On fear and socialism - Isvett Verde in NYT:

'I’m a Cuban-American from Miami, and I’m not surprised that around 52 percent of Cuban-Americans in Florida voted for Mr. Trump. No one who was paying attention could be. In the weeks leading up to the election, Cubans in Miami composed a salsa song in support of Mr. Trump and organized Trump caravans hundreds of cars long.

It may sound ridiculous, but some of those voters are genuinely afraid of socialism, and he leaned into that. “We will never have a socialist country,” he promised. He understood that for Cubans and Venezuelans, the word is a reminder of the dysfunctional governments they left behind.

It didn’t matter as much to them that the punitive sanctions Mr. Trump imposed on Venezuela did nothing to dislodge an oppressive dictator, or that rolling back parts of President Barack Obama’s thaw on Cuba has only made things harder for families like mine back on the island. They cared that Mr. Trump delivered on his promises.'

Read the article here.

Some people are as afraid of socialism as others are afraid of the police, racists or white supremacists.

As open-minded liberals we should take other people's fear seriously shouldn't we?

The problem with rational thinking and being enlightened is that only certain fears are worthy of our time and consideration.

That's one of the reasons why reality keeps surprising us.