If I had to choose one word that best describes my feelings toward the right wing, it would have to be “hate.” I do not “feel that we don’t see eye to eye on matters of political ideology.” I “fucking hate them and think the world would be a better place without them.” Basically, I regard the far right much the same way I do violent felons and cannibals, except that I believe violent felons and cannibals probably aren’t all bad. Unlike the right wing, I’m at least willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Remember when Republican Joe Wilson yelled “You lie!” at President Obama as he addressed Congress about health care reform? He didn’t actually mean ”You lie.” He meant, “I don’t respect you, and I won’t respect the Office of the President as long as you are in it,” and, “Your presidency doesn’t “count,”“ and, “No matter what position you hold, you will never be my superior, or even my equal.” While the sane among us gasped in disbelief, the right quickly went to work on a bejeweled crown for Wilson to wear. The very same people who advocated the death penalty for anyone who dared say anything less than laudatory about George W. Bush now suddenly support previously unthinkable shows of insolence toward our President. Go figure.
Frankly, Wilson couldn’t be a better representative of the nutbags now proclaiming him as their new leader. We’re talking about a group of people so convinced they are under siege by Mexicans, African-Americans, gays, immigrants, liberals, elites, the educated, Muslims and so many more imaginary enemies than I can possibly dream up that they are taking to the streets in droves in some misguided effort to take back “their” America. They are so angry about Obama’s presidency that they have tried everything — from claiming the president is foreign born to alleging a rigged election as part of some elaborate conspiracy involving ACORN — to deligitimize it. They did everything short of accuse Sotomayor of joining the Supreme Court with the goal of somehow bringing about white slavery. They are meatheaded idiots and bullies who bring guns to venues where the president is speaking, ostensibly in defense of the Second Amendment, but mostly just to intimidate. They’re too stupid to tell you what socialism, or communism, or fascism or Naziism is, but they freely toss around the terms — sometimes, astonishingly, in combination with each other (!) — to describe the current administration. I mean, these fucking morons are too dumb to even proofread their signs.
These people — these kinds of people, I mean — have existed throughout history (and in every culture; their causes vary from country to country, all over the world), and aside from date rape and AIDS jokes, what they mostly offer the world is dischord and chaos, war and conflict. It sounds juvenile, I know, but I’d love to see them just disappear. Poof!
But I haven’t answered the question, have I? I guess I’ll say that despite not living during the ’60s, I’m fairly cynical about the ability of car bombs and shootouts with The Man (?) to affect change. And yet, lately, I’ve wondered if, were I safe from prosecution — which would be true in this game — I would ever take part in a pushback against this right wing bullshit. I guess it’s hard to know. Sorry if that seems like a cop out. Maybe ask me again if things get any worse. I have a feeling I know how I’d answer.
