Glen Beck, conservative icon beckons America to God: Who would quarell with that?
Sunday, August 29, 2010 1:06 PM
This is just nonsensical. Who said that America had moved away from God? The nation has always kept its adherence to religious values, while attempting to stay within the necessary constitutional strictures, which among other things, make it possible for African-Americans to be recognized as citizens with full rights.
This rhetoric about God, American public life, and politics (often implied) has been a long-running devise by which conservatives have sought to do god's work in politics, by condemning liberal thought as either ungodly or a sure ticket to hell. That is how the Christian Right has been able to convince a lot of people that supporting conservative politicians and most recently, President Bush, for instance is a Christian duty. In that regard, they violate the important instruction from Jesus Christ to give unto Caesar Caesar's and unto God, God's.
For a long time, the war was against the poorest of the poor: mothers on welfare, who were portrayed as the evil genius behind much of what was wrong with traditional values. President Clinton, for instance, who was a smart politician, did not buy into the narrative, but pushed for radical welfare reform, in order to take the issue away from the Religious Right.
Now, people like Glen Beck are blowing the horn again, partially to whip up the emotions of the rabble against President Obama, an African-American trailblazer, whom many in the ultra-conservative wing, continue to see as an impostor: an African, who should not qualify for the presidency, or a godless socialist, who should be ostracized in the tradition of the Red Scare.
The God these people march for is the jealous and militant God of the Old Testament, who would destroy the enemies of the Israelites, just to make a point, even though the same God supposedly created all of humanity and the natural world; a God who would fight their political battles, while condemning their opponents to eternal hell.
In that sense, these people are truly the Christian Taliban. Without the larger cultural context within which they operate: a context that could juxtapose the noble vision of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and those of the Christian Taliban, and ask free peoples to draw contrasts and comparisons, these folks will feel very comfortable in the caves of Afghanistan, and in the Madrasas of Pakistan.
I thank you.
Fubara David-West.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Friday, August 27, 2010
Beck and Palin: A people get the kind of leaders they deserve
Beck and Palin: A People Get the Kind of leaders they Deserve
Friday, August 27, 2010 3:55 PM
From:
"Fubara David-West"Add sender to Contacts
What can you say about the state of Conservative politics in the USA, when an air-head like Glenn Beck and the attractive, but clueless Sarah Palin, could attract so many followers? I think that it is illustrative of the wretchedness of the Conservative program today, which bets heavily on the possibility that the American people have very short memories, and are easily swayed by rabid jingoism, racism disguised as genuine political opposition, abject folly, with a confetti of disjointed thought, promoted as ultimate political wisdom.
The uplifting thing for all Americans, must be that the founding principles, and documents of the country anticipated moments such as this, when the hoi polloi might be swayed by loud zealots posing as patriots. That is why all of the checks and balances in constitutional and political practice, built into the system, continue to ensure that the United States does not settle for the foolish rabble-rouser for very long periods of time.
However, a people will get the kinds of political leaders and politics they deserve, at any point in their history. Imagine what might have happened, if Americans, two years ago, settled for a set of leaders, who convinced themselves that because government spending would be unpopular, the entire economy should be allowed to crumble in a depression.
By making a different choice, the people deserved the leaders they had, who were willing to make unpopular decisions to avoid the abyss. However, democratic politics has its flimsy moments. Thus, those who now think that two years removed from the economic meltdown, everything should be back to normal, can have their political moment.
I thank you.
Fubara David-West.
The Racial Politics of Glenn Beck's March on Washington
(Page 1 of 2)
Chris Keane / Reuters-Landov
Fox News host Glenn Beck speaks to the National Rifle Association.
By now the political cycle of racial accusation and counter-accusation has become so predictable you could set your watch to it:
Stage 1: A Republican politician, conservative leader or talking head makes an offensive remark. See: Trent Lott, Mark Williams, Rush Limbaugh (repeatedly), Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
Stage 2: African-Americans and liberals highlight the remarks and explain why they are offensive.
Stage 3: The politician or talking head apologizes and/or defends himself or herself. Sometimes he or she goes on to resign.
Stage 4: Conservatives are outraged that the humorless PC police have taken down one of their leaders over something as insignificant as praising segregation or using a racial epithet. They fulminate, claiming that civil-rights groups such as the NAACP and the media are more credulous about accusations of racism toward conservatives than liberals.
As the recent episode with black USDA official Shirley Sherrod being railroaded by the NAACP and the media after a misleadingly edited video of her remarks was posted by conservative provocateur Andrew Breitbart demonstrates, African-American political figures are under just as intense a microscope when it comes to potentially offensive remarks. But it does seem that conservatives are constantly being accused of racial insensitivity and the tiresome cycle begins anew. Why is that?
Perhaps it has something to do with so many conservatives frequently behaving insensitively. Consider Glenn Beck's so-called Restoring Honor Rally, for which he just so happens to have booked the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for Saturday, the 47th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Civil-rights organizations typically commemorate the massive civil- rights demonstration and Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic "I Have a Dream" speech there on that date.
Beck says the event will "reclaim the civil-rights movement," from progressives who have hijacked it for their redistributive agenda. The original March on Washington, like the civil-rights movement more generally, saw economic justice (hence "jobs") as inextricable from legal equality. It was an inherently liberal cause. Beck can disagree, and say that the two goals are separable, as indeed he does.
But to claim, as he recently has, that economic justice was not a concern of the civil-rights movement, and that liberal political leaders who are popular among African-Americans are "perverting" the cause, is both demonstrably false and deeply disrespectful to the African-American community. Beck says he and his overwhelmingly white followers "are the inheritors and protectors of the civil- rights movement." This is as direct a provocation to civil-rights activists as it would be to conservatives if Keith Olbermann said that he and his viewers were the inheritors and protectors of Ronald Reagan's legacy.
Beck's rally will feature Sarah Palin as a speaker. Yes, that's the same Sarah Palin who just last week claimed Dr. Laura was being “shackled” for her profligate use of the N-word on air and then urged Dr. Laura to "reload." (Whether Palin was referring to a gun or a firehose is unclear.)
Civil-rights leaders are pushing back by holding their own competing rallies elsewhere in Washington. Meanwhile one of Beck's fellow inheritors of the civil-rights movement, Tea Party organizer and blogger Andrew Ian Dodge, helpfully posted a visitors' guide to D.C. for his cohort. The guide warns against venturing into most of Washington outside of a small strip of downtown and fancy areas to its north and west. The areas that are proscribed are predominantly black, while the areas that are deemed safe are among the few mostly white neighborhoods in Washington.
Other helpful advice: "Most taxi drivers and many waiters/waitresses (especially in local coffee shops like the Bread and Chocolate chain) are immigrants, frequently from east Africa or Arab countries. As a rule, African immigrants do not like for you to assume they are African-Americans." Remarkably enough, some African-American commentators found the guide offensive.
So, to recap: Tea Party activists, who surveys suggest are disproportionately white and more likely to hold negative views toward African-Americans, have pushed civil rights off the site of a great moment for African-Americans on its anniversary—which also happens to be the day before the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and the government's consequent abandonment of New Orleans' mostly African-American poor residents—to cheer for Palin and Beck as they inveigh against economic justice and activist government.
The next time a conservative makes a racially inflammatory remark, perhaps he shouldn't wonder why he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt.
Next
1
Friday, August 27, 2010 3:55 PM
From:
"Fubara David-West"
What can you say about the state of Conservative politics in the USA, when an air-head like Glenn Beck and the attractive, but clueless Sarah Palin, could attract so many followers? I think that it is illustrative of the wretchedness of the Conservative program today, which bets heavily on the possibility that the American people have very short memories, and are easily swayed by rabid jingoism, racism disguised as genuine political opposition, abject folly, with a confetti of disjointed thought, promoted as ultimate political wisdom.
The uplifting thing for all Americans, must be that the founding principles, and documents of the country anticipated moments such as this, when the hoi polloi might be swayed by loud zealots posing as patriots. That is why all of the checks and balances in constitutional and political practice, built into the system, continue to ensure that the United States does not settle for the foolish rabble-rouser for very long periods of time.
However, a people will get the kinds of political leaders and politics they deserve, at any point in their history. Imagine what might have happened, if Americans, two years ago, settled for a set of leaders, who convinced themselves that because government spending would be unpopular, the entire economy should be allowed to crumble in a depression.
By making a different choice, the people deserved the leaders they had, who were willing to make unpopular decisions to avoid the abyss. However, democratic politics has its flimsy moments. Thus, those who now think that two years removed from the economic meltdown, everything should be back to normal, can have their political moment.
I thank you.
Fubara David-West.
The Racial Politics of Glenn Beck's March on Washington
(Page 1 of 2)
Chris Keane / Reuters-Landov
Fox News host Glenn Beck speaks to the National Rifle Association.
By now the political cycle of racial accusation and counter-accusation has become so predictable you could set your watch to it:
Stage 1: A Republican politician, conservative leader or talking head makes an offensive remark. See: Trent Lott, Mark Williams, Rush Limbaugh (repeatedly), Dr. Laura Schlessinger.
Stage 2: African-Americans and liberals highlight the remarks and explain why they are offensive.
Stage 3: The politician or talking head apologizes and/or defends himself or herself. Sometimes he or she goes on to resign.
Stage 4: Conservatives are outraged that the humorless PC police have taken down one of their leaders over something as insignificant as praising segregation or using a racial epithet. They fulminate, claiming that civil-rights groups such as the NAACP and the media are more credulous about accusations of racism toward conservatives than liberals.
As the recent episode with black USDA official Shirley Sherrod being railroaded by the NAACP and the media after a misleadingly edited video of her remarks was posted by conservative provocateur Andrew Breitbart demonstrates, African-American political figures are under just as intense a microscope when it comes to potentially offensive remarks. But it does seem that conservatives are constantly being accused of racial insensitivity and the tiresome cycle begins anew. Why is that?
Perhaps it has something to do with so many conservatives frequently behaving insensitively. Consider Glenn Beck's so-called Restoring Honor Rally, for which he just so happens to have booked the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for Saturday, the 47th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Civil-rights organizations typically commemorate the massive civil- rights demonstration and Martin Luther King Jr.'s iconic "I Have a Dream" speech there on that date.
Beck says the event will "reclaim the civil-rights movement," from progressives who have hijacked it for their redistributive agenda. The original March on Washington, like the civil-rights movement more generally, saw economic justice (hence "jobs") as inextricable from legal equality. It was an inherently liberal cause. Beck can disagree, and say that the two goals are separable, as indeed he does.
But to claim, as he recently has, that economic justice was not a concern of the civil-rights movement, and that liberal political leaders who are popular among African-Americans are "perverting" the cause, is both demonstrably false and deeply disrespectful to the African-American community. Beck says he and his overwhelmingly white followers "are the inheritors and protectors of the civil- rights movement." This is as direct a provocation to civil-rights activists as it would be to conservatives if Keith Olbermann said that he and his viewers were the inheritors and protectors of Ronald Reagan's legacy.
Beck's rally will feature Sarah Palin as a speaker. Yes, that's the same Sarah Palin who just last week claimed Dr. Laura was being “shackled” for her profligate use of the N-word on air and then urged Dr. Laura to "reload." (Whether Palin was referring to a gun or a firehose is unclear.)
Civil-rights leaders are pushing back by holding their own competing rallies elsewhere in Washington. Meanwhile one of Beck's fellow inheritors of the civil-rights movement, Tea Party organizer and blogger Andrew Ian Dodge, helpfully posted a visitors' guide to D.C. for his cohort. The guide warns against venturing into most of Washington outside of a small strip of downtown and fancy areas to its north and west. The areas that are proscribed are predominantly black, while the areas that are deemed safe are among the few mostly white neighborhoods in Washington.
Other helpful advice: "Most taxi drivers and many waiters/waitresses (especially in local coffee shops like the Bread and Chocolate chain) are immigrants, frequently from east Africa or Arab countries. As a rule, African immigrants do not like for you to assume they are African-Americans." Remarkably enough, some African-American commentators found the guide offensive.
So, to recap: Tea Party activists, who surveys suggest are disproportionately white and more likely to hold negative views toward African-Americans, have pushed civil rights off the site of a great moment for African-Americans on its anniversary—which also happens to be the day before the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and the government's consequent abandonment of New Orleans' mostly African-American poor residents—to cheer for Palin and Beck as they inveigh against economic justice and activist government.
The next time a conservative makes a racially inflammatory remark, perhaps he shouldn't wonder why he doesn't get the benefit of the doubt.
Next
1
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)