This country is fucked up beyond repair. There’s an IQ stratification that’s as obvious at this juncture as oil and water not mixing. On one hand you have a bunch of know-nothing, pitifully stupid Republican morons who revere Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Fox News, meanness, mindless racism and IGNORANCE. On the other hand you have smart people, Democrats and nearly 100% of all non-whites. Am I missing ANYTHING?

I used to think that the jingoistic Tea bagger-types would eventually just burn themselves out and overstay their welcome, before dispersing again. I’ve revised that opinion, they aren’t going anywhere. How can a 21st century democracy function when the dumbest 20% of the nation’s electorate is cohering into such an easily manipulated voting bloc? Be afraid, very, very afraid. No good can come of this, none.

Look deep into this man’s eyes. What do you see there?

Via Charles Johnson at Little Greenfootballs. Photo by Paul Gentile

I look into his eyes and see Rip Torn

Wow. According to Metzger..

“nearly 100% of all non-whites”,  are not ignorant!

And just <i>exactly who</i> are you calling racist?

Dude…<i>really?</i>

What’s also disconcerting is that they make for great TV. So naturally, they’re all over broadcast media.

See also, the formulaic show Wife Swap.
Pair a hard left / hard right family - Hilarity Ensues.

Dad…?

@ifthenwhy: I don’t think he was trying to say that it’s impossible for non-whites to be racist. They’re just far, far more likely than white people to feel racism’s sting (duh). Therefore, they ought to be a little more understanding of what it means to be the brunt of naked, unchecked bullshit bigotry.

ifthenwhy:

Please don’t be so obtuse.

Metzger is right saying that the vast majority of teabaggers are white.

If they’re not, well, they just happen to be taking part in the fine Republican tradition of campaigning against their better interests.

Seems like a rather colorful character—either that or a government agent sent to provocateur.

Where does it say he’s a Tea Bagger? Why the straw man attack?

Where are the Dangerous Minds stories about the Obama administration amping up the Patriot Act, filling government with lobbyists, pushing for more war, killing Afghan villages with drones, and essentially pulling a 180 on all the campaign promises we bought into?

What happened to Metzger? Didn’t he once have integrity? Wasn’t he once the editor of DISINFO?

How the mighty fall.

I thought Gregg Allman was dead?

Obtuse?

Sorry Eli

I don’t think you read Metzgers rant carefully. He divided a political spectrum into two camps (hands). One is ignorant (among other things), the other (including almost all non-whites) is not.

While calling almost all “non-whites” smart may appease a certain guilty political sensibility it still doesn’t disguise that Metzers statement is racist. Something that is particularly amusing, being that he’s <i>bemoaning racism</i>.

And I’m glad that your so confident in your understanding of the self interests of “non-whites”.

I think this is too defeatist, Richard. There has always been plenty of stupid people in America, it’s just with the repeated failures of right wing governments and the obvious banal idiocy of Right Wing media why there are still movements such as the teabaggers is what is so depressing. What is needed is a coordinated, nationwide effort (or at least at the places where the teabaggers are teabagging) to counter these fools and to make sure teabagger candidates don’t get elected to office. It could be fun. It could be a family day out to go and laugh at them.

Saying teabaggers is indicative of the racism of white people is problematic though as more white people are not teabaggers than are, and I’d bet the most vocal opposition to teabaggers are white people too. There are historical, institutional factors that mean teabaggers will mainly be white. Most teabaggers are racist for sure, but it’s not a slight on white people. It’s a slight on racist white people. I’m not ashamed of being white when I see white assholes making a fool of themselves. Black people make fools of themselves, as do Asians, latinos, Europeans…

May I finish with a definitive statement. Glenn Beck is the worst Mormon ex-junkie I’ve seen on tv. But he’s also a worthless, creepy little bastard. Ah, that felt good.

Richard, I am a big fan of your culture posts, but your political posts are so broadly painted that they discredit your intelligence. There are certainly real problems in America, and deeply rooted at that, but there have always been problems. Beyond that, there has always been divisive political parties that prey on the fears of citizens, rightly or wrongly. The Tea Party is just a modern day Know Nothing party.

I’m as liberal as they come, but in writing posts that are characterized with such inflammatory, us-vs-them, Republicans are dumb and Democrats are smart without exception sentiment, you’re only adding to the polarized climate where actual dialogue cannot take place. 

Also, you’re doing it poorly. In demonizing the Republicans unequivocally, you’re no better than them. To blindly support the Democrats makes you instantly dismissible as a party hack.

I’m sure the guy in the photo considers himself a patriot, but he’s wearing a confederate flag, which in itself symbolizes a division of the country.

@Bob

Nicely!

I’m thinking Richard saw the photo of this Lynyrd Skynyrd/missing link guy and suffered a hate seizure resulting in the ill-conceived rant.  Happens to the best of us in this world gone mad.  You know what he’s trying to say.

Is that David Allan Coe?

“On one hand you have a bunch of know-nothing, pitifully stupid Republican morons who revere Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Fox News, meanness, mindless racism and IGNORANCE. On the other hand you have smart people, Democrats and nearly 100% of all non-whites. Am I missing ANYTHING?”

Really?

i consider myself smart, to a degree (but, wtf does anyone really ‘know’?). and,i am a registered republican. i also am in favor of a woman’s right to have an abortion, the legalization of marijuana, and i love the idea that everyone (yes, including homosexuals) can get married (because, in the end, love rules all). i loathe glenn beck (and most media for that matter), and palin (except michael).

i understand that the global elite are dividing us to hate each other. DIVIDE AND CONQUER. that’s what left vs. right means. extreme left-wing nuts are just as annoying as extreme right-wing nuts.

a third party would save america right now, they would steal all the “gray area” republicans and probably most democrats.

as for now, i am sorry my republican brothers look retarded most of the time (like the man in the picture). or, is that just what the media wants you to see (divide and conquer)? i promise there are republicans out there, like myself, who want progress. we aren’t all backwards, inbred, slack-jawed yokels.

As much as you have my sympathies Richard..I share the same angry reactions to the ignorant fools that constitute much of the Political Right, I really think that this manufactured duality of politics in this country is the very thing that prevents any significant change in consciousness as a society. Each polarized position, in fact, validates the other and is completely inter-dependent. Of course, Progressive secular humanism seems an attractive alternative when compared to ignorant, hate-fueled Christian zealots, it would do us all well to remember that the idea of only having 2 positions to choose from is the matrix that allows this kind of stupidity. Republicans AND democrats are both full of shit and actively prevent any real social change and progression. Until we demand an alternative, we are all stuck in this irresolvable and fictional conflict, and are hopelessly fucked.

I looked into his eyes and saw… one of George W. Bush’s inbred cousins.

I see Mickey Rourke from the expendables

Hello, there is no left wing equivalent to the Teabaggers. I wish !

@Richard Metzger

nicely, nicely. btw, I have plowed through seasons 1-4 of Ideal since your recommendation. awesome show. thx for the heads up. nicely nicely indeed

“On the other hand you have smart people, Democrats and nearly 100% of all non-whites. Am I missing ANYTHING?”

Islam is an ugly, hateful religion. So much so that no other religion can co-exist in a supposedly Islamic country, without being in fear of their lives. There is a reason there are no Jewish Temples or Catholic churches in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, or Iran (to name just a few).

I am democrat, non-white and reasonably smart and I think that mosque should be built elsewhere. It is, frankly, insulting, to me. Sure, you can act, PC, and pretend 9/11 had nothing at all to do with Islam. You can pretend the Palestinians did not rejoice in the streets when the buildings went down, or that miniature toys in the shape of the twin towers with a plane into them, are not found in toy dispensers in Islamic countries—but they are. Everyday when I read the news I am hearing of a new fatwah against a cartoonist or a filmmaker (one successful, actually), or a women at Disneyland who feels she is above company rules.

I am getting so tired of Islam in my face all the time. In fact, I am getting of all religions in my face. I don’t want any of them. OK, we’re a free country and so be it, everyone can do what they want within the law, but that doesn’t mean we have to allow a mosque built within two blocks of where 2000 plus people gave their lives for a faith they wanted nothing to do with.

This time, I am with the crazies.

It’s. Not. A. Mosque.

Fucking hell.

Per your invitation, I looked in the man’s eyes. And for all the macho posturing - the prison tattoos, beaded pirate goatee, rebel stars n’bars, etc - what I see is FEAR. Naked fear. I don’t know if it’s the ignorance that begets the fear, or the fear that begets the ignorance, but the two are inextricably linked and - as noted by the wonderful Ms. Maddow on the Letterman show [great post, btw!] - ramping up the fear in white people is good business for Republicans and Teabaggers [and REALLY good business for Fox “News”]. Unfortunately, the only way out is reasoned, intelligent thinking. And I say unfortunately because very rarely does the fearful, reflexively closed mind open. How do we un-scare the public enough to open their eyes to the fact that they’re being so horribly manipulated by their so-called leaders?
I’m a half-glass full kinda guy by nature, but I gotta agree, be very afraid. Indeed.

So, if someone wanted to build a Christian church (or Christian community center) within blocks of where the Federal Building was bombed in OKC, would it be an issue? Timothy McVeigh identified as Christian for the majority of his life, does that make Christianity responsible for his actions?

I am of the belief that the resistance to the Islamic community center is pure xenophobia. It is illustrative of ignorance that many Americans have of the world at large and our own history. I wish these people would check out their own propaganda for a minute: “The Pilgrims came to America to escape religious persecution!”. I guess that is only for Caucasian Christians.

If we cannot accept such differences as religion, where is the line going to be drawn? If the non-Christians are all marginalized, who is next?

At what point does this fear of the ‘other’ stop?

And as the alleged 9/11 hi-jackers were Islamic, does that suggest that they had the consent of their entire religion?  That would be like saying that Jim Jones had the consent of all of Christianity when he spiked the Kool Aid in Jonestown…

If we ‘mighty Americans’ are so mighty, we should not be threatened by a community center. Furthermore, if you look at the breakdown of the dead from the WTC, a fair portion of them are from primarily Islamic countries. Would they find an Islamic community center disrespectful? Probably no more disrespectful than the U.S. attitude that only the U.S. was affected by this event.

>Brad Laner says:
Hello, there is no left wing equivalent to the Teabaggers. I wish !

The Building 7 conspiracy theorists. The contrail conspiracy theorists. Also, where the left does a complete 360 and butts up against the Alex (stealth John Bircher) Jones faction (concentration camps in America, with maps and secret documents).
There’s a crazy left, take it from me. If you go to enough events, you’ll see how they’ll hijack every forum or protest with their largely unfounded and conspiranoid causes and if you don’t buy into it, you must be part of the big conspiracy.

You can’t boogie with the boogeyman,
Hold out any way you can,
But don’t mess with the boogeyman

He’s hiding underneath your bed,
He’s hiding inside your head
He’s hiding behind your eye
He be there until you die
Ridin’ shotgun in your new transam
Slide over for the boogeyman

@richxxiii It’s my impression that those sorts have become a welcomed component of the Teabagger set.  The themes you mention certainly turn up at teabag rallies and Glenn Beck goes there too,etc. Sorry, but I don’t see how those Alex Jones types are lefties.

There are factions of lefties that swallow the “Death Camps in USA” and the 500,000 coffins thread, but conveniently ignore that the path leads to Jones’ Prison Planet website.
If you’re curious, check out your city’s local IndyMedia outlet and read the open posts.
There is also the phenomenon of Black Bloc type Anarchists who like to spar with policemen (and who sometimes behave as thuggish as policemen when taken to task on their behavior by more peaceful protesters).
Also, a new(ish) recurring thread is also HAARP and the radiological effects of WIFI and high-power transmission lines.

Dear Alvy Singer,

You’re not only with the crazies, you’re with the misinformed (the two usually go together).  There has been plenty of mistreatment (and worse) of Jews in Arab countries (and Catholics in Northern Ireland and Muslim Arabs in Israel), but there’s been plenty of mistreatment of Jews, Catholics, and currently Muslims in the USA’s history.  Furthermore there are indeed Jewish temples in Iran along with a Jewish community.

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney08182010.html

By the way, innocent Muslims were also killed on 9/11, both workers at the WTC and responders.  I’m no more fond of ANY religion than you are, but trying to choose the most “ugly” and “hateful” depends on geography, history, circumstance—and one’s prejudice.

And since you’re using a Woody Allen character as a pseudonym, you should know he believes the Palestinians deserve a homeland.

While it’s really hard to feel any kind of sympathy for a lot of the people that figure so prominently at Tea Bagger rallies, due to their ugly racism, I can’t help feeling that they also represent a big slice of America that’s totally screwed by class warfare. I mean, it’s so bad that they know that they’re screwed, but have to blame it all on some boogeyman (as someone appropriately pointed out). I remember when Clinton took the White House, you had all these fringey right wing kooks coming out of the woodwork, blaming him for everything that had happened in all previous administrations (12 years of the Reagan/Bush junta). Now that we have an African American - and supposedly liberal - president, the craziest, most racist fringies are coming out in full force, with the shell-shock of 20-plus years of the depredations of class warfare.
They’re probably people that historically had industrial and agricultural careers for generations and have seen it all sucked (as Ross Perot said) down the rabbit hole of NAFTA and GATT. Never mind that most of it happened on Reagan’s watch. SO they’re PISSED. And uneducated. And racist. And class-unconscious.
They’re the kind of people that helped make Hitler’s SA possible.
But maybe I’m just a delusional leftie.

Totally agree, those that are easily manipulated into acting against their own interests with fear and hatred.

I know I’m late to this and its been beat to death but my work computer won’t let me comment.  I’ve been steaming about this all damn day. 

“On one hand you have a bunch of know-nothing, pitifully stupid Republican morons who revere Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Fox News, meanness, mindless racism and IGNORANCE. On the other hand you have smart people, Democrats and nearly 100% of all non-whites. Am I missing ANYTHING?”

You’re missing alot man.  And you’re living in some fuckin crazy ass fantasyland.  I love this site for the art and culture and retro stuff, awesome site.  But when you people talk politics you sound like the most batshit crazy people on the planet! I’m more inclined to believe that guy was a plant, because thats what liberals do.  I am so sick of you f-in far left dipshits!  There is going to be a change soon, and the middlemen (and women) like me are going to get rid of both the Bill O’Reilly types and Nancy Pelosi’s of the world.  Just so you know, there are plenty of Black American tea party groups, but the news sources you all use won’t tell you about them for it will hurt your cause.  Goddamn, move out of the country if you hate this place so much!

I’ve been looking into their eyes every day in a vortex of teabaggery in Arizona. In particular, calls to action on hate talk radio and Fox have tended to make them dangerous and malicious toward the ‘other’: Latinos, gays, liberals. No theory here…it’s been direct and real in my life. It’s an attempt to poison our democracy by those creating the message of manipulation.

“There is no middle ground,
or that’s how it seems
For us to want or to take.
Instead we tumble down either side,
left or right.
To love, or to hate.”

-Peter Murphy