Question for DU historians (20th Century American History): Do you think today's

RW 'hate speech' is much worse than that bandied about against FDR and the New Deal by Father Charles Coughlin on the radio in the 30s? Or is it just that the RW's reach is far greater now?

In other words, is the RW hate speech of today more hateful than it was during the '30s, about the same or less hateful?

My feeling is that the tripe that issues from various RW hate-mongers is no worse than that of Father Coughlin, although it may often seem that way because the RW has so much larger market penetration on the airwaves.

For those needing a refresher or an introduction, the following link provides a useful overview of Coughlin and his relationship to FDR and the New Deal:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Coughlin

It's more subtle and sophisticated now - like all of our propaganda.

Hard to say which is "worse."

RW anti-Arab\Muslim racism. Even if many of today's RW are actually still closet anti-semites, it is unacceptable socially (a taboo) to express anti-semitism in public. Anit-Arab and anti-Muslim hate is just fine still, although I hope that will change in the coming years.

smattering in the Caucasus and Northern Mediterranean. Semitic is too broad a brush for anti- unless you are absconding with both the language and the term.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semitic

When used in the milieu of Eastern and Western Europe before the division and invasion of what was called Trans-Jordan, or Palestine, the term might have had some merit, today it is a marketing tool.
You can hardly call an Arab anti-Semitic or any of the large and ancient catchment group that share the culture and the root-language.

Just sayin'

I wish that ethnographic knowledge were more widespread).

I was using "anti-semitic" in its (more popular) lexicographic sense, i.e., anti-Jewish sentiment. When I wrote that Coughlin was 'anti-Semitic', I meant that he expressed anti-Jewish views typical for his time.

When I write that the RW are "closeted" anti-semites, I am referring to their nominal embrace of Jews and Israel, but their covert belief that Jews will be eternally damned.

for juxtaposing a picture of Obama and Osama on their website and urging people to waterboard Obama.

Not all that subtle.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3544996&mesg_id=3545793

the lack of faith in the 'system' of our democracy was much more rampant than today...

coughlin was a prime mouthpiece for the 'it's their fault' crowd...rush and all are mere imitators...

rush & gang mostly want the good, old, white RICH america to prevail and for everybody else to just fall in line...they are mostly just 'entertainers' with a schtick...

coughlin advocated that the cause of all the turmoil was 'THEM' and they were the enemy and should be destroyed...

In 16th century London, people passed out flyers, preached sermons and wrote plays to spread propaganda. They were trying to lure the wealthy, too, and to distract regular people.

... and members of his parish were both friends and family. My uncle was married by him. Although not Catholic, I even attended masses at Shrine as a kid. Antisemitism and racism has been a plague in this part of southeast Michigan for many decades. At long last, both seem to be on the wane ... but we have a long way to go. I lived through the 1967 riots ... both living and working in the neighborhood. I've lived in the South during the "bad times" ... leaving there the same week as Mississippi Burning.

I look at the venom and hate being churned up by the right and pale at the prospect of what can happen. I don't think it's quite comparable. In the 50s and 60s we were nearing the end of a long, long history of 'acceptable' antisemitism and racism ... where 'polite' members of society regarded both as pervasive. This current stoking of hatred comes at a time we're not really mobilized with long-established and experienced organizations accustomed to fighting such bigotry and hatred.

I wonder if the end of the long, long history really happened - I mean, I don't think it ended. It just got quiet, people thought about other things. Got interested in more, bigger, better "stuff".

You're right about not being mobilized - except, lord help us all when the rich yuppies around here can't get to the mall what with the damn gas shortages - I check in with the Southern Poverty Law Center from time to time to see what's going on, but other than them, I'm not sure who or what else is out there.