Hi Ron,
What do you think about Bill O'Reily's recent comment, "... there
will be unintended consequences [of the Immigration Bill] all over
the place. The new census report says America's now one-third
minority. And in four states -- California, New Mexico, Texas, and
Hawaii -- whites are the minority." (Bill O'Reilly)?
Does this (whites becoming the minority) give you, as it does Platt,
cause for concern?
The Klan may be less than it once was, but it rhetoric of fear and
xenophobia have been usurped by politicians seeking to create and
endless stream of "others" who seek to destroy you, and from whom
only The Party can give you defense. (This was a basic premise of the
BBC miniseries "The Power of Nightmares", thanks again to Khaled for
bringing it to my attention).
As for the Italian Mafia, we are infatuated with them. Whether The
Sopranos or "Say hello to my little friend" (in a mock Italian
accent), and tell-all books from former mob affiliates routinely make
the top 10 list. Grand Theft Auto games bristle with mob jokes, hits
and give you the ability in instances to recreate famous (sometimes
fictional) mob history (like the Vice City ending that parallels Scarface.
On a side note, there is ""Left Behind: Eternal Forces", a video game
where "you are on a mission - both a religious mission and a military
mission -- to convert or kill Catholics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists,
gays, and anyone who advocates the separation of church and state -
especially moderate, mainstream Christians." And I hear the Islamic
terrorists have developed video games, for training purposes we are
told, where in kind of polar opposition to the Splinter Cell games,
their mission is to save the world from U.S. encroachment.
Anyway, this is the world we live in thanks to the "nightmare
politicians" and the never-ceasing rhetoric of xenophobia that has
darkened our landscape, indeed the world's landscape, since at least
the 80s. While there have always been wing-nuts (see the history of
marijuana legislation in The Emperor Wears No Clothes, a collusion
between big industry (the DuPonts) and racism wielded to protect
their investment via fear), the current shift from fringe wing-nutism
to mainstream wing-nutism has fueled an explosion in "fear of the
other". Many have tried to mainstream racism itself, either promoting
it as a "natural state" of human beings, or as a "non-violent
science", or in many cases simply attacking manifestations of
diversity while claiming to be tolerant ("Ban the Hijab!", for example).
I'm reminded of the classic George Carlin skit. "You ever notice that
everyone driving faster than you of the freeway is an asshole? And
everyone who is driving slower than you is an idiot? Its amazing we
ever get anywhere with alll the assholes and idiots on the road."
Its amazing we ever get anywhere with all the [fill in a list of your
favorite racial and ethnic slurs, including those against your own
kind] on the road. Isn't it?
Arlo
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