Frightened, intellectually overwhelmed white people have a long, long history of taking hate crime scapegoatism to an extreme. The way this behavior pattern is being reinvigorated right now in the US hardly pushes the envelope of that paradigm. That is to say, it wreaks of all the standard-bearing traits that characterize fascist social movements; to credit it with breaking new ground gives credit where credit is not at all due. Those of us living on the other side of the pond may be completely out of touch with what's really happening in the US, but we don't want to see america devolve into pointless, reactionary choas - in some ways, perhaps moreso than those inside the country: there's something about seeing your native land collapse from afar that is just so painful. i'm not being narcissistic here, am i? Where i'm from provided the framework i still use to filter a great deal of my experience, tho i've got a lot of other reference points to choose from. We live through and sort out so many lies in the course of a lifetime; at some point, you get down on your knees and beg that your most basic visions of what's possible don't get tossed onto the pile of fantasies whose time was never meant to be. i also don't want to see the W Dick gang walk away from their long, long litany of crimes unscathed, and if Sarah and Todd Palin start roaming the halls of 1600 Pennsylvania, that's exactly what will happen. Guaranteed.
i've been reading an anthropologically focused, historical book about Gypsies in Europe, Bury Me Standing, whose penultimate chapter is entitled "The Devouring" and chronicles the experience of Gypsies during the Third Reich (the name is a direct translation of the roma word for their holocaust, porriamos). Going through the chronology of anti-roma propoganda, legislation, rounding up and deportation - leading to eventual death for 10's of thousands - one cannot help but see the hate coming from McCain-Palin and their flock of encephalitic sheep as being conducive for a home-grown american version of the same: against arabs and muslims certainly, against other groups of terrorist-loving, baby-killing haters of america probably (one assumes someone in her crowd's got their crosshairs set on Hillary). These people are dangerous, driven by that strange mix of fear and hate that causes them to become totally unhinged in the name of god and country. True Volk.
The reason i bring up the Roma here is because as i've gone through this book, reading of slavery and laws that render the mere fact of BEING a gypsy a criminal act punishable by hanging, the parallels to african-american history are everywhere, and everywhere stark. Partly in the experience of the Roma, but moreso in the mindset of the prejudiced. It leaves me with a nauseated feeling: there are no limits to what an angry mob of fascists will destroy, and there is a subset of armed americans who still see afro-americans the way most europeans still see roma. It seems naive to embrace the belief that really bad things can't happen again. i've seen right wing Israelis attack Palestinians and felt the vibe of a maniacal group bonding experience... it ain't pretty... the ties between fanatical christian right and fanatical zionist settlers make obvious sense. These people are very serious about being 21st century assholes, and while i'm willing to stand up to them rather than run, part of me also wants to crawl under the covers with Diddy. 'Have they raptured yet? Is it safe to come out?'
Check out the latest from Brave New Films and tell me that these people who are so often eager to invoke the memory of Ronny the Raygun aren't going much, much further to encourage hate and fear than RR ever did against the evil soviet empire. i voted in 1980 and don't recall anyone at a Reagan rally calling for the murder of Carter or members of NYC's russian community. If McCain were to win this election - and maybe even if he doesn't - rural american has all the potential of a crusade in the making. How ironic indeed that at the same time as these volk are gearing up to show their racist patriotism, the bushies have succeeded in violating the law again, putting army units on the streets. Surely this presents a conundrum to the reactionary wingnuts with 'I love the NRA' tattooed across their biceps? Well, i'm happy to let the Toad Palin's of rural american fight it out with the infantry, except that's not what the world needs right now even though one could argue that it may well be what america needs to jump the track and, ultimately, find a new and more humane direction. The most famous road in North America is Highway 66 - not 666, which is the bottomed out route the followers of hate are hopefully about to blow a gasket on.
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