In today's NY Times' "On This Day" section, they have an article on a political cartoon that appeared in "Harper's Weekly" on August 8, 1902. See:
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/harp/0808.html The text provides context for the cartoon and explicates the concept of "Lynch Law" and the history of lynching, especially of African-Americans from 1892 to 1929. A graphic representation of the number lynchings by states in the U.S. during 1881-1927 is provided by Michael Kearl of Trinity Univeristy (as part of his "Ring of Death" website); see: http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/lynch2.jpg (NOTE: DJs in Florida take heed.) For more on the website, see: http://www.trinity.edu/~mkearl/death-2.html I point this out because of the radical turn that "discourse" about the health reform legislation has taken, especially by the "disruption squads" funded by the insurance companies that have been showing up at Town Hall meetings and hijacking the debate. One of the uglier images coming from such activities is represented in the following picture of a person holding an effigy of a congressman being lynched, see: http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0709/Rep_Kratovil_hung_in_effigy_by_health_care_protester_.html This incident took place in Salisbury, Maryland and the following quote provides some sense of the place: |The Salisbury area was the site of the last two racial lynchings |that took place in the state of Maryland -- both in the 1930s, |according to Polly Stewart. a former Salisbury University |professor interviewed by NPR earlier this year. | |Stewart, a folklorist who researched the crimes, detailed the |reaction of predominantly-white local historical society when |she confronted them with evidence of the lynchings in the mid-1980s: | |"I thought that because I was in a position of prestige at the university, |or the college then, and because I was socially friendly with a lot of |this people, I would be able to present to them some theory which |would explain why the lynchings had happened... [W]hat did happen |was that I was attacked. They were furious with me. They were in |flames. They were just shaking with rage, some of them. | |She added, "[T]he result of it was really that I was iced out of the |upper crust for the next 20 years. I was there for 30 years and 20 of |those years I was - my name was mud." To make matter worse, even some politicians are starting to use lynching metaphors as jokes in talking about health reform, as shown by this following: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/06/blogs/coopscorner/entry5220524.shtml http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/08/gop-congressman-jokes-dems-almost-got-lynched.php http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/29/759377/-Meet-the-opposition:-Anti-health-reform,-pro-lynching I'll leave it to others (perhaps historians who claim to be concerned with student education and critical thinking) to discuss why the Nazi analogies used in the health care attacks are so wrong. So, a question naturally presents itself: how will professors teach their students to critically think about constructing legitimate arguments based on rational consideration of issues in constrast to using emotional appeals, fear tactics that may encourage violence (e.g., displays of lynching), and the possibility that this hate and rage really isn't about health reform at all but about the person who proposed it? -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
