We've all heard Republican voters say ...

[NanceGreggs]

... I am NOT a bigot, a racist, an anti-Semite, a misogynist, or an idiot who believes in whack-job conspiracy theories.

If that's true, it begs the obvious question: Then why do you keep electing bigots, racists, anti-Semites, misogynists, and idiots who believe in whack-job conspiracy theories to represent you?"

Just wonderin'.

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread NanceGreggs.

[rurallib]

2. when somebody says "I am not a ________" just wait for the next

thing out of their mouths. It will be whatever they said they weren't and an egregious one at that.

[Clash City Rocker]

4. America knew Nixon was a crook when he said he wasn't a crook

We knew Trump colluded when he said “no collusion.” And if someone isn’t a racist, they don’t have to say they’re not a racist. The very statement “I’m not a racist” confirms you are racist.

[The Wizard]

36. Remember the Idaho senator

caught soliciting gay sex in a public toilet? The following day he made a public statement. "I am not gay. I never have been gay." Really, "never have been gay" as if it's a choice says it all.

[agingdem]

20. In my day

it was "I'm not an anti-semite..my doctor/accountant/lawyer are of the Jewish persuasion"..."I have nothing against Mexicans...our maid is a Mexican"..."Negroes are not bad people...Jim, our yardman is a Negro"...and then there is my all-time favorite one-size-fits-all defense "Some of my best friends are____(fill in the blank)"...

My parents were Holocaust survivors...overt hate was up close and personal....a few days ago I was going through old family albums and I found my wedding album (3/30/1969) and one picture took my breath away...seated at my parent's table were their/our friends..Black/Hispanic/gay...and I cried...

[OMGWTF]

38. Just like whenever someone says, "It's not about the money." It's about the money.

[unblock]

3. A lot of overt racists don't believe they are racist

They believe in a (self-serving) hierarchy with men over women, whites over blacks, etc. they think this is simply the way it is, the natural order of things, god's plan, whatever.

So all the crap they spew and their politicians spew is merely saying that's the way it is.

In their minds, to be a racist, you have to go well beyond exercising privilege and putting down the lower rungs of the ladder. You have to be violent against a minority *who didn't "deserve"* it, for instance.

They see a big difference between active animosity towards all members of a minority, and merely holding members of that minority to the lower level of privilege and rights that they think is appropriate for that lower place in the hierarchy.


If you don't believe in that hierarchy, this is all a distinction without a difference, or maybe only a matter of degree. But within their bigoted worldview, the real racists are always someone worse than themselves.

[Clash City Rocker]

5. When you've lived your whole life with privilege, equality feels like discrimination

And many people don’t recognize that they have benefited from white privilege, so they may honestly not see it.

[uponit7771]

39. +1

[Beartracks]

7. This is an excellent post.

=========

[OldBaldy1701E]

16. My experiences have been

That not only are these people saying 'Hey, it is just how it is', they also feel that they are not being racist because they do not actively 'injure' anyone. They don't go out and beat up brown people, for example, so they are not racist. They don't berate immigrant refugees in the store aisle, so they are not racist. The fact that they support and vote for legislation that does the same thing, the fact that they always wax nostalgic for the times in history when white bias was always present if not practiced with glee is completely lost on them. They literally do not comprehend that all this adds up to a textbook racist, because they feel they did not do anything. Because in their minds they haven't.

[unblock]

18. Yup. And they do hate minorities, but they always have an excuse

Like, they'll never admit to hating a black person or treating them poorly simply because they're black.

There's always an excuse in their mind. The black person was doing something they shouldn't. So obvious with plice shootings. They *always* manage to find an excuse to justify the police shooting a black person even if it's an impossible standard and even if they'd scream bloody murder of the cop had done that to a white person.

They don't see that as racism, they see that as well, minorities need to know their station and so on.

[OldBaldy1701E]

19. Yep! (n/t)

[rhiannon55]

23. This is a perfect way to explain the seemingly un-explainable.

I suddenly understand my "non-racist"-who-votes-for-racists brother better. He's a white 72 year old Mormon, so a patriarchal, white hierarchy feels exactly right to him.

Thanks for the insight.

[calimary]

32. That's quite a good analysis, unblock.

Explores and explains the reasoning and rationalization behind the “I’m not a racist.”

[uponit7771]

40. THIS !!!! ☝🏾☝🏾☝🏾 MOST move the bar on what racism is so they don't fit in it well enough

[Tommymac]

6. Because they are in fact bigots, racists, anti-Semite's, misogynists and whack job conspiracy IDIOTS

They don't see themselves that way because no one wants to see themselves as an idiot or worse.

They don't realize just how stupid it makes them look to everyone else who is not in their little tribe.

[TigressDem]

8. K&R K& R K&R K&R K& R K&R K&R K& R K&R

[kentuck]

9. Peas in a pod?

Birds of a feather?

[spanone]

10. Because they are bigots, racists, anti-Semites, misogynists & idiots who believe in whack-job CT's

they doth protest too much

K&R

[AZLD4Candidate]

11. Garbage in, garbage out?

[Red Mountain]

12. Nobody has to BELIEVE anybody for long

Just watch their words and deeds.

[H2O Man]

13. Recommended.

[TeamProg]

14. "cuz, they say what's on their minds?" - a bigot, racist, anti-Semite, misogynist and idiot. n/t

[SCantiGOP]

15. How to tell if someone is racist:

They begin a sentence with “I’m not racist but….”
If you’re not about to say something racist, there is no reason for that pre-qualification.

[paleotn]

17. Old bible verse. Matthew 7:16

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?

There's also the duck test. Walks like a duck. Quacks like a duck. I'd say it's a duck.

The corollary to the Friend Test applies. You know them by the people they vote for as well as who they hang with.

Doesn't matter if they won't admit it in polite company, they are what they are.

[Diamond_Dog]

21. I have heard them say

“Yeah, Donald Trump has an an “abrasive” personality, but people forget about all the good things he did.”

In my mind, every issue, every piece of legislation, every policy he promoted, was conjured up from the angle of keeping certain people down and perpetuating white supremacy. Yours is an excellent question to pose to someone to claims they are not racist and who voted for the orange monster.

[Mad_Machine76]

30. Whenever I hear people say that Donald Trump did some "good things'

I just..........can't.

[Nasruddin]

22. 1972

On 07 Nov 1972 Richard Nixon won 60.7% of the vote and was re-elected president.
By Aug 1974 you couldn't find anyone who had voted for him. I mean, who would admit that they had voted for him.

See also "Bradley effect"

[rhiannon55]

24. Thanks for a great thread, Nance.

It really helps me better understand the blockheads I still care about.

[Klondike Kat]

25. My brother tried to use that same reasoning during a "discussion"

My response was something along the lines of "you support candidates who are, so it looks like it's not a deal-breaker for you". He "unfriended" me on Facebook. Oh, well...

[Act_of_Reparation]

26. Save yourself the trouble.

There's no point exposing ideological inconsistencies within the conservative electorate because they don't have an ideology. All they know is this country used to be great and a bunch of non-white non-Christian non-men made it so we can't drink 64 oz. Mountain Dews or smoke on airplanes and that's why there's no steel jobs in West Rustfuck, PA.

[jaxexpat]

27. My experience is that they simply can't hear or understand simple logic.

They maintain walls of echoes around their minds continually reinforced with propaganda, effectively insulating themselves from reality. Oh, but they call this experience in self-imposed artificial isolation "reality". So basically they're just regular people, except dumber.

[lagomorph777]

28. Only racists say "I'm not a racist."

The question never comes up, if you're actually not a racist.

[Mad_Machine76]

29. Exactly

I think that some low-information voters are just that clueless and reflexively pull the "R" lever because that's what they've done all their lives and don't realize what the GOP stands for now. Not saying that they've ever been a "good" party but some of them were decent and honorable and did some good things. I don't know if they know or accept that the GOP today is as hideous as it has become. Other times, I think that they willingly overlook all of the bad stuff because they strongly agree with *one* thing that the GOP fights for- theocracy, tax cuts, banning abortion, etc.

[BobTheSubgenius]

31. An observation I'm sure the great majority has also made.

Almost invariably, when you hear someone start a sentence with "I'm no racist..." the next word you're going to hear is "but," which will be followed by....[something only a racist would say]

[Caliman73]

33. Because from the media they are getting. None of them are ...

When you live in a media bubble that tells you that bigots, racists, anti-Semites, misogynists, and idiots are just "truth tellers" then you believe that you just belong to a special group of people who are not sheep.

You never realize that you are a bigot, racist, anti-Semite, misogynist, and idiot who believes in whack-job conspiracy theories. Mind you, they have also been conditioned to believe that ALL OTHER MEDIA is wrong and only they are correct. It is their intrepid little band of truth tellers versus the rest of the liars and sheep.

That is why. Same way that fundamentalist religions tell you that "the world" is evil and only the path of (insert your particular sect) will lead you to eternal life. Same way a street gang or mafia tells you that you are a soldier protecting your "family" or "barrio" or whatever.

It is not a logical process. It is completely emotional and irrational.

[windje]

34. Why do they vote for [fill in the blank] candidates?

Because the candidate being[fill in the blank] is not a deal killer for them.

[rlegro]

35. That's just a larger version of another GOP meme, namely:

Replicant legislators who increasingly now use this statement, or its equivalent: "I believe in getting vaccinated against COVID but I also believe in personal choice and freedom so while I urge my constituents to get vaccinated, I remind them that this choice is entirely theirs and should never be a government mandate."

Cognitively dissonant in the larger context, but it sort of might get the job done in terms of elected Repubs innoculating themselves against an increasingly dubious, straying voter base. At great cost to the entire populace, of course.

[The Wizard]

37. Anyone who refers to

their Italian, Irish, Black, Jewish, Hispanic etc... friend instead of just friend is a bigot.

[LymphocyteLover]

41. the hardcore wingnuts will say Dems are the real racists... because of course...