While Decent White People Were Sleeping, The Bigots Stole America

Author John Pavlovitz 

Published 16 February, 2020

It’s morning in America. 

A lot happened while we were sleeping. 

This is not the America we thought existed back in November of 2008—likely the last time many of us were fully awake. 

Back then, we basked in the warm glow of the reality of a black President and we grew comfortable, nestling down into a complacency that only the blind spots of privilege and false information provide. 

The joy of that moment became a slow-acting emotional sedative that slowly squeezed out the urgency from us; one that gradually dulled our senses, that day by day numbed our minds into imagining we had arrived together at Martin’s glorious mountaintop. If we had taken the time to ask vulnerable people, they’d have told us not to fall asleep. 

Believing that the aspirational “we shall overcomes” that once rang out, were now a fixed and unchangeable present, we settled cozily into that place where the heart rate slows and the limbs and eyelids grow heavy—and where without realizing it, slumber suddenly overtakes you: 

one blink awake, the next blink asleep. 

And for eight years we sleepwalked through the world, physically here and moving through daylight but not fully present, not totally seeing—caught between the actual and the unreal world, between the real nightmare and the imagined dream. Yes, we still talked and marched and campaigned and worked, but we did so slightly sedated in the haze of bad stories, willful ignorance, and wishful thinking. 

Meanwhile, the bigots woke up. 

Shaken violently from sleep in November 2008, by the reality of what decades of fear and terrible theology taught them was the absolute worst place they could find themselves—they began to mount a fierce counterattack. 

They created news outlets and social media platforms designed to filter out everything except that which would fully trigger terror within the hearts of their intended targets and would-be allies: 

fantastical stories of a pervasive and coordinated Gay Agenda coming to convert their children; 

of violent, heavily armed, brown-skinned drug gangs overrunning our borders; 

of godless, abortion-mad progressives having indiscriminate sex without fear or care; 

of Muslim terrorist hordes infiltrating our neighborhoods and bodegas; 

of America-hating Democrats coming for their jobs and flags and prayers and guns. 

And we were still sleepwalking… 

They leveraged thousands of Christian pulpits, where every seven days they’d wildly stoke the fires of people’s phobias and fears, weaponize the Scriptures against gays and migrants and Muslims, pervert the expansive Gospel of Jesus into rabid nationalism—and sermon by sermon, enlist them all into service as passionate soldiers in the Army of the straight, white, American, male Lord. 

And we were still sleepwalking… 

Then, to inculcate the terror fully, they propped up a sideshow carnival barker as their chosen one; a barren, empty husk of a man with no discernible moral convictions beyond wealth accumulation—who they could use as a flesh and blood avatar to embody and perpetuate themselves. 

They fashioned a vile, blustery orange idol to rally the fearful and the angry and the callous hearts around; one who would daily dig into the stinking muck to find a deeper bottom—and in the sleep-induced state we were in we thought it was a joke. We laughed ourselves back into a dreamworld where everything would be fine and where decency would prevail and where the system would work; so much so that one hundred million of us slept all the way through an election cycle. 

And here we are. 

I wonder if we’re fully awake now. 

I wonder if we’re ready to cast off the cobwebs of our complacency and enter fully into the bloody fray in front of us. 

I wonder if we’re willing to rouse ourselves into lucidity and step into the jagged trenches of the fight of our lives and for the disparate swath of humanity who we’ve let down. 

I wonder if we’re prepared to face our culpability and admit our failures and make amends with our time and our resources and our votes. 

Or maybe we’ll just find another way to anesthetize. Maybe we’ll self-medicate on social media and reality TV and two-for-one happy hour specials and puppy photos on social media, and again retreat into the comfortable places and once more grow so sleepy that we’ll nestle back into slumber. 

I wonder if there’s still time to undo the present nightmare. 

The only way we’ll have a chance to know is if we wake up and stay awake. 

It’s morning in America. 

There’s mourning in America. 

Rise and shine. 

~~~ 

Corporatism, Fascism, and Confirmation Bias

Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s had three Vice-Presidents during his four terms in office. Henry A. Wallace replaced John Nance Garner in 1941, and was replaced by Harry Truman in 1945. Of the three, Wallace was by far the most articulate in his condemnation of the corporatist agenda that was the Republican Party platform.

In 1944 Wallace penned an opinion piece that would be published in the April 9 edition of the New York Times. The Republicans have never ceased in that agenda, and Wallace's words of over 70 years ago lend perspective to why we find ourselves with the current president, and why his often otherwise reasonable supporters cling so ferociously to the lies that were drummed into their heads.

“The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity…"

"American fascism will not be really dangerous until there is a purposeful coalition among the cartelists, the deliberate poisoners of public information, and those who stand for the K.K.K. type of demagoguery..."

The full piece, entitled The Danger of American Fascism, along with other of his works, may be found at the FDR Presidential Library & Museum website.

I doubt any of my biased Republican friends will read it, or anything that might disagree with what they want to believe, but who knows? They are not necessarily stupid... just confirmed in their bias.

~~~

Lies and the lying liars who tell them:

Petroleum edition

I've kept my yap shut about this just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Now that it has I'll point my finger at the hypocritical Dimocrats that ran away from the President and lost their elections anyway... especially the dumbass in Louisiana (is that oxymoronic?).

This is Bill Girling, CEO of that supposed job creator, the Keystone XL Pipeline. Just a few weeks ago this lying liar and primo Foxsucker was promoting 40,000 "enduring" jobs created by the pipeline. Now he admits only about 50. Oh how the mighty do crash and burn. Hope he takes a few score of those money grubbing, lying GOPers in Congress with him... and let's include the remaining few Dims that took the big money to lie.

One thing is certain. You cannot trust the multinationals or the politicians in their pockets. They don't care about you one iota.

I am an American. The question is, are you?

My experience at the 2014 Texas GOP convention

Posted on June 11, 2014
By Heba Said

My heart palpitated with the unnerved feeling I had just from the thought of attending a Republican convention as a veiled Muslim woman.

It is not news that Republicans don’t seem to like Muslims. As close as the city of Keller, and as recently as last week, Trustee Jo Lynn Haussmann wrote on her Facebook page “SOUTH LAKE - Do you realize because SO FEW voters took the time and responsibility to VOTE in the municipal elections - YOU NOW HAVE A ‘MUSLIM’ on the City Council!!! What A SHAME!!!!!” 

The comments have since been deleted and referred to Southlake councilman Shahid Shafi. 

With influences such as Pamela Gellar and Pat Robertson, it is no wonder that Republicans are so easily associated with Anti-Islam sentiments, the instigation of Islamophobia and outright hatred toward Muslims.

After two days at the convention, the only emotions I could describe were anger and disappointment.

I attended the convention as a reporter hoping to tell readers about the panel discussions I attended, but I discovered a cult-like hatred that is simply disgusting.

As I walked through the halls, people stopped in their tracks and frowned and shook their heads at me. Panelists threw the word “Islamist” around as if it were perfectly OK, and one man even asked if I felt alone at a meeting. I was referred to as “you people” and “y’all Muslims” more times than I can count. The worst part was the way delegates looked at me, as if I were something to fear when I approached them.

The Muslim voter was disregarded completely in discussions on how to tackle politically engaging religious minority groups. So as a reporter, I asked, how the Republican party plans to reach out to the eighth largest Muslim population in the United States. The sheer lack of regard for that population was appalling. 

After discussing with one candidate whether there were Muslim outreach plans, I almost didn’t feel like I was allowed to be American, as if what he said stripped me from my American identity. He asked me where I was from. When I responded, “Texas,” he asked me where I was really from, as if there were no way it could possibly be from Texas.

Ted Cruz attended the event and took photos with his supporters. As I waited for him to return from a phone call so that I could grab some photos to tweet out, a police officer nearby came up to me and said hello. I responded hello. A normal interaction, I guess. Shortly after, I found five police officers behind me, hands on holsters watching me intently. Armed with a press badge and an iPhone, I turned to them held up my media credentials and asked if I could help them with something, as my heart tried to escape my chest. They did not respond but broke up into groups of two and continued watching me. If I was the biggest threat at that convention, then I must be seriously underestimating myself.

I cannot believe how a piece of cloth made from cotton and polyester can instill so many misconceptions in people.

I am still angered by the experience. I have the constitutional right to be a Muslim, and no one, not even Ted Cruz or five police officers, has the right to make me feel inferior. They definitely do not have any right to hate not just Muslims, but any race, creed or population. My vote may not be on your agenda, but my vote counts as much as anybody’s who votes in this country.

To the man who followed me into the IHOP bathroom after calling me a terrorist, to the woman who said she would see me in Hell at the grocery store, to the girl who pulled my hijab off my head during a fire drill in ninth grade, and to the hundreds of people who have asked me where I’m really from — I am an American. The question is, are you? 

###

The Benghazi Industrial Complex

My memory must be failing. I can't seem to remember any select committees for these...

1. Jan. 22, 2002: Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami Attacks Indian U.S. Consulate. Five policemen were killed and 16 injured in the eastern Indian city of Calcutta because of an attack on the U.S. consulate by militant group Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami. American employees including the consul-general in Calcutta, Christopher Sandrolini, were unscathed, and those injured and killed were all Indians.

2. June 14, 2002: Suicide Car-Bomb Outside U.S. Consulate in Karachi. Twelve people died in an attack outside the U.S. consulate in Karachi when militants exploded a car bomb. A Taliban splinter group referred to as Al-Qanoon, or “The Law,” claimed responsibility for the attacks that also injured 51 people. Two hired guards, a Marine, and five Pakistani staff members were among the injured in the attack that followed then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s visit to the country.

3. Oct. 12, 2002: String Of Bali Bombings Included U.S. Consulate. The U.S. consulate in Indonesia was attacked as part of the ‘Bali bombings’ on a devastating October night. While there were no fatalities at the consulate, seven Americans were among the 202 dead at the coordinated blasts inside a bar and outside a nightclub.

4. Feb. 28, 2003: Consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, Attacked For the Second Time in One Year. Gunmen rode up on a motorbike to the U.S. consulate’s security checkpoints and rained gunfire killing two Pakistani police officers. One gunman arrested by paramilitary officers was found to have several rounds of ammunition prepared for what could have been a far more devastating attack.

5. May 12, 2003: 36 People Including 9 Americans Die After Terrorists Storm U.S. Compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The State Department had warned of a potential strike against the Saudi days before gunmen infiltrated the Al Hamra Oasis Village and two others killing 36 people and wounding 160. This was the most devastating attack on a State Department employees to occur under Bush. The Saudi government cracked down on terrorists group but that did not prevent another attack to occur a year later in Jeddah.

6. July 30, 2004: Islamist Attacks U.S. Embassy in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Two Uzbek security guards died in a bombing on the U.S. embassy in Tashkent days. Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan claimed responsibility of the bombing after 15 alleged Islamist militants went on trial.

7. Dec. 6, 2004: Five Staff and Four Security Guards Die in U.S. consulate attack in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Gunmen fought their way into the complex, reportedly taking 18 staff and visa applicants hostage for a short time before Saudi security forces stormed the building. The final dead counted four security guards, five staff, and three attackers. No Americans were among the dead.

8. March 2, 2006: Third Attack on Karachi U.S. Consulate Killed U.S. Diplomat. U.S. Diplomat David Foy was specifically targeted in the third attack in as many years on the Karachi consulate compound. He was one of four people killed. The bomb occurred two days before President Bush was to visit Pakistan and also targeted the Marriot hotel in an upscale neighborhood of Karachi. This was a planned and coordinated attack that nobody covered as more than a news item.

9. Sept. 12, 2006: Four Gunmen Stormed the U.S. compound in Damascus, Syria. Gunmen yelling “Allahu akbar ” – “God is great” – fired on Syrian security officers guarding the U.S. embassy. The gunmen used grenades, automatic weapons, car bombs, and a truck bomb and killed four people and wounded 13 others. Condoleezza Rice, then Secretary of State praised the Syrians that defended the U.S. employees: “the Syrians reacted to this attack in a way that helped to secure our people, and we very much appreciate that.”

10. Jan. 12, 2007: Greek Terrorists Fired a Rocket-Propelled Grenade at the U.S. Embassy. An antitank grenade was fired into the empty consulate building by leftist terrorist group Revolutionary Struggle angry at American foreign policy. Even though nobody was in the building at the time the attack was a blatant breach of security and showed enormous security loopholes.

11. March 18, 2008: A Mortar is Fired at the U.S. Embassy in Sana’a, Yemen. Similar to the Greek attack, a mortar was fired at the U.S. embassy building killing 19 people and injuring 16. This was the second attempt at a similar mortar attack on the embassy. The first one missed the embassy and hit a girls’ school next door.

12. July 9, 2008: Three Turkish Policemen were Killed When Gunman Fired on the U.S. Consulate Istanbul, Turkey. Four attackers drove up to the high-walled compound of the U.S. Consulate and started shooting the security guards. The gun battle took the lives of three of the attackers but the fourth one drove off. No Americans were injured or killed.

13. Sept. 17, 2008: 16 People Including 2 Americans Die in an Orchestrated Attack on the U.S. Embassy Sana’a, Yemen. An arsenal of weapons including rocket-propelled grenades and two car bombs were involved in the second attack on the embassy in seven months. Eighteen-year-old American Susan El-Baneh and her husband of three weeks died holding hands.

13 missed opportunities. Proof that those Democrats just don't have what it takes to win. 

###

The modern conservative

Watch the video....

 

Then follow the links to the various sites with comments about the video... and the reaction to the video. These people are the far right fringe of those who proudly call themselves "social conservatives". They band together and vote Republican... which is why I will not. 

They call themselves conservatives. I call them hateful bigots. The good thing is that the positive comments are outnumbering the racism about two to one. 

Ad Week

Gawker

Reddit, read the comments

YouTube, read the comments

YouTube again, read the comments

###

Verbatim

The only difference between this and my own story is geography and about five years.

~~~~~~~

Why I left the Republican Party

By Manny Schewitz

April 8, 2013

I was raised in a very conservative family in a very conservative part of Virginia, a place where there still isn’t a strip club within at least 100 miles but there’s a church on almost every corner. This is old Dixiecrat country, not far from the snake handling and moonshine country that covers both sides of the Virginia/West Virginia state line. Kudzu vines cover old mom and pop gas stations that were put out of business by Wal-Mart at least a decade ago.

There are very few decent jobs here unless you work for the state or were lucky enough to get a management position at one of the local factories. Teen pregnancy, poverty and meth labs are the norm, not the exception. The factory jobs which allowed for single income households just a couple of decades back–they’re just a distant memory now.

But if you ask what went wrong, most people won’t blame corporations and the endless search for cheap and unregulated labor. They’ll point their calloused fingers at liberals, labor unions, immigrants, regulations and the government. They’ll blame just about anything other than the companies and their lobbyists who moved the jobs to China or somewhere else they could get away with paying a few cents an hour.

I watched the family owned hardware stores shutter up and the weeds grow through the cracks of the textile mill parking lots. The few factory jobs that were left, they usually started just north of the minimum wage and we were told we should be happy to have that.

All this time, I voted Republican and worked on state and national campaigns for them from an early age. After all, it was the way I was raised. We were told that Democrats had sold us out; that they were for the illegals who were “stealing” our jobs, that they were “fag lovers” and perverts who were out to indoctrinate kids and take away our guns. The “re-education camps” and black helicopters conspiracy rhetoric you hear from the lunatic fringe today? It’s nothing new; it comes out with a new spin and a fresh coat of paint every time a Republican isn’t in office.

I’m not sure when the switch flipped–when I chose the red pill over the blue pill, so to speak. I do know one major factor was the cutthroat tactics used by the Bush camp in 2000 to shoot down the McCain campaign. Another was the jingoistic, drum-beating way we were sucked into Iraq post-9/11, or the “Freedom Fries” gimmick, or the time I had my vehicle vandalized for having an anti-Bush sticker on it, and the list goes on.

The thing is, to be a member of the GOP base, you have to be afraid. Afraid of minorities having the same rights as you, worried that some government boogeyman is going to come and take your shotgun away or force your child into gay marriage.

As I got older, I found that everything and everyone I was supposed to be afraid of wasn’t a threat at all. I lived in a 99% poor, black community, worked 2 or 3 jobs to make it in college and realized I had more in common with the people the GOP liked to demonize, instead of the GOP itself.

I believe a real tipping point was the Iraq War. Watching your military friends come back suffering from PTSD (one killed himself) from a needless war we were lied into, that’s a hard thing to deal with.

These days, I’m registered NPA (No Party Affiliation). I don’t like any party to think they can automatically count on me for a vote in an election. Usually, my vote goes for a Democrat, so long as they’re a good choice. Democrats aren’t perfect in my book, not by a long shot, but their policies tend to work for me a lot better.

I’ll sometimes cringe when people like Harry Reid or Joe Biden say something dumb. I voted for President Obama both times and he has disappointed me on some things, but all I need to do is turn on Rush Limbaugh or Fox News to remember why I’ll never again be a member of the Republican Party.

###