The freshman seminar on free speech/hate speech that I teach at Michigan State ended last Wednesday. But I wish that we had a few more sessions to discuss the disturbing events of this past week, as unrelenting hate speech began to morph into violence.
The right-wing attack machines have been in high gear for months, fomenting fear and loathing about the new health-care bill and those who are pushing for it. By the time the House of Representatives voted for the first time last Saturday, the bile at Tea Party rallies and on talk radio had reached fever pitch. African American faced racial taunts from protesters, and Representative Emanuel Cleaver said he was spit on. Representative Barney Frank was called a faggot as he made his way to the hall to vote.
During debate prior to the vote, Republican Congressman Randy Neugebauer, a birther caught on tape questioning President Obama’s citizenship, erupted and called Michigan Representative Bart Stupak a “baby killer”. Stupak soon began receiving death threats from pro-life zealots for ending his opposition to the health care bill.
Two Tea Partiers printed the wrong address for Virginia Representative Tom Periello, urging their followers to “stop by” and “thank him” for his vote. The Periello brother who lives at that address posted then finds his gas line cut.
What should we do when free speech risks normalizing if not inciting violence?
I try to teach my students that we are among the bravest countries in the world for trusting our citizens to hear even the most outrageous ideas and still do the right thing. Even our polite neighbor to the north, Canada, has never enshrined the equivalent of our first amendment in their Constitution. We place a higher value on individual liberty than on civility, as conservative firebrand Ann Coulter learned this past week.
Coulter has made a name of sorts for herself over the years by failing to censor any cruel or callous thoughts that flit through her elongated head (evidence of lack of oxygen in the birth canal?). About the 9/11 widows, she wrote: “I’ve never seen people enjoying their husbands’ deaths so much.â€
Recently, in addition to arguing that the United States should invade Muslim countries and convert people to Christianity or kill them, the undernourished Ms. Coulter recently told a Muslim student in Ontario that airlines should use racial profiling to keep Arabs from flying and that Muslims should take flying carpets instead.
While Coulter is quick to claim that she is merely a political comedienne (though you rarely see her fans laughing), the provost of the University of Ottawa took Coulter seriously enough to write an open letter warning her that she risked arrest if her speech incited hate against any groups.
Protesting students ultimately persuaded university officials to shut down the campus and stop the speech, which has allowed Coulter to cloak herself in the mantle of victimhood she loves so well. But, odious as she is, I have learned to stop taking Coulter’s bait. She uses her tart tongue and tarted-up mini-skirts to boost her book sales, braying and whinnying the way to the bank.
She wears her conservatism as if it is a fashion accessory, rather than an ideology. How else to explain that boyfriends have included Bob Guccione, Jr., of Spin magazine and lifetime liberal Andrew Stein?
At the end of the day, however, Coulter lacks even the pedestrian intellectual heft of a Bill Kristol or the political pull of dominatrix Sarah Palin, whose leather/huntress fetish was on full display when she spoke at the McCain rally in Arizona this past week wearing what appeared to be a black-leather motocycle jacket.
Palin whipped the crowd into a frenzy with cries of “Hell, no!” instead of just plain “No!.” Then she had the gall to insist that her recent Facebook posting that placed a graphic of a rifle’s crosshairs over the location of candidates she is targeting was not about violence but voting. (That’s like arguing that the beheading of the turkey behind her in this Thanksgiving video is actually a symbol of caring and sharing.)
Yes, I know we could wake up one day to find Sarah Palin running for president, with Coulter writing her speeches and Kristol dictating her foreign policy. But even that is less frightening that facing an uprising of angry American Talibanis, weapons at the ready, taking their marching orders from Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.
I figure we can buy off Sarah with a TV deal. All Ann really needs is a few Big Macs and a warm sweater. When push comes to shove, we know that right-wingers aren’t really going to give women any real power. And pointy-headed intellectuals like Kristol and the newly unemployed Republican strategist David Frum would likely find themselves in some home-school re-education camp.
But this past week makes me worry that the Republican Party, so desperate to return to power, is literally willing to strike a deal with two devils, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. This is an exceedingly dangerous game that puts free speech to the test.
The bottom line that I fear is that we may face another Wall Street cataclysm as we did in September 2008, but this time it will play out against the paranoid Tea Party fury whipped up by these two unrestrained demagogues. We already see the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag and secessionist rhetoric that suggests Tea Partiers see themselves one step away from a new American Revolution. And we have two right-wing leadership quick to frighten them that their world and their “liberty” will disappear unless they act.
Yet this is not a plea for abandoning our commitment to the First Amendment. My often-intemperate and occasionally evil remarks remind me why we should never encourage government to use its fearsome power to stifle even the worst speech. But that freedom puts enormous pressure on our other civil institutions, especially our political leaders and our mainstream media, to ramp up the good speech we must rely on to tamp down the bad. Yet the same Republican leaders who foam incessantly about how Muslim leaders need to call out the extremists in their midst are refusing to issue a joint statement on civility with the Democrats. According to Andy Barr of Politico, the Republican National Committee rejected an offer from the Democratic National Committee to issue a joint statement urging civility. RNC Chairman Michael Steel reported turned down the request, saying that “we don’t need to do anything on their schedule or on their timetable.†(Remind me again why President Obama continues to pursue bi-partisanship.) Even worse is Virginia Republican Congressman Eric Cantor who used a case of apparent random gunfire to argue that his office had been shot at, promoting the false equivalence argument that both sides are doing this. The oleaginous Mr. Cantor even went so far as to suggest that the Democrats were bringing violence down upon themselves for political gain. If we are to dial down the climate of hatred, a good first step would be for thoughtful people to demand that Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck’s bosses either rein them in or bounce them. As former think tanker Frum wrote this week, “Republicans originally thought that Fox worked for us, and now we are discovering we work for Fox.” Fox News Impresario Roger Ailes seemed stunned to learn he might not be universally adored for putting Glenn Beck on the air, when the Huffington Post’s Arianna Huffington recently challenged him on ABC’s This Week with his failure to rein in Glenn Beck. When Ailes responded by fulminating about “word police,” Arianna nailed him with: It’s not about the word police. It’s about something deeper. It’s about the fact that there is a tradition as the historian Richard Hofstadter said, in American politics, of the paranoid style. And the paranoid style is dangerous when there is real pain out there.” Many years ago, I had a job helping to facilitate conversations between the militia and the FBI, at a time when there were justifiable fears that our homegrown terrorists posed a serious threat to domestic tranquility. Timothy McVeigh confirmed the validity of those fears. In its recent report Rage on the Right, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported a surge in the number of new hate groups that have formed since President Obama was elected, with 26 of them in Michigan. A free speech absolutist, I sincerely believe that we need more good speech to overwhelm the bile and misinformation spewed out daily by the cynical Mr. Limbaugh and the seemingly disturbed Mr. Beck. Both men are indeed playing with fire, and their minders need to do more than turn a deaf ear when these two powerful men engage in outright lies about the Obama administration’s tactics and intentions. Yes, I am saddened when the Obama folks claim the new health-care bill covers everyone and lowers costs when it clearly doesn’t. But those are worthy goals not even on the same plane as the right’s claims that the new law is government takeover of health care replete with death panels. Part of the challenge in relying on good speech to overwhelm the bad is that this requires people whose minds are open. My fear is that people fed a steady diet of the rantings of Mr. Limbaugh and Mr. Beck and their ilk are unwilling to listen to anything that does not conform with their twisted and hate-filled world view. If that’s true, atheist that I am, all that I can say is, “Lord, help us.”
This Republican/Tea Bagger-stoked anger has already begun to bear its poisoned fruit in everyday life. I’ve heard from a number of friends in the Detroit area that they’ve been flipped off, raged at, or run off the road for the simple fact of sporting a pro-Obama sticker on their bumper.
Another false equivalence to consider: Republicans were steamed for 8 years about being reminded that Bush got less votes than Gore in 2000, thus was not the head of a “legitimate” government.So now they rant that the Obama Administration is not “legitimate.” This was seen clearly in their coordinated attacks on the health care bill as “being jammed down the throats of Americans despite their overwhelming opposition.”
Apparently they forgot that they argued the very seating of Bush/Cheney in 2000 made them legitimate, thus free to impose their tax cuts for the rich as well as their costly wars managed into disastrous failures. They also forgot how to count and forgot how democracy works, as Obama and the Dem Congress won with larger majorities than EVER held by Republicans under Bush/Chaney (biggest B/C margin: 2004, with 3% Presidential margin, and 25 votes in the House).
They have also forgotten their cherished patriotism of the Bush/Cheney years, when they argued that any opposition to federal policies was anti-US, as if protesters were rooting for the US to fail. Well, guess who’s rooting for US failure now? The big difference is that major media report and publish arguments about Obama’s “illegitimacy” in their bullshit pretense of “objectively presenting both sides,” while they pretty much stopped reporting on the Bush illegitimacy as soon as the Supreme Court instilled him in their preposterous palace coup (and after Sept. 11, 2001, fughettaboutit).
And about those eight years of Bush/Cheney doubling the federal debt, also leaving the country with trillions of open-ended rising debt to pay for their failed wars and the Big Swindle known as the Wall St. bailout. Gee, where were the debt-obsessed Tea Baggers then? The political spectacle has spiralled so far away from any meaningful version of “reality” it’s breathtaking. By the way, this goes for both sides, though the level of absurdity created by the right wing types really is a new high (low?).
P.S. Ya gotta admire this fukwit Bart Stupak - he has succeeded in making EVERYONE hate him. Very impressive…
“…the undernourished Ms. Coulter recently told a Muslim student in Ontario that airlines should use racial profiling to keep Arabs from flying and that Muslims should take flying carpets instead.”
Wow — talk about your absolute lack of journalistic integrity! But that’s to be expected from today’s MSM, which is why “mainstream” journalism is dying. Coulter did NOT say that to a Muslim student in Ontario recently. In fact, she didn’t say that at all to anyone, but good on reproducing out-of-context and completely inaccurate paraphrasing of what Coulter actually said and when. You can’t even trouble yourself to get your information correct.
Her “flying carpet” remark was made several years ago in response to the airline boycott by the flying imams. Here is what was said: “If only we could get Muslims to boycott all airlines, we could dispense with airport security altogether.” She also sad Muslims could use “flying carpets” to travel instead.
Here is the video of the exchange with the “poor little” Muslim student baiting Coulter with a joke of a question: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gKGK1Mf3MUI
As it turns out this sweet little Muslim girl who was “stabbed in the heart” by Coulter is a (now former) member of the Israel hate group on Facebook known as “It’s Called Palestine, not Israel!!!” — a group bent on the extermination of Israel. I say “former” member because as soon as she was found out and exposed for being the hater that she is, she deleted her membership. But the evidence is still there (as seen in the video and here: http://blazingcatfur.blogspot.com/2010/03/poor-fatima-al-dhaher-girl-offended-by.html).
But, go ahead, keep spreading your lies. You’re only fooling your fellow koolaid drinkers.
BTW, do you always refer to slender people with the adjective “undernourished”, or only the ones you despise? By the same token, do you then refer to overweight people by the adjective “gluttonous”?
The Republicans need to get right with God! First the Republicans wanted to give Obama his Waterloo defeat over healthcare but instead they gave themselves their own Waterloo defeat by not participating in the debate of ideas and by becoming the party of obstructionist. Waterloo defeat refers of course to the defeat at Waterloo put an end to Napoleon’s rule as Emperor of the French and was the culminating battle of the Waterloo Campaign and Napoleon’s last. Republicans get right with God or get ready for future losses and Rush Limbaugh I real hope you enjoy your new home Costa Rica!
Answer to your question is no, its in their nature, just like it was for republican Senator Larry Craig (ID) and republican Senator Roy Ashburn (CA) to act out their nature.
Montana, Costa Rica wouldn’t be right for Rush. You see that tiny buy wise country long since decided to guarantee health care AND education for its young people until age 25. That’s vocational school or university, whichever you qualify in. Oh, and after that age, there’s a health insurance mandate for adults. Some may call ‘em a “banana republic” but they manage to do better by their people. Go figure!
If you think that’s hate speech you’re a total marshmellow. Typical leftist crap.
Divide the classes
Pull financial numbers out of your rear and present them as fact
Portray all conservatives as unintelligent
Portray all conservatives as racist
Portray all conservatives as “hateful” (whatever that means)
Avoid debate
Change the subject
Portray mainstream christians as radicals
Portray business as “greedy”
Blah, blah, blah
Well madame, I have to say, you yourself are going on a streak of free speech yourself here vindicating the opposite side. I am a republican, and just by my saying this I’m sure your labeling me as a moron and a radical. Let me tell you something, umbrella terms are wrong and you are just some prejudiced prick about this. Excuse my language but your article insults many who don’t quite deserve it with your umbrella speech. I do agree with you that there are those who call themselves Republicans or “rightwing” people that go radical and slander others on what they see as the left, however, that doesnt mean the opposite is true. Don’t come off all high and mighty saying its just the right doing this, its the left too. Look back when Bush was in office for an example. I know you probably really think Im an idiot for using Bush as an example, but seriously, if you think like this you need to start thinking that maybe for once you may be wrong. You need to stop making your arguments solely on just your beliefs, and be more considerate of people in general, not just specific groups. On the whole, people like you are the US’s problem, and unless everyone can just get past this, then we are doomed to have a nation of morons. Good day.
There are two things that it seems like a waste of time to argue about because you can not win, thats politics and religon. A dummy crat thinks he is always right and the Republican is always wrong.
Sarah Palin is a pure idiot and a quitter! But she knows like many white Republicans that many white voters HEAR IT! BELIEVE IT! and REPEAT IT! They will drink the koolaid! And don’t investigate past the information that racist and or stupid people feed them! The shameful result is white Republican have given the country. Richard Nixon ( a crook) resign in disgrace….Ronald Reagan suffer from Alzheimer and was a do nothing President that just wave and grin! Bush (1)..(a liar) no new taxes then raise taxes! Then the worst Republican President and the worst President of all times. President G.W. Bush! This idiot started a war in Iraq for NOTHING after finding out there where no WOMD ( Weapon of Mass Destruction)! Causing American troop death of over 4,300 plus for NOTHING! Then he started another war and didn’t pay for it (Afghan War)! The idiot took a surplus and turn it into debt! He also made so many country hate American under Bush 9/11 happen because his administration took their eyes off security! The Bush tax cuts for the rich did NOTHING for the country but bring the country DOWN! President Obama needs to vote that mess away! Unemployment TODAY is a direct result of Republican control and the dumbest President in America’s history! G.W. Bush and D. Cheney are the worst thing to happen to America. Sarah Palin would be worst! This is a proven idiot just like BUSH/CHENEY!! Republicans today are the party of the rich and the un American! Republican are voting NO NO NO against America recovery and President Obama! They could careless about Americans or America they care about power and the rich! Sarah Palin has the nerve to criticizing President Obama when she quit her job and fail to make it to the White House THANK GOD!