Racism is the new “why do you hate America?”
In the period following 9/11, the Bush Administration did its best to impose a police state mentality on the country, with any and all dissent immediately branded as “unpatriotic.” Remember? If you questioned the war, or criticized the administration, or suggested that perhaps it wasn’t a great idea to invade a country that hadn’t done anything at all to provoke us, you were branded anti-American. A “blame-America-firster.” Why do you hate America? the wingnuts would bleat.
Ultimately this plan foundered on George W. Bush’s massive incompetence and the total trainwreck of his administration’s policies. Even the wingnuts got disgusted with the BushCo clowns, and with that the game was lost. You can’t keep up that whole police state/squelch dissent thing unless there are people willing to enforce the rules.
But despite Bush’s failure, the police state approach can be a very effective strategy. Certainly Barack Obama is going for it in a big way. It started during the primaries, when his campaign established the working rule that any criticism of Obama, no matter what, was to be construed as evidence of racism. Actually you didn’t even have to criticize the guy; just voting for somebody else was enough. You liked Hillary better? Congratulations; you’re a racist.
Over and over again I saw the scenario play out on blogs:
Democrat: I really like Hillary. She’s brilliant and capable.
Obamabot: Sounds like somebody’s not ready for a black man to be president.
Democrat: Obama’s caving on FISA is a huge betrayal.
Obamabot: Why don’t you just admit you’re a racist?
Democrat: Obama says he wants to expand funding for faith-based programs, which is the opposite of what we need to be doing.
Obamabot: Ooh, god forbid we should have a scary black man in the White House, right?
Democrat: The cult-like adoration around Obama is really disturbing.
Obamabot: So you’re saying he’s “uppity”?
Democrat: The evidence for Obama’s cheating in the caucus states is massive, with 2000 incident reports in Texas alone. Voter suppression, busing people across state lines, tampering –
Obamabot: Fine, you don’t want a black man to be president. Just admit it.
Democrat: The sexism from him and his supporters is deeply offensive.
Obamabot: Racist!
If Obama were truly as compelling a candidate as we’re always being told he is, he wouldn’t need this kind of tactic. But he’s not, and he does. He needs all the help he can get to head off inquiries into his lies, his sleaze, his corruption, his fraud, his vacuity.
And so we have Sarah Palin being accused of racism because she mentioned Barack Obama’s pivotal relationship with the very white William Ayers. But hey — if Bob Herbert can hallucinate the Siegessäule as a giant black phallus, obviously it’s no problem at all for the media to see racism now.
Can you imagine what it will be like if Obama is elected? We’ve already seen his “Truth Squads” and we know where he stands on FISA, so clearly the guy has no problem with using the state to crack down on dissent. As I’ve been telling my friends for months now, Obama is the heir to Bush in everything but name.
29 Responses to “Racism is the new “why do you hate America?””
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Carmonn says:
It’s also the case that Obama’s white male supporters freely and often decree that the many, many POC who supported Clinton did so because “everybody knows they’re racist. Latinos don’t like black people. Asians are notoriously racist.”
October 6th, 2008 at 6:31 pm EST -
Violet says:
Even AAs who supported Hillary got accused of racism, as my friends Patsy and Sugar will attest. And when they’d say, “no, I’m black!” the Obamabot would say they were lying. Or self-hating. Or insane.
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CoolAunt says:
As I’ve already commented to another post here, bringing up Obama’s relationship with admitted terrorist Ayers - a white man - is only racism to those who perceive all terrorists to be dark-skinned. Ironic, isn’t it?
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Carmonn says:
These white guys have divided the world into black and white, and if you’re not black, you must be white. And even if you’re black, you must be white if you don’t support the right candidate.
Yesterday, I saw someone accused of trying to bring white supremacy and Jim Crow to New Orleans. The person’s crime was promoting a Latina candidate over a black male candidate (who’s under indictment). As an aside, she was also accused of “faux feminism” for this transgression.
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CoolAunt says:
Obama’s gonna’ make Bush look like a real servant of the people in comparison. Good fortune for Bush and his legacy, I suppose.
Some are saying that the racism of the majority of whites will be proven if Obama doesn’t win the election, thus inciting race riots and, some say, even a race war. I’m not worried about all of that, though, because unless something really big happens in the next few weeks, Obama will be the next POTUS, leaving me with a whole different set of worries.
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Sis says:
I refuse to be called Black, just because I’m part aboriginal. On Black women’s blogs, I’m called racist because I don’t like Obama, and tell them, I’m not Black, I’m native. Not Black. Get it? Nope. You’re a racist they tell me, who is in denial, passing. You’re Black. What part of other non-white peoples and cultures do they not get? All of the parts.
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Yanni Znaio says:
Brilliant, Violet- simply brilliant.
Personally, the Obamabots remind me of “Rain Man”.
And while I know the polls are generally overrepresenting Democrats right now, I never thought of the PUMAs doing “The Bradley” to pollsters and skewing them even further.
ROTFL.
Best regards,
YZ
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Anna Belle says:
Well, name and party. Scratch that. Name only, you’re right.
Hey, did you see where CNN is now doing a Truth Squad? I was revolted.
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octogalore says:
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose…
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soopermouse says:
the days of Obama remind me painfully of living under Ceausescu. One joke against the leader and you could go to jail for a long time.What is the difference between “enemy of the people” and “racist” in this context? Not much in my opinion
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song says:
Yes, Violet I think you are correct about the 2…
Bush and Obama..
One sold America and the other is what we get for it..I find they both have Alwaleed in common..Saudi money..
Alwaleed and his consortium also own a lot of the media..CNN etc.
yup….(sigh)
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cellocat says:
How about we all admit that most of us have some degree of trouble with difference, and stop judging ourselves and other people for it, and concentrate on learning how to be responsible in our communications, both personal and professional?
There is a difference between being truthful and being right, and it seems that the Obamabots would rather have the latter (and the power that it supposedly grants) than the former. Having integrity means being willing to engage in self-reflection and correction, and those seem in short supply.
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goesh says:
Well, we will see if the women Hillary supporters who stood mute as she was trashed by the Obama people will vote him into office or not. He may well be the lesser evil compared to an old white male and a woman. I wonder if Anita Hill will vote for old Joe and Obama?
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readre says:
Don’t forget:
Democrat: Hillary got a lot of sexist treatment from the media.
Obamabot: You are a racist for not talking about the sexist treatment Michelle Obama has received.
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samanthasmom says:
Look for elements of the burqa to be part of the new spring fashions.
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octogalore says:
Also, the catch phrase “sit there and look cute” will come into fashion (oops, it already is):
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votermom says:
The article octogalore linked to — Ugh, Obama’s such a jerk, even to his wife.
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Perry Logan says:
I’m compelled to vote for Cynthia McKinney, just to shut those guys up.
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Carmonn says:
That doesn’t count, Perry. Cynthia has a vagina. If you support a black woman over a black man, you’re undoubtedly the most racist and sexist person of all, ask any male Democrat and 90% of feminists for Obama.
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BG, Florida says:
If I have become a racist at 73 years of age..I am not going to fight it. But..at least I have always loved my country..only questioning things in the last year or so. It is more patriotic after all my years as a democrat to be able to separate the party from the candidate and vote for what is best for my country.
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samanthasmom says:
“Obamabot: You are a racist for not talking about the sexist treatment Michelle Obama has received.”
I’d be happy to talk about the sexist treatment Michelle Obama has received. The problem is that most of it comes from her own husband who says things like she should “sit there and look cute”. I can think of a lot of words to describe Michelle, even some very flattering ones, but “cute” isn’t one of them. Kittens and puppies are “cute”. The alpacas are “cute”.
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creeper says:
samanthasmom says:
“Look for elements of the burqa to be part of the new spring fashions.”
I think you meant this to be sort of funny. Somehow, I couldn’t laugh when I read it.
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Annie Oakley says:
I agree that “cute” isn’t a description I’d use for Michelle, but his order to her to “sit there and look cute” sounds better, but similar to the “Sit down and shut up” he told us.
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samanthasmom says:
Actually, I was dead serious about burqa fashions. Burqa’s are designed to make all women appear the same and invisible at the same the time. Women’s fashions usually follow the role that women are expected to play. Get too powerful in that pantsuit and mini-skirts and stilettos make a comeback. Since “interchangeable and invisible” appears to be our new role, the burqa seems to be perfect attire. Maybe we’ll see the return of the longer skirt and a resurgence of the head scarf as a beginning now that Palin has turned the high heel into a power symbol.
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Alikatze says:
Violet, as much as I really, really want to, I cannot post this spot-on piece of yours on my blog or my Facebook page precisely because it will be deemed racist. I have learned to keep my mouth shut to my Obamabot friends about why I don’t like/won’t vote for Obama….they think only that I am a racist for not voting for him. I love how fanatacism has trumped logic once again…sigh
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donna darko says:
If you weren’t called a racist today, you aren’t doing your job!
samanthasmom, you’re right about the burqa fashions. The Obamas’ church is Nation of Islam masquerading as Christianity which explains the racism, sexism and homophobia of the primary. This is something we have to talk about. The Obama is too racist, sexist and homophobic to be President. Pass it on.
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Kat says:
This is a very good piece. I would add:
Democrat: The sexism from him and his supporters is deeply offensive.
Obamabot: You bitter white women are all the same!I am deeply in the closet at work. I know if I “come out” as a critic of Obama, it would really hurt me in my job. I wouldn’t be fired, but I would be ostracized in a way that would deny me new projects or new responsibilities. If I, say, put up a McKinney or McCain poster to counter the Obama posters, my boss would tell me to take it down, and there would likely be complaints lodged about me.
It’s a very bad environment, very closed. Already, I’m losing friends because I won’t actively join in. I think they can kind of … sense it.
It’s creepy. I don’t know if I’ve ever felt quite like this. I remember feeling very isolated and depressed with public discourse after 9/11, but I think there were so many places to go online with likeminded people, I got though. My online haunts have dwindled now… Violet, please don’t stop what you’re doing, okay?
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Yanni Znaio says:
donna darko says:
If you weren’t called a racist today, you aren’t doing your job!
samanthasmom, you’re right about the burqa fashions. The Obamas’ church is Nation of Islam masquerading as Christianity which explains the racism, sexism and homophobia of the primary. This is something we have to talk about. The Obama is too racist, sexist and homophobic to be President. Pass it on.
I’m old enough to remember when “racism” was defined as prejudice against someone based upon their ethnicity.
These days it’s used as a tool for squelching an opposing viewpoint without having to actually deal with any of its premises— or to avoid having to answer charges that you might be guilty of something.
And that’s unfortunate, because it dilutes the meaning of the word and makes it less effective when it is used in its original context.
Love your screen name too.
Best regards,
YZ
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ea says:
1. Here is a link to a list of Obama/Bush similarities (by an AA female Republican):
2. I feel compelled to vote for Cynthia McKinney because she is the best candidate.
