Thursday, June 11, 2009

What's inevitable

Pam at Pandagon connects the dots:
After a presidential campaign filled with this…
* The parade of racist images continues: Obama ribs ‘n chicken
* California: Sacramento GOP web site calls for the torture of Barack Obama
* Mike Signorile listens to The Hate Out There
* Here we go again: another Palin groupie shouts ‘kill him’ at PA rally
* Own it, bigot
* Missouri: More of the McCain/Palin/GOP Base
* Frank Rich on the fires stoked by McCain/Palin
* The GOP ticket draws, and apparently embraces, the bigot eruption crowd
* More fun in post-racial America
* John McCain forced to denounce racist, homophobic member of Virginia leadership team
* Kentucky, I know you can do better than this
* FL: middle school teacher uses ‘nigger’ to describe Barack Obama
* Palin praised racist writer who called for RFK’s assassination
* Values at the Values Voter Summit - Obama as a Muslim Aunt Jemima
* Westmoreland stands by ‘uppity’ remark about Obama
* White supremacists: Obama’s boosting our movement
* John McLaughlin: Obama fits the ‘Oreo’ stereotype
* Georgia: publication features Obama in crosshairs on cover for article on white supremacist threat
* Bigot eruption: GOP House member refers to Obama as ‘boy’
* South Carolina: black reporter attacked by white family (on camera!)

Why should we be shocked that it leads to this…
* Abortion doctor George Tiller murdered at Kansas church
* Pelosi’s ‘Right America Feeling Wronged’ captures the McCain/Palin mobs
* Fans of Fox’s tin-foil hatter Glenn Beck discuss the Pittsburgh shooter
* Wingnut ‘resistance movement’ calls for million recruits by inauguration day
And of course, this:
WASHINGTON - An 88-year-old gunman with a virulently anti-Semitic past fatally shot a security guard inside the crowded U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on Wednesday before being shot himself by other officers, authorities said.
Also, now is as good a time as any to discuss increased efforts at gun control. Why not?

UPDATE: Digby has an alternative suggestion to more gun control: "we should have made sure that all the tourists were well armed before they went into the museum." Ah. Good point.

6 comments:

Jack T. said...

Can we also talk about the Bill O'Reillys and Glen Becks and Sean Hannitys who get these nutjobs all ginned up? If someone attacked Bill O. and said he occasionally watched Keith Olbermann, KO would have to nurse Bill back to health himself. As I've discussed with SGWhite, if some young black kid shoots somebody and happens to have Biggie on his iPod, all of hip-hop has to apologize.

Now's the time to plumb the depths of the culture we live in and the laws that govern us. The last 8 have seen the festering boil abscess. Let's talk about how we got this ugly thing and why we let it fester.

blackink said...

Right. But see, I'm conflicted on this one. And I'm willing to admit that I'm inconsistent on this point.

I don't think black people should have to apologize for that kid with Biggie on his iPod, or that KO should have to spongebathe Bill-O in his care facility, or American Muslims should have to answer for the 9-11 terrorists.

But on the other hand, I do think Beck and Hannity and the others should have to answer for - and account for - their increasingly incendiary rhetoric. I suppose, the difference is that they're targeting these fringe people while the others merely share some characteristics with a larger group.

Beck and Hannity and Bill-O all but beg for an insurrection. You really don't see that on the other side, no?

More juice from Pandagon:
"When Bill O’Reilly calls George Tiller a genocidal monster for providing legal services to women in need, or when Glenn Beck theorizes that Barack Obama is the Antichrist, or elected representatives legitimize the belief that the President of the United States is a secret Kenyan Muslim intruder, doesn’t that speak far more directly to a crazy, violent, deadly element in modern society than a shared 1400-year-old text with 1400 years worth of interpretation across a variety of social, cultural and political perspectives? Or does it not, because of this made-up distinction that I just pulled out of my ass?"

Jack T. said...

I heard someone put it this way: "If the shooter was Muslim, all of DC would be shut down."

I agree with you and Pandagon. And it's not that I think Bill O. shouldn't stand for being anti-abortion. I get that. Even though I disagree. And I'm fine with Bill O. saying "I think what Dr. Tiller did was wrong." My issue with it all was that no line was drawn. No one explicitly said "We do not advocate violence."

This leads me to a more interesting inquiry? I can't bring my self to listen to the Bloated Druggie or the Balding Blowhard's radio or tee vee shows. Do they ever say "Hey, here's what you should do: 1) Write your elected official 2) Organize a group to protest and 3) make sure your supporters protest?" or something similar? This whole shit fit seems like an extension of the whole "No Ideas" problem. People are shooting shit up because they aren't being offered any good ideas. I don't know. It's something I've been thinking about for a minute or two.

Jack T. said...

Mistakes above are a result of me being sleepy and prescription drug addled:

Nix the question mark at the end of the first sentence in the 3rd graf.

3) should read "make sure your supporters vote"

Yeesh. No more commenting whilst hazy. I didn't think my laptop counted as "heavy machinery."

blackink said...

Lol. Nah, you're good. I should nap soon myself.

But I get what you're saying, for sure. I guess, what Bill-O might say is that it's implied that they don't advocate violence. Of course, this is me playing devil's advocate. Given the tenor of his rhetoric and the recent events, he should offer that sort of disclaimer - we know it's not going to happen, though.

Also, I hardly watch his show except for particularly notorious clips. I've always assumed that's what Media Matters is for.

No, but really, the problem is that Bill-O and Rushbo probably don't have a better way of telling their audience to protest. They
don't have any ideas to offer. Or, rather, fact-based ideas.

I'd like to know that this is going to stop, that at some point reason and decency will intercede on their behalf. But I doubt it.

Jack T. said...

I didn't know the shooter is still alive. I don't know how I missed this. I can only hope there's a corner in gen pop being prepared for him.