John McCain has stepped back. We'll see how long it lasts, but after TV and radio ads run by his campaign that have accused Barak Obama of being "dangerous" and a"liar," McCain actually tried to douse some of his supporters' fire by saying that Obama is a "decent person and a person you do not have to be scared of as President of the United States." These remarks came at a "town hall"-style campaign rally that, like many others recently, featured heated rhetoric by the questioners, along with shouts of "traitor," "liar," "terrorist," and even "off with his head." So what are we to make of these outbursts? Frightened citizens wanting to protect their families, or desperate attempts by jaded Republicans to strike up some electoral fervor?
First off, lets identify those making these kinds of comments. One gentleman, shaking with rage, implored McCain to attack Obama strongly in the next debate because the "Socialists are taking over our country." This person obviously didn't know that the very man he was talking to had "suspended his campaign" to try to push through the biggest government buyout of the private sector since the 1930s. It doesn't get much more socialist than that. This may have been an appropriate sentiment at a Ron Paul rally. But the Republican party is no protector of free markets unless it suits them financially.
In another episode, a lady said "I don't trust Obama, I have read about him. He's an Arab." (I didn't hear the audio of the incident, but one can just imagine that it was pronounced ai-rab.) This woman apparently knows nothing about either physical or ethnic geography, not to mention nationality standards. In case she happens to read this, I'll explain:
Barak Obama's father was from Kenya. Kenya is a country in sub-Saharan East Africa. Obama's father (whom he was named after) was raised a muslim, but it is unclear if he remained active in that faith when he went to college in the U.S. The elder Obama was what is sometimes (and overly simply) termed, a "Black African." The Arabs, a long time ago, enlaved many Black Africans, just as the Europeans did. That is why many black Africans are Muslims today, just as many of African descent in the U.S. are christian. The Arabs and the Black Africans historically do not get along. You may have heard of a place called Darfur, where Arabs have been killing and raping Black Africans for a number of years, mostly because they can. Obama's mother was of European descent. Therefore, even if it was in any way meaningful, you are incorrect in your assertion that Obama is an Arab.
Sorry about the digression, but as you can see, we are not dealing with the sharpest bulbs on the porch here. Senator McCain and his campaign bear some responsibility for these kinds of sentiments. You run campaign commercials to convince people of your position. If your position, at least in your advertisements, is that someone is "dangerous" or a "liar," you are estopped, I think, from claiming to be surprised that some people believe it. It is possible that Senator McCain did not understand the visceral anger and hatred that these sentiments would elicit in people. But, if he was paying attention, he should have.
And now we come to the real culprits in this situation: the religious and reactionary right. I'm speaking of people like James Dobson and Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and Billy Graham, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and Bill O'Reilly. These individuals, and the organizations that support and give air to their views have constantly poisoned the public discourse with hateful and spite-filled rhetoric, not to mention half-truths and outright lies. They have told Americans time and again that their very "way of life*" is being threatened. They have warned that the fall of American Society, nay, Western Civilization itself, is imminent, that the "end is near**" and that it is all because of the liberals, and progressives, and homosexuals, and socialists, and their bosom buddies, the "activist judges***." So what is a partially-educated, red-blooded American who believes in god, mom, Chevrolet (or Ford), and apple pie to do?
Well, when a respected Senator, a war-hero, approves a message calling his opponent in the election "dangerous," our above hypothetical citizen takes him at his word. After all, it's just what all those "smart" people on the radio, TV, and the "intertubes" have been saying. If this Obama guy is the leader of all those things that are going to end with the destruction of everything these people hold dear, why wouldn't they be angry, and scared, and ready to do anything to stop him? It is the conservative movement, including behind-the-scenes movers like Dick Cheney and Karl Rove, that have set the stage for this kind of behavior. When you play on the basest emotions of people, on their fear, their uncertainty, their biological predisposition to dislike that which they don't understand or is not like them, then that is what you get. The basest reaction.
Let me be clear. I am not calling for a move to silence any of the above individuals, or anyone like them. The greatest right the U.S. Constitution grants us is to say stupid, mean-spirited, even ridiculous, things. But, we, as a society, as a public, should hold them accountable for the atmosphere they create. Call them names, laugh at their silliness, pity how small their thought. But always point out that it is they that are dangerous. If American society is going to fall, it is the conservative movement that will be the death of it. Because it is the conservative movement that doesn't understand what is good and right about America. That tolerance is not a political catch-word used when you find something distasteful but don't want to alienate. That you can disagree with someone's ideas, but not be physically threatened by them. That diversity, not homogeneity, is, and has been, the strength of America for over two-hundred years. That there is no "traditional family," only people trying to live as families, which is what has always been the case. That America is not, nor has it ever been a "christian nation," just a secular republic, founded on the ideals of the Enlightenment, that allowed christianity to attain the influence it now has. And that the American people will not always follow those base instincts of fear and hatred.
Perhaps John McCain has come to understand the danger of his rhetoric. I hope so. Because as the original Johnny Dangerously said: "I never should have picked a name like that. A name like that you gotta live up to."
Too true.
Legend:
* "Way of life" means a mythical nirvana where every set of two attractive (white) heterosexual parents raised two children, who grew up to be a doctor and a lawyer and took care of their parents in their golden years.
**The end is near" must be interpreted in light of the bible, in which near can mean any time between Jesus' death and whenever god gets around to it.
***an "activist judge" is defined as any judge who won't change the ideas found in the Constitution to agree with those set out by a tribe of bronze age nomad goat herders.
