MSNBC Continues Smear of 'Racist' NRA; Alex Wagner Hits Wayne LaPierre as Afraid of 'Dark People'

NewsBusters.org ^ | February 14, 2013 | Scott Whitlock

[Kaslin]

MSNBC, for the second time on Thursday, smeared the National Rifle Association as racist, trashing the gun group's president as appealing to bigotry. Now host Alex Wagner read from an op-ed by Wayne LaPierre in which he argues that owning a gun is the only real protection from crime, looting and riots. Specifically, LaPierre mentioned the aftermath to Hurricane Sandy and looting in Brooklyn.

Wagner quoted LaPierre: "Hurricanes, tornadoes, riots, terrorists, gangs, lone criminals, these are the perils we are sure to face. Not just maybe. It's not paranoia to buy a gun. It's survival." She then sneered, "There's also a lot of racial– racism imbedded in that full statement." [See video below. MP3 audio here.] Novelist and guest Kurt Andersen mocked, "There were, not only not looters in south Brooklyn. Everybody was out helping everybody else...It was the opposite of that description." Except that there was looting in Brooklyn during Hurricane Sandy.

MSNBC Continues Smear of 'Racist' NRA; Alex Wagner Hits Wayne LaPierre as Afraid of 'Dark People'

The Huffington Post featured pictures. Writer Andy Campbell explained:

At about 8 a.m. on Tuesday, workers arrived at Mega Aid Pharmacy to find that not only had Hurricane Sandy obliterated the building's interior the night before, but thieves had broken in and gone through more than 10,000 pharmaceutical items. Most of the stolen goods were prescription meds.

The New York Post documented looting there, too.

Wagner actively distorted what LaPierre said, describing his words as "dark nights with dark people in Brooklyn."

Earlier, on Morning Joe, so-called conservative Joe Scarborough ranted about LaPierre's "racial overtones."

A transcript of the February 14 segment is below:

ALEX WAGNER: His press conference in the wake of the Newtown tragedy constituted one of the most tone deaf events in repeat memory. Now, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre is taking it to a new lunar level of insanity with a screed on the conservative Daily Caller website, writing, "Hurricanes, tornadoes, riots, terrorists, gangs, lone criminals, these are the perils we are sure to face. Not just maybe. It's not paranoia to buy a gun. It's survival." LaPierre continues, "After Hurricane Sandy, we saw the hellish world that gun prohibitionists see as their utopia. Looters ran wild in south Brooklyn. There was no food, water, or electricity, and if you wanted to walk several miles to get supplies, you better get back before dark or you might not get home at all." The finale: "We will not surrender. We will not appease. We will buy more guns than ever." Kurt, as a resident of south Brooklyn, was that– Was that your utopia?

KURT ANDERSEN (Author, True Believers): Fortunately, I have guns, so I was able to-- no. Why should I be alarmed and amazed at the factual profound factual inaccuracies here. There were, not only looters in south Brooklyn. Everybody was out helping everybody else. It was morning in America. Yes, there was no electricity for a while. But, you know, it was the opposite of that description, if he wants to have some post-on post-apocalyptic nightmare. That line of "and we will buy more guns" to me is the most bonkers much the whole thing. I mean, because it bespeaks of fetishism of "I need more guns."

WAGNER: It's like a child beating its hands.

ANDERSEN: And, by the way, to the degree the NRA is a gun industry organization, that's just, yes, buy more guns.

WAGNER: Joy, there's also a lot of racial– racism imbedded in that full statement. He goes on to impugn Latin America as these kind of dark nights with dark people in Brooklyn.

JOY REID: That's right. I don't know how he missed the zombies because there were also zombies. And you know, I don't understand how they even survived in south Brooklyn. I think he was talking about south Brooklyn of the 1980s. He has this vision of brown and black people running around looting and burning and we have to get guns to shoot them.

[From The Deer Stand]

By now we are aware that Democrats can’t fight battles with facts and figures. All they can do is attack and call names, something mothers teacher kids not to do.

[Vendome]

Very Dark Commentary...

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

This is not new. Forty five years ago some MSM reporters claimed the NRA to be racist when the NRA issued a statement like this.

“Suppose there was a race riot in your neighborhood, and the police were called somewhere else?”-NRA

The MSM went bonkers and began to foam at the mouth playing the 1960s race card.

[Amberdawn]

The leftists making these comments are simply admitting that “dark people” and “terrorists” are the majority of criminals.

[Amberdawn]

The leftists making these comments are simply admitting that “dark people” and “terrorists” are the majority of criminals. It’s necessary to deflect attention away from the facts.

[Josa]

FBI crime statistics show that minorities commit a disproportionate share of violent crime. It’s just a fact.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

RULE 13: “Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.” Cut off the support network and isolate the target from sympathy. Go after people and not institutions; people hurt faster than institutions.

[Crapgame]

It seems to be the new leftist meme....everyone that has remotely conservative beliefs is attacked as a racist. I got into a debate over the weekend on Facebook with some alleged Republicans. The topic was how does the GOP make inroads in the Hispanic community. Two of the other participants were an American of Mexican descent and an African American attorney who is a former Senate aide. I myself am American of 100% Mexican descent. The moment I used the term “illegal aliens” in regards to amnesty, I was attacked as “racist, ignorant and trying to dehumanize people”. When I pointed out that it was merely a descriptor of legal fact, I was again attacked as racist and ignorant. I weep for the country, the left seems to be winning everywhere, even in our own erstwhile party...

[Venturer]

Snow is racist because it is white.

That is how these damned fools think.

[kearnyirish2]

“I weep for the country, the left seems to be winning everywhere, even in our own erstwhile party...”

It was over when “equality” stopped including white/Asian men in regards to affirmative action. People can debate the constitutionality of various issues, but to have such government-sanctioned discrimination allowed to stand (in fact, is now demanded/expected), and somehow men who can’t earn a living or raise a family are supposed to care about Benghazi, North Korea, or even the neighboring county.

Oh well; let every freak, mutant, and mental patient that wants to put on a uniform to fight the leftist crusade against Islam be my guest. They certainly aren’t representing me or mine, and I’m completely apathetic as to what happens to them. Radical Islam is no more a threat to me than the radical communists that have seized our country.

[backwoods-engineer]

Alex Wagner Hits Wayne LaPierre as Afraid of 'Dark People'

Amazing. Shawnto on Armed American Radio would be shocked to hear it. As would a number of black NRA members.

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Perhaps Mr. Wagner needs to read a little history.

The Racist History of Handgun Bans in America

http://www.nraila.org/Issues/FactSheets/Read.aspx?ID=137

[Triple]

I nearly puked as I listened to Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC last night. He was claiming the NRA was racist and anti-semetic, on top of being paranoid.

[GraceG]

[ FBI crime statistics show that minorities commit a disproportionate share of violent crime. It’s just a fact. ]

How did those ratios look before/after LBJ’s “great society”?

[spetznaz]

I weep for the country, the left seems to be winning everywhere, even in our own erstwhile party...

I look at it using very simple optics. Maybe too simple, but I believe there is some truth to how I look at it. The Liberal Left has been astoundingly effective in its approach, which has basically been utilizing not just the news media but also the entertainment industry to create what I call 'cultural thought' that enhances their political ideology. For example, watch virtually any TV show, be it a funny sitcom, a teen-targeted show, or a serious detective show. There are certain aspects and facets that are espoused that are quite positive for the liberal agenda. For instance, homosexuality is shown as perfectly normal, with anyone against it painted as the villain. Liberal progressive thought it shown as enlightened, while conservative traditional values are shown as nascent indicators of potential danger from that character. It may seem quite basic, but these precepts are shown constantly and over time they will have an impact. Already within the 35 and younger age group homosexuality is totally accepted, and I was telling someone that in another decade gun control will similarly be accepted.

The Left has been amazingly good at structuring the narrative, and this has been greatly beneficial to them, and bodes a likelihood of continuing to yield returns for them going forward.

What about the Right?

Woefully inefficient. I gave an example late last week where I compared the Right to the last 50 players of board Dungeons and Dragons games. Those 50 are really good, but they are not bringing in any new players, which is tricky in a world that shifted to video games en masse two decades ago. What do I mean by this? Well, to me (an important caveat since this is solely my opinion) the Right seems to be more of a closed-loop system. A closed-loop where we form very strong bonds with each other, feeding each other, but not having external growth. If you look at talk radio it is virtually geared 100% towards serving a conservative audience (not even Republicans - Conservatives). Our websites. The (very) few TV shows that we can claim. It is all inward looking, and while it makes for strong(er) conservatives it is basically not bringing in growth. Add to this the fact that the Right lets the Left structure the narrative, and this is why young people see Conservatism as an obsolete joke. Ask your kids in highschool - unless they are homeschooled they will tell you how certain Conservative precepts are viewed.

What about the Left? Well, their strategy is very outward looking. They use the news media and the entertainment industry to sell their ideologies (not necessarily themselves - their ideology) 24/7. And it works! Case in point - look at me. I am a Kenyan male, born and bred in Kenya apart from a 7 year (to the day) stint in the US for college and work before I decided to go back home to make my fortune. However, from the time I could comprehend stuff I was exposed to American culture via television and movies. In many ways, my thinking process is totally American. That is group/cultural thought, and the spread of democracy around the world (and I kid you not) had some of its greatest efficacy simply by the dissemination of American TV, radio and movie programming around the globe. Now, imagine this tool being used to propagate liberal thought within America. When it comes to sex, homosexuality, the role of government, the 'evils' of conservatism, .....gun control .....! It is an effective tool, and one that the Right is totally clueless about.

Fact - Rush is great, but he will never bring in ONE VOTER who would not have voted for a Republican (or Conservative Independent) anyways. Not one. As for the Liberals - there is a reason Obama was having a number of his ads coming during programming aimed at late teens/early twenties.

Coming back to this thread - MSNBC, and other programming, is hitting out on the NRA. It seems silly. It looks stupid. To closed-loop systems like FR where we can see beyond the surface. However, the Left will keep using their machinery to push the issue, and they will use TV shows where you will see characters similar to what the average person considers NRA members to be like. FR, Rush, Coulter (is she still conservative btw or did her glamor fail and people can see who she really is), et al will keep saying how the Left is wasting time on useless methodologies. Then, fifteen years from now, the NRA will be defunct.

Yes, I may be talking crap, but do yourselves a favor and read on how the KKK was destroyed. How the Feds had informants within, and their meetings would be reported, and the KKK would get mocked and ridiculed in shows (like the Superman radio show), and how the KKK went from a huge mass of idiots into a numbers that are basically less than a shadow of where they were in the 20s. That is one of the most effective uses of media for targeted destruction.

Or go talk to some black NRA members at the next meet, and ask them what the perception of the NRA is. No black members, no problem. Go ask your teenage son or daughter what the perception of the NRA is. If not by them (since you must have raised them right) by their peers.

Also think of this - Rubio and the water incident. Yes, I know some Conservative media are mocking the Left for making a mountain out of the man taking a simple sip of water. But the Left is not being stupid. It is simply using its tried and tested method ...constant percolation of ideas, in this case that somehow Rubio is flawed because he drank water during his speech. Silly statement to make, but they will continuously make it, and it may work if the Right lets them construct such a narrative. Many people here think the Left is stupid. It is not. It is actually very patient, very intelligent, and has very well constructed plans. The voters are the ones who are not intelligent, but the Left machinery? Stupid is the last think they can be described as.

The Right needs to be outward looking. Inward looking closed-loop systems are simply a passive way towards obsolesence and extinction. Like a wooly mammoth taking a tarpit bath, or trying to get high off carbon monoxide. Closed-loop systems that make us feel nice as we yap how stupid the Left is. Conservative precepts can save the US, but they need to be propagated.

[Rodney Dangerfield]

LaPierre should have his attorney send MSDNC a strongly worded letter demanding a full retraction and apology in Prime Time and to cease and desist from further actions that falsely smear the NRA

If MSDNC balks, sue the crap out of them.

[wardaddy]

It was over in the mid 60s when immigration was favored to non whites

And all the civil rights legislation which should have stopped simply with the right to vote being enforced
Period

[Joe 6-pack]

What about the racist NBA. Are they afraid of white people?

[Intolerant in NJ]

I liked Kirstin Powers’ comment last night on Fox that in the past she had said the the media were run by bunch of juveniles, but after watching the Rubio-drinking-water story, she had to lower her estimate to about ten year olds - and this from a liberal, no less......