Of course Obama is also probably an evil "socialist" which is apparently, in the Tea Party worldview, pretty much the same as a fascist or a communist. (One gets the impression that some T.P.ers have had major, life-changing, "aha!" moments when they first learned that Hitler's party was the National SOCIALIST German Workers Party. Slam dunk!)
And if Obama's not a socialist fascist communist, he may be—ooh, scary, kids!—a "progressive," which, as Victoria Jackson learned from the erudite Glenn Beck, is really a secret "code word" for communist.
And they believe him! That's the thing. The recent New York Times study of T.P.ers reported that party members are "better educated" than most Americans. But educated in what? Clearly, they—or at least a significant, influential portion of them—are utterly uneducated in history. One can get a college degree without taking a single class in world history and thus still be ripe for the idiot distortions of a Glenn Beck.
Most people with a basic grounding in history find Tea Party ignorance something to laugh about, certainly not something to take seriously. But I would argue that history demonstrates that historical ignorance is dangerous and that it can have tragic consequences, however laughable it may initially seem. And thus the media, liberals, and others are misguided in laughing it off. And educated conservatives are irresponsible in staying silent in the face of these distortions.
The muddled Tea Party version of history is more than wrong and fraudulent. It's offensive. Calling Obama a tyrant, a communist, or a fascist is deeply offensive to all the real victims of tyranny, the real victims of communism and fascism. The tens of millions murdered. It trivializes such suffering inexcusably for the T.P.ers to claim that they are suffering from similar oppression because they might have their taxes raised or be subject to demonic "federal regulation."
The media for the most part has shown itself afraid to challenge the insidious distortions of language and history Tea Partiers promote. In the last few weeks, several news outlets have been propagating the meme that Tea Partiers are "just regular folks." And certainly some are. But if you examined the ideology that shows its face, the one that is apparent in sign carriers and blog commenters and cable spokespersons, you find something disturbing.
(Please click the link at the top and read this entire Slate article. It really is very informative.)
This has been my problem with the Teabaggers all along.
They demand to be taken seriously, and bristle when we point and laugh, yet they demonstrate no clear understanding of the very issues that they claim to be protesting against, no explanation for why they are so riled up against the Obama administration after staying virtually silent during eight years of Bush, and continue to allow their rallies to be festooned with misspelled signs and racist rhetoric.
And besides all of they are not even a real grass roots citizen organization! They are an AstroTurf offshoot of the Glen Beck created faux 9-12 project!
These people found themselves pissed off after the black guy won the White House, needed a cause to rally around, and Glenn Beck, along with Sarah Palin, blew their Pan flutes and the newly minted Teabaggers followed along like good little sheep.
The problem is that the disenchanted make up what is probably the largest voting block in this country right now. And if they continue to allow themselves to be driven off of the political cliff by the Fox News and Right Wing radio sheepherders they will wake up after election day with numerous unqualified Congressmen and Senators who have no idea how to do the job they were elected to perform. And progress in this country, which is already slowing down to a crawl, will simply grind to a halt.
After all how could we expect the Teabagger approved politicans to function as part of a governemnr that they claim to fear and distrust?
I was astounded about that "better educated" stat myself. I wasn't much of a history student in college (more a geek, actually) but it was in high school that I learned the difference between fascist and socialist. An advanced degree isn't necessary to understand basic vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteNothing any publication writes can convince me that the 'baggers are well educated. If they are then they were educated "back in the day", perhaps the 50's or 60's. They were "educated" then and chose to halt their education and run about the world with a view of things more appropriate to the time in which they were 18-22 year old.
ReplyDeleteThey have chosen NOT to keep up with their education and expand their horizons. They sit on college degrees 40-50 years old and expect people to take them seriously.
Sorry folks, education is an ongoing process and the day one stops learning is the day that one should just throw in the towel and shut the hell up!
I'd love to learn more about that poll, and how they defined educated.
ReplyDeleteThere is also the ignorance of the entire reason for the Revolutionary War...which was to escape the religious persecution of the Europe the "founders" fled.
ReplyDeleteTo turn all that effort and lives lost on our behalf, into the NEW belief that the country was instead intended to be a strict, Protestant theocracy, must be setting those founders off into a grave rolling frenzy.
Victoria Jackson is like Bachmann. She is a strident kook. She attracts sheep of a certain ilk. They are better 'educated' my @ss. I have seen primordial ooze on the bottom of my shoe that has more sentience than they have.
ReplyDeleteI like that picture of the lady. I wonder why she carries her brains in a tiny sack attached to her hat. I guess she is afraid she will lose them.
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to figure out to what generation of disaffected white people the teabaggers belong. I am 58 and came of age during the Vietnam War protests and the cultural revolution of the 60s and 70's. The people born in the early to mid 1940's were a whole different breed of cat. They were the Elvis generation; mine was the Beatles generation. Even though only a decade separates us,we grew up in different worlds. I have a feeling the majority of the teabaggers come from the earlier group. At least I hope so. I hate to think of the boomers being such sell outs.
ReplyDeleteThese "well-educated" TPers were self-reporting their highest level of education, right? Methinks perhaps they lied--the same way many of them lied when asked if they were Republicans.
ReplyDeleteGood article right on point here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.slate.com/id/2251669
I think they reported higher degrees if they watch college football. It's just like some high school drop outs claim alumni status for their state's big college teams just because they are huge fans (and there is nothing else the state has to be proud of.)
ReplyDeleteMore educated than what - rocks?
ReplyDeleteI think the stat used in that poll was 'high school completed' or perhaps the same length and breadth of college 'without completion' as Paylin which of course makes anything above kindergarten 'higher education'. Tea Gaggers have constantly lied about everything they are asked, so I don't put any stock in anything they say since their credibility is nil.
ReplyDelete