Thursday, August 9, 2012

Just how ugly is it going to get?

Yesterday I read a column by David Frum that frankly disturbed me. He talked about the fact that a Fox News moderator said the following:
Obama is now out of the closet … he's officially gay for class warfare.
Frum then goes on to explain the context.
It's very important to understand that for Fox viewers, Fox is only the most visible part of a vast alternative reality. Fox's coverage of the news cannot be properly understood in isolation, but only in conjunction with the rest of that system—and especially the chain emails that do so much to shape the worldview of Fox viewers.

You cannot "get" Gutfeld's joke unless you "get" that a large part of his audience ardently believes that Obama is in fact gay, that his marriage is a sham, and that Mrs. Obama leads a life of Marie Antoinette like extravagance to compensate her for her husband's neglect while he disports himself with his personal aides.
And finally, he gives examples...like what happens when you google obama + gay + "reggie love."

Remember - this is coming from someone who, as a conservative, is "inside" the system in a way that many of us are not. And he's trying to warn us about what's going on under the radar.

Its ugly out there folks!!!

I thought of all of that this morning when - in a couple of different places - I ran across people talking about a new entry in the Urban Dictionary for Harry Reid. I won't quote it directly, but it basically refers to "an explosion of reports" saying that Reid is a serial pederast.

This is the kind of thing that's circulating via emails and off-the-beaten-track web sites (although the Daily Caller has a story on the Urban Dictionary definition).

I'm not writing about this to gin up our rage. I frankly think that's a waste of time. But we DO need to know that this stuff is out there and understand how the system for communicating it works.

And we need to see it for what it is...the white male patriarchal system in its death throes.

As I've said before, after the Bush/Cheney years, the Republican Party had a choice to make...whether to rethink their position or stoke the fear. They chose the later and have unleashed the beast. I hold the people who made that decision as responsible for this as those who propagate it directly.

P.S. If you need some cleansing after all that trash, go check out Chipsticks' diary about the beauty that was on display at the Obama rally in Colorado yesterday. Our beauty trumps their ugly...every time!
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

7 comments:

  1. Give me a break. The "Reid is a pederast" thing is obviously a joke aimed at Reid's invocation of anonymous (fantasy?) "sources" about Romney's taxes. And unless you were horrified by the Google "Santorum" effort (and spoke out against it) the crocodile tears can probably be dispensed with already.

    I've not heard the "Obama is gay" thing before, but then again I dont watch cable news. But when your sources is Frum, well, color me unimpressed. You also seem to believe Frum is a conservative, which is the funniest damn thing I've ever heard.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I very much doubt that you are representative of the kind of person I was trying to "impress" with this story.

      I think I'll leave it at that.

      Delete
  2. Frum is quite correct, that there's a lot of chain e-mails, and various web sites which push these memes. I've been following the birthers for a while, and much of what Frum is talking about is on blatant display on the birther web sites. That various Republicans still pander to the birthers is equally blatantly obvious.

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  3. There is a subtext in the (not only sick but genuinely wierd) lie that the President is gay that is predicated on racist notions of feminine beauty as well as racist notions of Black manhood. It's as much a racist attack on the First Lady, that is, as it is the President.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Good point!

      On another note, since we talked about it a bit recently, should I have just deleted rgh above? I'd appreciate your thoughts. Sometimes I struggle with where to draw the line.

      I did delete a couple of comments to a previous post that were made in the middle of the night last night. They were from wingers and just stupid. I thought rgh at least said something.

      Delete
    2. I agree with you. Rgh certainly made a point, and he or she wasn't rude about it. The equation of this thing with the santorum thing doesn't really wash--damn, I went there--but it's an actual point.

      What is actually fascinating is how people who identify as conservative--I get this from his scorn for Frum--seem to think that being conservative is either being on some team, or a series of concrete policy goals (shifting constantly rightward) rather than a political philosophy. Burke had a lot to say of value, but this crowd would reject him out of hand for his anti-colonialism alone. I don't get it. I suppose a person doesn't have to have an intellectual framework to function.

      Delete
  4. Smartypants,

    This post needs more attention. I'm putting it up on my blog today with, of course, attribution.

    I DO pay attention to what Frum says. He's been the canary in the GOP mine since the crazies took over a once normal political party.

    Thanks for this.

    ReplyDelete

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