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The Death Cult at the castle door as envisioned by the wingnuts.
August is ended, and it would be nice if that would prove to be the end of the silly season that has given us "Ground Zero" "Mosque" and Arizona’s law that drafts the police into racial purity enforcement. Nice, but it seems with the taste of blood on their lips, the right is in full monster movie mob syndrome.
While we on the progressive side do tend to enjoy Death Panel nonsense, the crazies have been astonishingly prone to indulge the comedic side of their inventive tendencies lately. Are we being a little overly optimistic when we see the funny side of calling yourself "armed, dangerous and ready to fight" on the right wing?
Naturally, the lone gunman who attacked Discovery Channel, even though he has no connection to anything advocated by the left, is fingered as a proof of the violent tendencies of that same left – that more usually is attacked for its education-supporting, elitist, Discovery Channel tendencies.
A brouhaha that once again tried to call us lefties a violence prone cult makes us want to giggle, but should we be supplying the safe room instead?
It seems Better Off Dead icon Cusack was idly tweeting yesterday and he rattled off this thing proposing the construction of a “Satanic death cult center” outside the Fox News building. The full tweet:
I AM FOR A SATANIC DEATH CULT CENTER AT FOX NEWS HQ AND OUTSIDE THE OFFICES ORDICK ARMEYAND NEWT GINGRICH-and all the GOP WELFARE FREAKS
In no time at all there were serious news stories blasting Cusack for going on a “rampage” and calling for the “Satanic death” of Newt and Dick Armey. “John Cusack Calls for ‘Satanic Death’ of Fox News, GOP Leaders,” blared the Fox News headline. In a flash Fox was calling up academic experts who were taking this tweet that could not possibly be more obviously a joke and seriously calling it an incitement to violence. From the piece:
“His provocative tweets could easily incite a rabid fan to commit violent acts against Fox News Headquarters and others he names," said Dr. Carole Lieberman, a Beverly Hills-based psychiatrist and author of "Coping With Terrorism: Dreams Interrupted."
And like magic, mere minutes later, the tweets from the internet peanut gallery rolled in, with conservative readers unironically ripping Cusack for advocating violence. “Remember lefties warn that Glen B was inciting violence with his rhetoric,” tweeted “Uniqname.” “Didn’t know he was a jihadist,” wrote “Taylor Nichols.”
“Calling for violence is never the answer to a disagreement, Mr. Cusack,” wrote “reaperzilla.” And “isn’t this incitement?” wondered “Harleybubba” (I swear, I didn’t make up that name).
(snip)
…I get that some of these folks are dying to find an example of a “liberal” inciting people to violence in the manner of oft-criticized right-wing heroes like Glenn Beck, but even taking that anxiousness into consideration, you’d have to be in virtual brain-death to take something like this seriously.
While we all remember the whiner in kindergarten who’d insist that some other kid was messing with him/her, and the teacher ought to punish that kid, don’t we all conclude that with years and assumption of better tactics, that little s**t will at least act like some one worth knowing? someday??
The wingnuts at large these days didn’t get through their finger-pointing stage yet. We need better ways to work around them.
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Author: Ruth Calvo, 66 and retired, is a longtime political activist for progressive causes and writer as well as a daily editor here at The Seminal. She worked in the office of TX. Senator Ralph Yarborough after graduation from Wellesley College in the 60’s, served on the Council on the Arts after receiving their award for playwriting, managed some political campaigns in Maryland, and served several years as assistant to Maryland House of Delegates member Delegate Gene Counihan.
21 Comments
Fear, fear, and more fear. Those darned GOPterra mongers!
If you have absolutely nothing positive in your record, it’s all about bringing on the clowns. At that, the wingnuts really have talent.
The right-wing media tries to pin this Lee guy on the left — but no lefties known to humanity ever use right-wing expressions like “anchor babies” except in sheer jest, and this guy wasn’t jesting.
Absolutely, it’s like taking me seriously when I declare that we really do eat Xtian babies in our secret (satanic death cult) rituals.
VOTE!!!! The Repub base is energized to vote in the midterms. VOTE AGAINST THEM!!!!
Yeah… like I said…. Republicans are paranoid cowards.
You guys usually remember the “paranoid” part, but regularly don’t remind others about the “coward” part. We need to touch on that more often.
1) Let them eat the paste.
2) They’ll get MSM coverage no matter what we do.
3) We will NEVER get MSM coverage for dealing with them.
4) They are NOT the problem, they are not the issue. Only the MSM makes it seem so.
It’s a class war. It’s Labor Day Weekend, and our jobs sitch and enconomy makes it painfully evident it IS a class war.
The 23% teabaggers and their ilk only serve to distract us, to play the hate game, us v them.
It’s a con, it’s a ruse, it’s smoke and mirrors, and yet proggy sites and proggy authors continue to feed the grist of that mill with yet MORE analysis and sorrowful filled speaks of THEM, v. us.
They ain’t the problem Mz. Calvo.,
The corporate structure that owns the political process, the judicial process, the legal process, the criminal process . . . the fascist corporate structure that owns us all, top to bottom, all our elected offals.
That’s the problem, Mz. Calvo.
How and when do we begin to deal with THAT, I wanna know.
Cuz, so far, all I hear from the proggy left (and this site and forum is one of the LAST bastions of proggy sanctity, I think) is crickets.
I don’t see THIS site and forum being real proggy about that corporate fascist issue. Not at all.
And that, ma’am, on this Labor Day Weekend, terribly concerns me.
Has FDL caved? Like all the other sites (except the winger sites of both sides of reality)?
The reality is pretty phreakin simple. Corporate fascism.
The leadership from a progressive view, to combat that, is non existent.
What happened?
there are limits to what a blog can do. im not offering that as an excuse or a put down. getting good info out, and fundraising suits blogs well. as for what your talking about, taking action, your right. the leadership of the left apparently no longer exists and how do we rebuild that? we HAVE to rebuild it, it will take generations but it has to be done. the alternative is too appalling to consider much.strikes, boycotts, marches etc., those were all signature tactics of a unified working class guided by the Communist and Socialist Cadres, Labor Unions, and the leadership of the Black Civil Rights movement. without that even meagre reforms like social security and medicare would never have been realized. w have taken EVERYTHING for granted too long and now we are losing it.
Maybe this is what you are looking for,
10.2.10, The Day the Mid-Term Narrative Changes
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/9/5/899156/-10.2.10,-The-Day-the-Mid-Term-Narrative-Changes
Spot on!. There is no leadership on the left. And for now it is up to us to find our own ways to convert voters to our perspective and, as I said, their own interests. But without a the cohesion that good leadership brings we are I think limited. We can do very little beyond exposure to deprive the right of their money and power in government at all levels.
As we try to rebuild leadership and our financial resources the primary alternative for activism that I see is persuasion of the voters. Good writing. Good media and I mean entertaining as well as informative.
Reply to Larue @7
Please make suggestions as if you are a leader of the progressive view. I really don’t know what to direct to the corporate fascists other than exposure. And Lord knows enough has been exposed to expect a rational people would have voted out corporate employees in government. But the compulsion of people like those represented in the Tea Party to vote and advocate against their own interests seems to be what is driving this impending Republican wave.
So why arent we advocating FOR our interests? Whats driving the impending republican wave is a lot of coporate money, constant mainstream media reinforcement and activism on the right.
We can advocate all we want for our interests. And I agree we should. But without a power base all you get is an F*** You from Rahm Emanuel.
I attribute it to the Reichwingers proclivity to march in ‘Lock Step’…! Like Lemmings over the cliff…! *gah*
GAH
There is a lot of truth in what you say. But first the left has to decide if we want to hang with the Democrats. If we do we have to swallow some bitter pills in solidarity. I recall a lot of polemics over cooperating with the health care legislation. And I was one of the at least moderate complainers.
To be crass, when I wag or point my fingers, I’m scratching something.
Progressives are rudderless. No alternative direction is provided by the left. The right at least points in a direction, as distasteful as it may be. Some of the U.S. public favors corporate fascism over a just and equitable democracy. The other 77% are never given a clear alternative.
Perhaps when our party leaders stop curling up into a fetal position, even with massive majorities, to give them what they want, the rightards will just take their teabags and go home.
Bummer, I thought Fox News ALREADY HAD a Satanic Death Cult Center!
… but regularly don’t remind others about the “coward” part. We need to touch on that more often.
Yeah, what he said. The left is not the last bastion of the American pussy- the other side is full of ‘em too. they just don’t act like it.
and do you really need the “corporate” in corporate fascism? Isn’t that like saying ATM-Machine?