Neo-Supremacy Chic: Glenn Beck
And Sarah Palin’s Tea-Scalding of MLK
Pierre Tristam | August 28, 2010
Reactionary in chief.
They don’t call it white supremacy for nothing.
One of the ways this country’s reactionaries have made racism and neo-segregation chic is by co-opting the language of emancipation, equality and civil rights.
The “tea party” broods—the richest, most pampered, most welfared generation in the history of mankind—portray themselves as the put-upon victims of high taxes, disenfranchisement and debt, though this is the same generation that since 1981, and more so since 2001, has benefited from the lowest taxes this country has known going back to the 1920s, contributed to the greatest debt it’s known, and is now profiting from the richest retirement benefits this or any other country has ever known. Rich enough, that is, to give rise to sprawls like Palm Coast, which was created to suck on that hog.
Almost exclusively white, Catholic, Protestant and old, this most selfish generation discovered in 2008 that it was no longer the swing vote. It was outrun by younger, certainly more colored, more colorful, voters. It rebelled. It declared itself disenfranchised. Already self-segregated in communities physically gated or deed-restricted from the rabble, it was not a leap to self-segregate politically and turn imaginary disenfranchisement into discrimination.
The minor genius of the “tea party” movement is to do so by adopting the language and methods of rebellion, albeit in slogans only: reactionaries don’t make rebellions. They crush them. By co-opting the mythology of the original tea party, today’s “tea party” broods have managed to make their over-representation at almost every level of government look like no representation because the man at the helm doesn’t look like them. They go as far as using the language of disenfranchisement, and the protest words of the 1960s.
It is supremacy by rhetoric, the sort of supremacy that, in its cruder form, enables some fools to claim that a National Association for the Advancement of White People is no more (or no less, for good measure) racist than the NAACP. It is the supremacy of a Glenn Beck or a Sarah Palin who, as they did Aug. 28, on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, posed as the nation’s new civil rights pioneers, “taking back” America and “restoring” its honor. Taking it back from whom? Restoring it from what? Don’t ask, though it isn’t the fifth-grade speech-contest skills of a Beck or a Palin that would obscure what they mean: “For too long,” Beck said today, “this country has wandered in darkness, and we have wandered in darkness in periods from the beginning.” Darkness. The darkies, in other words, are back.
You don’t need to call the president a nigger to get your point across in this era of “darkness.” Especially not to a sea of whites joined on the Washington Mall by the single resentment of being led by a darkie president, and there to pay homage to Beck, who called America under Obama “The Planet of the Apes.” Some of Beck’s best friends, obviously, are black. “If we hadn’t elected a black president, do you think they would be doing this today?” the poetically named Joyce White asked a Washington Post reporter covering the event. The answer was all around, punctuated by the lie at the heart of the neo-supremacists’ movement: where the old civil rights wars were about inclusion, these “tea party” reactions are about exclusion. Where the old civil rights movement was about overcoming blood-soaked oppression, the “tea party” broods (which have no Bull Connor dogs chasing after them that I know of) are about keeping tax rates on the richest 5 percent among them from going up a few points.
In the “fair and balanced” reasoning behind neo-supremacy, the old master is the new victim, using the old victim’s language. The suffering and disenfranchisement of one has been replaced by the suffering and disenfranchisement of the other. It doesn’t matter that there’s no relationship between the two, that the mere suggestion of white suffering or disenfranchisement in this country, this retiree generation especially, is a supreme offense to those who have genuinely suffered and lived through decades of disenfranchisement until relatively recently. This is the United States of Amnesia, where historical memory is slight and the latest snappy slogan as good as scripture, especially when it’s cloaked in the language of god, as Beck—like a pimp wearing his obligatory crucifix and flag pin as his visas to credibility—did: “We are a country of God. As I look at the problems in our country quite honestly I think the hot breath of destruction is breathing on our necks and to fix it politically is a figure that I don’t see anywhere.”
Supposedly, the rally on the mall was not about politics but about the revival of religious virtue. But that, too, was a conceit as transparent as Beck’s camera tears. The country isn’t lacking in religious virtue, religious fervor or religious fixations. It’s drowning in it all, to its detriment: faith-based fanaticism is replacing rational analysis. It’s the sweetener of “tea party” brews: the rational and the analytical is to those brews what daylight is to Dracula. So the rally was a seizure by a master marketer of god as branding, god as divine legitimacy for what was otherwise a slow-motion stampede on the day’s iconic place in the nation’s historic calendar. It turned into the biggest “tea party” rally yet, signaling the arrival of the neo-supremacist political movement in god’s clothing.
The day’s nightmare, of course, the supreme act of white supremacy, was the co-opting of King’s day on the Mall to the “tea party”’s uses, and abuses, under the banner of restoration, religious or otherwise. Charles Blow, a columnist for The Times, put it simply in a piece entitled “I Had a Nightmare.” Calling Beck “the anti-King,” in a wordplay too subtle for most tea drunkards to detect, he writes: “I find it curious that many of the same people who object so strenuously to the Islamic cultural center proposed for Lower Manhattan, many on the grounds that it is inappropriate and disrespectful, are virtually silent on the impropriety and disrespect inherent in Beck’s giving a speech on the anniversary of King’s address.”
“In fact,” Blow continued, “to even insinuate that the president’s policies are in any way equivalent to the brutality of the Jim Crow South at the time of the civil rights movement is the highest order of insult, particularly to those who lived and suffered through it, as well as to those who live with its legacy. If Beck truly thinks these movements are comparable, I have some pictures of “strange fruit” I’d like for him to see. And yet, I’ve come to the conclusion that anger is the wrong reaction to Beck’s rally in Washington. Anger provides too low a return on investment. It consumes a tremendous amount of energy, but yields little progress. Instead, we should each take this opportunity to listen to the “I Have a Dream” speech once more, paying particular attention to how the echoes of yesterday’s struggles reverberate in our present struggles, and to recommit ourselves to the nobility of righteous pursuits.”
So here it is.
Alright, haven’t any of you patriots heard of the great American innovation called Google? (Guaranteed to have all of it’s code written by Indian programmers but that,s another story.)
The term was coined by Maddow, but not Rachael. A former Republican operative named Kieth R. Maddow, who was hired by FreedomWorks. It was founded by former Senator Dick Armey who along with Phil Gramm, was the driving force behind repealing the Glas-Steagle act passed during the depression ( More on this at the end to shorten this.) with money supplies by the Koch Brothers, notorious for funding radical right wing causes. The purpose of FreedomWorks was to hijack the original Tea Party organization that grew up from real grass roots libertarians following Ron Paul who were concerned with the unification of big Multi-National corporations and the entire government, Bush and congress. Stay with me here, please.
They wanted to do this for two reasons. First, to derail this genuine growing grass roots movement before it started to get too powerful and actually affected their influence over the government. They did this in the usual way, by throwing money at them so they could get there message out to more people, and offering them professional advice. In other words, they took them over. A true grass roots movement was taken over by the very people they were protesting. Dick Armey was so good at deregulating and turning the banks loose, he retired from congress and sits on the board of dozens of banking and investment firms, Phil Gramm is the Chairman of the Board of CreditSuisse of America.
These are the people pulling the strings of the tea party today. Using them to target any pol that doesn’t toe the Pro-Oil line to the letter of either party (Lisa Murkowski anyone?)
Back to the origin. One of the first professionals sent was Keith Maddow. He came up with the idea for everyone to mail a teabag to Obama, their Congressman and Senator to drive home the connection to Boston and Taxes. He made sure Fox got the word out. The first usage of the term Teabagger on air is credited to Grif Jenkins and was quickly picked up by Rush, Hannity and the usual gang of propagandists.
I guess that the Base wasn’t that familiar with gay lingo and by the time Larry Craig heard about it , it was too late.
That’s the story. Took me a few minutes to find and confirm it. On Google.
Kevin, you asked me once what I read to get my info. This is the most useful. There’s all the info in the world there. This is all starting to make sense. You people really don’t fact check what your told. Your told total bullshit and get manipulated because you take it on faith that your heroes aren’t lying. You don’t lie, so to check if someone you trust is would be insulting them. They are taking advantage of your trust and good nature, knowing how you assume that everyone is as good at heart as you. Wow! Breakthrough.
Next time you hear something that you suspect just might not have the ring of truth to it, Look it up. Learn Google, it’s simple although there are some tricks. You’ll be surprised.
Now, Glass/Steagle:
This 60 year old laws main regulation was that banks could not open offices across more than one state line from their headquarters, so they would never get too big to fail. The second stated that banks had to be banks, and make their money from lending and not from selling other investments, stocks mutual funds derivitives etc., anything not covered by the FDIC. This prevented “Too Big to Fail” and all the rest of the bull we’re seeing today.It was repealed in about 1997 by the two leaders above with a big assist from Horny Bill. That’s probably why he has such a magnificent library and can throw $3 million dollar weddings.
A comment I wrote August 30th at 10:25pm is still awaiting moderation?
I think you are all nuts! Especially the tea bagging god knobs!
J, I think we’re all Bozo’s on this bus too. G’night
More thoughtful comments from Dorothea…
“Any damned fool could see that getting the Republicans to work harmoniously for the good of the country is an exercise in futility.” Snore….Yeah Dorothea, the minority they account for in both houses really has stopped all progress hasn’t it? In your mind I’m sure the squirrel cage is spinning with thoughts of it being Bush’s fault as well. Go on, admit that I am right.
Maybe if your side came up with well thought out ideas that worked without hurting the country further, they might participate more often. They aren’t required to play Russian roulette just because just because they other folks in Washington are.
You need to go back and read my comment. I don’t know if you went to a Beck rally, if you are a Republican, or if you are a racist. I was disputing your contention that somehow racial tensions in this country were precipitated by Obama. Here in Flagler County, home of a KKK chapter and the last school district in Florida to desegregate, whatever Obama says would be like dropping a lighted match into a bucket of gasoline. I did not mention where in the spectrum of right and left Obama is. I did say that Obama had a delusional desire to bring that spectrum to a consensus.
My comment is addressed to Bob.
Kevin, your comments are comparable to an annoying gnat buzzing around, probably because you seem to be using a portion of your cerebral cortex about the size of a gnat’s penis. Smitty has you pegged . You don’t bother to fact check, you just keep buzzing around regurgitating radical right wing mantra. Now try answering Smitty, and buzz off.
NPR, Huffpost, Chirstian Science Monitor, Reuters, World News, BBC, Facebook – the list goes on – moderate posts. Nothing new. However, Flagler Live is more generous than most of their counterparts.
What’s good for the goose, good for the gander?
Ostapko writes: “Pierre You are a trouble maker. Please note the word unity in community. You are seeking to divide this community. Evil it is. You need to go away with all your contentious ways. It is not wanted here. Sincerely Roy Ostapko”
Yes, and at the same time would you extend the same courteous request to WNZF to stop broadcasting its conservative talk show radio content? After all, isn’t it the American Way to shut down all press and media that stands against the beliefs and goals of the State? Oops, gladly not. That would be a country that we fought and defeated. That would be a dictatorship, and that is certainly not welcome here.
Yes, the easy, selfish road is to wish people away. I remember as a child growing up in the north hearing neighbors say very similar things… “they are troublemakers, they are seeking to divide this community, they are evil, they need to go away, they’re ways are not wanted here….” Yep, they were referring to blacks, hispanics, foreigners and/or anyone that wasn’t white and christian. I would hear these comments spoken in utter agreement among neighbors at backyard gatherings, livingroom meetings. Sometimes these occasions occurred shortly after our family’s return from church where I had just been singing in sunday school with my classmates the song, “Jesus Loves His Little Children”… so, at the young age of six I began to witness hypocrisy in action, and it actually confused and hurt me to hear neighbors (and family) talking the way they did.
As demonstrated in the above word comparison, the desire to stifle the right to free speech in America is not in my opinion that much different from the desire to segregate people, or the desire to limit other freedoms…and none of those desires are welcome in my neighborhood, and they mustn’t be tolerated in America.
Colleen: get used to it; it’s Pierre’s show and he edits whatever he wants to edit, particularly if something makes him appear to be wrong. With regard to the dead woman found in an apartment last week, I wrote “Good job Pierre, it’s nice to have some timely news around here.” He took out the “good job Pierre” part. I was impressed he actually wrote the facts only, and avoided the usual dribble he injects into “news” stories. I can only guess he doesn’t accept compliments from right wingnuts; no problem. In this thread I referred to an article where he blasted Imagine School at Town Center for being a failure; they subsequently got an “A’ grade. When I pointed this out, he changed “Imagine School” to “charter schools.” That slight change gave him the credibility he lost over the whole Imagine School drumming. The other charter schools did poorly, so this made him “still right.” Minor point, with major meaning for a publication that claims it wants to have an honest debate on current issues. Well, I hope you read this quickly, before it’s edited.
Citizen: I agree; if you don’t like the radio show, turn it off; if you don’t like this website, then don’t read it. I would never advocate shutting anyone down, but I would challenge those with different opinions.
NS: I understand what you’re saying. All the traditional Republicans were saying to vote for McCollum, but I am sick of the same old liars playing us for fools. I voted for Scott, which may cost the Repubs the election, but we have to start voting our ideals instead of our party. The Repubs are trying to capitalize on the Tea Party, but I think the more pressing issue right now is getting Obama and his lapdogs out of control before the country is destroyed. We WILL deal with the establishment in good time, particularly if they revert to the same old crap.
@Bob K: You voted for Rick Scott because you don’t want the same old liars playing you for fools, did you effing miss the fact that Rick Scott was forced out of Columbia HCA after a massive medicare fraud case, now his current company Solantic is under fire. He’s been accused by a former doctor at Solantic of Medicare fraud and that case is now in the hands of the FDLE. You sir, are STUUUUUUUUUUUPID, LOL!
Kevin you and Bob K should get together for a Tea Partay and practice tea baggin’! Now that you both are familiarized with the term you should have no trouble getting better acquainted. After that you can cuddle and watch Fox News and rehearse talking points from Glenn Beck’s show and one of you can pretend your one of those ‘libruls’ and have a heated debate, then kiss and make-up. It’s a beautiful thing.
XOXO
Ayn Rand
I would like that alot! ;)
Yiou know the only way to keep things remotely civil around here, and if you read my posts you know I am very remote much of the time, is to at least have the courtesy of posting your real webname on your comments. If your ashamed to send it in your name, we probably don’t want to hear it.
Yeah, really I don’t care either. The moron who made the comment about The Honorable Bob K. and I, didn’t address any part of the covert filming that I referred to in my last posting. ThemRelying on their word as to me being stupid is like taking the word of the smartest kid in retard class for 1st graders. Its easy to talk tough through the keyboard but a little different when debate is in person.
Bob,
Janet does have you on that one:) That bastard is exactly that and is what we are trying to purge from government. Basically, he is a really bad egg.
I It’s not that I want anyones real name on the posts of course, but we have sorta gotten used to this little community and know who we’re dealing with and where they’re coming from.
Like I know if I see a post from Kevin or Bob or Collen, I instantly know I’m dealing with a Knuckle-dragging, deranged, reactionary chronic masturbator who’s forgotten to take their Happy Pills. If I see a post from Janet, Citizen or Dorthea, I know it’ll be a post that is deeply insightful and will put a new perspective on the complicated situations in American politics today that I will respect and agree with.
So we can’t just use any name, it might get nasty. And confusing.
Seriously, we’re all enjoying this chance to get our views out uncensored and raw. It’s not often any of us get the chance. But if we just snipe behind fake names, it won’t last long until it’s just a local Facebook for teens.
Read the comments on the Enterprise Flagler boondoggle. You can tell right away which posts are plants from the backers of the referendum. They are too pat, count on fear (of no jobs) and most telling, they are all user names we have never seen before. That’s a clue we should keep.
That’s the thing Norton you truly don’t know they are coming from the names you stated, webnames are not unique to any one individual. So I disagree with you on this, but I share your ideology.
Well, you know if you see one with my name not messin’ with somebody it’s not really me.
NS:
I object! I haven’t masturbated since I got married to the most awesome woman any man could wish for.
No Janet, didn’t miss it at all. McCollum lied through his teeth; he’s out. Greene and Meek are Obama lapdogs. That leaves Scott. Besides, if D.C. can have crack smoking Marion Barry, I can have my crook who might have enough brains to turn things around. C’est la vie.
Bob K – My neighbour son has attended Imagine since it opened. Last year he was in 3 grade and showed some signs of academic weakness. She met with the teacher/administration to address the issue. She was told that some of his work was still not graded so its true score was not reflected, BUT they did suggest that he get extra help in math, an area of concern, but that he was outstanding in the other subject areas. She hired a math tutor per their suggestion yet when he took the FCAT, he failed the Reading part. Failing the Reading part of FCAT in 3rd grade is mandatory retention. So she is home schooling now.
I would question how a school jumps from a failing grade to an A in a year. Schools across the country every year are caught manipulating FCAT test scores because they are related to funding.
I am not a fan of charter schools but I am in favour of school vouchers. Several years ago in California 26+ charter schools shut their doors when they got word that they were under investigation for embezzling gov’t funds . Without notifying administrators ar anyone the company skipped town leaving everyone associated with the schools stranded. The irony is that parents wanted the gov’t to pay again for the same services to keep the schools going but the gov’t refused.
I support school vouchers because schools will be forced to compete and parents free to choose schools without uprooting and moving to districts with better schools. The state pays 6,700 per student per year. There are a lot of choices with that amount.
Public schools are run like totalitarian regimes. As a matter of fact I was actually told by an associate of Flagler School District in response to a complaint I made that “unfortunately when parents choose to bring kids into this world and put them in public schools, these are the consequences they have to live with”.
No surprising that a little town like this has such a high drop out rate, among the others issues. See the connection. Advocating parental involvement and then shutting parents out is counter productive . Parents who are dedicated and concerned about their children’s (these are the high achieving kids) education will eventually leave for greener pastures, reducing funding even more in an already cash strapped environment. How does this fit in with the future of PC?
Kevin, save the lying for your politics.
I guess Bob K is being taken for a fool.
You’re potentially putting a crook in the governor’s mansion, Bob K is the fool along with every Republican who voted for Scott in the primary. Bob K, you my man have been fleeced!
Bob K: I see you rode the short bus to go to your special needs class, your logic or lack there of amazes me! Give Kevin a big fat wet one for me.
XOXO
Ayn Rand
Liana, the problem I see with Charter Schools is lack of oversight and standards. There are good ones, but not all. There are Charter Schools in Miami that teach their students that John F. Kennedy was a communist plant who was assassinated by Cuban patriots who saved America. In History class. Honest.. With our tax dollars. Thanks Jeb. Bet Marco got strait A’s.
American History taught in public schools is the imperialist version of our actual history, that’s why I home school my kids.
NS: That was ugly of you considering the playful nature of my comment. Now I am offended because I have a remarkably beautiful wife who is nurishing in every respect, supporting the veracity of my comment. Of course you wouldn’t know her nor will you ever most likely, for reasons based on the content and tone of your comments and what they say about of you as a person.
I don’t believe you about the not spanking your monkey since marriage, that’s all Kev.
To me its on par with cheating. I guess my parents were stupid for bringing me up to feel guilt for not seeking virtuous ideals and sticking to them. Advice, don’t judge others by the actions you commit or are willing to commit.
I am curious what others thinki of the video of the Islamification of Paris I posted. I realize it was played CBN but that doesn’t change the reality of what the video highlights and why there is credible reasons as to be very concerned and limit the spawning growth of mosques and what it brings to a population.
Ralph, on the issue of being fleeced, did you see what (and I won’t make assumptions about you here) the left, and others put in the White House? It kind of makes you wonder about people who would put a man who’s never run so much as a lemonade stand in charge of the the most powerful country, with the largest economy in the world. As for those concerned with crooks, where’s all that same concern when it comes to Senator Diane Feinstein, who has clearly channeled billions of taxpayer dollars to her husband’s business? Go ahead, use your google and tell me what you find out.
Pierre, with regard to the post supposedly by me on September 1, 2010, at 3:33 P.M., containing the text, “I would like that alot! ;)”: It was readily apparent to some of the more astute posters on this board that it was not written by me. Last evening I posted two less than flattering posts under the name of the most likely offender. They were promptly removed. This indicates to me that 1, you have the ability to ascertain the source of any post, and 2, you are willing to edit any post where the source is dubious. As such, I contend that to allow the above-referenced post to remain indicates a willingness for complicity in the public display of false, derogatory, and potentially libelous material. As such, I respectfully request you exercise your ability to remove the post in question. Thank you, sir.
Bob were not talking about other politicians from other states, I would NEVER vote for a crook like Scott or any other politician that was or is a crook, regardless of there political stripes, you exercised piss poor judgment by potentially putting a crook in the governor’s mansion, the very crooks voters have been trying to remove from public office, you’re complicit of stuuuuuuuuupidity!
Bob K, you must be old or older or less tech savvy, yes Pierre has the ability to edit/censor posts at will and he can identify you by your IP address, it’s a unique number assigned to every computer unless your use a proxy server or software to mask your IP address, but that’s WAAAAY over your head. It would take years to educate somebody like YOU, Kevin on the other hand seems a bit sharper.
As far as libelous material here is some information on that as well: According to the Citizen Media Law Project, at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, the blogger cannot be held responsible for comments posted to his or her blog. Cited was Section 230 of the U.S. Communications Decency Act. You sir are sh!t out of luck, here’s a beer and start crying!
I suggest you change your username Bob K!
Bob K: it is rather naive of you to think your username is unique to YOU, especially anywhere on the internet. Keep on crying and I’ll keep on supplying the beer! So there!
Golly, Bobby K you seem to have good grasp of the ‘internets’ so full of tubes and all, dang I underestimated you. :)
Oh, thank you George; I guess you’re talking about that little thingy that says, “Your IP address is ###.###.####, and you’re operating Windows version ###.” Thanks, I always wondered what that was. Certainly in the case of Zeran vs. AOL, the court found as you suggest. However, the third party is not granted immunity from liability. That’s all in a court of law; the court of public opinion sometimes carries more weight. My point is that someone writes a false message under my name, and it is allowed to stand; I return the favor and the post is immediately removed. While that may certainly prove the man behind the curtain has the upper hand in this venue, it may not be the same in others. If the true goal, as Pierre claims, is to provide a genuine debate in a fair manner, then the editing should be done in a CONSISTEN fashion, otherwise, what’s the point?
What did NS say? Something about turning this place into a teenage facebook? OOOOHHHH, EMMMMM, GEEEEE! I think he was on to something there!
…and George, I know my name is not unique to me, it’s just that when everyone uses the same one, it makes it really hard to follow. ;)
You see Bob K Pierre lumped one of your comments under Ayn Rand …assuming it came from you, but you truly don’t know
Bob I recommend a proxy server not only for security sake,but for anonymity, this isn’t Facebook, it would make for a much different dynamic if it were, but on Facebook you can have fake profiles too. There are free software that hide your IP address, I’m using one right now. Unless Pierre is a CIA tech guru, my identity stays safe. It works using VPN technology.
Thanks Ralph….and yes, it’s really me.
Bob K, as soon as I read that you were enjoying something I knew it wasn’t really you.
Norton; at first I didn’t understand you. I don’t mind saying you’re funny as hell sometimes….seriously. Now, you just have to figure out who’s typing this. :)
Boy, you won’t read this in the News Journal. ;)