Re: Tea Party Racism
| Newsgroups | gmane.culture.sf.killerbs |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <1922951931.555989.1280163532007.JavaMail.open-xchange@oxusltgw10.schlund.de> |
On July 25, 2010 at 7:57 PM Bruce Bostwick <[email protected]> wrote: > On Jul 25, 2010, at 1:06 PM, Doug Pensinger wrote: > > > Is the Tea Party fundamentally racist? Or is it just coincidental > > that it formed as a black man was taking office? For years, > > Republicans were in office busting the budget and passing bills like > > Medicare D which was completely unfunded and will cost us something > > like $72 B a year. Where was the outrage then? > > > > Doug > > I wouldn't say it was fundamentally racist as a matter of actual > policy, or at least not overtly stated policy. Most of the time, they > carefully avoid using racist language or imagery in their public > statements. Most of the time. > Don't overlook what is called "dog whistle" political statements. This names comes from the well-known phenomenon that a highly-pitched whistle will be heard by dogs, but not by people. And in polictics there is a similar phenomenon whereby you can say something that cannot explicitly be criticized when you you say it, but the people who are supposed to hear it will understand what you really mean. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog-whistle_politics -- Kevin B. O'Brien [email protected] "A damsel with a dulcimer in a vision once I saw..."