Re: [RC] Total lack of comprehension of what is going on

[David R. Block]

Title: If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed

Not only that, it's the false statements. The Arizona law bans profiling. The officer has to be stopping them for something else-speeding, illegal turn, running a stop light or sign, etc. Believing that Odumbo is a Muslim is easy. He ignores the Christian prayer day and holds a Ramadan dinner. Hello??? We are almost the only country that has an "anchor baby" citizenship rule. But no, it is all irrational FEAR. Look up "out of touch" in the dictionary and Robert Reich's picture is next to the definition. Right next to Oblunder's. David   If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.--Mark Twain    On 8/26/2010 3:49 PM, bil...@aol.com wrote: not just Reich, not by any stretch, also EJ Dione, Katie Couric, and many others..........     Talking Points Memo /  TPM The Anatomy of Intolerance   By Robert Reich - August 25, 2010, 6:00PM Connect the dots: Many Americans (and politicians who the polls) don't want a mosque at Manhattan's Ground Zero. An increasing percent believe the President is a Muslim. Most Americans approve of Arizona's new law allowing police to stop anyone who looks Hispanic and demand proof of citizenship. Most would deny citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who are here illegally. Where is all this coming from? It's called fear. When people are deeply anxious about holding on to their homes, their jobs, and their savings, they look for someone to blame. And all too often they find it in "the other" - in people who look or act differently, who come from foreign lands, who have what seem to be strange religions, who cross our borders illegally. Americans who feel economically insecure may even become paranoid, believing, say, that the President of the United States is secretly one of "them." Economic fear is the handmaiden of intolerance. It's used by demagogues who redirect the fear and anger toward people and groups who aren't really to blame but are easy scapegoats. It has happened before. Economic crises animated the pre-Civil War Know-Nothings and Anti-Masonic movements, the Chinese exclusion acts, the Ku Klux Klan in the economically-ravaged South, and the anti-immigrant movements of the early decades of the 20th century. In different places around the world, mass economic stress has had far worse results. At its most extreme it has spawned genocide. We are far from that. But it's important to understand the roots of America's growing intolerance. And to fight the hate-mongers and cynical opportunists who are using the fears unleashed by this awful economy to advance their own sordid agendas. -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <RadicalCentrism@googlegroups.com> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <RadicalCentrism@googlegroups.com> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org