Politics of Hate category archive
“Facts Are What People Think” 0
Leonard Pitts, Jr., laments the passing of truth. A nugget:
So reads an email sitting in my inbox.
Not shockingly, Snopes, the fact-checking website, has rated the claim it makes as false. . . . .
That truth is not offered in hopes of persuading my correspondent. It is presented simply as a snapshot in time, a postcard from post-factual America. Meaning America of the last 20 years, where untruth is gospel, reality is multiple choice and “facts” are whatever you have testes enough to say and somebody is dumb enough to believe.
Read it. And weep.
Deplorable Things Politicians Cannot Say 0
Charles Blow. A snippet:
Trump is a deplorable candidate – to put it charitably – and anyone who helps him advance his racial, religious and ethnic bigotry is part of that bigotry. Period. Anyone who elevates a sexist is part of that sexism. The same goes for xenophobia. You can’t conveniently separate yourself from the detestable part of him because you sense in him the promise of cultural or economic advantage. That hair cannot be split.
Meet Donnie and the Deplorables 0
Excerpt:
Once you see the burning cross, and at that moment, you do not choose to leave, you are at a cross-burning.
Via Delaware Liberal.
Drunk on Bircher Beer 0
Werner Herzog’s Bear details the resurgence of the Birchers.
Fun fact: The Koch Brothers come by it honestly. Their daddy was a big wheel in the John Birch Society.
A Missive from a Mainer 0
Afterthought:
I never expected to see so much stuff I couldn’t make up as I’ve seen this year . . . .
Up against the Wall 0
Of course, if LePage wasn’t such a jerk, some other outcome would have been likely, however it might have been spun.
Samuel Johnson Was Right 0
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel In related news, David Niose questions attempts to “instill” patriotism. A snippet:
Such conditioning is neither necessary nor healthy, and as a society we should rethink it. Just ask Colin Kaepernick, the NFL player who unleashed a public outcry after respectfully dissenting from the national anthem. For doing nothing more than sitting out a ceremonial song at the start of a football game, Kaepernick has been called a traitor and worse. Or ask Bradford Campeau-Laurion, who was once ejected from Yankee Stadium for having the audacity to use the seventh-inning stretch to visit the men’s room rather than sing “God Bless America.” Such hostile responses to mild gestures of dissent show not a healthy patriotism but an aggressive, chauvinistic nationalism.
Left Untaught 0
I never ran across this in any of my history classes.*
H/T to BadTux, who’s been on a roll this week.
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*My degree is in history, with a focus on U. S. Southern. I did know that many persons thought that “America, the Beautiful” would have been a better choice, but I was unaware that “The Star-Spangled Banner” had a history of being sung at lynchings.
A Kinder, Gentler Trump 0
In related news, Josh Marshall explains why Trump’s rhetoric is, by any measure, hate speech. A snippet:
The Privatization Scam 0
If true, it is more disturbing than anything I’ve come up with, and, as my two or three regular readers know, I’m no Pollyanna. Even more disturbing in this time in which white supremacists feel free to let their filthy flag fly, it is too plausible for comfort.
I’m not saying I buy it, but I find the fact that it is plausible quite chilling.
Take a Walk in the Park 0
Thom takes a serious look at Donald Trump’s rhetoric about crime (“It’s a war zone out there”), the actual crime rate (down significantly over the last 30 years), and the roots of crime. (You can skip the first two minutes–it’s recitation of Trump’s rhetoric. The facts start after that.)
“I Trolled You So” 0
At Psychology Today Blogs, Joe Pierre reviews recent research revealing why anonymous internet comments are so wretched. A snippet (emphasis added):