The other side.

 It's nice to occasionally stop to observe how the other side lives.

That's exactly what I did when I got a good deal from Grupon on a Ft. Lauderdale tour on the scenic waterway, dubbed the "Venice of America." 

Fort Lauderdale is reputed to be the yatching capital of the world, based on the number of super-yachts registered there.

I love the water and this city has lots, for the Intercoastal Waterway (man made) is a 3,000 mile navigation channel running parallel to the Atlantic Ocean. 

It can take you inland from Massachusetts through Florida to Brownsville at the Mexican border.

It's on the banks of this waterway in Florida that some of the world's super rich build a few of their holiday homes, parking their super-yachts out front.

I love the sculptors outside this mansion.

This was once owned by the fake tv psychic  who called herself "Miss Cleo. " She went to jail for tax evasion and government seized and sold her home. 

Houses here normally range from $30 million up. A residential, empty, open lot in the area just sold from $53 million!

A sand bank where people can park their boats and swim in shallow water.

This 375 foot super-yacht which has a helicopter pad, cost a $325 million. It's owned by a Japanese billionaire but has only 18 cabins and a crew of 36!

It  carries a large fishing boat in the center back!

The front view.

The Waterway is so busy that the Ft. Lauderdale bridge opens up every half hour to let boats go through. 

Tourism in general is down though, mainly  because Trump has alienated  the Canadians who had usually flooded Florida for their vacations.

The beaches are relatively empty.

Its so empty that many life guards are not needed anymore.

 

The waterway is busy though with all sorts of contraptions moving around.

The yellow boat is the
  water taxi that services Ft. LAUDERDALE.

Our little tour boat

Colorful pedestrian bridge 

I love being out on the water, so always enjoy the Intercoastal treks. However my big annual event is going home to catch me some big fish.🎣

Can barely wait till next month.

Divide and rule

When the first white settlers set foot in North America, they tried to wipe out the native people totally, in order to steal their land. 

The rest of the well-armed white world stood silently and observed the attempted genocide but did nothing.

The white settlers learnt a lifelong lesson about the inaction of spectators.

So since gaining control of this great land, they have perfected the art of maintaining total dominance and control over every other race, whether native or fellow immigrants, by exploiting differences and picking them off one by one.

For they recognize the truth of  Edmond Burke's words; " The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men (people) to do nothing."

They brought in black slaves from Africa and when they could no longer work them to death, their various white supremacist groups tried to violently eliminate them. Those that survived were subjected to the most vicious psychological, financial and physical atrocities. While a few whites were uncomfortable with this, because they loved the benefits of white privilege more, the majority remained silent. 

Many minorities here, also remained silent as they had never been enslaved.

Next, the oppressors targeted the Japanese who had come in and helped to build their railroads.

Other minorities kept their eyes tightly closed.

After 2002, it was the Muslims, because of the bombing of the twin towers and because their religion was different.

Most other minorities have remained basically silent, whether out of religious differences or fear.

Hispanics who had long been conveniently divided by the 'rulers' between the privileged Cubans and others, were next in line. So after 2016, they were lumped into one group because they were procreating too rapidly and they were just not white enough for the ruling Republican establishment.

Most members of other minority groups have basically looked on in silence.

Then in 2020, Corona virus made not only Chinese citizens in the USA but also anyone looking like a south east Asian, the target of the hatred. So today, hourly news reports about such people being harassed, cursed, spitted on and violently attacked, lead the news. 
 I have even seen tweets and other comments from minorities who comment approvingly, for they had long resented the superior attitude of many of the Asian people and the advantages some are given in the universities.

The ability of the white American establishment to find and exploit differences that keep minorities dividied while they rule supreme, has led me to wonder whether most of us have never understood the depth of the poem written in the 1930's by German cleric Martin Niemoeller. 

It said;

“In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

 Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. 

 Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

 Then they came for the Catholics and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. 

Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.”

When will we learn that "divide and conquer" will always give oppressors the edge over us?

https://youtu.be/HUTn8cmBi9c