Politics of Hate category archive

The Rude One explains that, as a nation, we are what we are, and it’s not pretty (emphasis added):

Here on the left, we like to think that because we believe in the better angels of humanity, that people aren’t as vile as they so often seem. We can find peace, we like to think, in places where there will never be peace. Or we think we can find compromise with people who would rather plunge off a cliff than take our hand. “We are better than that,” we say, referring to how people behave in certain situations, thinking that their initial reactions will not be borne out by their further actions.

It is the foolish net that we trap ourselves in time and again when the truth of the matter is that, as a nation, not on an individual basis, but as a conglomerate of the whole, no, we are not better than that. At best, we are exactly what we are.

Follow the link for the evidence.

Tony Norman points out how ignorance feeds bigotry, using the example of the resentment of refugees along the southern border of the United States.

I do think he failed to give enough emphasis to bigotry in all this, but he only gets so many inches for his column. If these were little white kids who spoke English, there would be no fuss. A “whites only” sign has never been far from America’s welcome mat.

Here’s a bit; do read the rest.

Throughout our history,“godly men” in search of more land and markets have stepped forward, ready, willing and eager to impose their version of Manifest Destiny on everyone else. They carried bibles in one hand and guns in the other, because that‘?s how the balance of power is exercised in a “civilized” society.

It helps that the line between people and territories is always blurred when there’?s thievery going on. It makes the denial many generations later that much more reasonable. Most Americans don‘?t realize that Texas, Arizona, Nevada and California were once part of a greater Mexico, before those lands were annexed by war, trickery and genocide.

It’s just how they roll.

Addendum, a Bit Later:

F. T. Rea highlights the hypocrisy of Republican “situational ethics.” A nugget:

Remember when Republicans cried crocodile tears over sending the boy refugee, Elián González, back to Cuba? Seems like times have changed quite a bit with regard to deporting children. Now angry Republicans appear ready to instantly deport thousands of kids seeking exile back to scary countries.

Dick Polman recounts a tale of teabaggers’ swallowing whole a clearly satirical piece about President Obama. A nugget–follow the link for the rest of the story:

As the publisher of National Report (source of the satire–ed.) remarked in an interview last year, “We have been targeting tea party types recently, (because) they are the most gullible, and are willing to spread misinformation across the Internet with little/no research…they are to blame for their own stupidity.”

(snip)

What fun, to play a prank on these gullible fulminators. Yet, in the end, we’ve got to admit that there’s something a tad depressing about our vast idiocracy.

Fear and hate make for remarkable blinders.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

Yet another racist twit who wishes to use “freedom of speech” as a cloaking device for bigotry.

Chauncey Devega explores the dynamics of the wingnut echo chamber and domestic rightwing terrorism with Mike Papantonio. Visit Chauncey’s website for his reflections on the conversation.

Part One: The Foot Soldiers.

Part Two: “The Gimp in the Box.”

And that’s exactly what Maine’s Republican governor is attempting to do, right along with their parents, quite illegally, by the way.

The Republican Party, the place where mean is cool.

Via Juanita Jean.

Daniel Ruth considers suicide shooters. A nugget (emphasis added):

Law enforcement officials have characterized the carnage wrought by the Millers as an “isolated incident.” And perhaps it is. But there sure have been an awful lot of “isolated incidents” involving various permutations of neo-Nazi sympathizers over the last few years.

In 2012, Wade Michael Page shot up a Sikh temple in Wisconsin. That same year, authorities busted a ring of skinheads in Central Florida, accusing them of plotting to attack the Orlando City Hall.

There have been shooting rampages tied to the Aryan Nation in Oregon, Washington and California. Interracial couples have been targeted. The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum was the site of a fatal shooting by neo-Nazi James von Brunn.

Just last week, white supremacist Dennis Marx was killed by police when he attempted to attack a North Carolina courthouse.

Read the rest.

Who led the “Operation American Spring” insurgency?

For that matter, why hasn’t it been properly labeled by the popular media as an “insurgency”?

Read more »

“Compassionate conservatism” is an oxymoron.

“Conservatism” has devolved into nasty for the sake of nasty, hate-full-ness for the sake of hate.

Ask me nicely, I’ll tell you what I really think.

Via C&L.

As soon as General Lee handed his sword to General Grant in Appomattox almost a century and a half ago, the campaign to whitewash (you will pardon the expression) the role of slavery in the Civil War began. Slavery had lost, and its proponents moved rapidly to “distance themselves”–as today’s idiom would have it–from the word.

It was about (pick the flavor of the decade) states’ rights/incompatible economic systems/agriculture vs. industrialization. When I was coming along, “incompatible economic systems” was in vogue.

The campaign of spin and deceit continues today.

In the Roanoke Times, H. A. Goodman points out that the truth is in the founding documents of the Confederate States of America and suggests that more persons should read them:

While the U.S. Constitution does not mention the word “slavery” and does not include the word “God” (aside from the signatory section where dates in that era were preceded by the “Year of our Lord”), the Constitution of the Confederate States evoked the power of God to legitimize its right to hold slaves.

It begins by “invoking the favor and guidance of Almighty God” and goes on to clearly state clearly that slavery will be an integral part of a new federal government:

“In all such territory the institution of negro slavery, as it now exists in the Confederate States, shall be recognized and protected bye Congress and by the Territorial government . . . . …”

Anyone who claims that the Civil War was fundamentally about anything other than slavery is a hypocrite and a liar and likely wants to sell you a bill of goods.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.