Media Myth Debunked: More People Agree With Tea Party's Views Than Obama's

Normally, I would agree with you, but the demographics and the oh-gee timing of this very angry movement have to form one of the major elephants in the room. (oops, sorry about the mascot reference! :grin: ) Okay, let's say the bear in the room. I really didn't mean a dig when I first typed elephant.

I don't think it's the whole story at all, but change scares people. I don't mean Obama's change, but:
(1) Hey, my old job skills don't look like they matter much anymore.
(2) What the hell is social media? Why do my grandkids spend all their time staring into that computer?
(3) Hey, I look around me, and people who look like me aren't the same majority they used to be. More and more people don't look like me, or even talk like me.*
(4) ****, the President doesn't even look like me and he's putting people who don't look or talk like me in important positions. What's really going on? People who look like me on TV are telling me this could be part of a communist or nazi plot, which sounds crazy, but who knows?

I don't think this makes someone racist, it makes them human, and it goes on subconsciously for all of us. I feel very tolerant, but when I walk into a neighborhood where I'm a minority suddenly, yeah, I notice it. At a subconscious level, at least, I'm probably less comfy if I haven't been in that neighborhood before. Way down on my brainstem, as an animal, I notice conditions have changed a little and maybe I don't know what to expect as much as I did in the last neighborhood.

* = I don't think my Texas relatives are generally racists at all, but all the older ones talk about in Texas now (when not reciting Fox talking points to me about socialist Obama) is how many Mexican people live there now and how the schools are changing so much and how many Mexican people they see in grocery stores, and on and on. They don't really say negative things, but they're just amazed by the changes and I really think kind of scared because they just don't understand what all the change is going to mean or where it's going. If I've offended anyone, my apologies, but I think a lot of older white people probably have similar feelings. The country is having significant demographic shifts and it scares some people, which is okay to say.

 

I can see where you are coming from, but I believe that the backlash would have been the same had another Dem won the election and proposed a 1,900 page healthcare overhaul and the fear of the associated additional taxes that will inevitably be levied in order to pay for it all. I am not convinced that it has a lot to do with the racial background of the President. These are the same people that hate, hate, HATE Pelosi who is as white as they come.

I think it has less to do with race and more to do with the fact that:
1. You may have just gone into a more violent part of town (gangs, etc), and
2. You may have just gone into a neighborhood where you do not speak the language. That is unsettling for anybody.

 

for the purposes of discussion, let's assume you're correct (i'm not suggesting i agree with what you posited above)- if it's "ok" to remark on these changes, why is it "racist" to oppose them?

 

Those could be factors, but on this, we can agree to disagree a bit. On a daily basis, I'll walk into neighborhoods that are, alternately, overwhelmingly chinese, hispanic, and african american. Most of these areas are just as safe as the other neighborhoods. I love that about my life, but I'm also a mindful person, in terms of interior honesty and self-reflection (or I strive to be, as I think that's about as important a thing as a person can do on this Earth), and I watch my reactions.

I worry that we can't have a good dialogue in the nation about* how things are going to change. I'm in tune with it b/c my business (higher ed) is really watching the demographics closely. What kind of students are coming to college 25 years from now? Not the same group we see today, or 20 years ago. It's changing very, very rapidly.

I'm going to drop it, b/c this is more troll fodder, sadly, than anything useful.

* = well, about much of anything anymore thanks to all the people who make so much $ making sure we can't have any dialogue. Ah well.

 

I am not sure we are really talking about the same thing. I went to law school at UH. It is in a bad part of town. That part of town is largely African American (on the other side of I-45, it is largely Hispanic)...there is a gang problem in that part of town. I felt very uneasy from time to time in that part of town.

Most places...I do not think about it nearly as much. It is only in parts of town that are known as violent/dangerous that I think about it much.

I generally think about white trash a lot more than I do minorities in terms of people different from me...then again I spend a lot of time in the suburbs between Houston and Galveston. :grin:

 

I actually think you're on to something here, basso. It's unfair to brand these various elderly persons "racist" for a singular episode of fear within their many years of existence. Racism is involved insofar as it can condition even well-intentioned minds into observing the world in distorted ways. In a sense, many TEAs are victims of a virulent racism that attaches itself to other ideas--even innocuous ones--that appeal to the vulnerable (fear being a cause of vulnerability).

Certain members of this board often say questionable things. It is not uncommon for somebody to call them "racists" for their utterances. I think it's important, however, to distinguish between someone who should be identified as a "racist" and those through which, unwittingly, racists transmit their ideology by distorting the truth.

 

I liked this guy's take on the issue.

 

1* When you think about the major issues facing Major League Baseball, whose views are closest to your own – those of the average MLB management or those of the average sports fan?

47% Those of the average sports fan
26% Those of the average MLB management
27% Not sure


Proof - Everybody hates Joe Mauer.

So what about Mark McGwire and Bud Selig creating the widespread mistrust, Mauer looks like a dirty steroid using creep to me and I support the group that wants to take him out.

 

If you are opposing for the reasons B-Bob mentioned that is racist because you are opposing based on the way someone looks, and the way people look who he puts in powerful positions.

That is pretty much racism boiled down to its simplest form. There are reasons to oppose a number of things Obama is doing and has done. I have opposed things stemming from Obama, and many others on this board have as well. But when you have idiots like the doctor you brought up in another thread, a significant portion of the tea party crowd who don't even have the facts straight on what they are opposing. People are opposing crap that isn't real. The differences in Obama's skin tone, and background makes it easier for these people to attribute some the stupid things they attribute to him.

 

it seems suspiciously like what you're saying is that because (in your view) they "don't have the facts," the only reason they're opposing Obama is his skin color. am i understanding your position correctly?

 

That is only part of it. If they are have the fears that b-bob mentioned, and they don't have the facts then yes, it seems like race plays a part (maybe not the only part) in their passionate opposition.

Disliking something but not having the facts is not unheard of regardless of race. I wouldn't make the claim that something like that was racism.

If the person is also scared because someone who doesn't look like them is changing things, and putting other people who don't look like them in power, and thus are more quick to believe the misinformation being fed to them, and garner a passionate opposition, then I believe that to be racism.

For instance the tea baggers that called John Lewis and other black congressmen the N word were most likely racists.

 

perhaps. i've see n no evidence that the Lewis incident actually happened, but i may have missed it.

i think the larger issue is that there a segment of the country, and the media they support, that insists any opposition to Obama is racist. although i'm not a teapartyist, i can see why people who fear the expansion of government power, including an epic spending splurge, w/ no means to pay for it, would resent being called racist, which probably just reinforces their opposition to Obama.

incidentally, i'd also imagine those same people largely objected to the spending of the previous administration, but their objections were overshadowed by support for other issues. and in any case, Obama's spending is orders of magnitude n excess of that of his predecessor.

 

I've seen evidence in the form of his own eye witness testimony, that of others who were with him. There is no history of Lewis making up these types of claims before, and no reason to think he made it up this time.

In addition the capitol police apprehended the fellow who spit on another black congressman, and released him only because the congressman refused to press charges. Furthermore Federal security investigated all of the claims and felt they warranted additional security.

Now if you would like evidence, why are you so quick to claim that there is a segment of the country or media who will claim any opposition to Obama is racist? I haven't seen any evidence of that. I've heard the claim but I have yet to see any evidence of it.