone comes into contact with someone at the international level, whether it be via social media, person-to-person contact, or e-business. The point is, everyone serves as a mini ambassador to their country and the key to being a good representative is to display an air of both interest for the other culture and humility regarding the fact that every state has its share of problems and whether or not one agrees to it, someone may be in the mood to air that dirty laundry. Beyond just showing mere interest however, it is important to have what is known as “cultural literacy”, or the knowledge to work effectively with or within another culture. This is way more crucial than what people in past decades have been bred to think, specifically that taking time to get to know and interact with other countries will destroy the sovereignty of the United States. I believe that the term “sovereignty” is continuously being taken out of context. The United States is perfectly capable of self rule; there is no doubt in my mind about this. However, people seem to equate sharing territory to loss of hegemony. This is perhaps, out of the realization that this is the method used by the Puritans in the settling of this God-given land in the first place.  

The United States is the second largest exporter of goods in the world. This does not just happen overnight. This is the product of learning about the resources that other countries have to offer and respectfully making trade deals with them that ultimately satisfy both economies. This is subjective at the moment, however, given that the United States is a flourishing industrial economy and the citizens of Bangladesh are still recovering from the 2013 collapse of the Savar clothing factory and are thus living in poverty. While it is not fair to be of the mindset that the United States has to come to the rescue of every nation in the world, it is still necessary to be aware of what is happening internationally so as to be understanding of the lack of cooperation from the country, as well as the opportunity to offer support. Nowhere is the alternative to sit back and refer to the nation, or in this case, continent, in a derogatory manner.

The most severe consequence resulting from these words is no doubt the potential political ramifications. Politics is the ability to make choices to help people get what they want. To perform this at an international level is no easy task, but with the help of other like minded countries, alliances will be made that can last a lifetime. No one, I repeat, no one, wants to be insulted. The best solution I can offer to our Mr. President is to actually travel to these “shithole” countries and do some sightseeing. Take in the beauty. Make some new friends. He is definitely going to need some.