Letters to the Editor
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I know the difference!!!
To those in power: WHITE militants aren't scary. NON-WHITE militants are terrifying.
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Just thought that I would point out. ...
Thus, white evangelical Ministers are free to advocate American wars based on Biblical mandates, rant hatefully against Islam, and argue that natural disasters occur because God hates gay people. They are still fit for good company, an important and cherished part of our mainstream American political system. The entire GOP establishment is permitted actively to lavish them with praise and court their support without the slightest backlash or controversy.
There are not very many Democratic politicians who fail to lavish praise on the hateful fundie ministers either.
Even fewer Democratic politicians actually (gasp!) criticize these ministers.
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The Difference Is
Farrakhan has about 75 or 80 percent name recognition in America and Hagee about one.
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Another take
Michael Berube posted a pretty funny satirical piece at TPMCafe on this issue:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/02/26/mister_answer_man_special_deba/
Also, can anyone recall if Giuliani was questioned about Pat Robertson's endorsement of him? There was plenty of ironic comment about the endorsement, but was Rudy ever asked about it at any of the debates?
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In fact, come to think of it..
There was an article here in Salon just the other day advocating that Democrats more forcefully court the evangelical/fundie vote.
After all, evangelicals/fundies have "values" and the rest of us do not.
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And yet
there is evidence that, even in Texas, this will not work. Obama has overtaken Clinton in the polling in Texas and appears poised to finish her off on Tuesday. My hope is that he will then use the position of the nominee to highlight this ridiculous double standard that the press applies in allowing the wingnuts to spout such extremism when it is veiled in religious language. Note that McCain did have to repudiate the talk show host in Ohio, but he wasn't ordained, so he could be dismissed.
The compliance of the press continues to irritate me on a daily basis. Click on my name for a description of the transcript from a White House FISA briefing yesterday that actually ended with the "press" promising the "Senior Administration Official" that "We'll cover your ass".
Only when the press is called out each and every time when they allow extreme hate to get a pass or when they cover for administration wrong-doing will we be able to move ahead as a society. Obama soon will find himself in a position to take a real lead on this issue. Will he rise to the challenge?
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The Notorious W.E.S.
The Difference Is
Farrakhan has about 75 or 80 percent name recognition in America and Hagee about one.
Not everyone in the world is just like you. Pastor Hagee is one of the most famous and well-regarded evangelical Ministers in the country. Evangelicals make up at least 25% of the American population. Asserting facts without any support is worthless enough, but doing so by assuming that everyone is just like you and the people you know makes it that much more worthless.
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Well, get a phone book and call people at random
See what you get.
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Good point
I think FilthyHarry has a point, Farrakhan is black, hates the status quo, doesn't have a romanticized view of America in the 50's, etc. and it scares the hell out of many.
On a separate thread someone mentioned that Farrakhan's support is similar to David Duke's support. McCain would have to repudiate Duke's support...just like Ron Paul was expected to disavow all the white supremist's views because they liked some of his ideas.
What I don't get is how Hagee isn't compared to David Duke, I bet they share many a world view.
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It's The Medias Fault Anyhow
They create the hobgoblin Farrakhan, then it's a legitimate issue to be asked about.
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Gee, It Sounds Almost Like You Are Saying That ...
... since the mainstream media's role is to promote the white, authoritarian (and shrinking) right, this commitment has resulted in folks (using the term loosely) like Timmeh absorbing the authoritarian right's fears and bigotry against all things off-white.
South Africa here we come.
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WES
I'm about as spiritual as your average turnip and I'm familiar with Hagee and have heard of him more recently than I have Farrakhan.
Pat Robertson is at least as famous as Farrakhan and about as hateful as Hagee. Robertson even ran for president once.
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Anyhow
Were all the people that died in Katrina gay? If not, why were the straights killed? I guess for not killing the gays when they had their parade.
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Christianity's devolution
Thank you, Glenn, for pointing out what is all too obvious to anybody who attempts to be even-handed about these things. Of course, by definition, that excludes most of our political establishment.
I admit that I have something of a morbid fascination with characters like Hagee, partly because of my own upbringing in a small town in the South that contained more that its fair share of such "religious" charlatans.
What I have found alarming in terms of American culture, however, is the change I've seen just in my lifetime as to how these people are treated. I'm not yet 40, but I can remember a time when even people who went to these types of churches (which were typically small) were embarrassed by their leaders' excesses, and everybody else just laughed at them.
Nowadays, of course, evangelical megachurches are all the rage. These institutions have basically dressed up theology that's only marginally less extreme than Hagee's (the inevitable wisdom of American militarism, the inherent evil of gays and abortion, etc.) and paraded it around as acceptable and even reasonable. There have been times in the last 10-15 years when I've wondered if I were living in a time and place similar to the Weimar Republic - as the public becomes steadily more delusional and under the sway of people who spout unbelievably deranged things.
I don't know how to crack the code on this - to get large numbers of Americans to stop believing what is essentially a type of Christian fascism - but calling the press to account for its lack of balance is a great start.
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peakdavid
South Africa here we come.
LOL, we are waaaaaay beyond South Africa..
http://www.prisonsucks.com/
South Africa under Apartheid was internationally condemned as a racist society.
* South Africa under apartheid (1993), Black males: 851 per 100,000
* U.S. under George Bush (2006), Black males: 4,789 per 100,000
What does it mean that the leader of the "free world" locks up its Black males at a rate 5.8 times higher than the most openly racist country in the world?