Racists on Inauguration Day

I know there is racism, but I guess I thought people were racist in the quiet of their own home, or perhaps in the safety of the like-minded — in a hick bar somewhere, after a couple of beers, where no one but other racist friends were there to hear them.

But no, it seems that people are quite forthcoming and open about their ignorant racism. On wide-open,  public websites such as  Stormfront one can easily find the ugliest forms of  discrimination and hate, all expressed with gleeful stupidity. The following happens to be the first three entries from the first discussion thread I entered (completely at random).

Bonedaddy: Well, I said it in another thread so here I go again, a prediction.

Obama will no be allowed to fail. 
No matter what new schemes need to be done, no matter the amount of wool the sheeply need supply to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people and no matter the amount of disinformation the talking heads on tv are required to spoon feed the public on a nightly basis, failure will not be an option.
History will show Obama as the most effective president ever, the negro, all negro’s, must be held on high. So I say again, Obongo will not fail.

Chris B: No, I disagree. In a normal economy, I agree with you 100%, but this time, the problem is too big. The problem is, there are not enough schemes to cover this mess. The jewish greed has gone too far this time.

Headlong: Negro ineptitude and corruption has certainly been ubiquitous at other levels of political life – so I don’t see why it would be impossible at the highest.

That exchange left me stunningly appalled and slack-jawed. As most readers know, I regularly re-post ignorant comments uttered from fundamentalist or extreme-religious perspectives — and while in many regards this language is no different, here there is not the slightest effort to legitimize the racist kook’s position. Whites are superior, that’s it.

I have to admit, I couldn’t read much further… I know I will have to, but taking in such soul-sucking foulness is not that easy, and it’s a little depressing / discouraging / paralyzing.

I can only hope that the historic events of this Inauguration Day do not reinforce these people’s hatred and ignorance, pushing them deeper into their demented assumptions about the world. I can only hope there is yet space to let a little light in, that the greatness of today might just make a crack.

Not for Shock Value

FiveThirtyEight.com Friday’s post, On the Road: Western Pennsylvania, outlines some of the uglier racist elements of the presidential race. One particular story, however, is interesting not only for its racism but for raising the possibility of its diminishing power:

So a canvasser goes to a woman’s door in Washington, Pennsylvania. Knocks. Woman answers. Knocker asks who she’s planning to vote for. She isn’t sure, has to ask her husband who she’s voting for. Husband is off in another room watching some game. Canvasser hears him yell back, “We’re votin’ for the n***er!”

Woman turns back to canvasser, and says brightly and matter of factly: “We’re voting for the n***er.”

Cleary, we have a long way to go, and I don’t want to sound too cheery about this story… but it shows that at least one thing is stronger than irrational hatred of one’s skin color. I can’t figure out, however, if it’s good that the one thing is money…

McCain Denies Obama is “an Arab”

As if in response to my post from Friday, John McCain seems to be attempting to sequester some of the anger and fear that his campaign has lately worked to incite.

In a post called Stop the Presses!! McCain Reveals a Little Humanity!, Tom D’Antoni describes Republican methods this way:

Anybody who denies that the McCain campaign’s tactics aren’t racist and playing to the latent racism inherent in the Republican party, is either kidding themselves or are simply Republicans.

In any case, the following clip shows a couple encounters from the campaign trail, the last being most interesting. An audience member rather inarticulately accuses Obama of being “an Arab” — notice McCain’s expression of distaste.

 

It’s not Racism if He’s a Terrorist!

Two things have been bothering me for some time. The first is peoples’ stubborn insistence that Obama is somehow “a Muslim.” The second is the left-wing blog-o-sphere’s insistence that “code words” (like Community Organizer, Terrorist, or Muslim) are simply veiled expressions of racism. 

The first one is clearly stupid and objectionable, but the second, until today, seemed to me a case of over-sensitivity (at best) or partisan race-baiting (at worst). Then I realized they were right.

If you are racist (not necessarily cross-burning, hood-wearing racist, just “I’d-never-let-my-daughter-date-a-black-guy” kind of racist), and you don’t feel comfortable saying to someone, “I won’t vote for Obama because he’s black,” then you simply have to say, “It’s because he’s Muslim.”

Bam! You’re off the hook. No need to elaborate on policy or express any sort of thoughtful argument, because, as everyone knows, Muslims are evil — most are terrorists.

Are You Racist Like Me?

I was shocked… nay, appalled at the results when I took the Project Implicit “Race” test last night. This test exposes prejudices one may have on a variety of things that one can be prejudiced about (Race, Religion, Gender, Sexuality, etc). It may be the result of social imprinting… or you might just be prejudiced.