Hate Speech, Coded Epithets and Intolerance: Just like Granddaddy use to do
Editorial: Politics / Society
Non-Fiction Subject Matter and Citations
In recent days we have started to pay more attention to the demagogues of hate and sedition due to their unwavering rage against everything that doesn’t fit their image of America. These demagogues seem to be fixed on a vision of America that is Caucasian, exclusionary, duplicitous, and very hateful (1950’s).
What is very alarming is that one American political party has engaged in the politicking of exclusion. What is worse is that a political party and some media outlets have engaged in using systemized propaganda in the style of Josef Goebbels. Before I go on to elaborate, let me give you some examples:
• Limbaugh on Obama: "We are being told that we have to hope he succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles ... because his father was black"
• Jesse Lee Peterson: "I think we all agree that Barack Obama was elected by, mostly by black racists and white guilty people."
• Criticizing federal response in KY, Quinn claimed Obama "basically sees white people as kind of a you know, sort of an evil fact of life"
• Michael Savage: Obama is "biggest liar in the history of the presidency," and he's "getting away with it... because he's a man of color"
• Limbaugh: "In Obama's America, the white kids now get beat up with the black kids cheering"
• Bay Buchanan on "quota queen" Sotomayor: "Her whole life was dedicated to demanding special privileges"
• Pat Buchanan: "This has been a country built, basically, by white folks"
• Quinn to "race-baiting" African-American "ingrates": "get on your knees" and "kiss the American dirt" because slavery brought them to U.S.
• Michael Savage declares: "The white Christian heterosexual married male is the epitome of everything right with America"
This is just a few examples from a few years back but there is more, more from ‘Conservative Radio Show Hosts’ to so called ‘Journalists’. These so called ‘Conservatives’ have baptized many political candidates in the dirty waters of “Dog Whistle Politics”.
Dog Whistle politics defined by the Macmillan Dictionary is: “expressing political ideas in such a way that only a specific group of voters properly understand what is being said, especially in order to conceal a controversial message”. Much like Goebbels did with the Nazi Party, so now does “Conservative Media Personalities” in the United States of America.
History of dog whistle politics (from http://www.waycooldogs.com/dog-whistle-politics-hard-facts/)
The phrase “dog whistle politics” did not surface until 1996 in Australia during the Federal Election campaign, with the Howard Government’s forceful measures used against illegal immigration. Even though the government won in the end, the Australian government was accused of using corrupt methods and political manipulation to win the war – accused of playing to racist segments of the community. The method they used were dog whistle politics, “sending messages of support to voters with racist leanings while avoiding criticism from those opposed to prejudice.” (dog whistle politics, Kosmix )
From Australia, the political method moved to the United Kingdom in 2005 toward the British Conservative Party. It was derived from the Australian Liberal Party Federal Director, Lynton Crosby, for the British elections of 1996, 1998, and 2001.
It was not long until the GOP’s George Bush, John McCain and Karl Rove began using the coded “dog whistle” language in their political campaigns and political speeches.
We are passionate and want our guy or gal to win. Great. Every campaign is pulling out all the stops to get an advantage and win the nomination. I expect nothing less.
The trouble comes when a campaign crosses the line into Dog Whistle Politics. This is basic Rove/GOP tactics. It is the politics of division and 50+1 victories. It feeds off racism, sexism and fear. (Daily Kos )
This thinking falls into the rules of German National Socialist Propaganda, which is freely practiced insidiously and duplicitously by certain so called ‘Conservative Media Personalities.’ Goebbels said “Credibility alone must determine whether propaganda output should be true or false.” (“Based upon Goebbels' Principles of Propaganda by Leonard W. Doob, published in Public Opinion and Propaganda; A Book of Readings edited for The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues.)
So we know that not only is the content from men like, Savage, Buchanan, Payne, Beck and Rush Limbaugh (to name a few) not only suspect when it comes to fact but devious in content and incendiary in its purpose. To put it simply its propaganda to scare and separate the people most afraid of the social and economic changes that have come and continue to come our way…that is the masses aka ignorant, uneducated people.
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| The Late Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina |
I wondered if there was ever a time in US History when there was so much hate in the media directed toward the President, the poor, women and each other. I went to Delaware to visit my Great Uncle Buck. He is in his mid 90’s, smokes tobacco grown on his farm in South Carolina, walks three miles a day and can remember being a child growing up in a thoroughly racist hate filled America.
Uncle Buck and me sat on his back porch as he smoked his pipe with his snifter half full of Old No.7 and he answered my question as he reminisced. “You negroes today have it good, at least you didn’t have to spend half a lifetime to even get to the door. The white man hates and is full of hate because he is scared of what will survive him.”
I asked, “Where you going with this Uncle Buck?” Uncle Buck put down his pipe and picked up his Bible. It was old, beat up, worn and full of dog eared pages. “Boy listen here (a 90 plus year old man can call anyone born after Roosevelt boy) a man works, steals, slaves and serves his time on earth looking after his family and his folks, he wants to make sure that his sons inherit the earth and all that’s in it.”
Uncle Buck took a sip and went on. “Men who pretend to know God will do anything to keep their people separate from any other people that don’t value what they value or stay separate to keep their people from mixin with folks outside their world, not just to save their way of life but to ‘save their women’.” I said, “what’s your point Unc?” “When the world changes people get scared and do what they think is right to survive even when there is no danger in front of ‘em.”
Uncle Buck took a puff, spit and hit the spittoon, and continued. “Strom Thurmond was the first modern hate preachin politician. All you see in Congress and the Senate are disciples of his teachin in some way or disciples of his disciples, like Luke was a disciple of Paul. This President grew up around the world first and then came to America. He don’t know cracker like we know cracker, that’s why the whole nation is in trouble…you can’t be rational to haters.”
I asked “Then what do you do Uncle Buck?” “Boy, you do the most right and righteous things you can for your family first, your church and then this country and you do it right in crackers fat nasty hate filled face, but you can’t do it with anger you have to do it with a smile…then you can save yourself and that poorly raised, hate filled asshole who will probably be your boss or some other negroes boss just because he was born with money or access to it.”
“Like Dr. King Uncle Buck?” “Hell no, like my brother, your Granddaddy. You see our family had money cause we are descendants of Billy Ellison, a slave owner who made sure we had land and knew how to work it.” I asked, “why would a white slave owner do that?” “Cause Billy Ellison wasn’t white, he was black….
Anyway down in Honea Path, a textile town in South Carolina, work dried up and folks had nothing to eat, no money to buy nothing with. We had over 300 acres and stored up food and grain for hard times. Half that years harvest was given to the local white Presbyterian Church who made sure people got fed. Jim also gave food to his neighbors white and black. They all knew where the food came from but to them we was never gonna be friends, just good niggers.”
Uncle Buck took a few more puffs and said, “What we got here in America today are the grandsons of poor broke ass crackers who made a way to feed and raise their families through the wars and the social upheavals that followed, always stopping to teach the hate that separates people because of money, ancestry, religion or race. What all Americans need to do is sit down and share our grief and our gain. When we do this the hate will dry up.”
I had to ask “What about now Uncle Buck?” “What do you see coming up for America?” “First off, being a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ I must have compassion for all men, I don’t have to like ‘em but I do have to do right by them to see the Master on that Great Gettin Up Morning. Then we all gotta stop the moral supremacy nonsense and do right, that is love one another.”
Uncle Buck read something from his beat up old Bible and said, “Listen good, venomous rage filled, meat faced, ham handed, clan-kracker conservatives; Hate filled, fat assed, piss poor peckerwood, pitiless people, their lips dripping with argument, race rancor and separation; Their mouths open wide, deep and nasty like an open grave, spewing hate speak, race rage and resentment flowing like a river of shit out of an open sewer….Overcome them with right doing, that is love. You hear me boy!”
He handed me a snifter full of Jack and I said “Yes Sir,…I hear.”
RJ
Resources and Citations:
http://www.waycooldogs.com/dog-whistle-politics-hard-facts/
It took long enough to read. Point made, Uncle Buck is an oxymoron...If he were white he'd sound like a conservative. Since he is a man of color he sounds a little like Malcolm X. gutsy post.
ReplyDeleteyeah, i agree that there is way too much bullshit in the news and most of it is for rednecks and assholes. but the president is more dangerous than all of these assholes. something aint right.
ReplyDelete