Neither is a lynching in and of itself.
Throughout my life I’ve heard folks say blacks see racism around every corner. Of course this comes mostly from those attempting to rationalize or hand-wave actual racist episodes and discrimination based on race.
The McCain campaign, through its mouthpiece Palin, is playing the race card. They are trying to stoke fears of a black presidency. Telling their audience “don’t vote for Obama because he’s black” is a sure-fire recipe to lose the election, and they know it, so they weasel around it by saying he’s “not one of us,” in an attempt to start the mental cascade of dehumanization that people/nations throughout history have used to jusify and rationalize destruction, slavery, and genocide of others. Obama’s not like us is code for Obama’s black, and carries with it the stigma of every negative stereotype and prejudice ever applied by whites about blacks.
Those who refuse to see this as the appeal to racist fears that it is are, in my opinion, being purposefully obtuse. It’s certainly not being lost on McCain/Palin rally attendees. It’ll be interesting to see some here explain away the inevitable cries of “nigger” to howls of approval while McCain and Palin stand in tacit silence, as the McCain campaign continues to devolve.
I think this deserves its own thread, so I’ll start one.
It’d be damn funny to write on it “I’ll donate another $100 to him if this sign is taken” though.
Correction - Bolded part above should have been “tacit approval” or simply “silence”
Thanks! I’m not saying that it’s inherently racist, but it is definitely culturally incompetent.
Yes, that is true on its face.
But I never attempted to make the argument that the theft and vandalism were race-based. THAT part is an absolute assumption, a premise, that I made based on the fact that I speak daily with the local folks, my friends and neighbors, who base many decisions on race and see the world in race-based terms.
If you disagree with my premise, fine, you win the argument, but you should spend a week with me and see it for yourself.
My point was that the activity has increased in the last few days.
It was anecdotal only.
Please cite McCain and/or Palin’s use of this phrase.
Exactly. Plus a quick history. I’m going to pin it on the top of the sign, along with a citation of the relevant criminal and civil violations penalties (as if).
I wish I had the time to put a motion detector, cameras, and a floodlight into place.
I don’t think this strategy—and that’s what it is, a deliberate strategy—is meant to win the race for McCain. The candidate himself might not know this, but I think the Republican strategists know they are beaten. Stirring very personal hatred against Obama is setting the groundwork for 2010 and 2012. They are trying to demonize Obama like they did the Clintons. And why not? It worked pretty well for them last time. Similarly, “The Surge worked!” signs are all about planting the seeds of the “stabbed in the back!” argument. And who better to make that argument than a Vietnam vet, who himself was “stabbed in the back” by liberals right when we were “on the verge of victory”?
As far as I can tell, the closest either has come to saying that is Palin’s “This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America…” (cite). That cite is an analysis piece that echoes and expands upon many of the arguments already made in this thread. It concludes, in part:
Although neither apparently used the precise phrase “not one of us,” it would nonetheless seem to be an apt summary of the idea being promoted by Ms. Palin.
People in Anchorage are pretty much like people anywhere else, because most of them come from somewhere else. They shop at Safeway, Target and Nordstroms, buy their Chevys and Fords, work, eat and sleep. Life in the Bush is far removed, both by distance and culture, although much of American “culture” has slipped in through the back door via TV. Small towns on the road system are like small towns in many rural states like Montana, Nevada, etc., where hunting and fishing is common. I won’t say there isn’t a mindset for living here, though.
The OP’s argument is ridiculous on its face. The “us versus them” idea is easily understood without race entering in to the equation. By jumping—leaping—there, he (she) is guilty of the very racism he accusers others of.
While Obama may not have the same skin color as me, I see myself as different from him in many other ways. Politically, he is a different species. (Is that racist, too? :rolleyes:) Whereas many other people who share his skin color are people I easily identify with as part of “we”.
What is so amusing and somewhat disingenuous and or perhaps idiotic is that he is now trying to put the genie back in the bottle.
Watch these videos:
Disingenous much?
Care to translate?
I should hardly think it’s necessary. You’ve got something that passes for a brain.
I know what the words mean, snarky. I’m asking you how you think they apply to what I wrote. Now if you don’t want to answer, fine.
Take a gander at this interview with Gayle Quinnell, the 75 year old lady who said that she had read that Obama is an Arab: