Folks, I've been a bit busy this summer. Those of you who have read my work know I stopped seeking work in the public sector to build a catering and concessions company. With the help of the Kenyan Socialist, the economy is improving and our little business has benefited substantially. It turns out when people have more discretionary income, they buy more BBQ - imagine that.
So the business growth and subsequent project to lay the groundwork for a restaurant have kept me away from writing. I apologize - after reading every diary I could find while I was unemployed, I now find myself planning, cooking or marketing instead. Here's to mixed blessings. I'll return full force in Fall.
But sometimes something is so outrageous, so disturbing, that I just have to make time for a diary - and I heard that something today, out of the mouth of a man I considered a friend.
Wife: "I heard Joe Biden is vacationing down here this weekend."
Husband: [Scowls] "Let me go get my gun."
What followed was their utterly confused versions of the current fake scandals and propagandic nonsense from the right, all sewn into some sort of holy wool to place over the eyes of the next naive victim - and a lesson in why repeatedly distorting truth to produce hate leads directly to serious threats to the fabric of this nation through stochastic terrorism.
Follow me below - I'll try to be short.
I was so offended by the statement about Biden that I had to appear dazed as they went through these examples of how horrible Obama/Biden has been:
- Obama is being a dictator! He said he's going to pass laws without Congress. That's illegal!
- Common core is Communist! It has federal standards so it must be a commie plot!
- Obama's clearly a Socialist! Well, because..!
Once I recovered my train of thought, I took the time to dismantle each claim.
- Executive orders have a long history and the President has used them less than Bush. They can be challenged, hence the sue the President hoopla, but most legal observers see no issue with the orders that have been given thus far.
- Common core and the President's education policy have taken lumps from both sides of the aisle. But education is still run at the district level, with state and federal input and oversight. Public education is publicly run - so it is socialized. But it is not centrally controlled by the feds and, besides, Communism as theorized doesn't actually exist while publicly funded school models tend to perform better worldwide when studied. You can hate common core and the education policy - but throwing the C word out there makes you look stupid regardless of the rest of your argument. Just because you don't get how something works doesn't make it Communism? Even if Fox says so. K?
- Obama is a very proud capitalist. The man made millions marketing books about himself and took millions more in campaign contributions from Wall Street. He'd be laughed out of any Socialist party on the planet. Even his trademark "Socialist" legislation came from a model proposed by a conservative think tank and implemented by a Republican governor, using private market competition to control costs instead of socializing the industry. Saying he's Socialist, again, just makes you look ridiculous to anyone educated on the subject.
The result was them storming out, angry and hopefully with cracks in what was already a broken worldview. The man who made these comments has everything to gain from progressive policies. He owns a small business dependent on the middle and lower classes. If they suffer, he suffers. He is self employed so cheaper insurance on the individual market is very beneficial. He's seen his business increase each year since the recession ended. His interests are best represented by Democrats. He isn't part of the 1% - not even the top 30%. Republican governance gains him literally nothing, particularly in a blue state with taxes that are already low.
And yet the right wing machine pulls him in. So much so that he'll, jokingly I assume, threaten the life of a sitting United States Vice President in front of people - A VP from his own state who is beloved by so many.
He's not stupid. He's not old. He's young, impressionable, angry, anxious, and willing to buy into anything that gives him someone to blame - and Fox is great at it. Add a little instability to the combustible mix above and what do you have?
Answer? A recipe for home grown, lone wolf terrorism. A recipe for assassinating abortion clinic doctors and prominent political figures (See Gabby Giffords). A recipe for flying planes into IRS buildings. A recipe for a type of political terrorism that builds mistrust and tears at the very fabric holding this nation together.
The two I talked to today and the actors carrying out such horrendous crimes are responsible for their words and actions - but so are those who helped prime the right wing pump for political terror by filling our airwaves with hateful, dishonest, and destructive rhetoric.
Fox. Limbaugh. Beck. Etc.
You all are collectively responsible for millions of people being misinformed on a daily basis. You all are collectively responsible for the violent choices they make while acting on that misinformation. And today, you were responsible for a reasonable man making a fool out of himself by threatening a sitting veep with assassination.
Today, that guy lost a friend. Tomorrow, we could all lose a whole lot more.
This. Shit. Has. To. Stop.