A Bit Of A Gripe

[poliphilo]

I understand that racists are not necessarily bad people- just frightened ones- afraid of difference, afraid of the unfamiliar. 

This doesn't mitigate the fact that racism is profoundly stupid- and destructive of civil society.

You have racist views.  Fine.  Please keep them to yourself.

But if you talk to me in ways that assume that I share your views don't be surprised if I take it as a personal  insult.

Comments

[lblanchard.livejournal.com]

Millions of Republicans? Literally? Funny -- I hang out with a lot of Republicans, and I've never heard that expressed by any of them. I'm sure there are some fever-swamps, but I don't think they're as densely populated as you fear.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

I don't think the figure is that far-fetched, really. Glenn Beck's viewership was up in the millions last year and that's where my father heard those claims and worse.

While I happily accept that you and yours are quite above such low-brow fare, I think it naive to imagine the same is true of movement conservatives generally.

[(Anonymous)]

I also think it's inaccurate to assume that all of Beck's viewers take everything on the show uncritically. As I said, I'm sure there are fever swamps, but at the couple of Tea Parties I dropped in on the fringes were just that -- on the fringe.

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

I also think it's inaccurate to assume that all of Beck's viewers take everything on the show uncritically.

Begs the question, doesn't it? If Becks viewers had any appreciable capacity for critical thought, why should they be watching Glenn Beck?

[michaleen.livejournal.com]

And for the sake of those blissfully uninformed about Glenn Beck, the man rather famously stated last year, on his Murdoch-funded, Fox News television show, that President Obama had a "deep seated hatred of white people".

In the racially charged atmosphere of the Republican party, it may not have been the exact equivalent of shouting fire in a crowded theater, but it was too damned close for comfort and inexcusable by any decent standard of political discourse. As such, Glenn Beck and the propaganda he produces for the Republican party are very much on-topic in a discussion of racism.