Being Muslim is a Pre-Existing Condition

Reuters photo

By

Ahmed Tharwat

The frat boys of the Republican House of Representatives, celebrating the TrumpCare win in the Rose Garden was the most disgusting, lewd political act in recent years. We aren’t even going to talk about the absence of women in this political binge celebration.

Gloating about dropping the MOAB, the Mother of All Bills on millions of Americans, shows the vengeful nature of the GOP, who seem to be acting like a hate group; hating the sick, poor, seniors, Muslims, women, and immigrants. Chauncey DeVega asked in Salon “Why do Republicans and conservatives have such disdain for the weak, the vulnerable and the sick? Why do they want to kill the “useless eaters?”

This caused a major outcry from the pundits, healthcare experts, doctors and hospital officials. On the other hand, the pro-life faithful have no problem causing bankruptcy, suffering, and even death to the poor and sick. If you are sick or poor it is your fault and your personal responsibility to be heathy and rich, because nobody dies from not having health insurance, their perverse claim. This is easy to say for someone who is guaranteed a free fully-covered health insurance for life. We are talking about growing up as rich white men cheering for healthcare which was coined by some as ‘death care’ that will leave millions of people without insurance and could potentially cause the death of a large number of people with chronic diseases, in addition to denying it for people with pre-existing conditions.

This is taking place when Trump is cutting billions of dollars in taxes for the 1% super rich billionaires like himself. Millions of white middle class Americans are waking up to this monstrous healthcare bill, and are rallying and demonstrating all over the nation since Trump promised to repeal ACA, better known as Obamacare.

I attended a few of these demonstrations here in the Twin Cities. The biggest concern of those folks, who were mostly white and participating for the first time, was the fact that TrumpCare is hurting them personally and threatening their personal life, most of all not covering their pre-existing condition.

As a Muslim American, I have been politically active all my life, but where were all those white folks who take their songs and march every week, all these years?

In America being a Muslim is a pre-existing condition for discrimination and Islamophobia. Being black is a pre-existing condition for discrimination and racism. Being a woman is a pre-existing condition for sexism and objectification of women. Being an immigrant is a pre-existing condition for discrimination and exploitation. We all have a pre-existing condition of some sort and being mature we accept them all and they have a place in our midst, our neighborhoods, work, and country. We understand them all.

Still the Republicans and conservatives are cheering for this sickening and evil health care of Trump, showing the adolescent nature of our culture, where being selfish is a virtue, greed is good and sharing and giving to the needy is considered un-American. Jesus loves the rich, and your wealth shows your faith and your goodness.

Your failure to stay healthy is your fault, and it is your responsibility, a crime and you must be punished for it. But whose fault is it when trillions of dollars is wasted on militarism and building an industrial complex that won’t keep us all safe? Can I opt out of that, can we abolish the military and everyone fights for him/herself?

According to recent Pew Research; Republicans are more likely to blame the poor, who believe the reason someone is poor generally has more to do with of a lack of effort (56%) than circumstances beyond a person’s control (32%). In fact the circumstances play a major role in people’s fortune and future. However, social scientists assert again and again that America is extremely hierarchical and circumstances like family, wealth and income – as well as race and gender – are more important than “hard work” in determining an individual’s class mobility.

Is being a Muslim a pre-existing condition in America today, you bet it is. It has been for a long time. Muslims must now work harder than privileged white folks. We have to be careful what to wear, what to say and do. We must cleanse our charged language to moderate and adhere to cute Islam, where women have to wear a hat instead of a hijab, veer away from words that are too ethnic for some folks; like fasting in Ramadan, Halal, Sharia, Jihad, fight, faithful Muslim. We must ethnically cleanse our life and adopt, prepare our houses when we have American guests, no funny smelly food, no hummus, no falafel, or baba ganoush, no Islamic signs, Arabic music, and make sure to put prayer rugs away when the cable man or plumber are coming.

Hey America, being human is a pre-existing condition, as being Muslim, we must worry not only about the banning of Muslims and Islamophobia, but also the banning of health care!

Ahmed Tharwat

Ahmed Tharwat is the Producer and Host of the Arab-American TV show BelAhdan. His articles are published in national and international publications. He blogs at Notes from America, www.ahmediatv.com and his articles appear in national and international publications. Follow him on Twitter @AhmediaTV.