As we have seen over the past couple of years, prejudice and racism is on the rise. Xenophobia seems to be growing. All of it is threatening to come to a head. However, as I was reading Charles Krauthhammer's column on Sunday, while I usually disagree vehemently with him and did this time, I noticed again what we are dealing with.
The GOP, conservative movement, Fox news, and whoever else they claim in their tent is akin to a lion tamer in a circus. Naturally, I am not breaking new ground her. Everyone knows what is going on. The Teaparty movement by itself is not racist, but racists within the movement are not discouraged from performing their schict. The anti-immigration movement itself might not be bigoted, but they gladly accept bigots among their fold. Most people that are against the mosque being built near ground zero aren't Islamaphobes, but they make sure Islmaphobes know about it.
Thus, folks like Krauthammer associate noise with majorities. It's like a junior high pep rally. The spirit award is given to the class that screams the loudest. Whether that class actually has more people that are spirited or even more people does not matter. The fear we all have is what happens when noise becomes something greater. In the sports world, this is when an innocent fan gets trampled when the mob rushes the field. In the real world, it is when a zealot kills an innocent person because he or she doesn't look like them.
So, we get to the question in the title. Is it worse to be ignorant and bigoted or is it worse to use the ignorant and bigoted for your own gain? Both carry with them their own pitfalls. Ignorance and bigotry should never be defended. Yet, when someone uses those simpletons it is a simple sign of two things: they know they are beaten and they are unable to relenquish power even though they are beaten. Worse yet, they know good well that something bad can happen.
In Krauthammer's case, he dismisses the cries of racism, nativism, islamaphobia, and homophobia for the simple logical fact that not all that oppose the president are racists, not everyone that opposes illegal immigation is a xenophobe, not everyone that opposes the mosque is an islamaphobe, and not everyone that opposes same sex marriage is a homophobe. Yes, this is all true. Yet, notice who the conservative movement targets with their tactics. A good amount of the opponents of all of these initiatives/groups are not exactly educated or reasonable. You cannot continue to pour lighter fluid on the coals and then claim we're playing the race/bigot card. When you lay the ace of spades you can't pick it up again and pretend you didn't play it.
Oops, that was supposed to be "noble" gas.
Cobbo, I think you need to pull that "kick me" sign off your back already! ;-)
AH, cobbo is a southpaw politically and definitely not a xenophobe...unless he has an aversion to the nole gas Xenon (or that 70's NYC disco).
You and I frequently think alike. His line, "I don't know how many guys it would take to kick my ass, But, I knew how many they were gonna use. That's some pretty important information to have."
This is disintegrating quickly, but I think this is a precept of the group we are speaking. One should only recieve the largesse of our government if they look like us. Therefore, it is okay to bail out corporations through tax breaks and loopholes, but it is not okay to bail out others that don't wear a suit, don't have a first and last name easy to pronounce, and who I don't see in the pew on Sunday.
If a government is truly supposed to assist those that need assistance, it shouldn't stop to worry about whether those folks fall within our preconcieved notions of who deserves it. Deserve should have little to do with it. Need should have everything to do with it.
I'm unfamiliar with your moniker but judging by the tenor of your post I'm going to guess you're one of the resident xenophobes?
Superman is one of my heroes for sure. In complete truth I can say he was one of the early inspirations for my need to see truth, justice, and the American way realized in my home country. What I admired most about Superman was that he truly was an 'other' yet loved by all! Yet, my experiences were not representative of those highly vaunted precepts.
The American way has only regressed from that lowly start. When we as a nation are blind to what all of history and specifically American history can teach us then we are lost my friend.
The great majority of 'anchor babies' (a pejorative term that you seem fond of) can be no different than me, they only need to learn and grow and look about them to see the wonder of the 'American Way'.
Martians, Mexicans, what's the dif? That UCLA pointy head obviously doesn't understand the "and subject to the jurisdiction thereof (meaning US) clause of the 14th Amendment. I think you have to at least be an Earthling to claim anchor baby status. Except for Superman. After all, he stood for truth, justice and the American way even though he came from Krypton.
An award winning UCLA Ph.D. sociologist claims that in a number of scientifically corroborated data gathering experiments that it has been verified that there are several Martian colonies on Earth and there are more to come. He continues that those Martians that are birthing in the United States should be extended the right to citizenship. My disclaimer is that I merely have read this scientist's claims AND add that he is highly regarded...by me at least :O). If that doesn't shiver the timbers of resident xenophobes I don't know what will.
Ron White is one of my favorite comics. Don't see him live though, not as good as his televised stuff.
"I was drunk in a bar in NY" leaves me laughing so hard I'm crying every damn time I hear it.
sure you can, it just depends on the methods one is willing to employ. I firmly believe that any and all of life's problems can be solved by the judicious application of hungry tigers
"But you can't fix stupid."
Ron White (c) 2008
If I nominate myself for the sake of the beer does that nullify the offer? :)
This was good, Scott.
Not all conservatives are xenophobes, but find me a xenophobe that isn't a conservative and I'll buy you a beer.
I wasn't speaking of the tea party movement exclusively, but it seems what angers me is not the racism that exists within the group so much as those that are willing to exploit those parts of the group for their own gain. It's almost like someone saying "I am bothered by violence from animals" and then buying a pit bull, antagonizing it, and then letting it off the chain to roam the neighborhood. What in the hell do you think is going to happen?
ignorance can be remedied(assuming of course the ignorant are willing to admit their own state)
those who exploit the ignorant to further their agenda by appealing to their fear deserve a fate our system of justice just doesn't encompass...like being kicked in the nads by a kangaroo on meth
I tend to agree with you. The original movement was definitely toward the right, but it wasn’t the liberty hating organization it is today. It seemed to be mostly about fiscal conservatism, which doesn’t have much to do with Mosques, the right of homosexuals to marry, “restoring honor”, or The 10 Commandments.
The so-called grassroots movement was started by a bunch of racist hate filled idiots. It was doomed from the start.
This racism isn't recently on the rise. It has always been there. Cultured and fed through decades of snide remarks, tasteless jokes, and veil comments. 80% of the country has sat back and ignored these ignorant rednecks for far too long.
Everyone wants to pretend we are not too far along, that some how all this will go away eventually. Imagining that this delusional wingnut scum doesn't deserve to be snuffed out once and for all. Because I assure you if they ever got the chance, the sane people in this world would be face down in a ditch.
These morons have been played the fools, and they love it. Neo-conservative radicals have been manipulating 20% of the country to do their biding for so long, it only takes a lie spewed from Fox News to reverberate for years through their channels of racist hysteria.
They are the minority, and can be kept away from doing more damage if only every gets out there and votes.
As usual, you are 100% right. One damages the message when it is delivered by the WRONG messenger.
I am FOR a lot of what the Tea Party originally spoke to, smaller federal government, fiscal responsibility, control of our borders, make the U.S.A our #1 priority. But then, they got all tangled up with the WRONG people.
What could have been a legitimate grass roots movement, bi-partisan in its nature, is now as partisan and racist as you can get. I suppose, however, that might have been inevitable given the schism we have in the country right now.
Neither party is respected or trusted. When confidence in the federal government hover under 20%, a BIG problem exists. Is it fixable???