On Racism, Death Threats & The Blindness of Those Who Will Not See, by David Sirota

"Those who will NOT SEE..." NOT SEE... NOTSEE... NOTSEES... Oh, I get it! Nazis! I like that!


http://www.theliberalcard.org/files/imagecache/pride/Lib+Card+David+Sirota.jpg

On Racism, Death Threats & The Blindness of Those Who Will Not See
by: David Sirota
Mon Sep 14, 2009 at 09:03


I appeared on CNN this weekend with Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer to discuss the racial undertones of the tea party protests. You can watch the clip here.

As the images of the tea party march prove, there are, obviously, such racial undertones. However, there are many who refuse to acknowledge that simple truism, instead opting to pursue what I call "dog whistle politics." I know this not from just reading the swill on right wing websites, but from the loads of angry hate mail I received after appearing on CNN - including one that was an explicit death threat.

Yes, last night I received a full-on death threat from a person promising to kill me if I dare discuss the racial undertones of the froth that Glenn Beck and other political terrorists are clearly encouraging. I went through the process of contacting the authorities, and the police responded very quickly, which was reassuring. The whole episode speaks to a post I did last week about the Nation of Assholes - and it is demoralizing.

We're living in a world where the behavior of right-wing lynch mobs clearly is far less about ideology, and far more about partisanship and racial hate. As I said on CNN, we know this because for all the talk of concern about the Constitution and the growth of government, the tea party protestors were nowhere to be found when George W. Bush trampled the constitution and grew the government. That double standard exposes the truly dark forces driving this right-wing anger - and those on the right who refuse to acknowledge it prove the old adage that there are none so blind as those who will not see.

<snip>

* Note to conservatives: Issuing death threats against political opponents doesn't really debunk the idea that you are building a political lynch mob. Some might say it actually confirms the assertion.

More:
http://www.openleft.com/diary/15084/on-racism-death-threats-the-blindness-of-those-who-will-not-see



See prior thread:

David Sirota receives death threat for discussing racist underpinnings of the Teabaggers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=6542135&mesg_id=6542135


See also:

A Music Video Tribute To Teabagger Hate Signs
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=385&topic_id=370939&mesg_id=370939

He's hit the nail on the head.

No time before were there protests about the President addressing school children. And the actions of the Arlington Texas ISD in banning the viewing of Obama's speech and yet allowing kids to be bused to hear Bush speaks volumes, imho. The actions of the SC Congressman were as contemptuous as the man from the same state who caned the Senator from Massachusetts just before the war--he purposely caned him because that was an action taken against slaves--and the MA senator was an Abolitionist.

"It goes without saying that there isn't a moral equivalence between conservatives who issue death threats against people for calling out racism* and Democratic Party cultists who attack people who tell some of the disappointing truths about the Democratic Party. However, the theme that ties them together is willful ignorance - the foundational impulse of the new Nation of Assholes we now live in."

We have a few of those Dem "cultists" here on DU. You know we do. And we know who you are.


"Frankly, it's been a scary and depressing few days for me personally, and I'm frankly exhausted from trying to use verifiable facts to reason with far-right activists and Democratic sycophants who are willfully ignorant. But I guess my own negative emotions and fatigue is a predictable ramification of the work I'm engaged in - and obviously, it's far worse for those with bigger platforms and/or those who are bearing the brunt of racism and the economic class war."

A note to David Sirota: STOP WASTING YOUR TIME TRYING TO REASON WITH THEM. They are constitutionally (pun intended) incapable of overcoming their fears long enough to listen to reason. They are a lost cause. We must not become enablers of their revolution; we must, as if they were a communicable disease, quarantine them, give them no publicity, let them run their course.




All that said, it's about time someone finally said what needed to be said. While we have a lot of people who didn't vote for Obama and don't like that he's president, we have a segment of our population who simply cannot tolerate the notion of a black man, ANY black man, in the white house. Although a "Republican" like Colin Powell might have appealed to enough Dems to put him in the White House, he would not have received the votes of that racist fringe. They'd have found a third party candidate to take their votes.

I know one of these people. He's well-educated, financially secure, not even particularly religious. He has little praise for John McCain and has suggested he believes Palin to be a complete whack job. Yet he had his McCain-Palin sign blatantly in his front yard, and makes it quite clear he'd much rather have two clowns controlling the country than a you-know-what. And you can't reason with him, because his fear -- and his hatred -- is irrational.


Tansy Gold, who is not

Death threats against public figures get you a not-so-friendly visit from law enforcement. Think about it.

It needs a good swift kick! :-)