Hate Sells category archive
A Notion of Immigrants, “As Ye Sow, So Shall Ye Reap” Dept. 0
There is much gnashing of teeth and flowering of fulminations over the desire of migrants from Central America to migrate northward, ultimately to the United States. Those who bemoan immigration, particularly immigration of persons with (ahem) darker skin and foreign accents, want them stopped, ofttimes forgetting that, a generation or two or three ago, persons who were already here wanted to forbid their own ancestors from arriving on these shores.
Aviva Chomsky reminds us that the United States is neither an innocent bystander nor a blameless victim in this current northward migration.
(snip)
In Nicaragua, the Sandinista revolution succeeded in overthrowing the U.S.-supported Somoza dictatorship in 1979. Somoza’s corruption and violence had alienated even Nicaragua’s business classes, and a broad popular front implemented a mixed economy promoting popular organization, land reform and the socialization of basic services. But the Reagan administration saw this and similar revolutionary projects in El Salvador and Guatemala as stalking horses for communism. It helped Central American elites and militaries to overthrow governments and crush popular movements.
Aside:
Last night, at our DL gathering, we were discussing how persons once derided as “not white,” such as Irish and Italians, have been assimilated into whiteness. We wondered what group will be next.
Still Rising Again after All These Years 0
A school board meeting descends into chaos because white fragility can’t handle the truth (emphasis added).
Critical race theory is an academic term that has been misappropriated by mostly white conservatives (i. e., white supremacists–ed.) in the wake of the New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize–winning 1619 Project as a stand-in for almost any educational discussion that might frame US history through a critical racial lens.
We are a society of stupid.
Our Computerized Cesspools 0
Kiki Monifa explains one way in which social media isn’t.
A Notion of Immigrants 0
The Orlando Sentinel’s Scott Maxwell explores how Florida’s governor managed to pander to the prejudiced and procure plaudits from right-wing media while changing practically nothing. Maxwell looks at a recently passed Florida law that purportedly requires employers to check the legal status of job applicants using the federal “E-Verify” system, except when it doesn’t. A nugget (emphasis added):
“But There’s No Other Possible Explanation” 0
In the December issue of Psychology Today, Jennifer Latson explores why smart people can believe dumb things, such as the notion that
- 5G cell towers cause COVID-19;
- the January 6 invaders of the Capitol were “Antifa crisis actors” pretending to be Trump supporters; and
- honesty about this nation’s racist history causes more racism.
A snippet; follow the link for the rest.
Follow the link for the rest.
The Noaccount Recount 0
At AZCentral.com, Warren Stewart explores the motive for the Arizona Senate’s noaccount recount:
Follow the link for his evidence.
They Know Not of What They Speak 0
AL.com’s Kyle Whitmire asked an Alabama legislator who submitted a bill to ban the teaching of “critical race theory” in primary and secondary schools (where it is not taught, by the way) to define “critical race theory.”
Misdirection Play, the Art of the Con Dept. 0
The writer of a letter to the editor of the Las Vegas Sun reveals the deal.
The Unwelcoming 0
At the Kansas City Star, Toriano Porter tells the story of the behavior that greeted a black family when they moved into a new town seeking better schools.
Spoiler Alert: It’s not pretty.
They Must Be High on Something . . . 0
. . . but, whatever it is, it won’t be Coke.
The ban passed during a Board of Commissioners meeting on May 17 with a 3-2 vote as a direct response to Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey’s comments calling the voting law “unacceptable” and “a step backwards.”
More news of the petty racist stupidity at the link.
Misdirection Play(s), Florida Man Dept. 0
The Orlando Sentinel’s Scott Maxwell takes a look at Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s practice of building windmills just so he can tilt at them, with a focus on DeSantis’s latest shibboleth, Critical Race Theory. Here’s a bit; much more at the ink.
The declaration scored the governor the headlines he craved. (Washington Times: “Ron DeSantis vows action on critical race theory that teaches children to ‘hate their country’“)
Except for two key points:
1) That’s not what Critical Race Theory actually does.
2) No local school districts actually teach this theory as part of their curriculums.
The Lies of the Land 0
At the San Francisco Chronicle, David Morrell argues that Donald Trump’s big lie is not the first to bedevil (at least some of) the American people. Here’s a bit:
From my experience, the lies surrounding the Jan. 6 insurrection are no less blatant, no less absurd and no less grotesque than those that fueled the Vietnam War more than a half-century ago.
He was there in the command structure, not in combat, and he saw the lies being crafted first hand.
I was eligible for the draft back then. I knew that the Vietnamese War was, at best, a mistake and that my friends and I were subject to being drafted and sent to die for, at best, a mistake.
But, even then, I did not realize how big the lie was.
The Aggrieved 0
You will sometimes hear folks on the left theorizing that right-wingers do hate-full things solely to “own the libs.” Steve M, though, thinks there is more to it than that. In an article about the recent anti-vaccine stunt by hatWRKS, he observes:
Follow the link for the complete article.
The Lies of the Land 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Gary Wenk explores the human tendency to believe in lies. A snippet:
Follow the link for his answer to that question.