Set aside your beliefs about health care for a moment.
Friends, things are getting out of hand with respect to respect for the President. Things are getting out of hand with respect to the things people are saying about Barack Obama. Things are getting out of hand with respect to their actions.
I have written about this before, now and then, and I write about it again today because I am genuinely concerned. And, as a pastor who believes in peace and nonviolence, as Jesus did, I am imploring everyone to do anything in their power to change the situation.
First, it was the presidential campaign and the outrageous claims that Barack Obama was a foreigner and a Muslim.
Remember that?
Remember how talk show hosts on the right wing fanned those flames?
Remember how Hillary Clinton did too? (when she answered the question "Is Barack Obama a Muslim?" with "Not that I know of.")
Remember how, as the presidential campaign went further into the Fall, the "Town Hall" the McCain/Palin campaign fanned the flames of such paranoia and hate? Remember how it boiled over outside town halls?
Here's a reminder, a short clip of the scene outside a McCain/Palin townhall in Denver Colorado last Fall:
Note the little girl, probably very near my own daughter's age, who pantomimes monkey gestures, in clear reference to an Obama cut-out that someone off camera is holding. She later walks by the cutout, saying "Look...the monkey from Tarzan!"
What kind of parent allows that?!
Watch how another man punches the cut out. Watch how others scream: "Communist!" "Terrorist!" "Where's his turban?" and "He's got a rag on his head!" and finally "God may not be on my side, but Satan is on your side."
Maybe you didn't see this video when if first came out.
But, friends, it wasn't that long ago.
Remember when finally John McCain had the courage to stand up at one of these meetings and say "no more?"
Here is the video of McCain showing real courage:
Friends, it wasn't that long ago.
Then, it was how people didn't believe that Obama was an American.
Remember that?
Remember how right wing talk shows again fanned the flames, including nationally syndicated shows, like Lou Dobbs and Glenn Beck?
Remember how members of congress, even when shown copies of his legitimate birth certificate, would not admit on national television that he was a citizen?
It culminated just a little more than two weeks ago, when Republican members of congress were attacked by angry constituents, waving their own birth certificates and claiming Obama was not a citizen. Here's the video, in case you've forgotten:
It wasn't that long ago.
Then, it was the lie that Obama wants to kill old people. This was coupled, of course, by outright vitriolic and rude reactions in town hall after town hall meeting. Watch Sean Hannity gleefully "go to the tape" to show the reaction against health care at one town hall:
Note how, nowhere does he reject the rude, angry, heckling behavior. Even if he opposes health care reform, one would expect him to reject that kind of behavior.
It wasn't that long ago.
Now? Yesterday? In the wake of all this vitriol spewed at Obama *personally,* we read that no less that TWELVE armed citizens brought guns to a town hall meeting featuring the President yesterday.
Watch footage from Chris Matthews interviewing a Rep. Gringrey (Rep) about why folks are bringing their guns:
A few observations:
1) These folks are wearing their guns (and even semi-automatic weapons) openly. They are TRYING to be provocative, and TRYING to make a statement. I know and respect gun owners greatly. And I know that many of the gun owners I know would be horrified to see these men waving their firearms around in public.
2) Matthew's question is salient: Why bring a firearm to a town hall with the President? You're not going to be able to bring it in. I can tell you from watching presidential motorcades in previous times, the President is the most heavily guarded human on the planet. HE doesn't need the protection. Why do it?
When you string all the previous together, the only reason I can see is that somebody is attempting to provoke the lunatic fringe. Talk Radio, certain elected officials, and many other silent co-conspirators, are attempting to speak code to the lunatic fringe. They are secretly hopeful that somebody WILL use their gun, and WILL kill President Obama.
Don't believe me? Remember this from Fox News some months back:
Again, notice how the host does not immediately challenge Liz Trotta for saying this highly offensive joke. (Full disclosure: she did later apologize. on air...)
Remember that?
It wasn't that long ago.
Don't believe me? Might you believe Frank Schaeffer? He is the son of one of America's most prominent fundamentalist ministers. He absolutely believes that all of this mounts up to a "coded message." Take a look:
Why am I bringing this up?
Because if there IS a "coded message" here, the only way to speak against it is to speak up loudly and forcefully against it. Because I've been saying this over and over again.
Because some of us remember John Kennedy. Members of the church I serve remember the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination and how the pastor of Northaven at the time, Bill Holmes, preached a sermon decrying the culture that pervaded Dallas at the time. He cited tangible examples of how Dallas had become an intolerant place and suggested that, while Dallas didn't "kill Kennedy," the culpability for that intolerant society did rest on all who lived here then.
For this, he got death threats and had to go into hiding. No kidding.
BTW, sort of proves the point of his "Dallas in an intolerant city" claim, doncha think?
Some folks I see regularly remember that time. And they see eerie and frightening parallels to what's happening around America right now. Step back from the past year, and ask yourself where this is all going. Where, if not directly to an assassination attempt, or militant uprising, does anybody think this is going?
Enough is enough.
Once again, as I have before, I call on all persons to stop the hate-mongering. If somebody brings a side arm to a Presidential rally, denounce it. If somebody calls the President a Nazi, a Socialist, a Muslim, a Foreigner, a Monkey, denounce it. If somebody lies about the facts of a policy decision (such as the lie about "Death Panels") denounce it. If somebody refuses to stop telling those lies on national media: boycott them. If somebody seems to condone violence against the President, or behaviors that could lead others to take up violence, reject them.
Because this is getting out of hand. Seriously.
And some of us remember that in another time when conservatives could not control their lunatic fringe, a lone crazy --acting on his own, but living in the stew of cultural venom that pervaded this city as the time-- killed an American president right here in our city.
It wasn't that long ago.
(As always, if you like this post, then "like it" or "share it" on Facebook by clicking the box below, or send it to your friends...so others can see too...and leave a comment...EF)
Tuesday 18 August 2009
It Wasn't That Long Ago
Posted on 07:38 by Unknown
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