Posted on 11/08/2008 10:35:48 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
For a while I thought it was just me. But in the final days leading up to the national election, I began to notice it on both local and national talk shows around the country.
And now that we are a few days past Mr. Obama’s election night victory, it seems quite clear: things have gotten more intense, not less.
I’m writing here about the attacks that are being telephoned-in to conservative talk radio hosts around the country. I’ve noticed a consistent increase of people that I’ll call “Obama enthusiasts” popping-up as callers on conservative talk shows, and no matter what the topic on the show may be, the assertions from the callers follow a predictable pattern.
The precise choice of words that the caller uses in their line of attack may vary, but the pattern essentially goes like this: A) The caller asserts to the host that “all you ever do is attack Barack Obama;” B) The caller then comes around to asserting to the host that “you are obviously a “racist” (or “you are a bigot,” or “you think Black people are inferior to White people,” or something of that sort); and then the caller concludes with C) “you should be removed from the ‘public airwaves’” (or some variation of the general sentiment that “you should just be silenced” or “you should shut-up”).
Now let me be clear: I’m not complaining about this, not at all. In fact, I welcome it on my talk show at 630 WMAL radio in Washington, D.C. It’s no secret that talk radio thrives in controversy, and conversely, a talk show can become boring if everyone is “in agreement” with the host.
But entertaining talk show content is one thing. And the broader implications of people’s words outside of a talk show can be something different (I’m reminded here of the many times over the years that I’ve heard Rush say “words mean things”). And the implications, the “meaning,” of the pattern that I’ve identified above, seems to be this: If you so much as question the President-elect, you are necessarily a “racist,” and your voice should, therefore, be removed from the public square.
I must also add that, while the hostility I’m hearing on conservative talk radio is mostly directed at white, male hosts, it’s not necessarily a “black against white” phenomena. For example, on my show last Friday while I was discussing Mr. Obama’s remarks about the economy at his recent press conference, I received a call from “Roberto,” a man with a Hispanic sounding accent in Arlington, VA. Roberto’s opening salvo was to say that I was being “patronizing” by pronouncing his name with the traditional, Spanish “rolling R” sound.
Now, I grew up in Southern California surrounded by Spanish speakers, and I was taught by my “white Mom” that, as a matter of respect, I should speak Spanish as it was intended to be spoken, and NOT like a “gringo.”
But never mind that “respect” thing. As far as Roberto was concerned, I was simply offensive. And then, of course, the pattern kicked-in - - I was questioning the President-elect’s remarks because I’m a racist, and therefore I should be silenced.
I’ve heard this rhetoric enough times, and on so many different talk shows in addition to my own, that I believe there is some organizational effort behind it. I’m not insinuating that the finger prints of our President-elect are on this, and the participants in this might be quite loosely organized, at best.
But there is a certain mindset, a certain philosophy that underlies this rhetoric, and it is becoming more widespread. It is the belief if you are not in lock-step with the President-elect’s agenda, or if you merely dare to question it, you are obviously motivated by your hatred of ethnic minorities, and you have no place in the broad national debate. And it is an anathema to our freedoms under the First Amendment.
Conservative Americans in particular need to understand that in this new era, the rules have changed. And to understand this change, conservatives need to begin by reading “Rules For Radicals,” a book published in 1971 by noted “community organizer” (and a man who is said to have influenced Mr. Obama) Saul Alinsky.
Column space is limited here, so you’ll have to get a copy of the book for yourself. But consider this notion from Alinksy’s rule #5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It’s hard to counterattack ridicule, and it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.”
And consider this language from rule #11, wherein Alinsky suggests that the main job of a “community organizer” is to bait his opponent into reacting in a certain way: “The enemy properly goaded and guided in his reaction will be your major strength.”
Welcome to the new era.
So it does. IIRC it began with the Senatorial hearings for Robert Bork. That good man and keen constitutionalist was crucified by the likes of the Pig Kennedy.
Great comeback. Thanks for posting it.
Does the authors mother really think the Spanish spoken in southern california is how the language is supposed to be spoken? I dare you to speak Spanish the way it is spoken in southern california in Spain. They will laugh you out of the country.
JoMa
DUH 1's minions were practicing this on 'Joe the Plumber' et.al., before he was elected. So what? They will do more of it, it had been their most successful gambit.
My prediction is that within 4 years people will have relearned Mr. Twain's other name for the character of Jim that the boys knew on the river, and will use it unabashedly in certain contexts. They will have been called "racist" so often over such trivia, they will become one. This election, or at least this sort of rhetoric, may well set race relations back 100 years.
Oh, this pattern of calling anyone who opposes Obama a racist is very obvious in the comments of people in my area who have been interviewed by our dear loco I mean local lib rag. A number of them made the comment along the lines of “we’ve come very far in race relations, but we’ve a long way to go because Obama only got 52% of the vote.” Meaning, to these Obamaniacs, the only reason people voted against Obama was because they’re all nasty racists. Arguing with stupid people is below my pay grade.
And it's an interesting search, one only on Wiki in Arabic. You learn things every day.
Americans have proven that we are not racists by electing an AA. The progressives/liberals/socialists/democrats will follow Alinsky’s rules and say we are racists. We cannot let them get by with this lie.
http://www.mesiti.it/arabic/grammar/lessons/lesson1/writing_and_sounds3.asp.
Read the 2nd heading, "خ ح i.e. "7A2" and "khA2""
In Hebrew:
http://sagavyah.tripod.com/ALEFBET.html.
Click on the letter "Hheth" for pronunciation.
Her. :)
I don’t judge a man by the color of his skin. I judge him...by the size of his nostrils.
Obama is only president BECAUSE of his race.
That’s all most of his supporters could see in him.
His supporters told us that his candidacy meant that race wasn’t going to matter.
In reality that’s all it was about.
They will be very very bitter in 4 years is my prediction,
when they see that humans still fight wars, live in squalor, and hate each other.
His supporters thing that Obama will change all of that.
It’s not bad, it’s just a different dialect :) Most Israeli Ashkenazi Jews cannot pronounce that letter & use CH. When Arabs imitate Israelis, they make a CH CH CH sound. Most Arabs are unaware that Mizrahi (or rather, Mizra7i) Jews do pronounce it as 7. Only Palestinians & some Lebanese are familiar enough with Israelis to single out European Jews as “the CH CH CH people.”
But anyway, yeah I get your point. I just think it’s funny that a non-Arabic speaker would go out of their way to pronounce 7amas “authentically” & wind up pronouncing it even worse. The subsitution of 7 for CH by Westerners really bothers Arabs, actually, especially because of its association with Israelis.
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