Culture Warriors category archive

Via Chauncey Devega.

Regarding the government’s apparent decision to wait out this situation, the Bangor Daily News’s David Farmer has this to say:

Law enforcement authorities in Oregon facing violent and dangerous extremists — and make no mistake, the men who have taken over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge are both violent and extreme — have deployed new strategies, tactics and patience that are meant to protect lives.

When the siege ends, and hopefully it ends soon and without injury, these men who broke the law should be held accountable and face significant criminal charges for their actions.

Just as law enforcement learned from Ruby Ridge and Waco, it’s time we learn from Tamir Rice. Armed extremists bent on overthrowing the federal government should have more to fear from the police than a 12-year-old black boy.

Video via Raw Story.

Afterthought:

One of the more puzzling accomplishments of the right-wing echo chamber is enabling the Bundy Bund and others of their ilk to convince themselves that there is a simmering mass of the populace poised to join their cause.

They are their own little simmering mass, all by themselves alone.

In an excellent editorial yesterday, the Roanoke Times editorial board tried to understand the appeal of Donald Trump, in particular, why some persons think that he’s a “strong” leader.* Here’s a bit:

Donald Trump is riding high in the polls because, in the eyes of his supporters, he is viewed as “a strong leader.” Yet others see him as simply a blowhard who has no experience in government and no idea what he’s talking about. Trump may be right or wrong on his policies, but why is his bombast considered strength?

It’s always hard to separate style from substance when it comes to people’s political views, but is it possible that there is something about Trump’s mere style that conveys strength?

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*In my view, he’s seen as “strong” for the same reasons that A Christmas Story’s Scut Farkus was seen as strong.

In related news, Elie Mystal has some thoughts on how to react to what Josh Marshall calls “white privilege performance art.” Here’s a nugget:

The National Guard has been federalized and deployed to Oregon. As no civilians have been taken hostage, authorities are contemplating missile strikes against the compound. President Obama will address the nation tonight… oh wait, no he won’t. No troops have been deployed. No news helicopters are circling. Did I mention that the malcontents are white?

White people occupying federal land has been met with less resistance from the police than black people occupying a CVS. I think race is playing a factor here.

Meanwhile, PoliticalProf tries to explain the intellectual (I use the term very loosely) underpinnings of the Bundy Bund.

Image via Balloon Juice.

Der Spiegel explores how the German right uses Facebook and other forms of “social” media to spread lies about Syrian refugees. Here’s a bit; follow the link for the rest:

In an e-mail, he (the person who first posted a story about refugees slaughtering and eating goats from a long-defunct petting zoo–ed.) insists that the incident at the petting zoo had been “confirmed by witnesses.” He had simply gotten “mixed up” about the place. It happened in Halberstadt, he says, about 60 kilometers from Lostau. There, a zookeeper could testify to everything, Knoche’s fellow party member says without providing a name. The man cannot be identified, he says, lest he risk losing his job.

“Utter nonsense,” says the director of the Halberstadt zoo, Marina Breitschuh. No one plundered the zoo, she adds, and all the animals, including the goats, are doing just fine. There are also no right-wingers threatened with termination among the zookeepers, she says. Breitschuh was, however, familiar with the rumor of the slaughtered goats, but the story she heard allegedly took place in Erfurt. One call to the Thuringian capital was all it took to confirm: no missing animals.

“This is a very common pattern,” says Andre Wolf from Mimikama, an online platform in Austria that fights Internet abuse. Once a fabricated story is clearly refuted, those behind it will often uproot it to another location and begin spreading the rumor there. “Some stories are like old acquaintances,” says Wolf. “They resurface every few weeks or months from the depths of the Internet.”

Sound familiar?