Oh, people, please forgive me, but this won't stay in.
This week was a horrible one in U.S. history. On Wednesday, this article came up:
http://news.yahoo.com/whos-behind-boston-marathon-bombings-4-theories-070000129.html
Notice how everyone jumps on the "Right Wing Extremist" phrase? Notice there's no mention of "Left Wing Extremists" anywhere in the article?
Let's look at some of history's "Right Wing" favorites, and where they really stood:
Time McVeigh is everyone's first favorite "Right Winger." I mean, he was a member of the Michigan Militia, right? Aren't they "Right Wing Extremists?" Not so fast. McVeigh was kicked out of the MM. He also was a militant atheist and he quit the NRA because they didn't take a strong enough stance on guns. He supported the legalization of marijuana. How does any of that equate to a being a conservative?
Next favorite "Right Wing" Boogey-Man: The Tea Party. Yes, Tea Party people are conservative. But how many bombs have they planted? They stand and hold signs, pray, and stand for less government and less taxes. They've never shot anyone. The one time someone tried to label them as racists, it was later revealed that rabble-rousers had been deliberately planted in the crowd to shout racist slogans and call black people n*****rs in front of cameras. The Tea Party discusses the Constitution and works through the election process to achieve their goals. How is that extreme? Can anyone tell me what violence has been perpetrated by them? Anyone? Beuller?
Next in line are the Nazis. Right Wing? Seriously? Did you know that "Nazi" was short for Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (The National Socialist German Workers' Party)? Right Wing? Not as a socialist, you don't. These guys were on the left, very solidly so. So why do conservatives get called "Nazis?" Riddle me this, Batman. I think maybe it's because it's such a hateful term, and conservatives are accused of hating anything with which they disagree. Liberal socialists are never Nazis, are they?
Has everyone forgotten the Weather Underground? The Earth Liberation Front? The Black Panthers? The Symbianese Liberation Army? The Sandanistas? The Communists under Lenin, Stalin, and
Khrushchev? These ain't "Right Wing" by any stretch of the imagination, folks.
So seriously, what "wing" is behind the most violent, murderous, hate-filled actions and rhetoric of the past century, and how is it that the conservative Right have to take the rap for it?
The Russian brothers who bombed the marathon simply did not fit the "Right Wing" mold. As a matter of fact, no one who would perpetrate such a horrid act would. But with the current propaganda machine rolling along, will enough people believe that to make a difference?
That's the question of the hour.
Hate knows no barriers..it simply is. It's a germ that grows into a full blown disease. Some can catch it and stop the disease before it burns into something beyond control...some cannot.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lin. We have some very astute observations this week.
DeleteIt's what you say when you want to control the message rather than report it. Repeat a lie often enough and people tend to believe it.
ReplyDeleteWe need to watch closely so we don't fall into laxitude. People who let other people do their thinking for them end up becoming mental zombies.
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, I'm still trying to figure out what the terms Right and Left Wing mean. As far as I can tell, they float according to the user, and to the situation being described. I went so far as to once post a comment on this very subject here http://edslapdesk.wordpress.com/2011/05/27/on-political-labels/, and no ones ever come up with an answer for me.
ReplyDeleteWe're going to get into that a little more in further posts, Ed. But the terms "right" and "left" originated in the French legislature (I believe), which divided itself by liberal (literally on the left side of the house) and conservative (on the right). The actual meanings, however, can be blurred by people who have little understanding of what makes which.
ReplyDelete