Per usual, Rachel Maddow destroys conservative lies. It bothers me just a bit that while all these reasons why the Democrats got swamped in the mid terms are floating around, very few are calling attention to the right-wing echo chamber which ratcheted up the lies against Obama and the Democrats, thereby scaring Americans and exploiting covert prejudices against Obama.
Saying "that's just how politics is" is a cop-out. Strangely enough, the same people who always claim about how sick they are with Washington or how Washington is broken seems to always be silent when it comes to calling lies out. You can't defeat a disease without naming it.
And don't even get me started on Fox News. The fact that for the first time in history, a political party has an entire "news" network - the number one news network at that - in its back pocket and pushing its agenda seems to escape everyone. This is a shame because it's significant. And ironic. The clarion call against Obama seems to be that he is a dictator and runs a regime.
Who's more of a product of a "regime?" President Obama or a network fueling a political party?
Lastly, the lgbt community really needs to pay attention to this because there is a case to be made - which I will get into later - in how the campaign of lies against Obama and the Democrats are similar to the campaign of lies the religious right wages against us.
How sad is it that those who market in lies can borrow from one another, but those engaged in truth and progressive ideas can't. Or rather don't.
Hat tip to Joe.My.God.
This morning's Salt Lake Tribune reports on a poll taken in Utah that shows that 44% of Utahns believe sexual orientation can be changed; 25% are unsure. The poll showed a solid majority 55% of Mormons believe sexual orientation can be changed. We're dealing with zombie lies and no amount of truth seems able to put them in the ground.
ReplyDeleteA Utah author recently published a book for kids about human sexuality and in it she claimed that "change" programs have very high rates of success. Her source is NARTH. The right has a whole network of "experts" who tell them what they want to hear and they believe it. And they then bring those beliefs to the public square where they refuse to change them. Mainstream science and scientists are dismissed out of hand because they are supposedly in the thrall of "political correctness." It's all very depressing.
You're right - there is a connectoin between these right wing bubble lies about gay folk and the right wing bubble lies about other things.
As Rachel Maddow pointed out last night, they confirm these myths for each other. It's depressing.