No to Dismissing the Nuts
We've heard it repeatedly - a few extremists, fringe, a sprinkling or a handful of nuts - that shout out or say an off color comment or bring a stuffed animal - preferably a monkey - with an Obama name tag or with shirts saying "Palin is a c@#t". Let's not focus on them, they are a minority, a smattering, a minuscule contingency that are bound to pop up from time to time.
Yeah.
Like in a UT clock tower.
Or grassy knoll.
Or with a gun pointed at a hotel balcony.
Or with an arsenal at a university.
Yeah. They pop up and if you act like they aren't there, you empower, you embolden them and they do the biding, or what they believe the biding is, of their "repressed" or "humiliated" people.
It doesn't take much. Just say that an organization is going to destroy the fabric of America and before you know it - that organization is broken into and workers are receiving death threats at home and at work. Menacing threats mentioning family member names, children's schools, times when your family are off work or usually return home. Office computers are stolen.
It is just those people that you have to keep an eye on. Not harassed for being racist, sexist, threatened and frightened, but watched to ensure that the line is not crossed. I don't want a police state, but I do want people that are dancing on the edge to have an audience.
Because it takes just one.
Just one guy that doesn't want his country destroyed, doesn't want his vote not to count, doesn't want to live in a socialist state, doesn't want to be forced to practice Islam, doesn't want to be thrust into a society he does not recognize.
And with the constant painting of one candidate as threatening, as dangerous, as mysterious, as potentially not even a citizen, that pals around with undesirables, we are going to see more and more people who are feel they have no other option.
Of course, this is America, land of the free - free to say whatever you want. But there is a huge difference between someone writing on a blog, someone speaking to another on the sidewalk, in a cafe or in a chatroom and someone putting out a national commercial, giving a press release, speaking to 10s of thousands of people at a rally or making accusations at a debate watched by millions.
It is the responsibility of all candidates but especially those embattled in the VP and POTUS to be above reproach when making statements to the masses.
What I find frightening is McCain & Palin's inability to adjust their message once items in that message have been disproved. To me, it smacks of that old neocon mantra that if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes truth.
In actuality, it becomes truth to your base. And these are the ones that are the most adamant, the most faithful, the most loyal to a particular group. Even when McCain corrected the woman that said Obama is an Arab, she did not believe him. She excused his response as not wanting to say anything negative about his opponent. Why would she think that?
Because the information she is reciting comes straight from material she picked up at a McCain headquarters.
Not a republican national headquarters.
The McCain headquarters.
Big difference.
It's the difference between a commercial that says hey! we're speaking about this guy because we back him and one that says - I am so-and-so and I approve this message.
It will only be in hindsight, after someone has gone over the edge and does something that causes a collective national gasp, forcing all to remember yet again where they were when this national tragedy happened, that we will be able to connect the dots and see how the person progressed from ardent supporter to criminal.
I want to catch it before it happens.
I want the candidates to think about what the possible outcome could be to their words.
When they say something that could be taken in a way that causes someone to feel threatened, endangered or frightened, I want them to pause and think - is it worth it?
We have already seen it. On both sides, but more on the right. Because they know what to expect from McCain. He has been around for a while, he has voted a certain way. But they don't know what to think about the dark guy. They hear what Rush says, they hear that Sean is worried, they hear that Fox is concerned. And they hear Palin saying that he pals around with terrorist and there it is! Right there in the glossy handout from the McCain headquarters, information about his rival being a socialist, associating with those that hate our country, threaten our way of life, practices a religion that is diametrically opposed to theirs, wants to sit down with our adversaries.
Why?
Who would do that but someone that wants to give away our country?
I am saying that there are people out there who are feeling threatened. They have gone so far as to pick up a mike at a rally and say so.
They are saying they are angry!
ANGRY! Because of the socialist elite.
Do you think that they will just shrug those very real feelings off?
No.
It is imperative that we not dismiss these people. It is crucial that we take their feelings seriously and address their concerns. And the only ones that can do that are the ones that got them all bent out of shape with inflammatory statements, with twisted words and false accusations.
It is up to McCain and Palin to take responsibility for the words they use in the messages they are broadcasting to thousands of people.
They need to take responsibility for the tone, for the inflection, for the nonverbal language they are using to get this message across. You can try to mask it with folksy verbiage, conversational "my friends" speak but it is as plain as the nose on their face. They are trying to stir up their base to encourage their friends to vote "country first" and for their existing way of life.
What they are not getting is that a lot of people's way of life has taken a serious jag towards unpleasant and the opposition is talking to them in a language that recognizes that and promises relief.
Change is scary for a lot of people.
Right now, most people want it.
Unfortunately, for some, it means something that they cannot imagine, cannot fathom and certainly don't want to come to fruition.
We've heard it repeatedly - a few extremists, fringe, a sprinkling or a handful of nuts - that shout out or say an off color comment or bring a stuffed animal - preferably a monkey - with an Obama name tag or with shirts saying "Palin is a c@#t". Let's not focus on them, they are a minority, a smattering, a minuscule contingency that are bound to pop up from time to time.
Yeah.
Like in a UT clock tower.
Or grassy knoll.
Or with a gun pointed at a hotel balcony.
Or with an arsenal at a university.
Yeah. They pop up and if you act like they aren't there, you empower, you embolden them and they do the biding, or what they believe the biding is, of their "repressed" or "humiliated" people.
It doesn't take much. Just say that an organization is going to destroy the fabric of America and before you know it - that organization is broken into and workers are receiving death threats at home and at work. Menacing threats mentioning family member names, children's schools, times when your family are off work or usually return home. Office computers are stolen.
It is just those people that you have to keep an eye on. Not harassed for being racist, sexist, threatened and frightened, but watched to ensure that the line is not crossed. I don't want a police state, but I do want people that are dancing on the edge to have an audience.
Because it takes just one.
Just one guy that doesn't want his country destroyed, doesn't want his vote not to count, doesn't want to live in a socialist state, doesn't want to be forced to practice Islam, doesn't want to be thrust into a society he does not recognize.
And with the constant painting of one candidate as threatening, as dangerous, as mysterious, as potentially not even a citizen, that pals around with undesirables, we are going to see more and more people who are feel they have no other option.
Of course, this is America, land of the free - free to say whatever you want. But there is a huge difference between someone writing on a blog, someone speaking to another on the sidewalk, in a cafe or in a chatroom and someone putting out a national commercial, giving a press release, speaking to 10s of thousands of people at a rally or making accusations at a debate watched by millions.
It is the responsibility of all candidates but especially those embattled in the VP and POTUS to be above reproach when making statements to the masses.
What I find frightening is McCain & Palin's inability to adjust their message once items in that message have been disproved. To me, it smacks of that old neocon mantra that if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes truth.
In actuality, it becomes truth to your base. And these are the ones that are the most adamant, the most faithful, the most loyal to a particular group. Even when McCain corrected the woman that said Obama is an Arab, she did not believe him. She excused his response as not wanting to say anything negative about his opponent. Why would she think that?
Because the information she is reciting comes straight from material she picked up at a McCain headquarters.
Not a republican national headquarters.
The McCain headquarters.
Big difference.
It's the difference between a commercial that says hey! we're speaking about this guy because we back him and one that says - I am so-and-so and I approve this message.
It will only be in hindsight, after someone has gone over the edge and does something that causes a collective national gasp, forcing all to remember yet again where they were when this national tragedy happened, that we will be able to connect the dots and see how the person progressed from ardent supporter to criminal.
I want to catch it before it happens.
I want the candidates to think about what the possible outcome could be to their words.
When they say something that could be taken in a way that causes someone to feel threatened, endangered or frightened, I want them to pause and think - is it worth it?
We have already seen it. On both sides, but more on the right. Because they know what to expect from McCain. He has been around for a while, he has voted a certain way. But they don't know what to think about the dark guy. They hear what Rush says, they hear that Sean is worried, they hear that Fox is concerned. And they hear Palin saying that he pals around with terrorist and there it is! Right there in the glossy handout from the McCain headquarters, information about his rival being a socialist, associating with those that hate our country, threaten our way of life, practices a religion that is diametrically opposed to theirs, wants to sit down with our adversaries.
Why?
Who would do that but someone that wants to give away our country?
I am saying that there are people out there who are feeling threatened. They have gone so far as to pick up a mike at a rally and say so.
They are saying they are angry!
ANGRY! Because of the socialist elite.
Do you think that they will just shrug those very real feelings off?
No.
It is imperative that we not dismiss these people. It is crucial that we take their feelings seriously and address their concerns. And the only ones that can do that are the ones that got them all bent out of shape with inflammatory statements, with twisted words and false accusations.
It is up to McCain and Palin to take responsibility for the words they use in the messages they are broadcasting to thousands of people.
They need to take responsibility for the tone, for the inflection, for the nonverbal language they are using to get this message across. You can try to mask it with folksy verbiage, conversational "my friends" speak but it is as plain as the nose on their face. They are trying to stir up their base to encourage their friends to vote "country first" and for their existing way of life.
What they are not getting is that a lot of people's way of life has taken a serious jag towards unpleasant and the opposition is talking to them in a language that recognizes that and promises relief.
Change is scary for a lot of people.
Right now, most people want it.
Unfortunately, for some, it means something that they cannot imagine, cannot fathom and certainly don't want to come to fruition.
Comments