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To sacrifice God for nothingness\u2014this paradoxical mystery of the ultimate cruelty has been reserved for the rising generation; we all know something thereof already. In a recent interview, a person who recently voted for Trump reflected on the pain and suffering imposed by the current reign of detention and deportation for immigrants: \u201cYou could say it seems really cruel, but at the same time, wasn’t it really cruel when we had an open border and just let all these people in<\/a>?\u201d No.<\/p>\n No matter one\u2019s view on the \u201copen border\u201d, having an open border is not really cruel, and saying so empties the word cruel<\/em> of all its meaning. From its inception, in the late 13th<\/sup> century, to today, cruelty<\/em> has meant wanting to inflict suffering; taking pleasure in the pains of others; being completely devoid of kindness or compassion; being merciless, pitiless, hard-hearted. Being dead, and worse, inside.<\/p>\n The real issue isn\u2019t the \u201ccorrect\u201d definition of cruelty, but rather the complete gutting of the word and concept. In what universe is the violence committed against immigrants equivalent to an \u201copen border\u201d (an entity which the United States never countenanced anyway, but that\u2019s another conversation)? In what universe is the terror imposed upon children, women, men, nonbinary people, families and others equivalent to the free passage of migrants across a border, any border? In the universe of grievance, in which meaning become meaningless.<\/p>\n In the universe of grievance, any complaint becomes reality, and that reality imposes equivalence, which then becomes identity, and there you have it. And so really<\/em> the open border, which again never existed, is the same as abducting, terrorizing and torturing the most vulnerable people and community. Isn\u2019t it? Isn\u2019t it? No.<\/p>\n No matter what aspect of social, political, economic, emotional, personal, environment or other justice you may be engaged in pursuing or caring about, the current administration is not only attacking it but trying to exterminate it and its exponents. More often than not, our responses have involved the discovery, \u201cThe cruelty is the point.\u201d In 2018, Adam Serwer wrote \u201cThe Cruelty Is the Point<\/a>\u201d, noting, \u201cPresident Trump and his supporters find community by rejoicing in the suffering of those they hate and fear.\u201d In the same year, Julianne Hing wrote \u201cFor Trump, Cruelty Is the Point<\/a>\u201d, noting, \u201cUnder Trump, the country has embarked on an enforcement policy that willfully causes suffering and that doesn\u2019t even factor into the decisions of desperate people trying to escape dangerous situations …. Like so much else with this administration, the US immigration agenda is now being driven by a disdain for the most vulnerable communities among us.\u201d<\/p>\n Well, it\u2019s 2025, and the \u201ccruelty is the point\u201d argument has returned. While at one level, the argument is correct: those supporting the current administrative policies take pleasure and find community by rejoicing in the pain and suffering they\u2019re causing others. But the argument doesn\u2019t go far enough. For those who formulate and implement the policies, the point is there is no point. There is no point to the policy, there is no point of no return, there is no middle point and no end point. There is only power, sacrificing all for nothingness. The cruelty is not the point; it\u2019s the pointlessness.<\/p>\n (By Dan Moshenberg)<\/p>\n
\nFriederich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil<\/a><\/p>\n