"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."--Martin Luther King Jr.
Conservatives have gone rabid yet again and focused their animus on Michelle Obama. So what has them foaming at the mouth this time?
Last week, the Subway Restaurant chain announced on its Facebook page that it was joining First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" campaign, and teaming up with the Partnership for a Healthier America. Nothing shocking in this partnership; Subway has offered healthy alternatives to fries and burgers for years.
We've been bemoaning the fattening of America for at least the last decade, with a particular focus on the increasing obesity of America's children and adolescents. According to the CDC, childhood obesity has more than doubled in children and tripled in adolescents in the past 30 years. So the addition of Subway's support to an initiative to provide information about eating healthy and to encourage all of us to make healthier food choices seems like a great idea unless you're a mad dog conservative. They're out in full force on Subway's Facebook page, decrying Subway's joining the First Lady's campaign against childhood obesity and vowing to take their business elsewhere.
It's their right to do so, and I'd be the last person to insist that anyone is obligated to support any business. What I have a problem with is their racist insults directed at the First Lady and the President. The comments comparing Mrs. Obama to cows and apes, the comments denigrating her intelligence, the comments calling her a traitor to her country. Then there's Regine Wilson who calls the First Lady "ghetto trash," and Judy Stewart who can't seem to recall how to spell the First Lady's given name and calls her "Mooshell." (public comments, no expectation of privacy, ladies). Of course, Regine and Judy aren't the only ones using disparaging terms to refer to Mrs. Obama. They are joined by a chorus of the radically hateful. Hate feeds off hate.
I can only assume that the loony bin conservatives who are having conniption fits at the idea of the First Lady advocating for a healthier America felt that the Subway Facebook was too limited a forum, so they created their own page: "I Reject Michelle Obama and Subway." Read at your own risk; it's vile, contemptible, racist, and filled with stupidity.
What truly disgusts and offends me is that these lunatic, ignorant fools who are too worthless to even shine her shoes don't give a damn that they are not only insulting the First Lady but every African-American in this country. I have heard this type of crap my entire life. I'm long past childhood and I'm immune to words of ignorance causing me personal hurt any more, but it still pisses me off that black children in this country are regularly exposed to this type of sh*t.
I grew up in an era where racial epithets and denigration of black people was common. Those who dared object risked being taught a lesson, from losing a job, to being dragged out of your house and beaten, to being killed. I learned as a child to keep my mouth shut and my eyes down because even a glance at a white person could be interpreted as being insolent.
I had hoped that this country, my country, was beyond overt racism, but since Obama's election the ignorant have risen and feel free to to insult both the President and the First Lady with the most vile of racial insults and it's as if we have stepped back into an era that should have long been dead and buried. I have no patience for such people and quite frankly they're not worthy to shine my shoes either.
I vent here, using my words as a weapon, so that I can resist the impulse to slap the first white person that pisses me off on any given day with nonsensical talk of how they are victims of reverse racism and how President Obama has divided this country when it comes to race. I try to keep my anger and disgust down to a simmer rather than letting it come to a full, rolling boil. I work hard to ensure that my Aunt Dorothy's prediction fails to come true and my head doesn't explode one day because I think too much.
I can only agree whole-heartedly and add that no person of white privilege has the right to diminish or dismiss the perceptions and feelings of black Americans when it comes to racism and prejudice. I have witnessed enough incidents in my lifetime to KNOW that African Americans have more than ample proof to support those perceptions and feelings. One day Sheria, one day, we will stand side by side, as human beings in all our multi-colored glory and understand that we are ONE human race
ReplyDeleteThe notion of inherited privilege is anathema to a country founded on words like "all men are created equal" with respect to rights and privileges and protection under the law. That apples to race, religion, wealth, size, strength or any other variables the flesh is heir to. I don't like bigotry regardless of who practices it and I suspect that anyone willing to make up reasons to trash the president's family will have no difficulty making up reasons to trash mine.
DeleteWhy would anyone think proof is needed that humans treat other humans with contempt based on made up or irrelevant tribal or group differences? It's the entire history of our species, our cultures, our laws and our beliefs. If there is any such thing as original sin, there it is. I already feel kinship with humanity ( and perhaps with most things that live) because we all share not only a common origin, but a common fate. We all suffer, we all hurt, we all love and we all die.
If my genome tells you everything about where I came from, which it does, it tells me or you nothing about who I am. European culture has been about inherited privilege and "breeding" since the ice sheet receded and it has a ways to go before the traces fade, if they ever completely do, but we're not all bigots, we don't all love to hate and we don't need excuses to support our claim that we're all one family. We are. I'm not describable with reference to a group, I'm me.
I may not agree with the Presidents political agenda in full and did not vote for him, the result of those legitimate political differences. However, political differences aside, he is a fine man, good father and husband, a American who loves his country, and is following his conscience as well as doing the best he can under difficult and adverse conditions.
ReplyDeleteAs for the First Lady, I applaud her efforts and admire her comittment to educate and encourage healthy eating and exercise. As a personal fitness trainer I know the First Lady is doing the right thing. Eating healthy and daily excercise is the recipe for a longer happier life. It won't happen but this consevative libertarian would be proud to be on First Lady Michelle Obama's team.
As a conservative libertarian I am embarrassed by the ignorance, hatefulness,
and obvious racism displayed by these ignorant fools. They see their world slowly slipping away and they are frightened littlepeople. They will all die off, but likely not in our lifetime.
okjimm is absolutely right. It will eventually happen. Just not soon enough.
Their world is slowly slipping away, else the Obama family wouldn't be in the White house. It's no surprise to me that the vermin come out of the woodwork any time the President and first lady act like the President and First Lady - like Obama was actually elected and not sneaked into office by ACORN and the damned Jews. Their sense of rightful place is offended and they have little else in life to be proud of. Personally I enjoy watching them suffer. They can't suffer quite enough to satisfy me.
ReplyDeleteOnce the Klan were heroes to millions of people, now they're just embarrassing stains on the national toilet. These idiots are doomed and they know it. They're pathetic, ridiculous and they know it and I think most Americans know it. Trashing the First Lady when they know she's absolutely right? Pathetic isn't a strong enough word. Hell, if I weren't on a post-cruise diet, I'd get a couple of foot-longs for dinner in her honor.
But I have to wonder how many people there are behind this and how much more of a minority they become as time goes on and America's complexion darkens. I also wonder how much of the rhetoric comes from a party trying hard to rally the racists and bigots for one last assault on Washington - desperate because they know they're losing. How many are there? Perhaps it's like with roaches, if you see one there are a thousand, but perhaps not. Perhaps we confuse sound and fury with substance. After all, ten percent of America makes for over thirty million people. It only takes a few thousand, a tiny fraction to fill up websites and facebook pages and it's too bad that the internet magnifies the noise. "People are saying" may only mean one person and when Fox says it it usually is. I think most people cringe when they hear this kind of crap.
Perhaps they do us a favor by not letting us forget, by demonstrating just how disgusting they are, how anti-American. It's hard to dress up such people and their actions and their hate as worthy of listening to. Let them hate, let them fume and fuss. Let them come out of the woodwork so we can see them and take names. Let them stink so bad the politicians won't touch them
"Read at your own risk; it's vile, contemptible, racist, and filled with stupidity."
ReplyDeleteIOW, it's the modern GOP and no matter how many times they get an example of their appalling behavior shoved in front of their noses, they still don't see it as the reason people are moving away from them, not toward them.
Didn't the state of Virginia teach them anything?
Yes, I think the reaction is both predictable and disgusting. A lot of loons have really been driven to raving by the mere election of an African American president, twice. And of course anything he or the First Lady may achieve or advocate is bound to drive them into double-plus-crazy mode. It's a sign of progress in the same sense that all the fury and hate the country saw during MLK Jr.'s campaigns was a sign of progress -- the wretches could see their empire founded on hatred and stupidity slipping away, and it infuriated them. And today the joke is on them -- I believe the vast majority of us (whether Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, or Jurassic Dino Party) simply find them pathetic at best, and insane at worst.
ReplyDeleteAs I've said many times before, unless and until we hear some official repudiation of these positions by the leaders of the Republican Party, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that their leadership agrees with these views. Or is just too afraid to challenge the ignorant in their party, which in my opinion, makes them unfit for political office.
ReplyDeleteThe people that spew such hate are the same folks who this week officially censured John McCain for being too liberal, or maybe humane.
You're right Capt Fogg, what we are seeing is a panicked group grasping at straws as the world around them changes. I'm sure the Flat Earth Society would welcome these guys...
Despite the warning and to my profound regret, I visited the Facebook page referenced by Sheria and found this comment:
ReplyDelete“Just because I hate her dont [sic] make me a racist.”
Analogues:
A liter of whiskey a day doesn’t turn me into an alcoholic;
Vandalizing your house doesn’t make me a vandal; and
Torturing living beings doesn’t make me a sadist.
Crazy people! My first reaction was one of momentary confusion, the kind shock one feels when assaulted by a random assailant: Rage without reason, viciousness without explanation or purpose, followed by the infinite fault loop of self-exonerating denial. I selected this comment because I think it captures the essence of these crazy people.
Yet, I see little profit joining the chorus of outrage. Crazy people do crazy things to annoy us, and our outrage will never change or silence them, or change the polarized country that we have become.
In fact, our justifiable outrage may even be counter-productive. Knowing in advance that craziness annoys us, they can always count on us to take the bait, and this gives them power over us. They will accuse us of political correctness, of censoring their precious right to be crazy, and then play the victim card.
In allowing ourselves to be bullied by these provocations, we confer the attention and legitimacy upon which they thrive, empower them more than they deserve … and more than we should. Sometimes, but not always, their own craziness should condemn them without allowing ourselves to fall into these traps.
I agree with what (O)CT(O)PUS says. But I'm also aware that when the blogging crazies publish lies, misrepresentations, and downright slander and it goes unchallenged, aren't we, in a way, participating in that ourselves by not setting out the facts to counter the b.s.?
ReplyDeleteAn interesting and thought-provoking comment. I was thinking of such exceptions when I used the qualifying phrase: “Sometimes, but not always …” (in fact, I removed an earlier draft of this comment to include this phrase).
ReplyDeletePerhaps there may be some kind of litmus test to guide us, one that helps us separate worthwhile expressions of outrage from mere exercises in futility:
Fair game:
Office holders,
Politicians,
Candidates for public office,
News Media;
Clergy …
… IOW, influencers of public opinion.
Worthy of being ignored:
Anonymous rabble,
Trolls,
FaceBook comments and opinion, etc.
… IOW, noisemakers.
Whether to respond or ignore, this has always been a serious challenge as long as I can remember. Without doubt, this is a discussion well worth having.
Expressing disapproval of bigotry and specifically attacking its fragile and irrational foundation doesn't in any way confer legitimacy on such beliefs. Nor does it justify their attempt to present themselves as victims. Dr. King addressed this concept often in his writings.
ReplyDelete"History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people."--MLK
"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."--MLK
Silence in the face of bigotry is to offer tacit agreement or approval. We have let our need for politeness overwhelm our commonsense.
"He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it."--MLK
The craziness of bigotry is not apparent to those who agree with the ideas expressed. They are not going to be condemned by their own craziness. They assume that there is no protest of their beliefs because there is none to be made.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."--MLK
I agree with that arguing with the bigots is generally useless; however, alerting people to their existence and their actions is useful.
The majority of people aren't stupid, but we tend to ignore the unpleasant. That's how you can have an entire country plead ignorance to death camps that killed 9 million Jews, Gypsies and Gay people. That's why white people who lived in my hometown of Wilson and are the same age that I am, don't remember the white only signs and no colored allowed signs, and the separate water fountains. They were unaware that the only way my mom could purchase Barbecue at Parkers was via the back door, because we weren't allowed to come in the front door and sit in the dining room. I've had conversations with people with whom I went to high school and they honestly don't recall that black people had to go to the only black hospital in town; we weren't allowed to be treated at the white hospital. They don't recall the years when I and all other black people had to ride at the back of the bus. Most people have to be made aware of injustice, especially the injustice which is under their very noses, unless it affects them in a direct and personal way. That's what I do, make the good people aware of what should outrage them.
Just visited Subway's page this evening and I'm pleased. When I visited yesterday, nearly every post that I read was anti-Subway and Michelle Obama. Tonight, out of every ten posts that I read, 4 or 5 supported Subway and the First Lady. The cool thing was that a lot of those supportive posts had 40 or more likes! I know that some of my FB friends posted links to my blog post on Subway on their walls and I like to think that I was responsible for some of those positive posts on Subway's wall.
I've made new FB friends who read my blog post about Subway and sent friend requests, and 58 of my FB friends have "liked" the Subway page on FB in support of Subway's partnership with rs. Obama. I believe in positive actions to counteract negative actions. This is my version of a protest march.
Subway is a business. If the majority of comments indicate that they are losing customers because of their support of the First Ladies initiative, at some point they may decide that it is necessary to pull out of this partnership. Subway is a for profit business and will respond to financial pressure such as a loss of business. I didn't ask people to engage in arguments with the posters but to simply make clear to Subway that there were consumers who support and like its partnership with Mrs. Obama's campaign to fight childhood obesity.
The reason is because black,white,red,yellow does not matter if you stand by and let her husband cause an economical collapse, we will all be screwed. I will not say anything towards them but, SUBWAYtm.sucks!
ReplyDeleteThese are the tears of grammarians.
Delete"the reason is because???" What?
Why is there no chorus of SPEAK ENGLISH when such things are said? The economy is recovering steadily from 8 years of Republican deficit spending. Are you aware of this, or are you living in a cage where you can't turn off Fox News?
And what the hell is an economical collapse? Perhaps it's a collapse that doesn't cost very much. . .
Purple, chartreuse and orange don't matter if the moon is in the second house and the dog just shit on the rug or we'll eat cheese doodles for breakfast on Monday. Makes as much sense as anything else you've said.
"anything towards them?" Will you turn your back when speaking to them or did you mean against them?
Look, you're already screwed and I'm insulted that you use this space like a toilet stall in the Greyhound station in Bayonne, New Jersey. Do you think you're witty? Do you think we're stupid?
Go away.
Dear Captain, what a marvelous response to Anonymous!
DeleteThank you. Of course words are the only response possible here. A more appropriate one would probably land me in jail.
DeleteBut the connection between inarticulate raving, rank stupidity, ignorance and bigotry is hard to deny and easy to dismiss. Articulate and devious bigots worry me more.