9.29.2009

AIN'T NO RACISM...

I listen to a lot of talk radio. Okay, not a lot...but at least 20 minutes of Glenn Beck in the mornings, (depending on how late I am) and a good 15-30 minutes of Rush Limbaugh on my lunch break.

This is my daily routine. Craaaaaazy, I know...but part of me thrives on the idea that if someone is talking about politics, even if I 100% disagree with them, I'll listen in. Plus, I feel like this is my peek inside the world of "the other side." You'd be amazed at how quickly you'd become paranoid, angry, and afraid listening to talk radio. It's easy to get caught up in what they're ranting and raving and warning you about...and I almost feel sad for the people that listen to all 3 hours of this programing, every single day, and worse still...take it to heart.

I guarantee you a lot of the people who listen to talk radio do not think it's entertainment. For them, they're getting the truth. The real news that the (cue pounding drums) LIBERAL MEDIA doesn't want you to know.

I watch The Daily Show and Colbert every single night, but not once do I go, "Right on man! You start a revolution, a march on Washington, and I'll be there to take this country back!" They're entertainers. They're comedians. And Glenn Beck backs away from criticism all the time by pointing out, "I'm just a talk show host...an entertainer..." all while declaring that his listeners and viewers be vigil. Keep an eye on ACORN. Put pressure on Van Jones. These Czars are bad news. This President is friends with Marxists. Communists. He, himself is racist who has a deep seeded hatred for the White man!!!

It'd be funny, if it wasn't taken as some sort of gospel.

So anyway, I'm listening the other morning, and it's a fill-in host. I guess Glenn saw his shadow that morning and held up in his Panic Room counting all of his gold coins. (He constantly sucks off Gold Line because as we all know, the dollar is just a mere couple of months away from being completely worthless...and nothing is more valuable in a Mad Max-type wasteland than gold fucking coins that you bought off the internet.)

And this guy who's filling in for Glenn plays this new Republican talking point of, "Gee, I guess ANYONE who criticizes the President is racist now, eh?"

First off, no one, and I mean no one is saying that anyone who criticizes the President is 100% automatically racist. It's a bullshit argument that has gotten more and more popular because it simply wipes away every cry of racism in one quick swoop.

And secondly, are these idiots really trying to act like there isn't a huge upswing in people hating Obama simply because he's black?

The way people are up in arms over the whole ACORN scandal, you'd think they were selling white people's babies on the street corner. All these Senators suddenly want investigations? And to remove their funding? Meanwhile Blackwater, Halliburton, and countless other organizations are just roaming free?!

Right, they weren't caught on camera giving advice to a white girl and her "pimp." Carry on, then...

(and don't get me wrong, I'm not losing any sleep over ACORN being busted and losing these connections. It's just catching the smallest fish ever. And I wish these people who claim to be soooooo interested in "rooting out corruption" would go after some of these companies who are in the business of killing and torturing people.)

But whatever...back to this dumbass talk radio guy's point...

"I guess you can't criticize Obama anymore without being called a racist?!"

No, but specific things can be highlighted to prove that racism still exists in this country, and plenty of those on the Right are using it to their advantage.

Case in point, here's Limbaugh's show-prep, (you can seriously know exactly what Rush is going to talk about on his radio show by peeking at Drudge Report an hour before the show starts) Matt Drudge offering up not one, but two BOLD, ALL-CAPS HEADLINES showing violent black kids.

This one ran a couple weeks ago.
drudge 2

This one (as of writing this) is currently the headline on his website today.
drudge 1

See what he does there? The first example was on a school bus outside of St. Louis. I dunno if you have ever ridden a school bus before, but kids get beaten up all the damn time. I must have witnessed it a handful of times myself growing up.

But see, this was a bus of mostly black kids, beating up on a white boy. This is a NATIONAL story. This needs to go at the top of the page at once! GIANT LETTERS NEED TO MAKE SURE PEOPLE KNOW WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THIS COUNTRY!!!

(Sad truth...Limbaugh discussed the story on the air and Neo-Nazis marched cause he claimed it was a "hate crime.")

The second example was of a after-school beating that took place between rival gangs in Chicago. It's a tragic story. One student was beaten to death and the lack of sympathy shown in the video (police released it, hoping someone could ID the suspects) depresses me more than anything else. How far have we fallen as a society, that a boy lying dead in the street, killed in front of your eyes doesn't make you realize that this is wrong...that this isn't a way to live...

But you know what? That story happened days ago.

Huffington Post had a story on it back on September 27th.

But not Drudge. Not the source of all things Conservative-leaning. No, he waits until today. Days later. A day after it's announced that Obama is going to personally try and get Chicago the Olympics in 2016. Then, he's able to tie it all together.

BLACK THUGS FROM CHICAGO KILL PEOPLE IN THE STREET! HEY, ISN'T OBAMA FROM CHICAGO?! HMMMMMMM...

And if you're thinking, "Gee, Travis...that's kind of a stretch, no?" ask yourself this...

Why wait days later? Why put the story up as the main story in the first place? All day long. Nothing else is going on? Is the story that important?! Outside of Chicago, who does this story truly effect? And really, is Chicago that much more violent than LA or Atlanta or Moscow or Mexico City or plenty of other cities that held the Olympics?

It's just another example of subtle racism and how it's used against this President on a daily basis.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

well travis,
the thing is that by making that disclaimer, they don't need to argue that they are racist, you know in their dumb minds this is the best preemptive strike to people asking if they are racist therefore, not being able to talk their points, same way they used to bash anyone criticizing bush by calling them america hater and then having to defend against this while the other guy just kept going like the sheeps in animal farm "america hater america hater".