Filed Under Activism, Politics, U.S. Studies
No Excuses
Generally, as a matter of keeping me from head-desking myself a concussion, I stay away from places like The Free Republic. As anyone who has ever dared dirty their eyeballs by venturing over there knows, it’s a cesspool of hate, racism, ignorance, homophobia, hypocrisy, you name it. Besides, stronger bloggers than I often remind me of what goes on over there and that’s enough for me these days. Last night (or really early this morning), a good friend and ST reader pointed me to this lovely thread (conveniently hidden by an is.gd address…sneaky mofo!), and I followed it and discovered this lovely picture in response to a post about the possibility of Obama and McCain working together in an Obama administration. Needless to say, the folks over there are aghast at the thought.
Racism Alive and Well
[ETA: It's come to my attention via this thread that I should point out that Ted Szukaiski, the photographer of the original photo, and whose name appears underneath, had nothing to do with this photoshopped piece of garbage.]
The point, of course, is that this is the job that Obama should get in a McCain/Palin administration.
Why do I bring this up? Why do I bother pointing out what most folks expect from a site like The Free Republic (and frankly, compared to a lot of what I’ve seen recently, this is almost sorta tame)? Well, I do so because I’ve been thinking about Renee’s question in comments lately. Why is it that I and so many other bloggers are shocked by any of this recent upsurge in bigotry and hatred, when, as she rightfully points out, “This is an old school tactic by the ruling elite. Whenever there is an economic crises they hyper value whiteness and blame brown bodies for all of the evils of the world.”
‘Tis true indeed.
I suspect that part of it is the “old school” part of the equation. I somehow managed to convince myself that we are now in some sort of new school, where the bigotry and hate is coded, not quite so obvious (well, unless you hang out at The Free Republic, that is). No doubt that it’s still there, but not so out in the open. This is what I said to Nezua in a similar conversation over on Twitter: ” That’s what I think gets me. The transparency. I’ve gotten so used to the structural, the hidden. Now it’s so out in the open again.” There’s no hiding behind shields of irony or intent or humor. It’s just out there in all of its naked ugliness for the world to see. I don’t experience the same sort of shock that I felt when nooses became en vogue again. There was that pathetic shield of “humor” put up. I almost expected it and the excuses that would follow.
But now, not even excuses. This is how people honestly feel and they aren’t afraid to let anyone know it.
All because a Black man might become the President of the United States.
When a woman is factually and absolutely incorrect in her assertions, and even John McCain in all of his racist, sexist bs calls her on it, and she still jumps through hoops to stick to her beliefs about The Scary Black man…well, I’m left feeling a lot less optimistic about the world than I was even just a week ago.
Because this is the stuff that matters to me. I find it hard to be all up in arms over the current economic crisis. I don’t feel any more broke than I did six months ago, a year ago, and I’m hard pressed to feel bad for a bunch of crooked investors whose stock portfolios now value $250,000 rather than the $750,00 they did three weeks ago. Am I pissed about all of this bailout business? Yes, but a lot of the people I know have been feeling this crunch for a long time before it hit Wall Street. That it doesn’t matter until it hits Wall Street is all you need to know about the priorities of our current government.
No excuses. That says it all.
[Update: This post has been updated to correct some grammatical errors I've found. I've also corrected a sentence or two to better get my point across.]
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Good post. I look at this post, and I think about all the political discussion lately, and I really do believe in the necessity for foundational change. Honestly, some of the stuff that’s being said these days is insane. It’s one thing if you’re against political correctness and all that jazz, but it’s quite another if you’re dead wrong on the issues, and unfortunately, people can be that. Good read, sir.
Jose ´s last blog post..The Holiest Redeemers
great post man. i too remain actively disgusted at the primitive slop that passes itself for political opposition to Obama these days, the hate-filled ignorance…wtf. people are TRIPPIN. honestly, we all know any prez is locked into the system to some degree, but this is the smartest most talented dude to get up in there in my lifetime. and all that almost goes under the radar because these frickin backward freaks are sooooo scared of the oogy boogy black man in tha WHIIIITE house!!! ugh. so glad we can get past this one barrier. i fear it wont fall as easy as i was thinking.
great post. Thanks for including me…
Roschelle ´s last blog post..World leaders look for joint action on economy
[...] Nor with the Freepers, who have a suggestion for a role that Barack Obama could play in a McCain administration: [...]
[...] Nor with the Freepers, who have a suggestion for a role that Barack Obama could play in a McCain administration: [...]
@nezua: Yep. Obama’s got mad skills, skills that if any other (read: white) Democratic candidate had, would have him destroying McCain (or just about anyone, really) in this election. And yet, even though he’s leading in the polls, it’s still really up in the air. Why? Because folks just don’t know if they can trust the scary/possibly Muslim/married to Angry Black Woman candidate?
And there’s still this part of me that sits and watches all of this unfold and I’m like…REALLY! REALLY!
When it comes down to it, I’m confident that Obama will win. But if fools are acting out like this just over the possibility of a black man in the White House, I’m afraid to see how they’re going to respond to the reality of a black man in the White House.
@Jose: Yep, it’s not even a matter of being PC. It’s a matter of being flat out *WRONG.* We are in interesting times right now, my friend. Change is most definitely a-coming. I just hope it’s the change that you and I are looking for.
I’d say you have to keep pointing this stuff out BECAUSE it’s an old-school tactic used by the white ruling elite. It’s the same reason feminists keep pointing out sexism: because it’s so prevalent.
I’m actually sort of mildly surprised it took some asshole THIS long to do the tired “shoeshine boy” bigotry.
From my point of view, I think America need not break its own arm from patting itself on the back for FINALLY nominating a person of color to the highest office of the land. Hmmm, only took 220-ish years, eh?
I think that people are in such a state of shock because they actually bought the whole racism is a thing of the past ideology. I don’t believe that is true in the case of POC who have had to live with racism on a daily basis.
We have to keep calling it out and shedding light on white privilege if we are ever going to get a real change in society.
I was wondering if you would consider reading these two posts Kevin and weighing in, I would be interested in hearing your point of view. Post 1…Post 2
Renee ´s last blog post..Food The Global Experience
Part of the shock for me is that they are so blatant. I never thought racism was a thing of the past, but I did think that people would be too shamed to be so upfront about it.
@Renee: I’ve already read “Post 2 (”Post 1″ has a bad link, but I’m sure I’ve read that too. Check your stats. I read you every day. I’m just a bad commenter, heh). I would definitely love to weigh in on those posts, though. There are a lot more comments now from when I last saw “Post 2,” and I’d like to read through them first before I have my say. Right now, I need to go to bed and get some rest. Long day at work.
My response may turn into a post because I’ve been thinking a lot about the things you bring up, especially in relation to my current job (there are no het white males running shit, at least at the store level, and that’s upsetting to some people).
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[...] Kevin: No Excuses [...]