©2010 Daniel A. Brown
Several years ago, I witnessed the great South African musician, Johnny Clegg, in concert in Northampton. Clegg was a white singer who, fronting one of the few inter-racial bands in that country, was a stalwart fighter against the Apartheid policy still in place at the time. Part way through the concert, Clegg stopped performing and made the following stark observation. “You know,” he said, “In my country where there is so much violence, pain, and oppression, all the songs are about love, hope and beauty. But here in America, where you people have it so bloody easy, all your songs are about despair, fear and cynicism.”
Clegg’s observation about our music might be equally relevant to our politics.
Even though hundreds of thousands of people risk their lives yearly to get into our country, its residents are in a prolonged, gloomy funk and see little hope for the future. Instead of whining for change every four years, we’ve advanced to wanting it every year and a half. And, of course, those who whine the loudest do the least to achieve it.
Instead, they join reactionary populist movements like the Tea Party and Americans for Prosperity; attend fatuous Glenn Beck rallies, and support political candidates who seem dedicated to destroying the quality of life for the average American so that a small, ultra-rich elite can avoid paying any taxes at all. Americans for Prosperity, a supposed “grass-roots activist” organization was created in part and is heavily financed by Koch Industries, a multi-billion dollar oil conglomerate whose founder was an original member of the John Birch Society. Their stated goal is to cripple the federal government in such a manner that regulating the energy industry is impossible. Not surprisingly they are currently listed as one of the top ten air polluters in the United States.
We live in fearful times so it is not surprising that people are being duped into supporting the very movements that will cause them the most harm. What is frightening, however, is that the presence of Barack Obama in the White House has unleashed the greatest white backlash since 1964 which is currently being expressed in its hostility to the man himself, immigrants and American Muslims.
However, this isn’t your father’s bigotry. No one is using the “N-Word”, burning crosses on anyone’s lawn or setting off bombs in mosques (yet). It’s what I call “Smiley-Face” racism, expressed preferably by innuendo and suggestion. But can anyone honestly imagine a white president having his citizenship questioned or being portrayed as a witch doctor or an ape? Accusations against him by the Tea Party types on their discussion sites have moved on from being merely disturbing to downright psychotic. You would have to be clinically paranoid to believe some of the vicious lies passing for truth in these venues.
Fear surrounding immigration is nothing new in America, it stemming from the 1750’s when no less a luminary than Benjamin Franklin warned about the influx of German immigrants diluting the purity of Anglo-American stock. But they encountered nothing like the wall of hatred that greeted the Irish when they first came to our shores. Being Catholic, they were seen by red-blooded American patriots of the mid 19th century as an insidious fifth column, an advance wave whose true purpose was to place our nation under the thumb of the Vatican.
Change the noun “Catholic” to “Muslim” and we find ourselves in a similar situation only with the descendants of those same oppressed immigrants (O’Reilly, Limbaugh, Hanitty) warning about the dangers of American Islam. Even without the hoo-hah over a planned center near the Twin Towers site, there is a dangerous trend of intolerance being directed at these Americans who wish to practice their Constitutional rights of freedom of religion as guaranteed by the First Amendment. And freedom of religion means all religions, a fact that Glenn Beck conveniently forgot on August 28th.
To be honest; as a Jew, a liberal, and an American, I have three good reasons to distrust Orthodox Islam. But as an amateur historian, I know that the Islamic world was once the artistic, scientific and cultural center of civilization with a religion whose original tenets were no more fanatical than basic Christianity or Judaism. Obey God’s commandments, be mindful of the poor, and live an honest, upright life. Not too shabby for the 7th century. What happened afterwards wasn’t the fault of the founder.
Sadly, the animosity being directed at them will send several messages to the rest of the world. One is that America, for all its bombast about freedom, doesn’t really practice what it preaches and secondly that Muslims, however moderate, are not welcome here. Both couldn’t make Al-Qaeda and the Taliban any happier. This contradiction has always been the Achilles Heel of the United States. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies and seem more bent on self-destruction than we are on self-improvement. One wonders if this disturbing trend is an echo of the past or a warning for the future.
Clegg’s observation about our music might be equally relevant to our politics.
Even though hundreds of thousands of people risk their lives yearly to get into our country, its residents are in a prolonged, gloomy funk and see little hope for the future. Instead of whining for change every four years, we’ve advanced to wanting it every year and a half. And, of course, those who whine the loudest do the least to achieve it.
Instead, they join reactionary populist movements like the Tea Party and Americans for Prosperity; attend fatuous Glenn Beck rallies, and support political candidates who seem dedicated to destroying the quality of life for the average American so that a small, ultra-rich elite can avoid paying any taxes at all. Americans for Prosperity, a supposed “grass-roots activist” organization was created in part and is heavily financed by Koch Industries, a multi-billion dollar oil conglomerate whose founder was an original member of the John Birch Society. Their stated goal is to cripple the federal government in such a manner that regulating the energy industry is impossible. Not surprisingly they are currently listed as one of the top ten air polluters in the United States.
We live in fearful times so it is not surprising that people are being duped into supporting the very movements that will cause them the most harm. What is frightening, however, is that the presence of Barack Obama in the White House has unleashed the greatest white backlash since 1964 which is currently being expressed in its hostility to the man himself, immigrants and American Muslims.
However, this isn’t your father’s bigotry. No one is using the “N-Word”, burning crosses on anyone’s lawn or setting off bombs in mosques (yet). It’s what I call “Smiley-Face” racism, expressed preferably by innuendo and suggestion. But can anyone honestly imagine a white president having his citizenship questioned or being portrayed as a witch doctor or an ape? Accusations against him by the Tea Party types on their discussion sites have moved on from being merely disturbing to downright psychotic. You would have to be clinically paranoid to believe some of the vicious lies passing for truth in these venues.
Fear surrounding immigration is nothing new in America, it stemming from the 1750’s when no less a luminary than Benjamin Franklin warned about the influx of German immigrants diluting the purity of Anglo-American stock. But they encountered nothing like the wall of hatred that greeted the Irish when they first came to our shores. Being Catholic, they were seen by red-blooded American patriots of the mid 19th century as an insidious fifth column, an advance wave whose true purpose was to place our nation under the thumb of the Vatican.
Change the noun “Catholic” to “Muslim” and we find ourselves in a similar situation only with the descendants of those same oppressed immigrants (O’Reilly, Limbaugh, Hanitty) warning about the dangers of American Islam. Even without the hoo-hah over a planned center near the Twin Towers site, there is a dangerous trend of intolerance being directed at these Americans who wish to practice their Constitutional rights of freedom of religion as guaranteed by the First Amendment. And freedom of religion means all religions, a fact that Glenn Beck conveniently forgot on August 28th.
To be honest; as a Jew, a liberal, and an American, I have three good reasons to distrust Orthodox Islam. But as an amateur historian, I know that the Islamic world was once the artistic, scientific and cultural center of civilization with a religion whose original tenets were no more fanatical than basic Christianity or Judaism. Obey God’s commandments, be mindful of the poor, and live an honest, upright life. Not too shabby for the 7th century. What happened afterwards wasn’t the fault of the founder.
Sadly, the animosity being directed at them will send several messages to the rest of the world. One is that America, for all its bombast about freedom, doesn’t really practice what it preaches and secondly that Muslims, however moderate, are not welcome here. Both couldn’t make Al-Qaeda and the Taliban any happier. This contradiction has always been the Achilles Heel of the United States. Sometimes we are our own worst enemies and seem more bent on self-destruction than we are on self-improvement. One wonders if this disturbing trend is an echo of the past or a warning for the future.
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