In a recent thread some posters took exception with Victrionix's frustration that any and all posts relating to Obama are usually confronted with peer pressure tactics.
Victrionix states:
I'm not going to hijack the thread with a debate who has more whatever in their view of what level Obama is worst villian in all of history. That goes nowhere except to drive people off the forum -- and that was achieved in that with the last thread that focused mainly on attacking people for not sharing the exact views of a handful.
and:
I hope for the forum to be a place where people can feel safe, and it can't really be safe when the idea is that someone has to be snapped out of their spell. I realize there are good intentions, and people are trying to get their views across. And to you it probably seems fine to deal with stuff that way. But for some of us it's too much, and feels persecutory, even as I'm aware that you don't intend that.
I think this issue has some renewed resonance, given the recent current events of the last several weeks.
It is my opinion that the recent upsurge of right-wing hate-speech that chooses to organize around ‘tea-bag’ events represents a strain of political discourse in this nation that I view as both dishonest and vile. It has no place in a Truth Movement. This particular element of political discourse seems particularly rabid among the fringe elements of the both the libertarian and pro-militia voices of the far-right wing.
We hear these ideas reverberating from the usual suspects. Alex Jones. Ron Paul (who has picked up the secessionist mantra). Rush Limbaugh. Sean Hannity.
Is it any surprise that 9/11 organizers such as Fred Smart are now taking up the very same cause?
“Tyranny!!!†They cry.
From this 'world-view' perspective - Obama is both a fascist and a socialist - a tyrant and a liberal. - a corporate whore and a tax and spend bleeding heart elitist. Obama does not have a birth certificate. Obama is a muslim. Obama is a racist. Obama will put us in re-education camps. Obama will put us in concentration camps. Obama will put our children into mandatory service to the state – like the Hitler youth.
Obama is pushing the Zionist agenda. Obama is betraying Israel. Obama is betraying America by embracing Castro and Chavez. Obama is no different from Bush.
(yawn)
It would be funny – if it was not so dangerous. Yes – ideas can be dangerous.
From this particular strain of political activism - truth takes a backseat – and activists embrace an overarching philosophy of political expediency. This particular strain of political thought believes that the ends justify the means - and Obama must be slimed any and all ways possible. Any lie will do. It doesn’t matter.
This is the philosophy of intolerance and bigotry. This is the politics of hate-speech. It matters not what motivates it. Religious extremism. Racism. GOP partisanship. FoxNews endorsements. Charismatic personalities like Rush Limbaugh. There are many reasons why it is happening – but the end result is the same – hate speech.
This is the politics of polarization where if you are not with ‘them’ in their agenda to slime Obama any and all ways possible - you are under the “spell†of Obama mania – you are brainwashed. Some of us can see thru this childish nonsense. Others cannot.
It is ironic that these claims of ‘mania’ and ‘brainwashing’ come from individuals regurgitating the words of such intellectual luminaries as Glenn Beck.
One does not need to be an Obama-lover to realize that the Tea Bagger libertarian right-wing pro-militia tax-protesting super-patriot movement is actively spreading LIES.
But – lies are not the only problem. i also believe that hate-speech is the underlying mechanism that supports these lies – and threatens to consume this nation. The devil is not in the details (the facts) in this case. Hate is the real enemy. Learn to recognize it.
One does not need to love Obama and be ‘brainwashed’ to recognize the telltale signatures of hate speech.