General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWaPo front page exposing the crazies (racists)
The Americans are coming! Some in a Texas county fear an Obama-led U.S. military invasion.Inside, county Chairman Albert Ellison pulled out a yellow legal pad on which he had handwritten page after page of reasons why many Texans distrust President Obama, including the fact that, in the minds of some, he was raised by communists and mentored by terrorists.
So it should come as no surprise, Ellison said, that as the U.S. military prepares to launch one of the largest training exercises in history later this month, many Bastrop residents might suspect a secret Obama plot to spy on them, confiscate their guns and ultimately establish martial law in one of Americas proudly free conservative states.
They are not nuts and wackos. They are concerned citizens, and they are patriots, Ellison said of his suspicious neighbors. Obama has really painted a portrait in the minds of many conservatives that he is capable of this sort of thing.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/the-americans-are-coming-texans-fear-obama-led-us-military-invasion/2015/07/04/58047fee-2001-11e5-84d5-eb37ee8eaa61_story.html?hpid=z1
HassleCat
(6,409 posts)Really? Then where are you crazy? It usually happens in the mind, Mr. Ellison.
packman
(16,296 posts)Put several of them in a room all claiming to be Jesus, and each one will say the others are crazy, not them.
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)the empty canvas.
An excellent indication of being crazy is saying " I am not crazy".
spanone
(135,929 posts)Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)Paranoia and conspiracy theories about Obama are a convenient cover for blatant racism.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)These folks have all drawn the same erroneous conclusions that just happen to coincide with the nonsense peddled by Fox News and other conservative outlets. But isn't it nice of the Washington Post to devote a front-page column to their lunatic ravings, interrupted only now and again by a stray sentence that wandered into the story about just how demented these ravings are?
Fred Sanders
(23,946 posts)are pandering to, all may yet be well in the corporate media world....even media corporations may conclude it is no longer profitable to keep the veils in place.
The root of all evil is money, but racism has strong branches in America.
Stuart G
(38,458 posts)brewens
(13,666 posts)there to get Republicans and corporations to fall for it!
Moral Compass
(1,530 posts)I'm surprised, but this ran on page 5A of the Dallas Morning News.
What struck me is that the feature clearly identifies out and out racism as the cause for the utter paranoia in Bastrop and in Mr. Ellison's mind. Racism is also the root cause of the complete and total disrespect shown for President Obama.
A well done piece that lets the quotes from those interviewed tell the story.
malaise
(269,295 posts)Crazy rarely recognizes crazy
spanone
(135,929 posts)but it's a short drive
malaise
(269,295 posts)A short drive over a cliff
Gumboot
(531 posts)(with Alex Jones as his VP)
JHB
(37,166 posts)Well, they're certainly acting like nuts and wackos about this.
Obama didn't paint that portrait, Mr. Ellison. Conservatives scrawled it all by themselves. They've had plenty of practice, some 50 years worth.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)I flipped through the comments, which are surprisingly decently informed. There is pushback, of course, and one fellow responded to a less-than-laudatory post about the folks in Bastrop with "And those people (in Bastrop) are more intelligent and better than you."
I want to focus for a moment on the "better than you" sentiment. I was born and reared in western Oregon, and make my home in Portland. The notion of someone saying "They're better than you" or its confrontational converse, "You think you're better than me?" just never entered into my consciousness. I've certainly heard it in many situations for probably all of my life, though I can't remember where I heard it first. I grew up - literally - on the wrong side of the tracks, so I could have or should have been sensitive to people around me putting on airs to try to make me feel inferior.
But one thing I have noticed about that "better than you" sentiment is that it's strongest in a certain cultural milieu. Randy Newman, in his song "Rednecks" leads off with a vignette of a television show where Lester Maddox squared off in a discussion with a "smart-ass New York Jew," in which both the Jew and the audience laughed at Lester Maddox. The singer protests that "if they think they're better than him, they're wrong." In a comedy bit, Ron White says some complimentary things about his father, who was a hard-working man all his life, and if you think you're "better than" his father, screw you.
The question I have, and perhaps someone who has grown up around this phrase can tell me, is where did this class consciousness come from? How does one discern from someone else's comment that "you think you're better than me," and why does it require such a hostile response that you're apparently willing to go fisticuffs over it? (And does the fact that I just typed "go fisticuffs" indicate that I think I'm better than you?)
Thanks in advance for your thoughtful responses.
mountain grammy
(26,668 posts)And we have to be there August 1st for a family reunion. My Texas born husband says not to worry, but I'm dreading our trip to crazy land. Many of the crazies are part of his own family.
nc4bo
(17,651 posts)Now I see it as another code word or dog whistle describing a herd of racist fucks.
GoCubsGo
(32,102 posts)...certainly some of the most ignorant and gullible people I have ever seen.
meow2u3
(24,776 posts)Soviet-style Communism is a thing of the past that has been defeated largely under its own weight back in the late '80's-early '90's. "Communist" nations still actually neo-fascist, such as China, which is still very authoritarian but allowing--and controlling--big businesses.