The Will of the People
For years, the Republican party has appealed to the most fringe, far right, barbarians-at-the-gates demographic. Now the fringe has finally come home to roost.
They are not wearing klan hoods. They are not waving confederate flags. Besides the smirking hatred on their face, there is nothing to distinguish them from any other Americans.
And yet…
“My friends shouldn’t have to pay for their own rape kits,” says a protester.
“She should die!” yells a McCain supporter. “She should pay double!” another one chimes in.
Who are these people? Who are these brave defenders of America that curse higher education and call for the death of anyone who has a different opinion? The days of public lynchings are over in this country but has the national character changed?
Who is on this sidewalk to nowhere, this procession of naked lepers that sneer and curse at their neighbors, decrying them with horrible names, oblivious to their own flaking skin and rotting organs? Who are these destitute minds who have the capacity for critical thinking but choose at all costs not to employ it?
One of the most fearful realizations of my life was that these people are Americans. They are part of the collective will of our nation. And they don’t want me.
These people voted for the Bush administration twice. These people called the Patriot Act a good move. These people wield the universal response to any policy criticism: “you communist faggot.”
We are used to blaming the manipulators in power – the scheming politicians, the faulty mass-media. In doing so, we forget to look at the thousands of sidewalks to nowhere scattered throughout the United States of America, where people like in that video, are crying out for blood.
October 15th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
That video clearly had some very selective editing. Unless you made the video yourself and can vouch for the contents, I would hesitate to rely on it as a reliable portrayal of McCain/Palin supporters. It was also posted by “MorrillMajority,” whose website reveals some highly partisan politics.
Not to mention that at most political events–especially in situations where there are counterprotesters–there are bound to be a few nuts. Granted, some of what was said was absolutely inexcusable–pure hate. But do you mean to tell me that all of the counterprotesters stood by quietly and did absolutely nothing to provoke some of these people? I doubt it. Though I wasn’t there, I’ll bet that there was some shouting going back and forth, and nonsense spewed by both sides.
Bottom line: It’s not a fair representation of McCain/Palin supporters.
October 15th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Mary:
You are right about the pitfall of judging an entire demographic by one Youtube video. I was talking about the fringe, the kind of fringe that treats most politics as an extension of the words “god” and “terrorist,” not the entire base of McCain/Palin support.
Let me put it in context.
By now, we’ve all seen the headlines on MSNBC, NY Times, ABC, Washington Post etc., about the hostile tone the McCain campaign adopted and how the fringe was reacting to it.
Regardless of the editing, the people in the video did say what they said. And these incidents are not isolated. A black newsperson was told to “sit down, boy” at a rally. Cries such as “terrorist” and “kill him” did mix with the cacophonous roar of McCain’s and Palin’s crowds.
One woman thought Obama was an Arab, which she seems to take as a sign of his danger.
A man yells about socialists taking over the white house.
Two questions instantly come up.
Are these people indicative of ALL McCain/Palin supporters? Clearly not.
Are there people just as bad on the liberal side of the equation? I’m certain that there are many.
But while assholes are everywhere, let’s look at the tones of each campaign: who are they appealing to?
The Democratic candidates talk about the economy a lot – mostly because this is their strong point, but they are actually outlining what they’re going to do.
The McCain/Palin campaign, however, largely thrives on platitudes, using terms like “good” and “evil” and phrases like “palling around with terrorists.” Are these statements supposed to appeal to the thinking Republicans out there?
I don’t think so. I think these statements are meant to appeal to the fringe, like I said in the original post. For much of the campaign, this fringe was seen as the most important demographic.
And now it’s showing it’s colors, to the point where McCain actually had to pull back and tell his supporters to chill out on the lynch mob comments and be respectful. He actually had to rein his constituency in.
I have not seen the same thing happen with Obama’s campaign on such a large scale. If I missed it, I’d like someone to point me to it.
In the sidewalk to nowhere video, it is very possible that some Obama supporters goaded the McCain supporters into making the kinds of violent statements they did.
But the nationwide picture looks otherwise.
October 15th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Igor,
Thanks for the clarification on your position. The language in your original post seemed somewhat ambiguous to me. As you can probably tell from my response, it seemed to me that you were making very sweeping generalizations regarding McCain/Palin supporters. I’m relieved to hear your clarification.
You said that you’d like someone to point you to the same thing happening with Obama’s campaign. There’s plenty that I could point you toward. A few examples (though none of these people are formally affiliated with the Obama campaign, to my knowledge):
-Plenty of hecklers have broken in on McCain’s speeches. I checked out youtube with the search terms “McCain” and “hecklers.” There’s a lot that came up. Contrast his demeanor and words with the hecklers at the NALEO conference.
-Larry Flynt plans to make a porn movie with a Sarah Palin lookalike.
-Then there’s the artwork depicting Sarah Palin as “A Mother I’d like to Punch.” Notice the tooth flying out of her mouth.
http://www.afineexample.com/other/other02palin.html
-Photographer Jill Greenberg posted photoshopped photos of an ape shitting on top of McCain’s head.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/09162008/news/columnists/mag_has_blood_on_its_hands_129369.htm
-And Sarah Bernhard sure didn’t do much to raise the tone of the debate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN6TDGOd3Y8&eurl=http://michellemalkin.com/2008/10/12/crush-the-obamedia-narrative-look-whos-gripped-by-insane-rage/
I could go on, but I won’t. To be clear, I’m not trying to defend McCain, or say that Obama encourages this type of behavior. I’m just saying that “assholes are everywhere,” as you put it. Something about the political process just draws them out of their caves. I don’t think this is the result of McCain or Palin’s speeches. McCain has had glowing praise for Obama on several occasions.
And sorry for the long links. Not sure how to work HTML yet.