Occupy Wall Street: Racist Like The Tea Party
I'm neither a member of The Tea Party (though I think not buying what we can't pay for is a pretty clever idea) nor am I part of Occupy Wall Street, but I've observed that these days that you're "racist" if you have a protest and there aren't a bunch of black faces amongst the protesters.
So, along with all those "racists" in the Tea Party movement, it seems we can add the Occupy Wall Street Folks...a sea of white, for the most part.
And yes, there are surely some racists in The Tea Party -- as there are in any movement. But, in this show of slides of Tea Party posters that's supposed to indicate Tea Party racism, in between a few vile racist signs, I mostly see the sort of low-blow slogans common to politics on both sides these days. Those dressing up Obama as Hitler, for example. (Of course, once you go to the "he's Hitler" argument, you've lost the argument from the start -- assuming the guy isn't shoving taxpayers in ovens and shooting them into mass graves.)
There are some ugly and racist posters in there, but for a video claiming to show what racists Tea Party members are, it comes up rather short.
Regarding the poster that said "Obama is The AntiChrist," I can't resist repeating what I said on the radio the other night: "I believe The AntiChrist has much better poll numbers."
"Obama spends like a woman" was another one. Well, not like this woman, and excuse me if I'm having a hard time finding the racism in that.
George Bush was called "Chimpy" and other things. (Here's a poster.) I didn't approve of him and I don't approve of Obama, and I see the same sort of low-blow attacks on both. Only the attacks on Obama are called racist, but are they hating on him because he's black? (And sure, some of them are.) Or, is it because he's a president the protesters vehemently dislike? (I'm reminded of Dr. Kingsley Browne's thoughts on how women getting teased in the workplace is actually equal treatment per how men in the workplace tease and degrade each other.)
Again, yes, sure, there are racists out there and some of them are in The Tea Party. But, as a friend of mine who supports Tea Party values like not spending more money than we have said to about Obama, "I don't dislike him because he's black; I dislike him because he's making a mess of the country." (By the way, like me, this friend was no Bush fan, either.)
Yup.
There are idiots in every popular movement.
Seems like there's quite a few more idiots in the leftist camp, though.
I hear *far* more hateful rhetoric from the left than I do from the right, though I tend to disagree with both pretty much equally.
I tend, as Amy says about herself, to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal.
I might even be a Libertarian if they weren't all lining up to be behind door number '1' of 'Spot the Looney'.
But, yes, of course we're all racists.
We're not opposed to Obama because he's incompetent, it *must* be because he's black (ish).
We're not opposed to his destructive economic policy, he's black, you know?
We're not opposed to a president (and AG) that's presiding over a gun running operation into Mexico that's killed a whole lot of people, we're obviously racist because they're black.
Gotta tell you, being black isn't an insulator against stupidity or incompetence (any more than being white is).
He and his cronies are criminals, pure and simple. And if he were republican (and doing exactly what he's doing) the press would be all over him.
Instead, they fellate him, and circle the wagons if someone offers up a question that might be a bit uncomfortable.
I didn't like Bush either. But Bush was dysentary, while Obama is pancreatic cancer.
I would have struggled, in the past, to think of someone worse than Bush 2, but it's easy now. Obama makes Bush look like Washington (and that's pretty fucking sad when you really think about it).
There are some who call me 'Tim?' at October 7, 2011 12:53 AM
As an addition, I've actually said, in discussions, that I thought that the act of electing a black president was one of the defining moments in American history.
The problem is that we elected the wrong one.
Our current president is actively opposed to:
The rights of individuals to make their own decisions about how they live their lives and how they handle their own health.
The american dream. The idea that someone could create jobs and contribute to the welfare of the common man without the intervention of government is anathema to him.
The idea that most large companies should be permitted (nay, be expected) to fail, if the alternative is a taxpayer funded crutch.
Too big to fail really means too big to be allowed to exist in their current form.
There are some who call me 'Tim?' at October 7, 2011 1:24 AM
The only time I've ever heard/seen someone compare Obama to Hitler, it was a black man holding a poster of Obama with a Hitler moustache.
damaged justice at October 7, 2011 3:48 AM
"And sure, some of them are."
Do you like have any proof of that? I mean just because someone decides to call someone a pedophile, or an abuser that doesn't make them one. Calling someone a racist without a shred of proof is the old 'When did you stop beating your wife?'
bandit at October 7, 2011 5:10 AM
Amy, frankly, they can call Tea Partiers racist or any damn thing else. When the question is "Can we avoid slavery on the Copperhead plantation / collective without a hot Civil War II?", calling us names isn't a deterrent.
After all, I'm quite sure the officers of Lord Cornwallis never referred to George Washington as "Father of his Country."
SDN at October 7, 2011 5:42 AM
These protests are already becoming violent, with threats against named individuals and attempts to forcibly enter their homes. Yet the MSM is ignoring these actions, or attempting to justify them. This is only going to spur an escalation of the violence. And god help us if TP members start showing up at Occupy protests.
tippler at October 7, 2011 5:53 AM
The closest I saw to truly racist was the "photoshopped" sign at about 1:15. And that was an analogy just like Hank Jr. comment.
And still no one has come forward for the $100K reward for using the word at black Congress members.
www.lipstickalley.com/f153/100-000-reward-offered-evidence-tea-party-229926/
But there are no bigots with the Occupiers
Jewish Man Scolded, Mocked By Occupy Wall Street Protester
www.neontommy.com/news/2011/10/jewish-man-scolded-mocked-occupy-wall-street-protester
Comparing the Tea Party to the Occupiers is a disservice to the Occupiers. The Tea Partiers go to a place, hold a rally, and then leave the place about as clean when they started. The TP doesn't create jobs for the garbage men, cops, jails, and lawyers.
Of course the Occupiers are against corporatism. The iPhones they are using are cobbled together at home by little tinkerers. The 24 hour McDonald's© they are buying from is a little family business.
Jim P. at October 7, 2011 6:02 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/10/07/occupy_wall_str.html#comment-2541588">comment from Jim P."And sure, some of them are."
Do you like have any proof of that?
I've seen some ugly signs -- the one that said "niggar," for example. There are plenty of racists in the world in every camp, including black people who hate whites.
The idea that there would be no racists in The Tea Party -- or any party -- is just silly.
Amy Alkon at October 7, 2011 6:08 AM
And just because people aren't holding up signs proclaiming their ignorance doesn't mean they aren't racists. Racism can be, and usually is, more subtle. Hell, my own mother was one of the most racist people I know, and, in the end, pretty harmless about it. She never had the power to deny anyone a job.
I'm glad when people hole up stupid signs. It's not usually so easy to figure out who these assholes are.
MonicaP at October 7, 2011 6:31 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/10/07/occupy_wall_str.html#comment-2541609">comment from MonicaPMonica's right. It's usually subtle digs people make about blacks, Jews, whatevers. A lady in our neighborhood told my mother, "You're not like all those other Jews." What do you say to that, "Why, thank you?"
Amy Alkon at October 7, 2011 6:32 AM
>>"Only the attacks on Obama are called racist, but are they hating on him because he's black?"
Actually, sadly enough, I think most of them are hating on him because he's a DEMOCRAT. More and more, I find people hating on someone because of their party affiliation and less on their actual discussion. Obama could come out and parrot the Republican party line word-for-word, and still the Repubs would hate him because of the "label" he's got that says Democrat. It goes the same way for the Republicans, btw. This is why partisan politics suck. Because it makes politicians choose a "side", and then it all becomes about whose side is winning, instead of actually discussing viewpoints.
[Disclaimer: I don't like Obama. I didn't like Bush. Please do not read any "lean", left or right, into this post.]
cornerdemon at October 7, 2011 6:42 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/10/07/occupy_wall_str.html#comment-2541671">comment from cornerdemonCornerdemon, I think you're right about this. I'm disgusted by the partisanship, the clinging to one's party's points without giving them a moment's thought.
It's why I call myself a "Neither" -- it allows me to pick and choose the least odious candidate running and see more clearly on their paltry offerings and bullshit served up as stuff that's done for the good of the people and the country when it's very often or most often for the good of the particular legislator's reelection campaign or campaign chest.
Amy Alkon at October 7, 2011 7:52 AM
I'm registered "unaffiliated".
When I look at the behavior of some groups, I think, "Do I want to identify with them?"
Mostly, no - because the groups that get into the news aren't the local clubs or churches getting good things done. The newspeople must sell Kleenex, so they pick the ignorant for their spectacle.
And do not mistake this for other than distraction. Just as the War Powers Act was invented to let Congress play with the interns and pages while the President swung in the wind, this protest does nothing whatsoever to fix financial policies of Congress, and the coverage displaces other issues from the shallow public mind.
It's a stained dress.
Radwaste at October 7, 2011 9:18 AM
"And just because people aren't holding up signs proclaiming their ignorance doesn't mean they aren't racists."
Just because we have no evidence you are a child killer, doesn't mean you aren't a child killer. Factually true, I suppose, but does little to further the discussion. I think racism is far less common than many people seem to think. And I've yet to see any at the tea party rallies I've been to. Unless you count "secure the border" as some sort of non-race-based racism against illegals. I despise Obama because of his hell-bent attempts to turn us socialist. I didn't vote for Bush either. I like cain at the moment, for the repubs. The fact that I like a black man running doens't mean I'm not racist, I guess....
momof4 at October 7, 2011 9:49 AM
"The fact that I like a black man running doens't mean I'm not racist, I guess...."
Of course not, silly. As long as you don't support the people's collective, you're still racist!
http://voxday.blogspot.com/2011/10/herman-cain-bankers-whore-or-bankster.html
damaged justice at October 7, 2011 10:02 AM
I've been to several Tea Party events, but all in Georgia. I've been on the lookout for potentially racist signs, and never seen any. This video clip is honestly a first for me.
(Maybe Georgia Tea Partiers -- they used to call Atlanta "the city too busy to hate" -- are a cut above those in certain other regions of the country? Or, here's a more likely notion: Georgia Tea Partiers all seem to have been recruited into the movement by Herman Cain and Neal Boortz, for the more Internet-savvy ones, their heroes Alfonzo Rachel and Bill Whittle. These are the most well-known popularizers for Georgia Tea Partiers. So perhaps you don't get many racists that way.)
Anyway, I always supposed there were racists somewhere in the Tea Party, but I think it's fair to put their numbers at less than 1% of active participants. Ditto for bigots, which is not quite the same thing as racists.
In my experience a very large proportion of the Tea Partiers are friendly grandmothers of the kind who like fried-chicken picnics on sunny lawns while listening to speeches by Herman Cain.
The second-largest group, I think, are the upper-middle-aged couples who have teenaged kids and whose date nights out are as likely to include a his-n-hers visit to the nearby gun range as to The Melting Pot.
But I just don't see a lot of "Yahoos," as my father-in-law would say. "Yahoos" are those aggrieved, unattached, undomesticated, slacker types who spent their teenage years playing mailbox baseball and are now living a crappy aimless life and looking for someone to vent their discontent at. I think that's where the "Obama = Hitler" lowbrow stuff comes from.
But as I said, this video's a first for me; I haven't seen that at the Tea Party stuff in the Atlanta area.
R.C. at October 7, 2011 10:20 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/10/07/occupy_wall_str.html#comment-2541795">comment from momof4The fact that I like a black man running doens't mean I'm not racist, I guess....
I feel similarly. I think it's cool as hell that we have a black president -- I just wish it were another black president who'd be actually effective at being president.
Amy Alkon at October 7, 2011 10:39 AM
"I've been to several Tea Party events, but all in Georgia. I've been on the lookout for potentially racist signs, and never seen any."
Likewise here. Not only that, but there was zero religious content, as opposed to many stereotypical accusations one constantly hears.
lsomber at October 7, 2011 10:45 AM
Chicago.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at October 7, 2011 10:59 AM
Just because we have no evidence you are a child killer, doesn't mean you aren't a child killer.
Correct: I could have the bodies of dozens of dead babies stashed in my freezer, but I'm not sure what that has to do with what I said.
My point was that there's more to racism than holding up signs. The people who hold up signs are the ones we should appreciate, because at least they're self-aware. If someone has a sign that says "Nigger," I know what he's about instantly.If only everyone came with labels.
Also, I think you're wrong in that racism is far more common than people think it is. People are tribal. We're always looking for reasons to exclude people from our own group of "safe" people. Racism (and sexism and homophobia and bashing the overweight, etc.) is breathtakingly casual.
MonicaP at October 7, 2011 11:37 AM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/10/07/occupy_wall_str.html#comment-2541851">comment from MonicaPI have part of the body of probably one dead pig in my freezer (probably some pig toenails, too) in the form of hot dogs.
Amy Alkon at October 7, 2011 11:39 AM
People are tribal. We're always looking for reasons to exclude people from our own group of "safe" people. Racism (and sexism and homophobia and bashing the overweight, etc.) is breathtakingly casual.
I think that what Obama supporters term "racism" among Tea Partiers and Republicans isn't right (having heard someone use the term "nigger President" to describe Obama, I'm sure some opposition to him is borne of racism, but I don't think that is nearly so widespread as some of his supporters would like to think).
However, there is ample evidence that large numbers of Republicans and Tea Partiers view Obama as somehow "other" and not legitimate - a recent poll in South Carolina indicates that about a third of Republican voters in that state hold the discredited birther belief that Obama was not born in the U.S. and about 30% think he's a Muslim. I don't think that most of the people who think these things of Obama are racist (as with momof4, many are more than happy to say "Yes we Cain!"), but there's something weird about such large numbers of people holding onto demonstrably false beliefs about Obama. Racism, maybe not. Tribalism, certainly.
Christopher at October 7, 2011 12:56 PM
Oh please, obozo getting elected with absolutely no credentials was the.most racist event in my lifetime
ronc at October 7, 2011 1:52 PM
"I have part of the body of probably one dead pig in my freezer (probably some pig toenails, too) in the form of hot dogs."
Racist!
Cousin Dave at October 7, 2011 3:25 PM
"a recent poll in South Carolina indicates that about a third of Republican voters in that state hold the discredited birther belief that Obama was not born in the U.S. and about 30% think he's a Muslim"
Well, first of all, most pollsters who ask that question are going to stack the sample to get the answer they want. It's not unlike the pollsters (CBS, to name one) who consistently over-sample Democrats and find, surprise surprise, a majority of Americans favor beheading all CEOs! OK, a bit of an exaggeration. However, I will also point out that about that same percentage of people polled consistently hold to 9/11 Trutherism. No, I don't know what to make of it either. Are 30% of Americans wacko?
(Actually, Obama being foreign-born was a plausible theory when it was first advanced. I think it's been disproven, but not overwhelmingly. By contrast, 9/11 Trutherism is preposterous. And yet a lot of people say they believe it.)
Cousin Dave at October 7, 2011 3:31 PM
It should be noted that those same Tea Party members who are so quickly be called racists will also be the same ones cheering on & voting for Herman Cain over Mitt Romney.
But no need to let facts get in the way of one's hatred for those you disagree with.
Robert W. at October 7, 2011 4:01 PM
Are 30% of Americans wacko?
Not across the boards, but about selective subjects, that's probably about right. Depending upon the issue, the 30% varies.
Christopher at October 7, 2011 4:35 PM
To Amy Alcon
"Actually, sadly enough, I think most of them are hating on him because he's a DEMOCRAT."
You are much closer to the truth. Although it is interesting now that I have seen quite a few tea partiers saying good things about Clinton. The real reason he is hated is he campaigned like a moderate dem, and governed like a leftist/socialist. If he had been the dem version of Romney he would have been opposed, as Clinton was, but not hated.
richard40 at October 7, 2011 5:05 PM
Amy writes: The idea that there would be no racists in The Tea Party -- or any party -- is just silly.
More to the point, racism is not a binary state of mind; it doesn't boil down to whether one is or isn't. It's more often the question of "How racist are they?" ("They" is not intended to refer to anyone in particular.)
Michael Richards is a racist, but is he really on a par with the typical neonazi skinhead?
Patrick at October 7, 2011 9:08 PM
I think most of them are hating on him because he's a DEMOCRAT.
Yes, and?
Hint: after Congress had been seated in 2009 and before his inauguration, Teh Won met with House Republicans and told them "I won" and expected them to bow and scrape.
They couldn't do anything to stop him but also refused to bow and scrape.
A poor loser is bad. A poor winner is worse. And when the House flipped in 2010, well Teh Won found out that he should have made a different approach.
He might have had a less antagonistic House to work with, now. He can pretty much forget about getting anything substantial done.
Hell, the Senate won't even bring his "pass this jobs bill NOW" to a vote. A month after his speechifying about it. Two weeks after he finally got around to drafting legislation. When you've lost Harry Reid...
I R A Darth Aggie at October 7, 2011 11:40 PM
I don't hate Obama because he's black, or because he's a Democrat, or even because he's a communist.
I hate him because he has the IQ of a turnip.
His election proves that 52% of the American public is functionally retarded.
brian at October 8, 2011 6:34 AM
Why try to defend unsustainable deficits and a cratering economy that is due to the president's failed policies when you can call his opponents racist instead?
Abuse and overuse emasculated the word. Now it's just shorthand for "I can't engage you on the issues."
MarkD at October 8, 2011 7:03 AM
>> Are 30% of Americans wacko?
There have actually be studies of these studies - the ones that find that some significant percentage of Americans believe in some implausible claim. Typically they are rigged. They're designed to embarrass whatever population is being targeted by the researchers. The pollsters will either bias their sample population or use a set of questions and premises that lead respondents to endorse the claims that the researchers are hoping to promote. This is where you get the 'findings' that 40% of Americans don't believe in evolution and that sort of thing. It's BS and the result of responses to premises that were introduced with the polling questions but not revealed in their interpretation.
I think that it's fair to say that the Left does much more of this than the Right. Not that the Right has a monopoly on fair polling practices, but the Left has much more of an interest in portraying the average person as irrational,bigoted, and mentally incompetent.
zelda at October 8, 2011 7:07 AM
zelda, that might be so - but that doesn't answer the question.
I find in conversation that almost no one, degreed professionals, laborers, managers, etc., has thought about the basics of how their own beliefs are formed.
This means that someone who knows these tendencies can exploit them.
Look above at the cry, "Racist!" It's an emotional goad, and it shuts off thinking exactly as the utterer intends. You are to descend to that level, of savage emotional grunting, rather than reason your way out of the problem - and out of the sphere of influence of the pig you're wrestling with, down there in the mud.
Radwaste at October 8, 2011 8:01 AM
It occurs to me lately that what we're seeing is a new class war -- but not one that divides along the usual ethnic, economic, or party lines. The divide that exists today is between the productive class and the parasitic class. Who is a member of each class is not always obvious. The waitress who works for minimum wage, but shows up for her shifts on time and provides good service to her customers, is a member of the productive class -- she's providing a service that people want, and in turn she uses the money she earns to buy things she wants from other members of the productive class. Similarly, the owner of the restaurant or bar where the waitress works is also a member of the productive class. On the other hand, the people who work for a company that makes a product that nobody wants, but makes money off of government subsidies, are all members of the parasitic class -- from the CEO down to the janitor. They may be buying things, but the money they're using to do it was taken by force of government authority from members of the productive class.
Cousin Dave at October 8, 2011 8:27 AM
Someone has started a movement through Twitter to counter the Occupy Wall Street protest (who say they represent 99% of the American public):
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/the-53-want-the-99-to-learn-from-their-example/
WayneB at October 8, 2011 9:58 AM
"They may be buying things, but the money they're using to do it was taken by force of government authority from members of the productive class."
And the hardest thing to grasp is government services. How many of those services are actually necessary - from picking up roadkill to contracting for B-2 bombers?
At SRS, we now have about 38 million gallons of nuclear waste, up from 36.9 about a year ago due to processing demands... all of it the result of a long chain of decisions starting in the 1940s.
How can a voting public possibly figure out what to do with this and a thousand other problems?
Radwaste at October 8, 2011 7:01 PM
Oh Raddy, go fuck yourself.
Crid [CridComment at gmail] at October 9, 2011 5:15 AM
I love you too, Mark.
Radwaste at October 9, 2011 9:13 AM
"At SRS, we now have about 38 million gallons of nuclear waste, up from 36.9 about a year ago due to processing demands... all of it the result of a long chain of decisions starting in the 1940s.
How can a voting public possibly figure out what to do with this and a thousand other problems?"
Well I thought we had a somewhat long term solution to that problem. It was called Yucca Mountain, but Obama and Harry Reid, shut that project down, if I recall correctly, because of course, who needs nuclear power when the entire country can run on windmills and solar panels?
Of course the greenies have been inflaming the public about the dangers of storing and transporting nuclear waste for years now to the point where the average idiot citizen equates anything radioactive with disaster.
Isabel1130 at October 9, 2011 4:36 PM
OWS is very racist. I spent a fair amount of time working in the movement. Not only is the anti-semitic undercurrent persistent, there is a general race-obsession and anti-white bigotry that just wont go away. "Progressive Stacking" is not the only manifestation of their race focus.
Tom Locke at October 19, 2011 7:09 AM
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