Hail to the Plutocracy
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This post is about a mystery wrapped inside of an enigma, which LGM has
been deputized to crowdsource. The mystery is: Who is Jolin Ellison?
Yesterday, t...
2 hours ago
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Stand Against Tea Party Hatriotism and Bigotry
Oppose those who use or excuse vandalism and violence in the name of advancing a particular political belief (the very definition of terrorism, as far as I'm concerned...). Cutting gas lines and tossing bricks? For all their whining about it aways back, these (the violent ones, not the teabaggers as a whole, or even the subset of hatriots shown in the video above) are the proud right wing extremists Bush's office of Homeland Security warned us about over a year ago.
By and large, Americans are better than all of this. Just say no to the violence, the vandalism, and to the political/social/ethnic/racial/sexist/religious bigotry some choose to engage in out in public. Don't let assholes like these dominate the message or the story that is America.
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2 comments:
I have three things to say on this subject.
First, no decent person can look at the more hateful signage and support it. Some is distasteful (Obama as Hitler) but within bounds (more on that in a minute), some is hateful and vile (anything unequivocally bigoted), and some is dum (like the christian nation thing) and isn't hate. And that vid even has some things that made me laugh because I know it eats up the opposition.
Which brings me to my second point. We saw the same kind of vile shit from the left directed against Bush during his years. I didn't hear anyone on the left screaming bloody murder over it. And the right, by and large, accepted it as loony fringe kooks.
Third, unfortunately this is the cost of doing Politics in a free society. You have to let people wave signs that are garbage because they have a right to their opinion, no matter how idiotic. But these are the fringe kooks. I'm guessing if you did a snapshot of every sign, the ones we agree are vile would be easily under 1% of the total signage. And the percentage of violent individuals would be under 1% of the idiots with signs.
And I believe that Republicans are seeing some hate thrown their way this week as well. Would you like me to make with the links, or will you check around and find i'm right.
In the end, this crap is mostly worthy of ignoring, and the police and secret service can nail the rest.
First, no decent person can look at the more hateful signage and support it.
I don't disagree with that -- though I believe that the more hateful stuff needs to be actively opposed, rather than just ignored, and that those who don't speak up, be they from the Right or from the Left, and regardless of whose protest they're appearing at, are consenting to their continued appearance by their silence. Your milage may vary...
I didn't hear anyone on the left screaming bloody murder over it. And the right, by and large, accepted it as loony fringe kooks.
You're absolutely correct that equally offensive signs and violent acts did show up at liberal events, but, to the extent the Left is "screaming bloody murder" now, I saw the Right doing the same then... (That you didn't surprises me...)
Of course, the fact that the windows being smashed belong to elected US Representatives rather than military recruiting stations is going to get the former more media play on the 24 hour news, whether or not you or I believe that it should...
You have to let people wave signs that are garbage because they have a right to their opinion, no matter how idiotic. But these are the fringe kooks. I'm guessing if you did a snapshot of every sign, the ones we agree are vile would be easily under 1% of the total signage. And the percentage of violent individuals would be under 1% of the idiots with signs.
Again, I agree with all of that, just as I did when I was responding to individuals on the Right who were using individual kooks and their bigotry, insensitivity/poor taste, or violence/vandalism to tar everyone who protested or marched against the invasion of Iraq, from the family members of fallen soldiers to the Quakers and others who protest all war on moral/spiritual grounds, to the ANSWER folks, black-bloc anarchists, Truthers, and other more fringe-worthy types...
The signs and the violence/vandalism (be it from the Right or the Left) are the products of INDIVIDUALS, not the groups they claim to align themselves with. But that doesn't mean that those who're offended by it shouldn't point it out and say it's wrong... In fact, I think it's important that we do...
That folks on the Left are more likely to notice and thus be offended by assholes who claim to align themselves with movements on the Right, while folks on the Right are more likely to notice and thus be offended by the assholes who engage in bad words and deeds and claim to be doing so on behalf of movements on the Left, shouldn't surprise anyone... Fair and Balanced is a myth; we're all biased in favor of our own opinions and against everyone else's, and anyone who claims different is lying...
My point though, is that there are bigots, kooks and actual violent extremists on the Right (just as Bush's DHS said), just as there are on the Left... ...and I don't think we should ignore 'em
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