Well, it’s a little hard to call the rally itself racist and bigoted, given that it’s almost impossible to figure out what the point of the fucking thing is to begin with. Well, other than Beck and Palin stroking their monumental egos, that is. I mean, “restoring honor” is catchy enough and the poster art is pleasing in a 1930s WPA vein, but there appears to be little actual content, except for some vague platitudes about Gott und Land, and the ever-popular “supporting the troops”.
OK, I will say that for someone who so often invokes echoes of the Third Reich in organizations he disagrees with, Beck seems awfully fond of huge rallies and snappy nationalistic imagery. In addition, in a couple of the video clips I’ve looked at, Beck seemed to be almost begging for someone to incite anti-rally violence today. Fairly disturbing, that.
I’m from Bakersfield, California- not only is this area notoriously the most right leaning area in California, but I’ve read poli sci theories that focus entirely on this area as one of the most bizarre political anomalies in the whole country. So, suffice to say, it’s mighty conservative here. Hell, I live across the street from a city councilwoman who still has a garage full of pro Palin signs. I posted earlier on my FB about this rally (I know, I know) and was immediately attacked by a bunch of local folks, saying that Glenn Beck is a patriot and true American and how dare I suggest he is ignorant? What kind of liberal elitist am I? I have clients come into my office every day who talk about being active Tea Party members and how Obama has ruined our country, is a racist, etc. (whatever Beck and Co’s lines of the moment are).
Am I pretending that my experience is typical of folks in other parts of the country? Of course not. This place I live is a particularly odd little niche. So, maybe that is coloring my perception of how rampant this movement is. I accept that.
I don’t think anyone ever said it wouldn’t be peaceful. It’s ridiculous for Beck to say it isn’t political, though. Of course it is. The event has no coherent message or theme other than the usual “we hate Obama” bullshit. It’s giant, teabagger wankfest, just like they always are. They’ll get a moderate crowd because Palin draws morons like shit draws flies, but at the end of the day, it will amount to nothing, and do neither good nor harm. The only thing that will be accomplished at all is to give Beck some more media attention and money.
Aren’t the righties starting to tire of these empty rallies, by the way? Aren’t they started to add up to a lot of time and expense to basically accomplish nothing but standing around holding misspelled signs along side people who agree with them for a couple hours? I think these events are going to start reaching a level of diminishing returns sooner or later. It’s not like they change anybody’s mind. Nobody goes to these teabagger things who didn’t already hate Obama in 2008. It’s not like they’re picking up any new converts or anything. It’s just the same bunch of retards it always was.
I moved in 3 days before the 2008 election. When I was moving my furniture, I saw the 10,000 Palin signs in the lady across the street’s yard. I literally said to my friend, “Even in Bakersfield, who the fuck has that many pro Palin signs? I’m sure even Sarah Palin doesn’t have that many pro Palin signs.” Then I met her and she’s the notoriously right wing city councilwoman (if you stand out as notoriously right wing around these parts. . . that says something!).
Next election, I feel there’s going to be a war of signs. Epic war.
Well just wait a few years… When the repubs win back the White House (everything is cyclical) and they began the tax cut fuck the deficit piss on you call it trickle down all of my righty co-workers will once again began referring to themselves as Libertarians.
What is the thing… the tie the incident or threat that can actually make sensible people work together again? Not Beck… that’s a clown show… but sensible people?
So Rev. Sharpton and a few thousand others held a march later in the afternoon that went down to the future MLK memorial site. The route had them crossing paths with people still leaving the Beck rally.
But that’s the thing. Every news report I’ve read really reinforced the notion that the rally was all about Beck’s “Yay America!” message. There were no politicians there and all of the quoted soundbites are people asking the crowd to make America a better place. For once, he wasn’t bullshitting us.
That’s twice now that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by Glenn Beck. I feel kinda dirty.
Yes, I do. You see, I am not a blind bigot. I’ve listened to him for a couple of years now. As I said, he’s an annoying pain in the ass when he wanders out into the weeds of religion, but I have yet to hear him say anything that isn’t based on common sense or fact.
Did Beck make an issue of skin color in that statement? No. He did, however, point out that Obama’s actions indicate that he has an issue with skin color. Such as when Obama heard that a white police officer arrested a black professor and immediately said that the police acted stupidly without knowing one other frickin’ fact about what happened. Which is what prompted Beck’s statement in the first place.
I still claim this was the defining moment when the wheels flew off Obama’s cart for “fly-over America” or when it became apparent the Emperor wore no clothes - take your pick.
As for the Restore Honor rally, despite Beck, it came off with both a unifying message and a message of individual strength. True to Beck’s promise, it was about as politics free as a gathering of this sort can be. I wasn’t able to watch 100% of the program but did catch a vast majority of it. Never heard one mention of Obama, the current administration, or the usual socialism, Islamic radical, bankrupting America buzzwords one would expect.
Is white a skin color? Yes he made a point about skin color and called Obama a racist. “deep seated hatred” of white people seems a neutral expression to you I guess?
