Map of life expectancy at birth from Global Education Project.

Wednesday, November 08, 2017

Deplorables


So a year ago we woke to the horrific, unbelievable reality of a candidate whose electoral rallies were filled with Confederate flags, who exhorted his followers to beat up protesters and reporters from the podium, who flung racist and misogynist insults, who threatened to prosecute his opponent, a manifest idiot and ignoramus with no knowledge or interest in public policy whose promises ranged from inane to impossible, a malignant narcissist whose only evident motivation was power and adulation, a sexual predator, a habitual and remorseless liar, a vulgar repulsive thoroughly evil lunatic, had managed to capture the presidency of the United States.

So obviously I don't think very highly of the Resident. But guess what -- I don't think much of people who voted for him either. Sure, many of them were to some extent victimized by propaganda -- some of it fueled by Russia. Many of them were bamboozled by the phony scandal about Hillary Clinton's e-mails and the relentless campaign of Clinton hatred the corporate media had engaged in for the past two decades. A small number of them, I suppose, really did believe they were going to get their old factory or mining jobs back with a decent wage, health care and a pension. (Though I largely doubt that.)

But mostly, they cheered on the racism. They cheered on the misogyny. They admired the bullying, the insults, the strong man posturing. They wanted to see women and negroes and Mexicans put in their place. They hated Muslims. They were excited by all the idea of beating foreigners and white ascendancy and male privilege. They were indeed deplorable, and so is every single person who still admires and endorses the Trump presidency. Really. You are disgusting. You can fix that. Wake up.

4 comments:

Gay Boy Bob said...


Your opinion on why people voted the way they did is...your opinion.

But even if all of your disparaging harangue was correct (which is highly unlikely), you do not get to lay down the ground rules of what's an acceptable basis and what is not for casting a ballot and then denigrate half of the population for disagreeing with you.

You're getting dangerously close to the 'thought police'.

Don Quixote said...

LOL!! Thank you, Cervantes! Cathartic! To me, everything you've written is true. Funny, and not at all hyperbolic. Yes, racism is indeed the motor that has driven this country from the time we were colonies. Gay Boy Bob wrote a comment on this blog,

"I can't speak for everyone, but I personally don't listen anymore when others use the term 'racist' because it's been so overused."

No, Bob, the term is UNDERUSED. Not until this country educates its people and comes to grips with its violent, racist underpinnings will anything truly change.

As Lyndon Baines Johnson said,

"If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

LBJ was illustrating the example of the paradox of the South (and much of the rest of the country, as well). People who don't have critical thinking skills can be convinced that politicians have their well-being at heart by simply trashing ethnic groups perceived to be "below" them. So promise to keep someone economically poorer and socially "lower" than THEY are, and they'll let Republican lawmakers (except for McCain, Flake, Collins and Murkowski)
take away health care, social security, clean air and water, and everything else that helps make their lives secure and worth living. Lie to them--tell them "government is on their backs" and tell whoppers about health care being equal to invasive government action! Lie to them about guns equaling freedom! It's all okay as long as you trash people with brown skin, women, and homosexuals (funny how many Republican lawmakers are closeted).

But LBJ also said this:

"Until justice is blind to color, until education is unaware of race, until opportunity is unconcerned with the color of men's skins, emancipation will be a proclamation but not a fact."

How true. I just heard a report about an 84-year-old politician whom NPR or some such organization mourned as "the nation's first black" so-and-so. The media doesn't realize it's racist--it can't let go of the skin color. "But wait!" it protests, "We're helping to let little black kids know they can one day become great!" Ignoramuses! As long as color is all you can see, you won't see PEOPLE.

We will awake. And it may be violent. But it doesn't have to be. EDUCATION is the answer. Facts. Real history, told from the perspective of the oppressed, a la Howard Zinn.

Don Quixote said...

PS: The part of any person that is ATTRACTED by demagoguery, misogyny and race-baiting is--without doubt--deplorable. People are complex and have healthy and unhealthy sides. What GBB fails to appreciate is history--how other countries descended into chaos when mores and rules were allowed to disintegrate, to be replaced by authoritarianism and despotism. This is what McCain and Flake are addressing: the descent of their party into ignorance, bigotry and lies, primarily through the libelous, fear-mongering echo chamber of Fox Propaganda Network.

Gay Boy Bob said...



Please define "racism" so we can all know exactly what you're talking about.

Language is important.