[Other point that folks have asked about, yes, I did in fact postpone the podcast from Thursday because of the horrible situation in Charleston. The show will run next week.]
I was also reminded, moments ago, of how politics in the United States is more akin to professional wrestling than anything else.
As the public discourse around the Charleston massacre continues to evolve you will see a shift from any type of analysis that highlights white supremacy and anti-black violence to one that is more "neutral" and "reasonable" where gun laws become the focus of the debate. White supremacy, aggrieved white masculinity, conservatism, and the United States' gun fetish cannot be discussed as separate phenomena. The corporate news media fails the American people when it fails to present a systems-level analysis of the relationship between white supremacy, white privilege, masculinity, race, guns, and violence.
In this time of tumult and trouble, where black and brown lives are vulnerable, under assault, not valued, and unprotected, individuals are placed in a crucible of truth, one that reveals their personal values, ethics, and morality. Times of trouble are more revealing of one's nature than are times of peace, prosperity, and ease of life.
In the aftermath of the white supremacist mass murder in Charleston, South Carolina, Republicans and the White Right are showing us who they are...again.
The Fox News Right-wing hate machine has offered up a bizarre and delusional narrative where the mass murder of black people by a white supremacist named Dylann Roof, as the latter shouted that black people are taking away the white man's country and raping his women, is somehow really an attack on Christians. White victimology and the white racial frame are able to transform what is an obvious attack based on race to one that is really an attack on aggrieved and suffering white Christians. White victimology is political and cognitive crack mixed with meth.
One can go mad trying to unpack the insanity.
(Why didn't Dylann Roof attack any of the white churches that were nearby and far closer to where he lived? the KKK was/is a Christian identity organization that killed black people, the vast majority of whom were Christians, white slavers raped, abused, murdered, tortured, and held as human property black people who were "Christians" too? Are these barbarisms now anti-Christian violence more so than white supremacist evil?)
Black Americans who are victims of murderous violence by the police, the State, and White Americans, are usually blamed for somehow causing their own deaths. This is the essence of white racial paranoiac thinking.
To point. Charles Cotton, a National Rifle Association's ammosexual gun fetishist, is now blaming the pastor of Emanuel AME Church for enabling the murder of his congregation:
For Charles Cotton, white people's guns trump black and brown people's right to life.
And of course, the leading Republican candidates for president in 2016 will not speak plainly and directly about the connection between white supremacy and the white supremacist mass murder rampage in Charleston. How could they? White supremacy and conservatism are the beast with two backs, publicly mating in the middle of the street for the entertainment of the Republican base, the whole lot of them on the verge of a healing paroxysm and a priapism of hate.
From where you sit, what have you surveyed about Charleston and the insanity of movement conservatism, the Republican Party, and the White Right in general?
26 comments:
Just in time for Juneteenth!
Qui bono? Who benefits?
The establishment does.
They have been wanting a race war for months.
Divide an conquer. Gun control.
Its perfect for! 2 for 1!
Lookup: GLADIO and STRATEGY OF TENSION
This is a sickening false flag pulled by the people in power, and probably people like George Soros. See his comments about how he funded the coup in Kiev and also his funding of the Feargeson riots (and how his people were not paid, and went on twitter to complain about it).
Both the left and right establishment are involved in this, but they are using Maoist tactics.
Bush started this, and Obama is continuing the destruction of the Republic!!!
Way to be a whore for George Soros and the NWO!!!
Goebbels would indeed be impressed to see how the baby he birthed has grown and become so established that it has become a booming success. He's probably in his grave wondering why they were killed in the first place, if the allies were just going to use his work as a blueprint for their own societies anyway. Heck, if Orwell was alive right now, he'd be predicting lottery numbers for a living, considering just how accurate his vision of society was depicted in his fiction novel.
I mean, I thought I had heard just about everything there was to hear, by way of excuses and denials. But, to hear that there was question of whether this kid was even white. How can one not have their jaw hang on that? I'm usually of the opinion that most of the insanely ridiculous comments thrown out are for shock value, and the speakers don't believe it themselves but, know that there are some that will, which is why they do it. But, the sheer audacity of being able to utter such things knowing that it will be picked up and carried... and nothing can be done about it. In a modern society, with knowledge so readily available, these people should have been driven from the airwaves long ago. Instead, they are able to pay to have their message reach, even the remotest areas, for free, with little or no counter.
The absurd narrative that immediate came to life, that the shooter came to kill Christians, is all the evidence you need to demonstrate the symbiotic relationship between movement conservatism, the right and white supremacy. We can also clearly see how the media is complicit as well by allowing officials to spout this nonsense on the air without reminding them of the killer's own words, that he was there to kill black people for being black. Its no coincidence that a reason the killer gave was also the battle cry of tea bagging right wingers, that he wanted his country back.
To put it plainly, "white leaders" like Graham, Haley, Bush and various Fox pundits, can't tell the truth about this because their people don't want them to. They know their interests are served by pretending the motive was not racial. And what happens when you pretend a problem doesn't exist? It keeps happening. And why would you WANT to pretend a problem doesn't exist? Because it is to your benefit to allow it to keep happening.
There are some black folk who thought this event would be the catalyst to finally prove everything we've been saying about racism in this country. That this terrorist act would be seen as undeniably racist. Instead this event is showing how undeniably insane many in white America are.
This man allegedly said "I'm here to shoot black people" not Christians, not people in general, but black people. How that sentence can be construed to mean something non racist is beyond the powers of even the most adept Jedi.
As a Christian myself I do believe in the cosmic conflict between good and evil, between God and Satan, and that this racist terrorist act is part of that conflict. However, that is only in a broad sense. It doesn't diminish the immediate context of what happened and what is happening in this country. By their fruits ye shall know them.
I saw a few clips of Fox and Friends where the hosts, all three, were engaged all manner of histrionics and mental insipidness in order to make this a hate crime against Christians. Of course, to the dog-whistle vermin that lap this stuff up, Christianity (and you can view any comment section related to this tragedy for proof. I have and it's scary as hell.) means Christin Identity. I'm beginning to believe they feel somewhat complicit for this rampage.
On second thought, naaah
2. Is something wrong with the white family? Why are their sons and men so violent?
3. What should law enforcement and white politicians do about white crime?
4. Is the Charleston mass shooting just one more sign that America needs sensible and reasonable gun control policies?
5. Where are the white fathers in the white home?
6. When will white leadership step up and stop white right-wing domestic terrorism?
7. Is White American culture pathological? Why is White America so violent?
I am white and I do ask myself the above questions often. And...Why is the white homicide so much lower in Europe than in the USA? And as a southerner, I ask myself why is the white homicide rate so much higher in the south (the black homicide rate is much higher in the north.) I also ask could that be why we are said to be more polite and friendly than Europeans? Is the high black homicide rate making blacks more polite? Does it show pride and courage? I have mostly liked the blacks that I have met. Do you ever wonder about these things?
It seems that the right wing media's raison d'etre is to sow confusion. In the echo chamber, up is down, black is white, and left is right.
They seek to muddle reality beyond any sensible recognition because they want their base to be extremely insecure and off-kilter to maintain control over their minds. They have mastered the art.
Fear, coupled with insecurity, mixed with confusion works to further isolate Americans from one another. Throw in unmitigated access to military grade weapons and they have succeeded in democratizing terror, which leads to domestic terror events, which breeds more fear, insecurity, and confusion.
If the Republican candidates and Fox News denounced racism too strongly it would alienate half their audience! OK, two-thirds.
It's not that they're insane. Its that they are fully invested either by default or by direct intent, in the maintenance of white supremacy. They will deny what is right in front of our faces to avoid having to deal with the racism. They know full well that man came to kill black people out of hate. They can't use the usual dodge, "wait until all the facts are in" because we have enough facts, including the killers own words, that he did this out of racial hatred.
By default some are invested because the people who keep them in office don't want to be publicly confronted with their racism. By direct intent, in that there are those who are true believers in the "lost cause" and are neo confederates at heart.
Well done. I do believe you've summed up Goebbels' strategy very well. Ginning up the agitprop machinery to convince the masses they are victims, all while enjoying the luxury of the dominant position in an asymmetrical power structure, worked well for him and every other totalitarian regime.
Corrective accepted. You're right. Insanity would mean they're not responsible for their actions. That they don't know what they're doing
The politicians we've heard from thus far, those who have been disingenuous in pushing the ridiculous lie that this was an attack on Christianity, depend on votes from people who think like the Charleston killer. Haley, Graham, Perry and Bush are leaders of a party whose base has been openly racist ("we want our country back") many of whom have made threats and in some cases carried them out. Their shame is that they keep these people fed a steady diet of "red meat" in the form of thinly veiled racist comments and attacks on the president and POC, all for political gain. That they can't step up and call out evil for what it is tells us all we need to know.
I am still too livid to be incoherent I think, but here goes...
What have I noticed? That to the right, History doesn't matter when it comes to attacks on Black Churches (or any other symbol of Black identity).
History matters a great deal when it comes to defending their right to defend the Confederate Battle Flag.
To me, the most telling and most honest was Lindsey Graham - saying the flag "represents who we are."
"We"? In the immortal words of Tonto, "what do you mean "we", white man?"
At the time of the attack on Fort Sumter, more than 60% of the population of South Carolina was enslaved. They persist in having a very narrow view of who "we" are when it comes to defining America.
No. Fucking. Quarter.
Don't forget they've kept up a steady diet of racist rhetoric for the past fifty some years. They can't suddenly turn their backs on that now and acknowledge that racism, is in fact, alive and well in America, when they've spent the last 7 years convincing their constituents that it doesn't, and establishing the dog whistle vocabulary they've used to deny it.
You're right. They've created a monster that they can't stop feeding it hateful swill, lest it turn on them. As I pointed out though, its not all calculated for effect. Some of these people are cut from the same cloth as their rabid, hateful base is.
Its enough to make Goebbels blush. The GOP's rallies its base by scapegoating society's most vulnerable groups. From their perspective white supremacy must especially be defended now that its inherent vice has been exposed by the massacre.
Also they're propagandizing the notion that the "war on religion" is being waged by same sex marriage advocates, and reproductive rights defenders thereby emphasizing commonalities between homophobic and misogynist Black and White Christians.
Dear fellow white readers: our collective debt to the African American community skyrocketed long ago. How many times will we refinance in order to avoid payment? I challenge you to donate an amount of money, or time or resources that you will notice. Make a sacrifice. Let's help rebuild the community that one of our sick, twisted members just tried to destroy. Parroting the right words isn't enough. You can donate to the Emanuel AME church community here: http://www.charleston-sc.gov/index.aspx?NID=1330. I just donated a month's pay.
(Posting anonymously lest anyone think this to be ally theatrics/ self-aggrandizement.)
First of all my heart goes out to the victims of this crime. Second, the more they get angry for it the more the truth needs to be told. We need to blitz them with truth bombs to counter the propaganda.
Also while I'm at it fuck the second amendment
They are the party of death; what happens when corporate and religious power mate
And what they represent is a culture of death, one that cheers the death of a man for lack of health insurance, as they did when Ron Paul suggested the same at a republican "debate" in 2012. This is a party that thinks nothing of letting people die to further its own political prospects. Its base is too drunk on hatred to realize that many of them will be the victims. With others still thinking that's acceptable collateral damage as long as the furtherance of fear and hatred is achieved.
What we really need from the white community is more support in standing up and speaking out. Too many whites know this is wrong and yet are silent. Push back when you hear the kind of racist swill that motivates people like Roof. Call out republican politicians when they race bait using coded dog whistles for votes. And for God's sake, turn of Fox.
I remember around the time of 9/11 I was scared and fell hook, line and sinker for Republican propaganda. But I was 12 at the time.
I'm terrified that grown men believe that toxic swill that suckered me as a kid.
I've always said that G.O.P. stands for "Goebbels Obfuscation Party"
It's a common stereotype of Christians that they rape white women. Yes, of course it's disingenuous of these folks to spin what's obviously a racial hate crime to fit their narrative of Christians being persecuted.
That must be a common stereotype of white Christians.
There is a tendency to gloss over the fact that there is a strong Christian tradition in the black community. Which makes it all the more galling now that they recognize it, but only to whitewash the killer who has internalized the racism, dog whistles, talking points and all, in order not to be called to account for that.
I grew up in the church. The people from my mother's side of the family are from Greenville, SC. The people who were killed in Charleston remind me of my relatives, who were gentle, accepting and loving. And I can tell you that raping white women was not a Christian fear.
I should have put "LOL" or something after that first sentence.
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