It seems like only yesterday we were talking about candidate’s third grade essays and their political implications. Ah, gone forever are those halcyon days of silly season – only a few months, but so so long ago. This week there has certainly been a change in the seasonal winds. Temperatures on the campaign trail have plummeted as the tone has turned bitterly cold. This week has been reminiscent of Orwell’s Hate Week, a systematic campaign designed to solidify rage and abhorrence against “enemies of the Party”. It is a short and slippery slope from hate rallies to Krystallnacht – out and out violence and destruction in the streets
John McCain is old enough to understand from history what can happen when rage seethes unchecked. He remembers the lunatic-days of Fascist Europe and Red China. He remembers the blind fervor of America’s own Red Scare that ruined the lives of so many. He knows the damaging power of frenzy. However, the cat is out of the bag and he seems powerless to contain the ire of his supporters. To his defense, he has tried to rein in the ignorance and acidity of his crowds. Yet, they boo him, ignore him. They want to hate no matter what their candidate may say. Sarah Palin on the other hand seems eager to nourish their rage. A day after McCain tried to regain his crowd back under his control, Palin further riled hers with cruel suggestions that Obama is a baby-killer. The crowed bayed their utter contempt.
History can teach us that these hate-mongers are in fact a minority of the larger community, yet their opinions win the day. They are loud, aggressive and tend toward violence. They intimidate the majority into keeping silent or even following along. Present day Germans still carry the shame of the silent masses of their grandparents’ generation. Literature demonstrates that dissent may exist in individual hearts within a state-controlled mob; yet social pressures overpower personal disquiet. Winston and Julia, in Orwell’s 1984, both secretly revile the socially imposed “Two-Minute Hate” sessions. Yet, they participate and even quietly critique each other’s degree of demonstrable vehemence. Our society is becoming reflective of these examples. For the past decade, we have gravitated to radio and television programs where hosts and audience members scream over each other, fed by a common hate for a common enemy. To publicly shout out your rage somehow makes you more loyal, or more honorable, or more knowledgeable than your neighbor. It continuously ratchets up the impassioned disdain for the other side, until any common ground is completely eradicated from the equation. These periods creep up throughout history – moments when public furor is stoked by rage for a common political goal. The French and American wars of revolution. The Bolshevik Revolution. Hitler’s holocaust. Stalin’s purges. Pol Pot’s genocide in Cambodia. The Balkans. Rawanda. Darfur. It continues, regardless of ethnicity, geography or culture. For all of our beauty and brilliance, this is one of our more sordid human characteristics. An angry man can be rational. An angry crowd? Don’t hesitate. Turn and run.
History and Literature offer glimpses into our future. So does mythology. During this dizzying descent into chaos and ire demonstrated at McCain/Palin rallies, we are reminded of Greek Mythology. Sarah Palin resembles a young Pandora. The powerful gods sought to punish humans for Prometheus’ crime of stealing fire. So, they decided to create a woman from the Earth. Unquestionably, the ancients had misogyny issues. The referred to her as a “beautiful evil” but they named her Pandora. Each god bestowed upon her a unique“gift” and placed it in a gilded box. Of course we all know what happened then. Driven by curiosity, Pandora peeked inside the box and let loose all the evils of the world. Greed, vanity, slander, envy and pining spread throughout the world and changed our lives utterly and eternally. Talk about a bad first impression.
As soon as she took the national stage at the Republican National Convention, Palin cranked up the ire. Her introductory speech went beyond the cynical sarcasm typical of any political forum. Her words were rude, belittling, cruel and bitter. And her audience lapped them up like mad dogs. Moreover, Palin clearly set the tone that night for their campaign, culminating with the rallies we see now in the closing weeks of this race. Our new politician on the scene has let loose all this ugliness and now its fire spreads. At these events people arrive armed with ignorance and vile. They call Obama a terrorist, yet can’t explain why they think that. They inaccurately call him an Arab thinking this is synonymous with evil. They have let their minds and their fears run amok. Like all fires, they feed off one another until nothing remains but destructive heat and smoldering ash. McCain cannot control them. He cannot apparently control Palin either. His base has overwhelmed him and he must feel the shame of allowing the creation of this Hydra. Palin controls the crowds now. She stokes the flames of hate and seems hell-bent on burning down the house with everyone in it.
But, remember the mythology. All was not lost when Pandora’s box was opened. Elpis remained to comfort and illuminate mankind in this sinister, dark new world. Elpis was the spirit of Hope. And for all this spreading ugliness, slander, envy, greed and all, we have a clear source of hope in this election. Will we make the right choice?
Thank you for your excellent essay, PJBurns. You nailed it.
great post and blog!
http://culturedecoded.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/barack-obama-and-the-party-that-cant-lose/
If anything should happen to Obama I hold her responsible. Now she’s getting the anti abortion nut jobs worked up in a lather about him. What kind of mission is she really on?
Wow! Beautifully written and so appropriate. The parallels are remarkable.
I’m reminded of my own sister’s (a devout pentecostal if ever there was one) cheerful cry of “Go Salvi!” when one of their nutball followers shot and killed an abortion doctor in his own home. McCain and Palin have clearly decided that the only way they can win is if Obama is unable to run against them. I am practically an athiest, but I’ll pray for Obama’s safety tonight and every night until the election. God might give precedence to my call since he doesn’t hear from me unless it’s important.
Sad state of affairs. It’s as if they picked her just for this task. She doesn’t bring anything else to the table, but the ability to criticize and get people who want a reason to hate, all riled up!
this is true. true. she is the antichrist who will end the world. of man.
What scares me the most, is that so many in Palins audience play into all this.
It is a shock to realize that middle America has this type of hate and mentality. Have people slid into utter stupidity.
As the days go by, Palin ramps it up it, seemingly oblivious to “doing anything wrong” Just politics, wink wink.
This reminds me of the movie Gladiator, where they got the audience all excited to see people being killed and mauled.
If this is really what America is now about, we have reached a new low.
PS To clarify, Romans got audiences worked up, and we know what happened to that empire.
Excellent article
Beautifully written but such an ugly subject. We shouldn’t have to be writing essays or leaving comments about this subject in the modern day.
The more we find out about the character of these two, the less we are inclined to embrace them. The world has moved on, or so we’d hoped, and we are stepping forward into a new era of tolerance and globally inspired achievement.
On November 4th we shall see whether the stupids (as my dear old dad would say, RIP) will hold sway over America.
May the noxious rabble dissolve as the last few weeks of this very divisive and negative campaign draw to a close and may the healing begin. This is no way to lead a nation. Shame on McCain and shame on Palin.
Palin is an Alaskian. As most of them believe that Alaska
should be a separate country. And from what I understand is that they would do anything to make sure that it does……
The Scarlet Letter
My compliments Mr. Burns. Of the many thousands of articles, msm commentators, blogs and their comments I’ve read concerning this election your summation of the history of hate is the most eloquent I’ve read.
The great tragedy of it all is that you were compelled to write it at all by a woman who has opened her own personal Pandora’s box to be branded with her own Scarlet Letter “A” which does not mean Adultery through her open consortation with the Satan of the Political stage to spawn the Political “A” of infamy.
JFK
MLK
Bobby Kennedy
Julius Caesar
Truth
Integrity
Hope
Justice
Jennifer Martinez, It must have broken your heart to hear your sister rejoice at the murder of a man, but I understand. My evangelical sister also chooses not to see the hate that the religious right stokes as being anything but Christ-like. I too am practically an atheist, (possibly for the same reasons as you), but in sisterly solidarity I will join you in praying for Barack Obama. How ironic, that the Religious Right has driven me away from God, but fighting their evil influence may draw me back to him. Peace. CGH
beautifully written, I keep reading the last paragraph
…and all this time i thought Cheney was The Devil
Excellent article, although I must admit I too said weeks ago she was “Pandora opening the box”. You brilliantly explained exactly why it fits her so well.
Meanwhile the Sicko’s Are Crawling Out Of The Woods. There are hundreds of blogs reporting experiences of McCain supporters in coffee shops expressing hate towards Obama or wishing him dead. Fights & arguments breaking out and lawns & cars with Obama signs & stickers being vandalized.
Volunteers are wondering if they should go into Republican areas to canvas? This rise started when the McCain folks started shouting terrorist, kill him, bomb, traitor, not a patriot! Some of these people don’t really care about voting or McCain, they are simply joining in the love-hate festival the McCain Rally supporters began. Some Democrats are talking about taking some of their stickers/magnets off the cars for fear for vandalism, others are thinking of not wearing t-shirts anymore.
Tonight I was on youtube and I selected this video. It happen to be on the lady who McCain said “NO” on Obama being an Arab. So I wrote a response. This man wrote back and when I responded I decided to look at his comments. To my surprise I’ve never read such hateful words and I remember the 60s. It was all over the place. I mean this the kind of hate is the kind you really have to watch out for. This guy is on a death wish.
He defends KKK & hates Blacks and Jews. Here are some comments I copied from his youtube page:
starcatcher888 (1 hour ago)
If Obama is wacked it will be a good thing for humanity! Then I hope there is a race war in the USA and we clean the out the Trash! NOT A PANTY RAID RACE WAR BUT ABOUT 30 MILLION DEAD AND CLEAN UP THE GARBAGE AND THE RATS WE HAVE LET BREED IN OUR COUNTRY! AND CLEAN OUT EVER PRISION! Start from scratch
starcatcher888
Name one Atheist Country in the world ever.
When I see Atheists I see dead bodies and mass Murder only second to Muslims and Islam.
Where they create famine, misery and anarchy and then kill the farmers to fix the famine to continue with the misery and the anarchy to sell their brand of salvation to the hopeless!
Starcatcher888 to me:
Not in the USA it is not! It maybe in EUnuch land or the Euro-trash zone and in Canada but not in the USA: Infact with what I know about Islam I would never convict anyone for killing ANY self confessed Muslim on sight! And soon More Americans will know what Muslims are and Islam is: We will have Bounties on them! No Muslim is tollerable globally! Islam merits total extermination! Just like the Aztecs with human sacrafice and canibalism!
Check him out on Youtube http://www.youtube.com/user/starcatcher888 Select all comments by him and see how sick he is. He’s linking IN HIS MIND Obama to Muslims thanks to Cindy & John McCain, and Sarah Palin.
I told him I was going to report him and have him flagged under the patriot act. I wonder if the Bush people would really use the patriot act for the right reasons besides listening in on conversations with our military personnel and their spouses?
I tell you what’s next: You’re going to Guantanamo right after I am elected president, boy!
Palin has no shame! To expose her seven year old to the boos, as they all waved like at a homecoming parade…and to have little girl to wear a jersey in an attempt to keep some of the boos down is sick! I have said all along that this woman is evil. This election is really a war of Good vs Evil!
I enjoy reading the fascist invective that is usually left in the comments on anything that could be considered critical of the merits of blind rage. I don’t see any here. Please consider writing at a 5th grade level. If it is good enough for Time and Newsweek, it is good enough for us.
Violence is the last refuge of the inadequate. Stoking up fear and hatred and violence in others and not doing it face-to-face just means that Palin is a coward as well as a mental inadequate.
Sarah Palin has fanned the embers of hatred into a raging inferno with the Reptilican venemous spew that emits from her infected mouth. She gives the pathetic hatemongering idiots like starcatcher888 a platform to extend their rabid ideology. The good people of this diverse country will not allow these people with fecal matter for brains to infect society or change the outcome of the coming election.
Obama/Bidden 08.
pj, thank you for sharing this thoughtful and eloquent analysis of the current state of affairs. As one considers that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, no sound of warning can be heard soon enough.
In that regard, I would like to share the thought that this war of cultural identity politics is just beginning to rear its ugly head. The election, however it turns out, will be a benchmark event in the war, but it will hardly be the end.
The social conditions of the last several decades have set the stage for the development of this mentality. Coupled with the sudden precipitous decline in the economy of late, it serves to stoke up a tremendous amount of fear in the populace. As fear turned into rage, the “leaders” of this brand of politics step in to point the finger at the “enemy”.
Sounds familiar? This is exactly the same setup that lead to a senseless war, except this time we are turning inward to destroy ourselves.
Once again, America finds herself at the fork in the road. Will we choose to move forward informed by our past mistakes or will we succumb to the fear?
What an excellent article. It is all so true. I am so very fearful for my country because of what I am seeing. We clearly need to elect Obama to state to the world that we will not tolerate this type of hatred.
[...] She stokes the flames of hate and seems hell-bent on burning down the house with everyone in it. (We’ve gone from Silly Season to Hate Week) [Bold is my [...]
To John McCain,
This is how you are going to win now?
http://mine.icanhascheezburger.com/view.aspx?ciid=2262989
There has been an anti war rally on a corner in Boca Raton, Fl for over 3 1/2 years. It is so famous that long ago that particular corner got dubbed “The Peace Corner”. The McCain camp knew this and decided to show up last week and stage a sign waving. This is how they run their campaign – with no respect for the other side. This week when they again showed up (mind you, they ONLY do the sign waving THIS hour out of all the 168 hours in the week!) I went up to them intending to be polite and respectful and just request that they hold this at any other hour of the week but they wouldn’t even let me get the words out. They were in my face pointing fingers at me and swearing that I should get the F away from them – calling Obama a terrorist and that I should be ashamed of myself. UGLY people just following the example of Palin and McCain who have incited this kind of violence and ugliness.
This is the sorriest campaign I have ever seen a Republican run – I used to admire McCain – I don’t even recognize the man anymore.
Well done. Well said.
A thoughtful article that should serve as a wake-up call to all of us who see what the McCain campaign really represents. Instead of standing by and letting them shout their obscenities, we need to speak up and tell them to their faces that they should be ashamed to call themselves Americans. We need to get out the vote. It is the only way to make certain that this ilk is “flushed” from the political system. Rational people DO have a voice. It is not only by voting, but by calling the vitriolic rhetoric of these extremist nuts what it is…racist, irrational and anti-American!
Get out the vote ! ! ! Shut them down where it matters, at the polls.
[...] We’ve gone from Silly Season to Hate Week. What’s next, Kristallnacht? It seems like only yesterday we were talking about candidate’s third grade essays and their political implications. [...] [...]
Ironically I too was raised Pentecostal. My sister, too, is a religious right-winger who found no problem with the death of all the innocent babies and children in Iraq. She was shouting the mantra of the day, “better their blood be shed over there than ours be shed over here.” Creeped me out.
Evil is alive in well in the churchs. As you know, “church does NOT a Christian make.”
I am not an atheist but rather chose to leave the church and study religion, and make my own decisions about what is the truth.
Jesus knew about evil church people and evil preachers. In Matthew:23:15 he said,”Woe to you teachers of the law (preachers) You hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice the son of hell as you are.”
Matthew 7:21-23 he said,”Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord,(church people) will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven.Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord,Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name did we not drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers.’ ”
Now it doesn’t take a rocket-scientist to figure out Jesus was talking to preachers and church people. He had them all figured out even back then.
The McCain campaign wants to appeal to the middle voters, but they’re not going to fail to take advantage of the foundation the Republican Party has laid over the years of misinformed, frightened, and angry people who take any attempt at efficient, fair government and maintaining equality as a personal attack against their values. It’s mostly Palin’s job to appeal to these voters, and McCain is hiding behind her, and trying to look like he’s “above politics”. Ever since the convention, it was obvious this thing was going to be ugly.
http://shortcircuitnewswire.wordpress.com/2008/09/13/national-conventions-drop-like-nukes-examining-the-fallout-and-election-wasteland/
Thank you for this lovely, thoughtful post.
I often find myself hurt and angry as I see the McCain/Palin campaign doing all that it can to rend America asunder.
If Obama can’t be beat in the electorate process they are setting it up so that the country is so fractured, angry and distrustful that it will be difficult to govern. They intend to use America, the ugly in America to beat him.
And this fills me with such dread.
But reading your post really helped me to remember the hope in spite of all that the McCain/Palin campaign has done to try and beat it out of me.
Thank you.
Great post. You highlight some interesting parallels that have been disturbing to many of us. I, for one, don’t think you are over-reacting and that it is very much a slippery slope toward fascism.
I’ve explored a similar theme in a recent essay – Banning Books, Burning Books & the Slippery Slope (lpsrocks over at Open Salon)
inspired by a quote from my daughter’s book, Incantation (by Alice Hoffman)
“The day when the arrests began reminded me of the day of the burning books, when the air was filled with sparks, when something bad crept out onto the Plaza from the deep evil place, something that would become so strong no one could catch it or beat it down or lock it away.
Now I understand those days were not really a beginning but a continuation. A monster is hard to see and even harder to kill. It takes time to grow so huge, time to crawl up into the open air. People will tell you it’s not there; you’re imagining things. But a book is a book. Pages are pages. Hawks are hawks. Doves are doves.
Hatred is always hatred.”
First off, let’s give McCain some props for at least trying to quell some of the sh*t that’s going down in his name.
But consider the reaction he got when he tried to tell a crowd that Obama is not a monster or a terrorist – boos! It’s sobering to consider, but most (if not all) people do harbor a deep desire for someone to legitimately *hate*, and having found one will vehemently resist all attempts to correct their perceptions.
Note the generalization there, which I did deliberately. It’s worth remembering: We’re not immune from this syndrome. The “Sidewalk to Nowhere” video and other illustrations of McCain/Palin supporters are double-edged swords; they give *us* an excuse to dehumanize/demonize Those People just as they dehumanize/demonize us.
Go far enough down that road, and you find yourself in Rwanda.
I hate it when two unconnected words gain associations with each other.
“Scissors” and “tiger” are particularly horrifying!
I really enjoyed reading your blog and I’m glad that I came across it. Reading it has really calmed me and my anger for Senator McCain’s campaign and his running mate. Since she burst on the scene nearly seven weeks ago this self-described Maverick, reformer, and Christian has been behaving like anything but these things. Last week while watching some of the new campaign ads or watching her at rallies really made me sick to the stomach.
Mr. Ayers did some pretty despicable things nearly 40 years ago and although he’s not apologetic about his actions. I don’t see how his actions have any bearing on Senator Obama’s character. Does she question her own running mate’s character considering that some of his own colleagues in the Senate were members of a domestic terrorist group (the Klu Klux Klan) as well, and these men we’re elected officials? Does that make Senator McCain a terrorist? Or what about the fact that right before she accepted Senator McCain’s request be his running mate she delivered a speech to a group that favors secession from the United States?
Governor Palin lives in a glass house and she shouldn’t throw stones. While she shouldn’t throw stones she definitely shouldn’t be inciting hatred at her rallies. Most of the people who attend her rallies won’t vote for Senator Obama anyway because of their own ignorance, but the fact that you have people in the crowd yelling “terrorist, Nobama, or kill ‘em.” And she does nothing to calm the crowd really scars me. Governor Palin’s actions are unwarranted and drudges up some dark ghost of our country’s not so distant past.
My only hope is that Senator McCain will step up and be the Maverick and American hero we all believe him to be and put a halt to her rants. At the end of the day this is his campaign and regardless of who wins this election our country has a lot of healing to do and we’re all going to have to work together to get through these hard times we’re sure to face in the coming months.
Will the real Americans please stand Up!!You have to shut those morons and bigots at the polling station,or I don’t want to tell you what kind of America you all will be living in if McCain and Palin win the key to the white House.At this moment America is at a crossroad,time to take the right road or face the music that will be ringing at your ears for years to come.Started feeling like this after Sarah Palin and cohorts came into the picture that’s all.As the ol wizard said “choose wisely”.
John Lewis was correct. The assertion that the McCain-Palin campaign are sewing the seeds of hate, particularly Palin, is dead on. They are creating an unsettling atmosphere. It’s beyond disgusting. And it shows the true selves of many on the right who are beginning to rear their racist and xenophobic heads and speak what they truly believe.
Nicely done!
You’ve taken all those nagging doubts I had and phrased them very well.
** Sarah So-White wants to dominate **
Welcome to Dom Sarah’s little world of redemption through suffering.
Old Salty is a doddering dupe. Now he’s just along for the ride into an all-American abyss of fundamentalist political ideology, Dominionism.
Dom Sarah comes “wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross.” She is exactly the gender traitor dominionists need to jumpstart their fantasies of a hot xian dictatorship.
Like a pernicious Tinkerbell, Dom Sarah will bring her fantasy “The Handmaid’s Tale” painfully alive for you.
Voiceover: In a polluted dystopia ruled by transnational corporations, policed by xian thugs, a rebellious 20 year old finds herself condemned to sexual slavery. She possess a now rare gift, her fertility. (The Handmaid’s Tale on DVD, adapted from IMDb.com/title/tt0099731)
Dom Sarah energizes core Bible-Dom fans. She’s a true believer, a strait-laced puritanical atavism. What’s wrong with whipping up hatred among consenting male voters?
Dom Sarah wants to treat all Americans to some faith-based, strict discipline.
bipolar2 ©2008
Look, smendler, I am an honorable POW and a war hero. I don’t need to lie or slander. I am brave and tell that senator Obama off when he is wrong – and he is always wrong.
Those people on your video are American patriots, not commies like you.
a masterly written piece of writing.
I have, over several years, come to interact with and know quite a few Americans, decent and rational people. I wince when I hear or read some of Sarah Palin’s campaign trail rhetoric. I wonder if this is really the best America can offer. The hate mongering also makes me wonder who the real America is. I guess the world will find out the true America on the 4th of November.
Many of us non-Americans eagerly await the outcome of these elections more than any other previous one.
I couldn’t agree more…check out my blog for an inspirational video from a white man who exemplifies the coming of a new age in race relations. I believe in us! You and me – white and black and all religions and creed…
http://hakashamut.wordpress.com
Blessings!
Kenya k
A few years ago, I saw a news clip of an agitated man about to get tasered by security/police while Sen. John Kerry was speaking to a large group. The clip didn’t show Kerry, but his voice was audible throughout the video while the man was screaming for help. What struck me most was how ineffective Sen. Kerry was. Despite telling the cops to let the man have his say, he was ignored. The man was tasered and dragged away by the cops. In that instance, Kerry was not a leader. He couldn’t control the room, or even get anyone to listen to him.
I had the same reaction while watching the recent McCain/Palin rallies. Sen. John McCain appears to be unable to diffuse crowds in tense situations. They jeered and booed him when he asked the mob to be respectful of his opponent. He did not come across to me as a leader in a tough situation. That bothers me immensely.
How can we elect someone to office who is unable to calm his most ardent supporters, those who should most admire him? I want to vote for a LEADER whose voice will be heard, his message understood, and effective, positive action be taken as a result of his words. As of late, I have serious doubts that John McCain has that ability.
We are too intelligent to fall for McCain and Palin’s tactics! There is too much at stake for us to let the Hate mongers in this country win, not this time! Do not become complacent or overconfident! Barack Obama CAN lose this election! Don’t worry about what anyone says! Don’t pay attention to the polls! People have had big leads in the polls and lost on Election Day! Just get out and VOTE! Vote early! Don’t wait until the last minute! Don’t become overconfident! Obama must win this election! Vote! VOTE! VOTE! The world is watching!
OBAMA/BIDEN 08-12!
Catholic historian Vergerius admits gleefully that during the Pontificate of Pope Paul IV (1555-1559) “the Inquisition alone, by tortures, starvation, or the fire, murdered more than 150,000 Protestants.
For two or three centuries, many Protestants have given figures concerning the total number of people killed directly or indirectly by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The numbers given include 50 million, 68 million, 100 million, 120 million, and 150 million. Roman Catholics typically give much smaller numbers. Frequently the figures are stated without any information about where they came from or how they were computed. The purpose of this note is to describe where some of these figures come from and to comment on their reliability. Surely nearly all Roman Catholics as well as Protestants disapprove of past religious persecutions, so this discussion should not reflect negatively on current members of the Roman Catholic Church. However, events in Nazi Germany show how easily persecution can revive, so it is necessary to be on guard against it and maintain an awareness of its history. Of course, many other groups besides the Papacy have persecuted. And all of us, without Christ, have the roots of sin in ourselves. The reason the Papacy stands out is that it has ruled for such a long period of time over such a large area, exercised so much power, and claimed divine prerogatives for its persecutions. The magnitude of the persecutions is important for the following reason: One can excuse a few thousand cases as exceptional, but millions and millions of victims can only be the result of a systematic policy, thereby showing the harmful results of church-state unions.