Monday, October 19, 2009

An outlier goes mainstream

Measures of Central Valley Tendency

During a recent weekend down in California's Central Valley, I had breakfast with my parents at a restaurant in the city of Tulare. There I picked up a copy of the Valley Voice, a free weekly newspaper whose coverage area spans Kings and Tulare counties. In general, its pages reflect the conservative perspective of its rural readers. I hope, however, that the paper's editorial policy has erred on the side of free speech in deciding what to permit in its Letters to the Editor column. Some newspapers would balk at publishing the spittle-flecked ravings of the emotionally unhinged.

The following is not annotated in any way, but think of it as being labeled with one big “[sic]”:
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

For 230 years, men and women were willing to fight and die for “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” President Obama says we now need a new “Declaration of Independence” and the U.S. Constitution is too restrictive.

On Nov. 4, 2008, we switched enemies. Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney, Israel, are now our enemies and Castro, Hamas, Hugo Chavez, are now our friends. We can't call Al Qaeda terrorist, now those attending the Town Hall Meetings are terrorists.

Barak Obama, Bill Ayers, Louis Farrakhan, all have the same goal, overthrow our government.

All Communist dictators have one thing in common, they will squelch all opposition, public execution of their own citizens.

Obama's first action as President was to murder more unborn, now passing health care will allow Obama to get rid of old people who are resisting his transforming America into a Communist regime.

How is it possible to have a Commander In Chief who hates what America stands for and loves our enemies.

All Czars should have been vetted, but the truth of the matter is that Barak Obama was not vetted. Obama would not have passed the F.B.I. background check and he did not submit the proper documents, birth certificate that was sealed, to the Election Committee. This committee should be held accountable.

It's so sad that we have an inept President that has never run a business, made payroll and paid payroll taxes.

Vernon B
This is another example of what David Neiwert has been documenting as the mainstreaming of extremist rhetoric. Mr. B's letter is an incoherent rant, a scatter-shot blast at a list of things he's heard about on talk radio and Fox News (and perhaps Free Republic). And this example comes directly from my old home turf. (Is it safe to drive down Highway 99 with an Obama sticker on your car?)

Perhaps after national health care reform is enacted, Mr. B will finally be able to get the psychiatric treatment he so desperately needs.

A lesson in grammar and punctuation would help, too.

9 comments:

Paul said...

It seems to me that all the negative vibes this blowhard (Rush Hudson Limbaugh A.KA. Jeff Christie) has been spewing over these many years has come back to blow back on his face (A classic “Blow Back”). He always tries to give off the airs that he can have anything he wants but as we all witness those with more money and more influence tossed him aside like sack of potatoes and the ultimate insult was that it was done in public (money don’t buy you everything butterball).

Now of course he blames everyone else (Michael J. Fox, Perez Hilton, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sonia Sotomayor, Hillary Clinton, Olympia Snowe, ESPN, NFL, the media, basically people of color, the handicapped, women and gays) when of course all you have to do is listen to his show and plainly hear his daily prejudices filled sermons. So NFL, I salute you decision, job well done. And to the whaling cry baby perched on his self made pedestal, quit your whining it was your own fault. You are reaping what he has sowed, KARMA, "Palin and simple" like his followers. Don’t we all feel better?

http://www.chasingevil.org/2009/10/rush-limbaugh-in-his-own-words.html

Karen said...

I wouldn't think it was completely safe to drive Highway 99 with an Obama sticker on your car. My naturally conservative family in rural Minnesota looks liberal compared to many rural Californians.

Lala said...

OMG, for a moment I thought this math teacher was going mad to support this incoherent man. Thanks god I was wrong.
Unfortunately there're many that thinks the same as him, they seemed to be full of hate and resentful no their "enemies", enemies that many non pacific goverments have created killing thousands of people...
So sad.


Lara from b&b prague

Dr. Pablito said...

Neiwert hits the nail on the head. It's eerily similar to the crude party propaganda published by nascent fascist movements in Europe during the 20th century Great Depression. And it worked on just enough people -- it emboldened just enough people to action to seize the levers of power. The remedy is for ordinary people with sane, fact-based opinions to loudly point out that these are paranoid rantings. To suggest that "decent Americans" (to appeal to patriotism and "values") don't blame others like this -- they roll up their sleeves, pitch in for their community, their country, their state, and fix stuff. Gotta keep at 'em, using language and an emotional vocabulary that resonates with the people who might be convinced.

Anonymous said...

Elitists will always look down their noses at us conservatives with high school educations.

Zeno said...

Count on it, Anonymous, whenever you appear to have graduated from high school without the ability to think rationally.

Interrobang said...

Hey, man, I'm an elitist and proud of it.

I busted my rump to get degrees from two of the best schools in my country, including damn near being killed by a bout of pneumonia in grad school but graduating with an A average anyway. I worked two part-time jobs while doing it, too.

And yeah, I do think that makes me "better" in some senses than a lot of people, because I also think that education is objectively a good thing. Tough luck for you, especially since I've got a very long nose... :)

Dan J said...

Love it, Zeno. It's nice to know that the crazy ones aren't all east of the Rockies.

Anonymous: I've got a High School education. I learned about critical thinking. You should have done the same. I still look down on you, but it's not because of your education: It's because of your lack of good sense.

Brian M said...

What's ironic about rural California "small government" conservatism is the absolute dependence of the region on big government largess...water projects, farm subsidies, military spending, etc. etc. etc.

I love much closer to the bay Area (Vacaville), and the spittle flecked rantings appear with frequency in our local news rags as well.