My Two Cents: On Racism and Terrorism

[OneGrassRoot]

After being away from all news for several days, and being immersed in McCain-Palin territory and now reading about the John Lewis comment, I am seeing something a bit differently.

While I firmly believe racism and bigotry are at the heart of the McCain-Palin base, as well as ANYONE who is vehemently against Obama (basically, anyone who listens to Limbaugh, Hannity, et al), I also hear what others here at DU (especially African-Americans) are saying when they prefer this issue not be confronted when it's at the level of race baiting.

However, while racism/bigotry lie at the heart of the matter, it has escalated to Obama not merely being the "scary black guy" but a "terrorist."

The McCain camp and those who support them are successfully inciting the dangerous belief that Obama, AND OBAMA SUPPORTERS, are terrorists.

The words "liberal" and "democrat" and "progressive" are also being associated with the words "terrorist" and "terrorism."

This is extraordinarily dangerous.

If reasonable people (the two operative words) were to see that "they" are attempting to label anyone who DOESN'T AGREE WITH THE REPUBLICANS AND THEIR AGENDA as being flat-out labeled as "terrorists," and if these reasonable people were aware of the laws under the Patriot Act which give unbridled, unchecked power to the government when the label "terrorist" is being applied, it would most likely lead reasonable people to an "aha" moment.

If it could be presented clearly that the McCain Republicans are labeling anyone who doesn't agree with them as terrorists, and via Bushco's Patriot Act this has become extraordinarily dangerous for each and every one of us who disagrees with them, reasonable people would see the danger and propaganda and help wipe these people from the political landscape.

[Captain Hilts]

1. No, the McCain campaign is doing this, not "the Republicans."

You're including a whole lot of decent "Rockefeller Republicans" who don't much like McCain. They're not racists or terrorism baiters.

[OneGrassRoot]

2. You're right, and I will adjust OP accordingly, as I see it. n/t

[Captain Hilts]

8. Well done. It's too bad that nasty bloc is prevailing among Republicans.

Everett Dirksen, Jacob Javits, and Nelson Rockefeller must be whirling in their graves.

I DO NOT understand why folks like Snowe and Collins have anything to do with these creeps.

[ixion]

4. while a handful may be "decent" [sic], the vast majority of the GOP

has played along at the terror game. They might be pulling back a bit now, but for the past eight years they've been on board with the so-called "war" on terror, and all the unconstitutional BS that has come with it. Namely:

The unPATRIOTic Act.
The MCA.
TSA/DHS and their super friendly concetration camp-styled travel system.
TIA/Domestic wire tapping
Illegal invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, Illegal attacks on numerous countries.

They've supported it all, in lockstep.

[ixion]

3. Yep, and the only reason this tactic works: the MSM

acting as enablers. If they were to simply expose the idiocy of statements like "Obama is a ______" (fill in thinly-veiled slur here) for the BS that they are, this tactic would not work. Since they repeat the talking point with little to no follow up, though, they legitimize it to a certain degree and allow it to continue existing in the meta-dialog. This is how the neocons have been able to hoist a separate (and patently false) reality right up alongside 'real' reality.

The result has been a dangerous degradation of the meta-dialog that gives language meaning.

Ultimately, this probably means some type of civil war will break out within the few decades. I say this sadly, as nothing productive will come from this, with the possible exception that such a Rite of Passage would heal the meta-dialog, but that's not a given.

You're entirely correct to call this "extraordinarily dangerous".

[OneGrassRoot]

5. I don't know precisely when, or with whom, it started....

by I agree that the right wing has fairly successfully co-opted the language, and corrupted the meaning of inherently honorable words such as "liberal."

They have been very, very effective at this brainwashing, and their latest is the most extreme attempt to date, IMHO.

[ixion]

6. The thing with using fear as a motivator is that the only way it continues to work

is to continue to turn up the intensity. Humans are wired to adapt to heightened levels of fear over time. That is, we can't sustain a fight/flight response indefinitely. Thus, a fear mechanism loses potency over time, and for the same level of fear to be induced, the intensity must increase. This is what they're doing, and what will ultimately lead to no good for the country.

[baldguy]

7. Racism=Terrorism