Ordinarily I ignore political emails full of idiocy, but this time I've had it. I've received this image in the email three times. It makes me puke, and so do the people who've sent it to me.
You really have to wonder who put this together. Clearly it's from the Republican side of the house, and clearly it's racist, and clearly it's either air-headed or (if it's not from an air-head) it's from someone who has a brain and is using it for raw, racist, BS propaganda.
Against health reform.
Putting Obama's face on a jungle denizen's body, then attaching a Communist hammer and sickle, and attaching it to the health reform subject, is purely hateful. It disgusts me.
Really, think about it: who put that together? What was their motivation?
Dave, I believe these are put together by the conservative PACs and lobbyists who are out to destroy the chances of 46 million Americans who need care. Then they are forwarded on the greased rails of fear mongering, and passed around by those who have been duped, and are therefore afraid they will lose their care NOT because they will, but because someone with a lot of power and money told them they would.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I've had it. From the Senior Death Warrants bit.ly/17y3G6 to Betsy McCaughey's scare tactics http://bit.ly/iP8l9 -- I believe it's almost criminal what they are doing to scare people.
Thanks for raising the point.
I agree, pretty pathetic and we need to get beyond that and as you said, who ever did this is not dumb and has some skills, too bad they are wasted with this.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dave! I wrote about the "Richardson wouldn't have died" junk that hit my e-mail the other day. Here's a link to a post (which I consider my sharpest ever) I wish I hadn't felt compelled to write: http://florencedotcom.blogspot.com/2009/07/truth-like-rain-does-not-care-who-gets.html.
ReplyDeleteAnd you might like the one that followed. I certainly did: http://florencedotcom.blogspot.com/2009/07/heres-to-you.html
One of the things I like about Twitter is that--at least in the queue I follow--the tone is largely civil. (People who "know" me better--via e-mail or FB--tend to be more comfortable sending messages that are ugly. What's up with that?)
I agree that this is offensive on many levels. I find it equally offensive that it us attributed to Republicans, lobbyists and unnamed "conservative PACs". I'm guessing that those accusations are more indicative of the ideology of the commentors rather than actual acusations. If you are going to assign blame you should have, and state, the proof to back it up. As a Republican lobbyist with clients in the health care field as well as more personal experience in my family than I care to think about, I know there are plenty of areas requiring reform. Little of what I've seen so far gives me comfort that problems will be solved.
ReplyDeleteHi Scott - good to meet you, and thanks for speaking up. I had some concerns about the details of my wording when I wrote it, but I opted to go ahead, choosing my own words carefully.
ReplyDeleteWhat I meant by "the Republican side of the house" is that it certainly isn't coming from the Democratic half of the spectrum. For one thing, I consider that self-evident. (It's in opposition to the Democratic president.) For another, each of the three times I've received this, it's been from a friend who opposed Obama during the campaign and sent similarly fallacious and sometimes racist emails during the campaign.
I can't say anything about PACs - I know nothing about them.
Y'know, I would love to know who originates these things - somebody obviously put work into it - but I doubt we ever will. (Perhaps Homeland Security's email audit-trackers could hunt it down.) But I'd be happy to have our political leaders stand up and tell their minions STOP THIS! RACIAL TACTICS ARE HORRID!
I hope we can agree on that. Were it not for that, I wouldn't have posted.
Scott -
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of people on both sides who are capable of engaging in intelligent discourse and debate on things like healthcare reform. And I can understand your offense at being lumped in with the less reasonable members of the Republican/Conservative groups. But who else would create something so vitriolic?
I'm not saying the creator was a typical Republican/Conservative, but the image is laden with several hateful messages that have nothing to do with healthcare reform. Whoever created the image, individual or organization, is on the fringe. They're using several images that are intended to evoke deep-seated feelings of hatred. Again, it has nothing to do with actually discussing healthcare reform.
Evidence? Sure, the evidence as to who created this hasn't surfaced yet. So we can only look at past behavior. PACs exist on both sides, and I don't think any of them have a place in American politics. But one can't ignore the fact that they've historically been behind plenty of inaccurate, unkind attacks. Did any of them do this one? Who knows. Members of the extreme conservative movement, the kind that listen to and agree with Limbaugh and Beck, spew hateful things like this all the time. It's somebody or some organization that is diametrically opposed to the current proposal of healthcare reform, and to President Obama.
Can you honestly say, with a straight face, that would be somebody who's not on the extreme of the right wing? Who would you propose could be behind it?
Is it racist? Yes. Is it despicable? Unquestionably? Is it effective? Obviously.
ReplyDeleteJust as there are extremist nuts on both the left and the right, there are dirty tricksters as well looking to sabotage the efforts and arguments of the opposition. The image could have been created and disseminated by a left wing dirty trickster knowing full well that it would be attributed to the right (as it has been) with the intent of marginalizing and discrediting any right wing opposition by association. This is only a possibility, but as has already been admitted, no one commenting here knows where it came from so it is possible.
Not so sure it's "effective," except in stirring up hatred.
ReplyDelete