Fear and loathing on Sycamore Street
Sometimes the truth is like a light bulb going on over your head; that's how the cartoonists' visual cliche originated. Other times, it's like a hard slap to the face, clearing your mind, allowing enlightenment to illuminate your interior landscape like a suddenly risen sun.
It occurred to me today, as I was reading nothing much... it was like a thirty or forty loose jigsaw puzzle pieces abruptly locking together in the correct configuration in my mind, showing me the image clearly for the first time:
Conservatives are afraid.
Of liberals.
Let me say that again: Conservatives are AFRAID.
Of LIBERALS.
It's... yeah, I know. 'Crazy' hardly seems to cover it.
Liberals are the tolerant ones. We're the ones who actually believe there should be a dissenting point of view, or more than one. We're the ones who respect the loyal opposition, the ones with empathy, the party of inclusion, the ones who reach out to anyone willing to be open minded, the ones who think there may well be valid answers and approaches to public policy issues outside the standard Democratic box. We're the ones who will consider the options, even if the options come from people who are not of us. We're the peaceful ones, the ones who oppose unnecessary wars, the ones who collect tax money and use the proceeds to help the weak, the poor, and the marginalized. We're the compassionate ones.
We're the ones that DON'T have all the guns.
And yet, the right... the intolerant, hate filled, uncivil, gun totin', 'protect an unborn child by killing an abortionist', 'bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran' right, the capital punishment loving right, the 'shoot them all and let God sort them out' right, the torture happy right, the habeas corpus hating right, the right that believes screaming and shouting and inciting to riot is how we should actually conduct a discourse... those guys... these guys... are afraid.
Of US.
The hippies. The hairbags. The pinkos. The commies. The fags. The latte lovin' lefties, with our Nieman Marcus shopping bags and our San Francisco values and our "Make Love Not War" and "Hell No We Won't Go".
And the thing is, they know it's ridiculous. That's why, suddenly, we're all Nazis. It may be rather ridiculous, even kind of sissified, for the Real American Men and Women of the Right to be terrified of pansy-wansy progressives, but there's nothing weird about being afraid of NAZIS. Nazis murdered ten million people, they started a war, they were dictatorial tyrants, they had all those concentration camps, they goose stepped all over the place and said "Sieg Heil" and tried to kill Indiana Jones and his lovable dad. Nazis were BAD. It's okay to be afraid of Nazis.
So, you know, liberals are Nazis. Let's go to war with them.
It's ridiculous, it's ludicrous, it's borderline insane. Sure, I could understand it if they were genuinely afraid of the increasing power of a centralized Federal government encroaching further and further into their private lives, but, no, they're fine with all that stuff when the Federal government is run by Republicans. Spy on everyone illegally? Lock Americans up without a trial or any outside contact forever? Torture people? Force peaceful protesters into 'free speech zones'? That's great! No, really, it's fine... as long as Republicans are doing it.
Democrats want to actually give everyone access to decent health care at an affordable price? KILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!
They're afraid of us.
I couldn't even begin to tell you why, but they are.
This doesn't make them less dangerous. More ludicrous, yes, but not less dangerous. When people are afraid, they tend to overreact, and their overreactions are often violent.
I don't know why they're afraid of us, but they are.
Which means we should be afraid of them.
It is my sincerest hope that the American people get some kind of significant health care reform... something that makes life much, much better for every non-wealthy person in America. Because that will cut across party lines; there are as many or more poor people in the Republican Party, as many or more poor conservatives, as there are poor Democrats and liberals and progressives. And if health care becomes more accessible to the poor, and more affordable to the working class, I have to believe that, among many, many other benefits that will accrue to our society, we will gain this significant one:
Conservatives will stop being afraid of us.
Because really, we're just trying to make things better for everyone.
Honest.
It occurred to me today, as I was reading nothing much... it was like a thirty or forty loose jigsaw puzzle pieces abruptly locking together in the correct configuration in my mind, showing me the image clearly for the first time:
Conservatives are afraid.
Of liberals.
Let me say that again: Conservatives are AFRAID.
Of LIBERALS.
It's... yeah, I know. 'Crazy' hardly seems to cover it.
Liberals are the tolerant ones. We're the ones who actually believe there should be a dissenting point of view, or more than one. We're the ones who respect the loyal opposition, the ones with empathy, the party of inclusion, the ones who reach out to anyone willing to be open minded, the ones who think there may well be valid answers and approaches to public policy issues outside the standard Democratic box. We're the ones who will consider the options, even if the options come from people who are not of us. We're the peaceful ones, the ones who oppose unnecessary wars, the ones who collect tax money and use the proceeds to help the weak, the poor, and the marginalized. We're the compassionate ones.
We're the ones that DON'T have all the guns.
And yet, the right... the intolerant, hate filled, uncivil, gun totin', 'protect an unborn child by killing an abortionist', 'bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran' right, the capital punishment loving right, the 'shoot them all and let God sort them out' right, the torture happy right, the habeas corpus hating right, the right that believes screaming and shouting and inciting to riot is how we should actually conduct a discourse... those guys... these guys... are afraid.
Of US.
The hippies. The hairbags. The pinkos. The commies. The fags. The latte lovin' lefties, with our Nieman Marcus shopping bags and our San Francisco values and our "Make Love Not War" and "Hell No We Won't Go".
And the thing is, they know it's ridiculous. That's why, suddenly, we're all Nazis. It may be rather ridiculous, even kind of sissified, for the Real American Men and Women of the Right to be terrified of pansy-wansy progressives, but there's nothing weird about being afraid of NAZIS. Nazis murdered ten million people, they started a war, they were dictatorial tyrants, they had all those concentration camps, they goose stepped all over the place and said "Sieg Heil" and tried to kill Indiana Jones and his lovable dad. Nazis were BAD. It's okay to be afraid of Nazis.
So, you know, liberals are Nazis. Let's go to war with them.
It's ridiculous, it's ludicrous, it's borderline insane. Sure, I could understand it if they were genuinely afraid of the increasing power of a centralized Federal government encroaching further and further into their private lives, but, no, they're fine with all that stuff when the Federal government is run by Republicans. Spy on everyone illegally? Lock Americans up without a trial or any outside contact forever? Torture people? Force peaceful protesters into 'free speech zones'? That's great! No, really, it's fine... as long as Republicans are doing it.
Democrats want to actually give everyone access to decent health care at an affordable price? KILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!
They're afraid of us.
I couldn't even begin to tell you why, but they are.
This doesn't make them less dangerous. More ludicrous, yes, but not less dangerous. When people are afraid, they tend to overreact, and their overreactions are often violent.
I don't know why they're afraid of us, but they are.
Which means we should be afraid of them.
It is my sincerest hope that the American people get some kind of significant health care reform... something that makes life much, much better for every non-wealthy person in America. Because that will cut across party lines; there are as many or more poor people in the Republican Party, as many or more poor conservatives, as there are poor Democrats and liberals and progressives. And if health care becomes more accessible to the poor, and more affordable to the working class, I have to believe that, among many, many other benefits that will accrue to our society, we will gain this significant one:
Conservatives will stop being afraid of us.
Because really, we're just trying to make things better for everyone.
Honest.
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It not that conservatives are afraid of us, it the people who run the conservative that are affraid. Imagine if Obama pulls this health care business off, that nearly 50 million people who will have insurance that currently don't. It will save Americans untold billions, which of course means it will cost others billions is unfettered profits. We will have locked D's in politically for decades. Even the core conservatives will benefit, and that is very worrisome for the real power brokers. They know if health care was rationally debated, they would lose, so they feed tens of millions into teabaggers and lobbyists and advertising and on and on.
They have to tell lies, they have to deceive because they know the truth would kill this debate ASAP. They could care less about their minions, they need them to hate so bad that they can't be rational, their hate has to be so unreasonable that the fact that this legislation benefit them isn't good enough to curb their hatred. That is the real reason this non-sense about death panels and school speeches is getting cranked up unreasonable levels.
It's fucking game the rich have always played, we are just pawns in their never ending greed. From you, to me, to Senators, to the poorest of the poor. They can exist without conflict because if we all got along, it would us and them, and we would destroy their obscene fortunes. Peace on Earth requires even distribution of wealth, and the people with it ain't going to let that happen. No way, No how.
September 8, 2009 7:00 PM | Reply | Permalink