Monday, July 7, 2008

Our Oh So Senior Senator's Proto Genocide Moment



I'm not letting up.

A man I once respected - dedicated songs about wild Alaska animals to - convinced my son to tie flies for - had lunch with more than once - has turned into a disgusting, racist creep.

4 comments:

Ishmael said...

Phil,

I'm just wondering if you're giving Ted more credit than he deserves for understanding what that book was about. Or really much that's going on around him.

I doubt he has much time to read -- especially after decades of people reading things for him and providing a summary.

And honestly, given his advanced years... well, he might be a little addled.

I'm not defending him; I'm just sayin'.

Philip Munger said...

I was on KUDO this morning, and my description of him as "somebody who somehow escaped from the Pioneer Home..." turned into a laugh line.

Sad, but true.

Steve said...

Philip, I haven't read Steyn's book, but I've seen similar work. I would say that the clip here, for most Americans, is not going to appear as outrageous as you make it to be.

Racism is often cloaked in 'rational' arguments. Slavery was justified by arguments that African slaves were less than human, more like animals.

Native Americans, on good days, were 'our younger brothers' who needed 'our guardianship' and help to become 'civilized.' On bad days they were just 'savages.'

The racism against Hispanic-Americans is covered by arguments that this is about 'legal' immigration and the rule of law.

This anti-Islamist line of thinking is justified as protecting democracy from the enemy who would destroy it. This is about 'demographics.' We hear stories that various religions encourage their members to have lots of babies as a form of gaining power. Must people know that Orthodox Jews encourage large families as do Mormons and Catholics. The Chinese don't need to. They have enough people already.

Without adding Steyn's blatant racist aspects (which you do have in other posts) I suspect tha average American will see you as the alarmist here and Stevens as raising a reasonable concern.

It plays on the fear that 'our way of life' is threatened. Fear trumps reason most of the time.

Philip Munger said...

Steve,

You're right. I've read many comments similar to yours about this over the past week.

Steyn's racism is more evident in some of his other writings than in the book under discussion. He's getting better at cloaking this within more acceptable terms.

Wilhelm Reich, in _The Mass Psychology of Fascism_, illustrates how this evolution of hate literature imagery occurred in Central Europe in the period leading up to the Nazi takeover in the early 1930s.

The fears he raises are largely irrational, and could lead to something really awful.