Summary: Obama’s election brought hope for a new era of race relations in America. Instead we appear to be starting another downward part of the long cycle. As usual, these things just don’t happen — and bad relations work well for the 1%. Today we look at some of the ugly propaganda that guides American in the 21st century (so similar to that of the 19th and 20th C). This is the 2nd in a series of posts showing how we’re losing America.
The aide {Karl Rove} said that guys like me were ”in what we call the reality-based community,” which he defined as people who ”believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.” I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism.
He cut me off. ”That’s not the way the world really works anymore,” he continued. ”We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”
— Karl Rove, as quoted in “Faith, Certainty and the Presidency of George W. Bush” by Ron Suskind, New York Times Magazine, 17 October 2004.
One of the momentous and astonishing aspects of our time is that conservative leaders have erected a Potemkin village for their followers, and gotten them to move in. A fake history (e.g., the failures of FDR, we won in Vietnam excerpt for a “stab in the back” by peaceniks). A fake economics (e.g., cutting taxes usually increases tax revenue). A fake science (e.g., creationism, climate science is fraud). Over time they’re moving further away from reality. Divorcing people from mainstream and authoritative sources is a reliable tool of social control (effectively used, for example, by cults). This probably will not end well for America.
διαίρει καὶ βασίλευ.
— ‘Divide and rule’, attributed to Philip II of Macedon (332-386 BC).
Today we look at an example showing they build myths in the minds of their flock, and lead them. In this case, playing on people’s deep fear of the “other”. The economic stress on blue collar demographic creates pressures with no outlets, as they don’t see the 1% in its protected enclaves — and have been taught that their gradual impoverishment is just — as their ancestors believed in the divine right of Kings. If the pressure grew without outlet we might get new political alliances and perhaps even change.
So they’re given myths (ideally based on exaggerations instead of fiction) creating enemies to fear. Such as Islamic fundamentalists abroad (rebelling against their corrupt, oppressive western-backed governments), so they can feel vicarious satisfaction from our bombing and killing.
But who to use as enemies at home? We don’t have the long deep history of antisemitism that’s served European elites so well. But America has an almost as deeply rooted racism, that’s served the same role as well for so long. It’s easily exploited using tried and proven methods, but the process is not pretty.
“First and Always Protect Womanhood”
— KKK motto, written on banners carried at their marches.
The fear of powerful young “bucks” (i.e, blacks as animals) rampaging through the streets, threatening property and white virgins, evokes a visceral fear in many Americans (as the sight of a Black president evokes terror and disorientation). Careful mining of the news and videos creates the raw material for a bonfire of racial fear. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands of articles and videos like these on the Internet. Here are some from more respectable sources (i.e., “respectable”).
- “Black Mob Violence Now a Sickness“, Colin Flaherty, American Thinker, 26 November 2014 — They run many articles on this theme (see them here).
- “Top 200 Black Mob Violence Videos” at the “White Girl Bleed a Lot” website (promoting Colin Flaherty’s book (see below), undated (July 2013?).
- “Hundreds of black ‘young folks’ battle cops. Mob runs wild for 90 minutes in mall parking lot.“, WND, 26 December 2013.
- “Black Mob Violence in Rochester: Get Used To It“, Colin Flaherty, FrontPage, 9 January 2014.
- “Black mob violence: Ferguson is part of an epidemic“, Kimberly Morin, Examiner.com, 28 November 2014.
Colin Flaherty is a key figure in this, an entrepreneur of racial hatred. He wrote ‘White Girl Bleed A Lot’: The Return of Racial Violence to America and How the Media Ignore It
A reminder from history
There have been race riots aplenty by both Blacks and Whites in our past. But these stories about Black Americans are have been justifications for horrific acts in our past, among the most serious acts of mob violence in our history. Such as the thousands of Blacks lynched by White mobs.
Even more tellingly about the social role of White mob violence, when Blacks formed prosperous self-sufficient communities Whites found trumped-up incidents to justify burning them to the ground. Such as the destruction in 1921 of the Greenwood District of Tulsa OK — the wealthiest black community in America at that time, also known as “the Black Wall Street”. And the leveling of Rosewood FL in 1923.
For more current information about extremist groups and hate crimes see the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Posts in this series showing that we’re losing America
- More evidence that we’re losing America. It’s not too late to act.
- Stories about a rising tide of black mob violence!
For More Information
See the posts about the Ferguson incident and the following protests. Also see these posts about racism:
- Tribalism and racism are the 1%’s best friends, as we see in the shooting of Trayvon Martin.
- Fighting America’s dark side. Fighting against those seeking to divide and weaken us.
- Well-funded organizations inciting us to hate & fear, again. How gullible are we?
- A look into the GOP mind: untethered from reality and drifting in the wind.
- Swarms of hate against Obama and George Will, peasants’ protests in New America.
- Examples of blind allegiance to tribal truths, keeping us weak & ignorant.
What if we were able to look at things from a different perspective- one of empathy and understanding for both ourselves and the “other”?
Recently, I’ve been reading Serene Jones ‘s Trauma and Grace: Theology in a Ruptured World.
“This substantive collection of essays by Serene Jones explores recent works in the field of trauma studies. Central to its overall theme is an investigation of the myriad ways both individual and collective violence affect one’s capacity to remember, to act, and to love; how violence can challenge theological understandings of grace; and even how the traumatic experience of Jesus’ death is remembered. Of particular interest is Jones’s focus on the long-term effects of collective violence on abuse survivors, war veterans, and marginalized populations, and the discrete ways in which grace and redemption might be exhibited in each context. At the heart of each essay are two deeply interrelated faith-claims that are central to Jones’s understanding of Christian theology: first, we live in a world profoundly broken by violence; second, God loves this world and desires that suffering be met by words of hope, of love, and of grace. This truly cutting-edge book is the first trauma study to directly take into account theological issues.”
Mike,
But how would more empathy and understanding help the 1% keep their wealth and power, let alone gain more? Answer that and perhaps they’ll fund a campaign to help you. Otherwise they’ll be your foes.
It seems in your rush to post some white-guilt factoids you forgot to post links to actual statistics. Start with black on white murders, then move on through the felonies and rapes. Choose whichever sources you deem to be most reliable. Compare current day to say 1900 and 1950 as a baseline. Then compare and contrast the #’s with the “thousands” of lynchings. You’ll see that black on white murders alone has killed many orders of magnitude more whites every single year – don’t censor or edit this post: that is fact. For good measure post the demographics of your neighborhood from the NY Times 2010 Census tool so we can get a good sense of how close to reality you live.
Donny,
Let’s take this by the numbers!
(1) “start with black on white murders, then move on through the felonies and rapes. Choose whichever sources you deem to be most reliable. Compare current day to say 1900 and 1950 as a baseline.”
You seem unclear how debate works. You don’t tell people to do research. If you wish to do rebuttal, then you show the supporting data. Also, do these numbers even exist? We get them today from the National Crime Victimization Survey, which started in 1973.
(2) “Then compare and contrast the #’s with the “thousands” of lynchings.”
That’s a category error, comparing apples (mob violence in the past) and oranges (violent crime today) . Yes, a subset is always smaller than the whole. Also, remember to use per capita numbers for historical comparisons. The population of the US was 75 million in 1900, it’s over 4x that now.
(3) “You’ll see that black on white murders alone has killed many orders of magnitude more whites every single year”
The FBI data shows that there were 409 homicides in 2013 with Black offenders and White victims. That’s one order of magnitude less than the victims of lynchings, even before adjusting for population growth. I don’t know the per capita rate of White on Black homicides during the 1880 – 1930 era. But it’s clear that your statement is false.
There were 189 cases of White on Black homicide. So Black on White homicide is 2x more than White on Black, also not “orders of magnitude” more.
Your statement is grossly false, by either perspective.
Donny,
Here’s another perspective on the questions you asked. From the WaPo, 25 November 2014.
[caption id="attachment_79456" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
WaPo, 25 Nov 2014[/caption]
I don’t have time to get into a battle of statistics. Danny, what do you think we do? What actions should taken about the problem? I’m not saying I’m agreeing with your position.
Ben,
“What actions should taken about the problem?”
What is the problem you refer to?
It appears to be me that Danny is suggesting that black on white violence is the real problem.
Ben,
Since Donny’s claim of an “orders of magnitude” difference is clearly false, I don’t understand why you care about his recommendations. The WaPo graph illustrates this even more clearly than the numbers I cite. My link goes to the 2013 FBI report; their table is quite clear.
His claim reflects the very propaganda this post discusses. I thought I have to pay Central Casting to send someone here to illustrate this, but we got a volunteer.
Fabious I find it intersting to see what people suggest to solution to a problem even if I don’t think they are right. If for instance I said that the solution to global warming was to shoot every third person. You would rightfully think I’m a lunatic. I think it tells you something about how the person thinks.
Ben,
Thank you for explaining. That is a brilliant insight!
Actually, blacks are going out of their way not to kill whites. If whites are 70% of the population therefore whites should be 70% of black murder victims, not just 8%.
i know there are many injustices and all, im not advocating them, but for it to be a per capita analysis, I would think that you would take into account the killers, and not the killed
In fact, I propose white America should institute a “Hug a Thug” day. Run down to MLK BLVD and show your appreciation for their discretion!
The article and the comments make for some interesting reading. Unfortunately the most important aspect of today’s race relations is nowhere in sight. The need to improve race relations by working towards racial unity and striving for racial harmony to achieve a Color Kind America. Where Is Love
Doug,
“Unfortunately the most important aspect of today’s race relations is nowhere in sight.”
Yes, but perhaps too optimistic. Are we going in the opposite direction? Such things are different to determine. There are probably surveys that answer this. Does anyone know of any?
FM asks: Yes, but perhaps too optimistic. Are we going in the opposite direction? Such things are different [sic: difficult?] to determine.
We have some data. Violence of all kinds has plummeted in America since the 1990s — the experts don’t know why, but the decline is drastic, sustained, and real. This applies to black-on-black violence and black-on-white violence and white-on-black violence. All categories of violence in America are way down per capita over the last 20 years. Some scientists suggest legalizing abortion is responsible (single women aren’t having unwanted children who grow up in broken homes and compensate by joining gangs); other scientists have proposed that removing lead from gasoline is responsible (high lead levels retard child cognitive development, causing children to drop out of school and become unemployable, thus turning to crime).
According to Bureau of Justice statistics, from 1976 to 2005, 86% of white murder victims were killed by other whites, while 94% of black murder victims were killed by other blacks. The statistics show that murder is overwhelmingly intraracial in America.
An important issue not discussed by proponents of the “violent black bucks” narrative is that drug arrests in America overwhelmingly target blacks. Likewise, statistics show that black students are disciplined much more harshly than white students or committing the same offenses. This leads to higher dropout rates per capita or blacks and much higher incarceration rates per capita. Once incarcerated, it becomes extremely hard for an ex-felon get a legitimate job in America after release, and this means that blacks get pushed by the U.S. justice system toward lives of crime and perpetual incarceration. See Five crime myths debunked for details Also see “Everyone does drugs, but only minorities are punished for it,” vox.com, 1 July 2014.
State-by-state legalization of some rugs is now underway, and represents a hopeful sign or race relations. ewer illegal drugs means less drug offenses for police to target blacks with. Sentencing reform has now been introduced or mandatory minimums or drugs disproportionately use by black offenders. “Drug sentences for black men were 13.1 percent longer than drug sentences for white men between 2007 and 2009, according to a 2012 report from the US Sentencing Commission.” (source: op. cit.) The most glaring disparity was the sentencing difference for powder as opposed to crack cocaine; crack is most often found in black communities, while power cocaine is typically use by whites. That disparity has now been partially corrected. (“In 2010, Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act (FSA), which reduced the sentencing disparity between offenses for crack and powder cocaine from 100:1 to 18:1.” Source: ACLU website, “fair sentencing act.”)
So there are a number of encouraging signs. Overall decline in violent crime, some sentencing reform, a move toward drug legalization, not to mention the election of the first black president. Progress seems slow but steady. “Use of most drugs other than marijuana has not changed appreciably over the past decade or has declined.” Source: NIDA at http://www.drugabuse.gov. All these trends make it much harder to sustain the “violent black drug-abusing killers” narrative favored by racists.
The big question: if things are getting better, why does the American believe crime is getting worse? If statistics prove that murder in America is overwhelmingly intraracial, why does the American public believe it’s mainly inter-racial? If overall drug use and violent crime is down over the last 30 years, why is per capita incarceration (targeting blacks disproportionately) in America up?
Thomas,
The question Doug raised was not about crime rates. He asked about “working towards racial unity and striving for racial harmony”. Crime rates are one aspect of this, but only a small part. We deal with people of other races every day, but seldom if ever (for most of us) in a criminal context: as neighbors, as voters, as business associates, as fellow students and volunteers.
A year or so ago, I had the experience of spending 32 hours in the Clayton County, Ga jail. ( I had a 45 Glock in my carry on bag in the Atlanta Airport, but that’s another story)
Clayton County is the newest African tribal province in North American. It is politically controlled from top to bottom by a local black elite class, the Sheriff is black, the deputies are black, and the criminal justice system is black. More power to them, they got the votes, they got the power.
I was put in a very, very small and very very cold holding cell with 19 young black men from the age of 16 to maybe 23, one mexican hit man, and two of the dumbest rednecks imaginable (three, if you include me).
Sixteen of the young blacks were just your typical goofie young males, black or white. They had been swept off the streets of Clayton County that same day, and charged with things like too dark of windows on their car, or having a half of a joint under the rear seat. The other three were serious psychos, and damned dangerous hombres.
As near as I could tell, their little trip through that black controlled criminal justice system was was going to generate around $2,500 per head of revenue for the local criminal justice system.
(bail, fees, fines,probation supervision fees, etc.) So that was $40K of revenue off of my holding cell alone. I think they had three more cells going at the same time. That doesn’t include the $5,000, it cost me. So that was approximately $160,000 out of one day’s take. It is a pretty lucrative government racket.
As with the majority of things in life, it is all about the money$$$$$$. The American criminal justice system has become a system to suck as much money out of the lower social classes as possible in particular. It doesn’t matter which race runs the system, the $$$motivation is the same. I would guess that justice is somewhere around 5 on the system’s priority list.
JB,
Thanks for the first person account of our really criminal justice system. See the many posts with equally or more horrific stories about “justice” in America.
As with so many aspect of America today, it’s back to the future. We going to a system of High, Middle and Low Justice – separate justice for the inner party, the outer party, and the proles. The 1% exist almost outside the system.
My impression is that while many blacks (perhaps as high as 50%?) have moved up the economic hierarchy since the 60s, due to “opportunity programs”, including improved educational attainment and hiring regulations, the ones that were “left behind” are faced with an incredible struggle.
http://www.c-span.org/video/?323799-4/washington-journal-former-representatives-martin-frost-dtx-tom-davis-rva
Both major parties use race to galvanize their bases and dominate the election process via extremist rhetoric in primary elections. Due to gerrymandering by both parties, most of the time the election is really over by the time people vote in the general election, in other words, the outcome is usually pre-determined by the manipulation of demographics, including race.
Conclusion, the Democratic Party (or at least its liberal apparatchik element) helps a significant number of blacks rise up in the state-corporate plutocratic system, but not all.
My experience as a labor activist is that liberal partisan blacks are extremely vicious in defending the system that elevated them, and they will use illegal organizational means and as much psychological violence (bullying) as is needed to marginalize any non-conforming viewpoints. A soviet politburo type atmosphere prevails (group think, scapegoating) where PC whites and black political partisans form a coalition, along with some hispanics and asians, native americans, feminists, GLBTQxs, etc.
No one other than far right wing lunatics (who have little or nothing to lose) is usually willing to challenge the politically correct “race card” politics used by the black bullies and their allies.
One of the results is the labor unions continue to suffer from internal corruption and dysfunction, to the glee of their opponents.
re: Postmodern (PoMo), or “green meme” pluralism
The spread of postmodern culture after WWII was largely a function of the shift from work being done on farms and in small shops or factories (“blue collar”), to offices (“white collar”), and the corresponding massive increase in attainment of undergraduate and post-baccalaureate degrees by students from poor, working and middle class families.
One of the primary characteristics of PoMo culture is pluralism, or the “celebration of diversity”, including tolerance for racial and ethnic minorities, religious minorities, gender and sexual orientation equity, concern for structural inequality, including class stratification, etc.
One of the odd characteristics of the circumstances of PoMo culture is that it also involves a move away from traditional “mythic communal” beliefs, such as patriarchy and religious ethics, at the same time increasing individualism, narcissism and nihilism (on both the left and right!).
Some social theorists ,such as Jeremy Rifkin, hope to redeem PoMo culture by placing its economic basis more firmly in “healthy” categories of ecologically sustainable, local production. their idea is that once there is a economic scaffold that supports local, green culture, then the pluralist roots of PoMo/green culture can be transplanted from “unhealthy” capitalist-plutocratic soil to the “healthy” sustainable soil. They terminology is that PoMo/green culture will be based on the “We space”, not the “I space”. In spiritual terms, the sociology of communal values will be “liberated” from both the oppressive features of mythic religion, and the lack of meaning and purpose in the dystopian vision of social progress via capitalism and centralized techno-bureaucracy.
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