General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThis country has become so angry.
This morning I saw two people in their 50's almost get into a fist fight at breakfast in a small mom and pop restaurant. The topic, the death of 3 Muslim students in North Carolina. I did not hear all of it, but what I heard was Fox talking points, some from Rush and the other man trying to speak about how not all Muslim's are violent crazy people, any more than thinking all Christians burn abortion clinics and kill doctors. It did not take long for dishes to hit the floor and a couple of other men close by came in to calm the situation down.
It seems like all of us are on the edge all the time. Financial pressure, the way the world is at this moment when fueled by tv and radio nuts on both sides keep this country and others a spark away from explosion.
We have a violent past as a nation, the way African Americans were lynched and burned leading up to the civil rights movement, and since. The way Native Americans were treated and are treated. Violent reaction to things we don't like is not limited to Muslim countries.
These two men, looked like my Dad at that age, just normal guys out for breakfast. What a mess.
Kelvin Mace
(17,469 posts)and making them angrier as they look for a cause for their misery.
Our news sources are all fear, all the time, with very little real information.
And now John Stewart is gone.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)mountain grammy
(26,655 posts)I don't know how to explain it, but I can listen to Bill Moyers give the same story as, say, Scott Pelley (and he's one of the not so bad ones) and from Bill I understand the facts and what's going on behind the facts in a rational manner. From Pelley, I hear the story, a few facts, little or no background, and it's fearbola time.
I know they do different kinds of shows, I get that. But I grew up with Walter Cronkite news shows that asked hard questions and demanded answers.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)And the murderer had been stalking them with a gun:
Father of Razan, 19, also killed with one bullet to the head...no words for my hate of the American media and their fearmongering, Fox I can not even say how I feel. Now all they want to cover is more war talk...while Americans are being slaughtered the same day due to their criminal negligence and complicity.
"This was not a dispute over a parking space; this was a hate crime. This man had picked on my daughter and her husband a couple of times before, and he talked with them with his gun in his belt. And they were uncomfortable with him, but they did not know he would go this far."
The victims are newlyweds Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, a University of North Carolina dental student, and his wife Yusor Mohammad, 21, and Yusor's sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19.All were involved in humanitarian aid programs.
Looks like CNN will give the story a few minutes after more War And Terror Talk.
GoneFishin
(5,217 posts)accentuates violence by Arab and Muslim groups. The bumper music for his show at commercial breaks is dark, scary, ominous music. It is nauseating and transparent that his goal is to demonize these groups, and fuel right-wing paranoia.
madinmaryland
(64,933 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)be it people or rats, and they start to turn on each other. This has been the New Fascist/tenth-percenter plan all along. And it is working better each day, as it has throughout history. The only winners are the New Fascists and tenth-percenters.
mahatmakanejeeves
(57,621 posts)NT. I mean, nt.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)K&R
TheNutcracker
(2,104 posts)cascadiance
(19,537 posts)... by encouraging division amongst the populace that they hurt more with their upwards wealth redistribution policies. If we didn't have that division being created, the masses would be more prone to unite against their true oppressors and get rid of the corporatists that are screwing everyone.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)And it is still going on.
leveymg
(36,418 posts)Looks like another boots on the ground war in the Mideast/Persian Gulf.
Newsjock
(11,733 posts)The 1%ers (OK, maybe the 5%ers) know they've won the war, and they're angry at all the little people who keep getting in their way.
At the bottom of the economic ladder, they know they've lost the war, and they're angry at the rich people who keep finding new ways to screw them over ... and at a system that makes meaningful change next to impossible.
And in the middle, they're angry because they know they're losing the war and there doesn't appear to be much they can do about it.
It's a powder keg, ready to explode at even the slightest provocation, real or perceived.
el_bryanto
(11,804 posts)I really don't know - I try to be optimistic, and I think we've been through worse times than this as a nation and a world; but if people believe theirs no hope and are being subjected to these enormous pressures, something has to give.
Bryant
Baitball Blogger
(46,758 posts)where many of these older guys come to live after they retire. The only difference is, the further you get out from the city hub, the harder it will be to find someone who will stand up for the Muslims.
n2doc
(47,953 posts)And they can be manipulated easily.
alterfurz
(2,475 posts)...and
"Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results." Margaret Atwood
pampango
(24,692 posts)Whether the fear and emotion is directed at Muslims, immigrants, African Americans, foreigners (Russians, Chinese, Mexicans, etc.), gays, etc., it serves to keep people reacting rather than thinking.
LongTomH
(8,636 posts)It's part of the program since the Powell Memo: Rightwing think tanks, Reagan, Newt (Both Reagan and Newt played a part in making 'Liberal' a hate word!), the rise of Fox News and hate radio/TV (Rush, Beckerhead, et al).
The one hopeful thing in all this is that young people are turning off the hate mongers, and they don't really remember Ronnie.
Manifestor_of_Light
(21,046 posts)Two people I had been friends with for forty years or more, I had to stop speaking to them because they kept borrowing money and not paying it back. I just got more depressed and decided I had to cut them off. The economy is not my fault.
snooper2
(30,151 posts)Enrique
(27,461 posts)I have to give Obama a lot of credit for what he said recently. Much easier to pander to the haters. And I hate to say it, but Bush deserves some credit too. I still hear RWers grouse about how Bush said Islam is a religion of peace.
valerief
(53,235 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)BobbyBoring
(1,965 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)the deeper issue is why in our collective mindset do we as Americans believe bullets are a preferred solution to solving previously non-violent problem...
jeff47
(26,549 posts)The Southern realignment created a temporary window of bipartisanship. That window is now closed, and we've returned to how we have always been.
You have to remember there was multiple shootings and beatings among our federal politicians. Not to mention a civil war.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)jeff47
(26,549 posts)Those shootings and beatings (and civil war) were based on differences of opinions about certain groups and how they should be treated.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)Do you agree these three murders, the ones today, may well be a hate crime?
jeff47
(26,549 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)ChosenUnWisely
(588 posts)Those who are not prepared will be in for a real surprise when reality smacks them in the face.
haikugal
(6,476 posts)99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)samplegirl
(11,502 posts)I would be willing to bet that Fox news was on the restaurant t.v. I wish most à restaurants and offices would just leave news turned off.
pansypoo53219
(20,997 posts)death by FCC. bring back the fairness doctrine.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)Massive fines for CNN, stern warnings for the Big Three?
Warpy
(111,358 posts)and when we pop, they are not going to like the result.
cui bono
(19,926 posts)Keep us fighting amongst ourselves. That's why politics as a team sport is played up so much in the media. Us vs Them mentality abounds.
NOLALady
(4,003 posts)I have not known a time in my lifetime when rage was not directed at people with heritage similar to mine.
Skittles
(153,193 posts)a heart for you NOLALady my sweet
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Quite often, anger, hatred and their excited and animated passions are far more easily seen than the quiet kindnesses and humble loves which (I believe) surrounds us all so completely.
Much like the man with the megaphone, anger is heard as a particular, while kindness is seen little more than a window is seen-- yet I believe that kindness far, far outweighs hatred in our daily lives.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)bigwillq
(72,790 posts)lpbk2713
(42,766 posts)They seem to think "do unto others before they do unto you".
haikugal
(6,476 posts)xfundy
(5,105 posts)I can think of a few "liberal" voices on tv and radio. Actually I can think of only a couple, none of which get the airtime Focks Noise gets, plus "religious" broadcasters, all of whom look for something to get outraged about and blame on "libruls."
realFedUp
(25,053 posts)That was honest to goodness angry.