I get that. I do. Especially about the Tea Party. I'm pretty much getting resigned to the fact that no matter what the Tea Party stands for, no matter what we do - it just doesn't matter. The continual screaming of "RACISTS" drowns us out. It's done to marginalize us and silence us. Which is what those in power tend to do - especially when most of your group's leadership and a majority of your members are women. And when your group is challenging the status quo - you are now dangerous and radical. Yes, our group is mostly white - as is America - but 1 out of every 5 Tea Party members isn't white. Do you think that many non-whites would join a racist group?
This is frustrating. Especially how the media covers it. Which gets me to Journolist. A story that should be rocking our country right now - but no one cares.
Journolist was a private listserve of some of the top journalists in the USA, along with some law professors and other academia. You needed to be liberal to join. (And I'm not going into this story because it is about Liberals - I'm frustrated because this is a story that should horrify ALL Americans) It was disbanded a few months ago after some of the conversations were leaked. Conversations that showed some of our top journalists discussing tactics on how to cover or bury stories to affect public' opinion - and to swing the 2008 election. Orchestrating a united narrative on stories to effect political outcomes.
Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent urged his colleagues to deflect attention from Obama’s relationship with Wright by changing the subject. Pick one of Obama’s conservative critics, Ackerman wrote, “Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists.”
When the Wright story wouldn't go away....
Katha Pollitt – the Nation “I hear you. but I am really tired of defending the indefensible. The people who attacked Clinton on Monica were prissy and ridiculous, but let me tell you it was no fun, as a feminist and a woman, waving aside as politically irrelevant and part of the vast rightwing conspiracy Paula, Monica, Kathleen, Juanita,” Pollitt said.
“Part of me doesn’t like this shit either,” agreed Ackerman, “But what I like less is being governed by racists and warmongers and criminals.
I do not endorse a Popular Front, nor do I think you need to. It’s not necessary to jump to Wright-qua-Wright’s defense. What is necessary is to raise the cost on the right of going after the left. In other words, find a rightwinger’s [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear. Obviously I mean this rhetorically.
And I think this threads the needle. If the right forces us all to either defend Wright or tear him down, no matter what we choose, we lose the game they’ve put upon us. Instead, take one of them — Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists. Ask: why do they have such a deep-seated problem with a black politician who unites the country? What lurks behind those problems? This makes *them* sputter with rage, which in turn leads to overreaction and self-destruction.
no subject
This is frustrating. Especially how the media covers it. Which gets me to Journolist. A story that should be rocking our country right now - but no one cares.
Journolist was a private listserve of some of the top journalists in the USA, along with some law professors and other academia. You needed to be liberal to join. (And I'm not going into this story because it is about Liberals - I'm frustrated because this is a story that should horrify ALL Americans) It was disbanded a few months ago after some of the conversations were leaked. Conversations that showed some of our top journalists discussing tactics on how to cover or bury stories to affect public' opinion - and to swing the 2008 election. Orchestrating a united narrative on stories to effect political outcomes.
Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent urged his colleagues to deflect attention from Obama’s relationship with Wright by changing the subject. Pick one of Obama’s conservative critics, Ackerman wrote, “Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists.”
When the Wright story wouldn't go away....
Katha Pollitt – the Nation “I hear you. but I am really tired of defending the indefensible. The people who attacked Clinton on Monica were prissy and ridiculous, but let me tell you it was no fun, as a feminist and a woman, waving aside as politically irrelevant and part of the vast rightwing conspiracy Paula, Monica, Kathleen, Juanita,” Pollitt said.
“Part of me doesn’t like this shit either,” agreed Ackerman, “But what I like less is being governed by racists and warmongers and criminals.
I do not endorse a Popular Front, nor do I think you need to. It’s not necessary to jump to Wright-qua-Wright’s defense. What is necessary is to raise the cost on the right of going after the left. In other words, find a rightwinger’s [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear. Obviously I mean this rhetorically.
And I think this threads the needle. If the right forces us all to either defend Wright or tear him down, no matter what we choose, we lose the game they’ve put upon us. Instead, take one of them — Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists. Ask: why do they have such a deep-seated problem with a black politician who unites the country? What lurks behind those problems? This makes *them* sputter with rage, which in turn leads to overreaction and self-destruction.