the beatings have begun

[mellowtigger]

Dismiss me for continuing to be paranoid if you want.

Hill, by all witness accounts, politely asked West to be careful, officials said. ... West threw her to the ground and hit her in the head with his fists and feet, police said. During the exchange, witnesses said West could be heard screaming racial slurs at the victim.
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/20940073/detail.html

Meanwhile, one of my relatives on Facebook has asked people to friend Glenn Beck on the site. Yeah, that "news" figure who says (without retraction or correction) that millions of people were at the recent D.C. March because the university of "I don't remember which university" counted that many people from the video footage.

I distrust these people who obviously feel that they no longer hold any (or sufficient) political power.  I disbelieve that they will employ peaceful and lawful means of reasserting their (self-perceived) political power.

This journey is leading nowhere that I want to go.

Comments

[dodecadragon.livejournal.com]

What I found disturbing was this is the commercial which lead off that story on the wsbtv website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fH6ij4J3h54

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

how is this any different from the usual race-motivated assault?

[kauko.livejournal.com]

Have you heard about the picture conservatives have been circling as having been taken on this past Saturday showing millions of people at the protest in DC?

Well, turns out the picture is from before 2004 (as evidenced by the lack of a new building on which construction was done in 2004). :)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/14/912-tea-party-photo-false_n_286082.html

[mellowtigger]

Long familiar in bigoted violence is the belief that the attacked are unworthy of equal (fair) treatment either legally or civilly. For example, the statement has been made in many ways (and even by a Texas judge many years ago) that people who attack or kill homosexuals and prostitutes are doing society a service. Such attitude is nothing new.

Long familiar in bigoted violence is "the hunt" where people go out of their way to plan and execute their "adventures" with the reinforcement of like minded people. Group crimes like Klan or gang activity are like that.

Long familiar in bigoted violence is the territoriality and class-establishing "negotiations" of male-on-male assaults or male-on-female rapes.

New, however, is the recent loss of venues in which civility must be given appropriate lip service. A representative shouting at a president in a Congressional meeting, for example. A man assaulting a mother outside a restaurant door, too. These are both cases when momentary impulses of rage were allowed expression, when previously they were kept in check by (supposedly shared) rules of decorum. Camaraderie will be expressed by non-fringe elements. ("They finally did what the rest of us wished someone would do.")

The process of dehumanization continues. We still have further to pro(/re)gress. The violence will escalate in frequency and severity.

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

Not disagreeing with your basic idea, but I don't think this is all that different from thousands of other racially motivated crimes. Where is it ever "polite" or "civil" to beat the shit out of someone?

[mellowtigger]

Never. (In answer to the rhetorical question.) I'm not arguing that there is new bigotry in America or that it's finding new forms of expression. I'm arguing that the triggers of its expression are new. I'm arguing that the threshold of violent behavior has already shifted and will continue to shift.

I predict, for example, news reports of someone being dragged from their vehicle and beaten because of the sticker on their car bumper. (That would be another new threshold, I think.) Similarly, I predict someone's home being destroyed because of the sign on their front lawn, followed by continued encouragement from Faux News and continued failure to discourage such activity by conservative officials.

After these lone-actor experiences with momentary impulses are publicized, I predict the planned group assaults to begin. (Assaults that are unrelated to traditional issues of gang territoriality, drug merchandise, or even explicitly to race.)

I'll let these predictions stand for 2 years before admitting to paranoia and failure of foresight. :) Assuming that they never come to pass. *cross fingers for luck*

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

Again, not arguing with your basic thesis, I just don't think example particularly supports it.

To me these compare quite directly with many many many events in the history of the USA (not only the USA of course). All of the things you mention happened during the 60s, for instance, and were directed not only at black people, but at anyone who was sympathetic to the desegregation agenda.

[mellowtigger]

I'll have to delve into my impressions more deeply.

The phrase that popped into my head while reading your reply was, "Spoken like a yankee." Now I need to figure out why I have that reaction. I grew up in the state that gave the nation its Juneteenth holiday, and something about that experience is making me very pessimistic about where this ride is headed.

A useful counter-question, though, might be, "What influences prevented the 1960s from escalating into full-blown civil war? Are those same influences still present today?"

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

I think that is an excellent question and well worth considering.

[bitterlawngnome.livejournal.com]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/17/pelosi-warns-of-violence_n_289999.html

[ogam.livejournal.com]

This.

[mellowtigger]

I'm not a fan of hers, but it's good that someone "high up" sees a pattern too.

Oh, and other minor evidence to mention in the trend is the raiding this year of gay bars in Dixieland.
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local-beat/FWPD-Chief-Apologizes-for-Gay-Bar-Raid-53596207.html
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/atlanta-police-raid-gay-136646.html

[nudewoody.livejournal.com]

"What influences prevented the 1960s from escalating into full-blown civil war?"

Failure in Vietnam and then Watergate followed by Nixon's resignation.

[mellowtigger]

Frank Schaeffer mentions Kennedy's assassination and his own mother thinking that because of his head wound he would be resurrected as the antichrist (or something like that). In talking about modern craziness:

"... what we're really talking about is a group of people who are resentful because they know they've been left behind. By modernity, by science, by education by art, by literature. The rest of us are getting on with our lives. These people are standing on a hilltop waiting for the end. This is a dangerous group of people to have as neighbors and they are our national neighbors. And this is the source of all these insanities that we see leveled at the President, one way or another they go back to this evangelical subculture."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPwGV1h4lW8