What Beck, Dobbs and Limbaugh Are Really Afraid Of

[marmar]

via CommonDreams:



Published on Wednesday, September 16, 2009 by Huffington Post
What Beck, Dobbs and Limbaugh Are Really Afraid Of

by Timothy Karr


Can you smell the fear? Switch on cable news or tune in to talk radio and it comes wafting in.

Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck has bottled his own scent. Lou Dobbs' fear gives off a distinct undertone of racial intolerance. And Rush Limbaugh takes to the air to spread an odor that's designed to make Americans angry at, well, other Americans.

It's a fear that's laced with paranoia, stoked by misinformation and prejudice and fed to millions of people via powerful media. But most of all, it's a fear of the changes that an overwhelming majority of Americans called for when they stepped into voting booths last November.

Since then, the old guard has fallen into alignment with old media to hijack the public debate over reform, and vilify reformers as anti-American. And to them the most anti-American notion of the lot is the idea that we need to reform the media itself.

"Part of the strategy of this fundamental 'transformation' of America is to silence dissent," Glenn Beck said on Fox last month. The "most diabolical, hidden parts of this plan," according to Beck, are efforts to reform media through "localism and diversity" -- two principles that have grounded modern communications policy for decades. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/09/16-11

[bemildred]

1. A charismatic young President establishing trust and rapport with the American people.

THAT is what they are afraid of. If Obama rules, they do not.

[virgogal]

2. I can't comment on Beck or Limbaugh but I've never seen any

signs of racial intolerance on Dobbs' TV show.

[marmar]

3. "never seen any signs of racial intolerance on Dobbs' TV show"

Isn't his whole show based on intolerance of brown people from south of the border?

[virgogal]

6. No---illegals from anyplace. For God's sake his wife is a "brown" person.

[marmar]

7. "For God's sake his wife is a "brown" person"

So some of his best friends are brown? ...... :eyes:

[bemildred]

5. Lou Dobbs to appear at hate rally; CNN credibility at risk

Lou Dobbs is planning to appear and speak at a hate rally, putting CNN's journalistic credibility at risk. Dobbs, conservative radio personality and CNN on air personality, is scheduled to speak at a rally sponsored by FAIR (Federation for American Immigration Reform). The organization has been designated a "hate group" by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

FAIR is often criticized for running racially offensive ads. The group was founded by John Tanton, who has a long history of making racist statements and espousing racist beliefs. A FAIR press release announced that Dobbs will broadcast his show from the rally and will be joined by 47 conservative talk radio hosts. Entitled "Hold Their Feet to the Fire", the legislative advocacy event and rally is scheduled for September 15 and 16.

Recently Dobbs has been under a great deal of scrutiny and criticism. Just last month Dobbs humiliated himself and CNN by trying to legitimize the birther movement. During and after the birther episode many inside sources thought Dobbs would be fired by CNN. His behavior and actions certainly merited dismissal.

Now Dobbs finds himself in another kettle of hot water. Dobbs has always been willing to endorse and tolerate racist views when it comes to immigration. Agreeing to speak on behalf of a known hate group is simply beyond the pale of good taste and common sense. Such an individual is a liability, not an asset, to CNN, or any legitimate news organization.

http://www.examiner.com/x-4383-Portland-Progressive-Examiner~y2009m8d30-Lou-Dobbs-to-appear-at-hate-rally-CNN-credibility-at-risk

[scarface2004]

9. dobbs should shave his head....

and get some swaztika tatoos on his face!!! frickin asshole!!

[murray hill farm]

4. Their view and paranoia..

that they express over and over has all the elements of the Facism they say they fear. They are perfect facists. I wonder if they are, in any way, aware of that problem.

[DCKit]

8. I was going to go with "being seen naked" but the OP works too. n/t

[Elmore Furth]

10. Fear of the other -- Obama flouts the tacit US Caste System

These gentlemen wish to appeal the the tribal instinct of "fear of the other." They wish to make Obama to appear to be "not one of us."

It is part of the "smear, fear and queer" message that the Far Right has been pumping out about their opponents since McCarthy.

This looks to us like racism, but it is really a super-category to racism. It is fear of the other built into the explicit structure of a culture, above simple racial distinction. The force of law has been of little moment against the force of this cultural rule.

Further, though it differs in degree, we also have a caste system in the United States, with some mobility available from one class to another, although those moving to one they are not born into are often regarded with scorn. For the “upwardly mobile” the class one is leaving often criticizes the ambitious person with expressions like “he’s too big for his britches,” “she thinks she’s too good for us,” and “he’s got Champagne tastes but a beer pocketbook.” The people born into the class one is trying to enter will be equally critical, saying things like, “You can take a man out of the farm, but you can’t take the farm out of a man,” or “they are so obviously nouveau riche, who do they think they’re fooling?”

Even more, most classes look with disdain upon other classes, including any above or below them in the perceived cultural hierarchy. Working class laborers talk about “suits” who “never get their hands dirty.” Middle class workers talk about people who “always have dirty fingernails,” as well as “trailer trash.” People in upper management scorn “middle managers” and “bureaucrats.” People with inherited money joke about “working stiffs.” People without much money regard people with a lot of money as “bloodsuckers” who - they believe - got rich by stealing money from them. People in the entertainment industry, who tend to be liberal in their social views, look upon middle America as a “white bread” audience clearly too unsophisticated to comprehend reality as it really is, and therefore in need of pandering to their backwardness, as well as forced enlightenment. Homosexuals call heterosexuals “breeders.” Heterosexuals call homosexuals "fags" and "queers." Southerners scorn Northerners, and vice versa, in every virtually country. American fantasy monsters in children’s book have often been “slant-eyed demons.” Japanese children’s books have “round-eyed demons,” often also blue-eyed and blond. Liberals look at conservatives as mean spirited and dull witted; conservatives accuse liberals of giving in to the culture and pandering to laziness. Every one of these groups has jokes about the others (and every one of the others returns the disdain), and heart-wrenching “true stories” that support their worldview, and nasty tales of the suffering caused by those with whom they disagree.


We have classes - castes - by the thousands, interpenetrating and overlapping, and we regularly justify the ones we’re in, and look down at all the others. Our fear of the other is pervasive beyond the bounds of race.
Fear of the Other

[Enthusiast]

11. They fear President Obama's

success more than any other single thing. They don't care about the country at all, as long as President Obama is never perceived as a "good president". It is that simple.