Here's the one telling sentence in an article at the Washington Post on the results of a Pew poll showing that an increasing number of Americans, including more than a third of those who identify themselves as conservative Republicans, believe that President Obama is a Muslim:
"Misinformation?" No, the word is lies. Lies deliberately spread by that so-called "media" to which the 60% listen. Lies that are the continuation of the propaganda campaign to de-legitimize Barack Obama and his election as President of the Unites States.
When their sources of "information" are Limbaugh, Beck, Palin, and Fox News--when they're fed a steady diet of 'we want to see the birth certificate' and "Obama has a hatred of white people and white culture" and he bows to the Saudi king and "pals around with terrorists"--- when they hear Limbaugh say things like this: "Imam Hussein Obama" is "probably the best anti-American president the country's ever had":
I'm shocked that the number isn't closer to 100%.
But make no mistake about it, the goal of this entire string of lies, distortions, character assassinations, and hatemongering--from 'the president isn't a REAL American', to the destruction of ACORN, to the smearing of Shirley Sherrod, to the Arizona immigration law, to the talk of repealing the Fourteenth Amendment, to the latest uproar over the Islamic center in New York City--is all about playing on the ignorance, bigotry, and fear of the almost exclusively white listening audience and to make it about "Us" versus "Them." "They" are trying to take over and "we" have to "take our country back"
Will Bunch at philly.com has a must-read article in which he describes it as "America's war on "the Other." Here are a few excerpts but please read the entire post.
"Among those who say Obama is a Muslim, 60 percent say they learned about his religion from the media, suggesting that their opinions are fueled by misinformation."
"Misinformation?" No, the word is lies. Lies deliberately spread by that so-called "media" to which the 60% listen. Lies that are the continuation of the propaganda campaign to de-legitimize Barack Obama and his election as President of the Unites States.
When their sources of "information" are Limbaugh, Beck, Palin, and Fox News--when they're fed a steady diet of 'we want to see the birth certificate' and "Obama has a hatred of white people and white culture" and he bows to the Saudi king and "pals around with terrorists"--- when they hear Limbaugh say things like this: "Imam Hussein Obama" is "probably the best anti-American president the country's ever had":
I'm shocked that the number isn't closer to 100%.
But make no mistake about it, the goal of this entire string of lies, distortions, character assassinations, and hatemongering--from 'the president isn't a REAL American', to the destruction of ACORN, to the smearing of Shirley Sherrod, to the Arizona immigration law, to the talk of repealing the Fourteenth Amendment, to the latest uproar over the Islamic center in New York City--is all about playing on the ignorance, bigotry, and fear of the almost exclusively white listening audience and to make it about "Us" versus "Them." "They" are trying to take over and "we" have to "take our country back"
Will Bunch at philly.com has a must-read article in which he describes it as "America's war on "the Other." Here are a few excerpts but please read the entire post.
"The national brouhaha over the $100 million Muslim Park51/Cordoba House proposal is not an anomaly but rather the culmimation of an alarming downturn in America's mood, its discourse, and even our former ambitions as a beacon of religious and political tolerance. In 2010, a large swath of the American public -- led by ratings-mad media mavens and immoral politicians like Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin -- had declared out all-out war on "the Other" in America in all its alleged forms, from immigrants to Muslims to non-white aides working in the West Wing of the White House and of course the president himself.
And it is threatening to rip America apart in a way that we have not seen in 145 years.
[...]
Much of that fear centered on one simple fact: That America is increasingly becoming a non-white-dominated country. While many Americans take no issue with that, the prospect of an America with an increasingly non-Caucasian face is a deeply disturbing one to millions of people -- people for whom a unified and traditional culture is a source of solidarity and comfort...
...the bottom line was that for many, reports that whites will be a minority of Americans by the year 2050 carried the shill ring of an alarm bell. But this concern about the submersion of a dominant white culture in America spiked prematurely in 2008 with the political rise of Obama.
...the political firestorm with its epicenter in lower Manhattan really has nothing to do with 9/11 or its aftermath, and everything to do with "the Other" the awful forces and fears that have been unleashed in the last couple of years -- fears that craven politicians like Gingrich, Palin and the formerly rational Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota are eager to surf into the White House in 2013.
[...]
Let's face it: This country has long had its Know-Nothings and its Birchers and its McCarthyites, but it never had gizmos like Fox News or Sarah Palin's Twitter feed to fuel toxic ideas so far so fast. It's time we admit these seemingly disconnected battles over "anchor babies, mosques, and a black man in the Oval Office are all part of the same war against "the Other," and that we are in the fight of a lifetime."
I had not hear that before. That's funny.
Kind of what I was saying before, it is hard to combat fear with facts. Not saying to give up on those things. I find them quite useful, but you have to identify where the fear is coming from and go from there. At the core, the conservative movement is afraid that their particular brand of conservatism (Reaganomics) is worm food. If Obama is allowed to do what he wants it just might work. What then?
For the others we know what they are afraid of. Rachel Maddow said it about as well as anyone. A friend from college called it the "radical redistribution of wealth."
Isn't that how we know the toothbrush was invented in Kentucky? Invented elsewhere and it would be called the teethbrush.
One of my other favorite lines was spoken by George Costanza on "Seinfeld". He said, "It's not a lie if YOU believe it."
There is also some relationship between IQ and teeth, but I forget.
Studies have shown that IQ is inversely proportional to the median distance one lives from a chemical plant or refinery.
It's what I call the Santa Claus syndrome. It seems to me that most of the right wing nutjobs are smart enough to realize that Obama is not a Muslim nor was he born in Kenya but yet deep down inside they want to believe that he was.
They irrationally want to believe that we are on the brink of economic collapse and even though their 401k's and IRA's are up 50% since Mr. Bush left office we have to be near a double dip.
The nutjobs are well aware that fear caused by economic uncertainty mixed with a heavy dose of Propaganda will sway the simple minded.
The sad fact is it will. Fear caused us to unlawfully detain Japanese Americans during WWII. Fear caused us to resort to water boarding enemy combatants" or whatever you want to call them and fear caused us to suspend Habeas Corpus.
FDR should have said "the only thing we have to fear is right wing spin machine during the dark times."
If that story had been video I'm sure we would have seen his nictitating reptilian eyeballs all aglow...
I gotcha and what I'm saying is that if something that horrific doesn't stir up enough emotion to make that parallel for someone, what will?
This is a link to a column that runs weekly in the Alvin Sun:
http://www.alvinsun.net/articles/2010/08/11/opinion/doc4c6346513a9bf852491403.txt
4th paragraph - Obama's a Muslim. While it's true that the average IQ drops the further south you go in Brazoria County this is an example of the kind of stupidity the Right is willing to condone.
I feel real apprehension when I contemplate our country's future
I agree but what I'm saying is that facts weren't going to sway those folks back then either. Today, you have to keep making the emotional parallels. Then people can make an emotional connection to the truth.
Gandhi
I've seen a few pictures of bald indians after an encounter with French colonists
My favorite quote of all time is from Mark Twain who said, "95% of the people in the world are idiots. And the other 5% of us are in danger of contagion."
It is extremely easy to sway and otherwise misinform a lot of people in this country.Most think if it's on TV it MUST be true. Others think anybody with similar beliefs who stands up on a stage and has a microphone is a prophet.
My grandpa always said there's a difference between ignorant and stupid. To quote Ron White, "You can't fix stupid."
As one who considers's himself eloquently coiffed, I think Rick Perry gets a lot of undeserved flak about his beautiful hair.
Recently I met one of my wife's co-workers, she said my hair loked "so nice" she (had the nerve) to ask if it was a toupe. My wife said, no, that's his hair. He got it from his dad who had a full head of lucious hair when he died at 78. I think that is from my 1/16 Cherokee. After all, did you ever see a bald indian??????
What I find really disturbing is that something like, say, The Holocaust is not enough to sway people. Granted, I didn’t live in Germany during that time period but I’d bet if we had a time machine, we could go back there and we’d hear things like “The Jews are taking over our country” and “We don’t want them here”. It’s actually kind of spooky how that sentiment echoes all day long right in front of us, only with a different group being the target.
desp, the problem is that Faux ranks so high in viewer-ship among a populace that has grown lazy about educating itself on current events.
we know from the LDS Church in Utah as well as from the New England Genealogical and Historical Society who Obama is related to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_of_Barack_Obama
it's even laid out in family tree pictorials:
http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&q=obama+family+tree&wrapid=tlif12822411876402&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=HnJtTIq5OcyonQfdhempCA&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CDYQsAQwBA&biw=1003&bih=596
what is missing are teachers telling kids the truth in school so they can go home and straighten out their parents; that Robert E. Lee has the same ancestor as Obama, that Dick Cheney and Obama have a common ancestor, and Wild Bill Hickock has a common ancestor with Obama, and Bush 41 & 43 share a Mayflower ancestor with Obama, and Harry Truman....- the list goes on and on.
the class-room teachers will get out the word that a person with a different skin color can be just as ' mer-i-kun ' as another, no matter what garbage is put forth to a prejudiced portion of the population by a craven corporate outfit making money promoting bigotry.
The problem is that it isn't a battle between some amorphous blob that is all racists, sexist, religiously intolerant, or any other thing you can think of. Conservatives know full well that they can't go a bigots vs. the rest in any election and win.
What they do know is that they most people have something or some group they are prejudiced against. If they can trump up enough issues to rope in these folks they combine to make a pretty good force.
The point is that we must look inward and think of ourselves. We all have one or two pet issues where emotion takes over. It could be a social issue, economic issue, religious issue, or Rick Perry's hair. Whatever it is, ask yourself what it would take to sway you the other way. I'm guessing all the facts in the world won't do it.
From the article: "Let's face it: This country has long had its Know-Nothings and its Birchers and its McCarthyites, but it never had gizmos like Fox News or Sarah Palin's Twitter feed to fuel toxic ideas so far so fast. It's time we admit these seemingly disconnected battles over "anchor babies, mosques, and a black man in the Oval Office are all part of the same war against "the Other," and that we are in the fight of a lifetime."
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You can debate this all day long, and many have. THis says it about as simply and succintly as possible. The big question is, is this a fight we can win? I think that there's a good 22-32% of the population that falls firmly in the racist category. Those beliefs are very much entrenched in some segments of our society. But, we have come a long way in 50 years. Maybe in another 50 that segment of the population will be insignificant. Let's hope.
As I've said before, the right figured out a long time ago that people are more motivated by fear than information. Everyone has a base visceral/emotional reaction to any event. Every last one of us has let an emotional reaction govern our feeling about a particular event. The difference comes in how often we allow that to happen.
The problem is that as long as we continue to use facts in the face of emotion we will only capture a portion of the population. Facts are irrefutable, but they are also weak as compared to emotion. I had an argument with someone at work today and she was convinced I was talking about her when I made a generalized statement. Doesn't matter that I wasn't. Heck, she wasn't even there in the situation I was talking about. Facts sometimes don't matter. It doesn't mean we should stop issuing facts, but we also have to deal with the underlying emotion and provide an alternative one.
The doctors have done a "bang up" job of keeping the chickens out of the office - 380 million eggs at our disposal to reply with!
By the way, now is an excellent time to throw eggs at the unbelievers!
I sent the Pew Center research link out just yesterday to a preacher here in Central Texas because I couldn't bear his right wing rap about Obama anymore. Haven't heard back from him today, but it will be interesting to see if he does any research and sends me any retraction of his odious comments in return.
The populace has been indeed poisoned by fear and prejudice, and it is time to re-educate the misinformed. Gently, if possible, but sternly if otherwise!
I often try to calm the fears of the 'race' by showing pictures of my Hispanic family. It's kind of a joke really because half of my grand nephews and nieces (I don't condone it but I have two nephews that are quite prolific...if you know what I mean) for example have platinum blond hair and blue eyes.
You see, that's my answer to the hysteria...while there will always be a small core of readily identifiable 'others' the vast majority will join the melting pot and in honor of Archie Bunker's trademark phrase 'only be recognizable as regular Americans.'
Ironically, I have a Vietnamese buddy who insists that he's not racist and yet it is obvious that he is a virulent anti 'others' (military upbringing). I showed him my family picture and remarked that he was looking at the future that he so greatly fears.
On the other hand, to the particularly stupid I remind that borders have always functioned as Darwinian filters.
What a bunch of effin mental midgets they are.
Unbelievable.