Mavis Staples, who was there on the frontlines in Mississippi in the 60's tells us why we will never turn back. If the Republican Party wants to openly associate itself with blatant revisionist ignorant fear driven racism as a tool of political manipulation, we can only pray that they have opened the gates to their self destruction.
Why do social movements succeed? Why have Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales succeeded in galvanizing the popular base of their countries? Because their movements have risen from the bottom up. They represent the traditionally oppressed masses of their countries and have radically dealt with the inequalities and injustice. Why is Barack Obama a phenomena that has risen from outside the traditional hierarchy of the American political system? There is a common denominator. 60 years after the Civil Rights movement, there has been change, but the change has not addressed the root and the cause of the problem and certainly has not realistically offered profound solutions.
6 comments:
Hello Microdot,
Just saw the morning news and Good Morning America just did a piece on the Tea Party’s first convention. They showed a bunch of dim witted, unsophisticated, gathering of loud mouth blowhards making one constant theme of, “We are becoming the Socialist States of America, We are being lead into becoming a Third World Banana Republic like Cuba…etc.”
The program then went on the say how much they love the poster child for the movement, "Sarah Palin," which for me just sums it up so perfectly on how stupid this group is. They then showed people making statements like, “Sarah’s going to be the next President of the United States, We need to move the Republican Party more to the right, We need to take our country back from the socialist influnences, etc.”
Well I should also pass on that the program did say that only 600 people showed up and Sarah Palin. The 600 people who showed up paid $500 to be able to attend and of course Sarah was there to collect $200,000 to put into her purse when she rides off at the end.
Well let’s do the math, 600 X $500 = $300,000 - $200,000 for Sarah = $100,000 left. Now if you take away from this $100,000 the hotel’s cost for meals, rooms, etc. for 600 people, you end up with just a few thousand left over. This few thousand dollars does not go very far for a National Presidential / Congressional Political Campaign to support their lunatic fringe viewpoints.
I see this Tea Party Convention that happened this past week for what it truly is…A means to “Fleece Fools From Their Money.”
I found this interesting quote in my surfing:
Think of fascism as an infection of the body politic that can occur when there isn't a strong leftist working class identified party.
Now, notice how "Socialism" is being made into the bogeyman (bogeyperson?) by the forces of the right.
The tea party movement is being touted as a "grass roots movement", but how orchestrated is that movement? The special insterests are very good at manipulating the masses: take gun control, health insurance, global warming, and so on. Now, we have the tea party movement. Even if this is not directly orchestrated by the right, how possible is it that it is a movement where the special interests get the public to do their work.
Or to quote George Monbiot on Global Warming:
"When I use the term denial industry, I’m referring to those who are paid to say that manmade global warming isn’t happening. The great majority of people who believe this have not been paid: they have been duped. Reading Climate Cover-Up, you keep stumbling across familiar phrases and concepts, which you can see every day on the comment threads. The book shows that these memes were planted by PR companies and hired experts."
http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2009/12/07/the-real-climate-scandal/
The right is very good at using propaganda to manipulate (e.g., the work of Oleg Volk) and pepole are too ignorant to realise they are being manipulated. Instead, they let themselves be played.
Laci, thank you for your comment. You have given me much material to look at and it's great to have links to other writers that can amplify and say what I try to in a more coherent fashion.
Regarding Global Warming Denial: Now the east Coast of the USA is suffering from the results of a massive winter storm. The Republican party of Virginia (which is one of the worst hit areas) posted a huge attack on man made climate change on their web site based on the fact they were hit by this storm.
I can't help but think of a person in denial diagnosed with AIDS saying, "but I feel so good" in a pool in burning bath house....
This is the result of global warming atmospheric models that have been projected by the climate scientists. This has been one of the warmest januarys ever on record.
Hugo Chavez is busy suppressing free speech and driving the Venezuelan economy down the drain. He may have begun as a populist but he has turned into another tin horn despot.
The Loop Garoo Kid
That is your opinion, regarding the Venezualen economy. You also totally ignore the world in which he operates in. Yes, the upper classes of Venezuela have had their social order and caste system trashed. The media he discriminates against is funded by Americans trying to destabilize him, thereby giving you something as evidence that he suppresses civil liberties.
Hugo Chavez remains hugely popular with the majority of Venezuelans, but that was not my point in mentioning him in this post.
If you had read my post instead of automatically knee jerking in a Pavlovian response to seeing the name of Hugo Chavez, you might have understood why I used him.
Why I used Morales.
Morales is another case of a popular leader under attack because he threatens the established status quo and traditional oppressive hierarchy of Bolivian Society.
The people on the top who have had to give up some of their priveleges are the ones who get all the press in America.
The poor have no voice and you are threatened by them because Chavez and Morales give them voices and empower them.
Look, Mr. TLGK, I am not trying to be antagonistic to you. I really do try to understand yuour viewpoint. Perhaps I was over the edge in the ast response, I was experiencing the immediate after effects of a nasty bout of oral surgery.
But, sometimes, I feel tht you are a neo con in liberal clothing.
I throw up my hands in despair at the wall of self interest that you have built around your heart.
You sometimes seem yo have a black hole in your logic that goes right through your heart.
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