We see it all the time now: politicians, particularly conservative politicians, conservative pundits who write columns in your local paper, well-meaning, but ignorant, moderate pundits, all telling us that we shouldn’t use the word racist with respect to the right. The conservative politicians and pundits are lying and the moderates are just lost in their own little world. We hear that the right is not racist and that right-wing commentators are not racist and that we are overusing the word, racist. Bullshit!
The right is racist at its core, along with its general culture of hate, hate for anyone not exactly like them.
First, let’s consider the not-so-subtle code phrases like “non-Christian Muslim President” that one of my right wing acquaintances used in a Facebook post on my page before I dumped him. Maybe we should do a casual search of the web for various parodies, songs, pictures, stories, many with the n-word, many with more subtle racism, but all with racism and hatred at the core.
Next, let’s wonder if any of the more moderate pundits who think we’re over blowing this racism thing have actually talked to anyone outside of their sheltered circles. It’s not hard. Especially if you have any acquaintances on the right. Send them provocative emails, talk to them in person, bait them in other ways as you will, but, and this won’t take very long, many, but not all, will come forth with some sort of racist comment. The core of racism runs deep, it is strong, and it is one of the main reasons the right hates Obama. Do the experiment yourself if you have any right-wing friends or acquaintances, and of course if you’re normal you should have some whether you’re liberal or not (I do, and I pretty liberal) and you’ll soon see.
So look, the pundits who fancy themselves of the middle can’t in good conscience claim that the right is not racist if they’ve done their homework. Pundits on the right know damned well that their best fans are racist and are lying when they say otherwise. So let’s stop pretending; the right is racist and racism is behind a lot of what they think, whether it be health care reform, war in Iraq, human rights, their religion. The right also happens to be generally into hate of other types as well, but that’s another subject; racism is just another subclass of hate.
We’ll call out the right on their more general agenda of hate another time, but for now we just have to realize that they are truly racist and deniers are either liars or stupid.
