Politics of Hate category archive
American Taliban, Reprise 0
Chris Honore marvels at the appeal of Donald Trump and finds an alarming analogy. A snippet:
The answer may reside with ISIS. To explain, at least in part, the attraction of this group, Roger Cohen posited in the New York Times that what this caliphate offers is a release from the “burden of freedom” while offering purpose and meaning as well as strict moral boundaries and order. There is the promise of salvation and martyrdom framed by a code of behavior (sharia law) that is enforced with lethal finality while simultaneously surrounding the true believer with community and approbation.
Follow the link for the rest of his argument.
Bears! 0
Pamela Druckerman remembers vacationing in the Smokies and her fear of bears, even though no bear ever threatened her. That leads her to wonder why so many Americans seem scared of everything all the time. Here’s a bit (emphasis added); follow the link for the rest.
Americans didn’t invent this narrative, but we’ve embraced it with a special fervor. Never mind that owning a gun makes you less safe; we like the story that says we’re protecting our families. Never mind the enormous drops in homicide, robbery and other violence. We cling to the story that the world has become more dangerous.
The hero story also seeps into American politics. Why are many Republican presidential candidates obsessed with undocumented immigrants? They’re inventing a monster that threatens America, then promising to rescue us. Donald J. Trump has Mexicans; I have bears.
World-Nut Daily Sees the Fright . . . 0
. . . and reports on the fly-by in the ointment.
Dis Coarse Discourse 0
Jon Perr parses Republican rhetoric. It ain’t a pretty site.
Here’s a bit:
It’s the Rovian tactic. If the facts are against you, attack.
Trump Glowers 0
Werner Herzog’s Bear tries to understand the appeal of Donald Trump. A snippet (emphasis added):
Donald Trump doesn’t do any of that, which is why his naked appeals to anti-immigrant hatred make him more, not less popular. This is why his Birther beliefs didn’t get him discredited for life. He is just openly saying what a lot of conservatives already think. The Republican party leaders are like the sorcerer’s apprentice. They have called into being a Tea Party that helps get their legions of voters to the polls, but now it has been exploited by a man who is totally outside of their control. This simply could not have happened forty years ago.
Trump’s Appeal 2
Jim Wright sums it up (emphasis in the original).
Donald Trump is the perfect Republican.
No wonder he embarrasses them.
Follow the link to find out why he says that.
The Gloomy Historian adds another perspective.
None Dare Call It Terrorism 0
Alfred Doblin looks at the American disconnect: The implicit establishment consensus that home-grown white folks cannot be ipso facto terrorists, as they are not brown, so their murders, bombings, and other assorted rampages consequently cannot be called terrorism.
Read the rest, in which he finds a common denominator to the carnage.
None Dare Call It Terrorism 0
Part One:
Part Two:
Part Three:
Generalization Trump Marshals His Troops 0
Mike Kelly considers Trump the generalizer:
(snip)
But Trump’s statements that Mexican immigrants are “bringing” drugs and crime and “they’re rapists” won’t go away – for good reason.
In those words, uttered in the first minutes of his presidential announcement on June 16, Trump sunk into the bigotry of generalization.
Do read the rest. It is worth three minutes of your time.
_____________________
*This statement is as wrong as it is clever.
Generalizing is not the root of prejudice; it is the fertilizer.
The New Nihilists 0
Brian Greenspun, publisher of The Las Vegas Sun, has had enough (emphasis added).
This time there are people upset about Obamacare and marriage. That’s not going to change. There will always be people upset when the Supreme Court acts. That is the nature of court rulings.
What should upset us more, though, are political leaders under the guise of conservatism crying out for the impeachment of justices and the ignoring of lawful court orders.
There is nothing conservative about trying to lead people — emotionally and otherwise distraught people, depending upon the issue — toward a path of ignoring our Constitution and our rule of law. That is the way of anarchists, not conservatives.
More fed-upedness at the link.