Saturday, October 11, 2008

Fear and hate at Republican Rallies --Toward Transformation?





Friends, Family,

This deeply saddens me. It is frightening. So, how to tune this out? Is it responsible or irresponsible to forward such messages? Responsible or irresponsible to tune in or out?

The news coverage linked above and in my friend Reggie's message below, features a compilation of (mostly) Gov. Palin's rally's where she repeats this hate-speech, over and over and over again.

I don't know...I think it's fair to call it "hate speech" --when you intentionally refer to another as a terrorist and knowingly work to incite the anger of a crowd....Evoking responses like, "treason" and "kill [Obama]"....

Yea. It's deeply disturbing, and as Reggie says, "scares me in a profound way."

What can I do? To combat fear? Not perpetuate terror?
NOT FEAR?
BE LOVE?
ACT COMPASSIONATELY?
PRAY?
STAY VIGILANT?

Vigilance seems, to me, so fear-based in my mind, but what if my prayers were vigilant prayers? To be tuned into love, transformation, hope, the truth, and simply trust that this kind of stuff doesn't hold, doesn't last, isn't sustainable, since it's not rooted in love....

Prayerfully,
Melissa

--- On Fri, 10/10/08, Reggie Prim <reggie.prim@gmail.com wrote:
Dear Friends,

I have not previously sent out any political messages during this campaign, as I know you've seen plenty. However, I have been concerned in the past week about the dangerous turn of events at republican rallies. Inciting hatred and violence are extremely dangerous tactics and are deeply anti-democratic. This scares me in a profound way. Please watch this video and share this with friends. There are historical precedents to this kind of rhetoric that are extremely dangerous. We must remain vigilant and demand that this stop.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXs_u4f2ZD8

Thanks,
Reggie

Here's a quote worth noting...
"What [Palin] does bring [to the political arena] is a noteworthy skill with extreme, often violent populism. As a result, she has succeeded at creating intense loyalty to her personally, and deep antipathy for Sen. Obama--also on a personal level. And while this populism has succeeded only amongst small core of the Republican base, the fervency of Palin's supporters has been amplified a thousand times over by the obsessive media coverage that she enjoys.

So, Sarah Palin is not 'fascist,' but that does not mean her language and her events have not had a dangerous impact on our democracy.

Beyond adding populism to the campaign trail, Palin has also done something else: she has re-framed the McCain campaign in violent terms--terms that had been used predominantly by right-wing shock pundits on TV and radio."

Jeffrey Feldman
Palin Rallies Ignite Widespread Talk of 'Fascism'

Posted October 10, 2008 | 12:08 PM (EST)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeffrey-feldman/palin-rallies-ignite-wide_b_133621.html

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I’m going to keep my comments to myself on this one…..

Thanks for sending this out Melis…..God forbid ANYTHING should happen to Obama because of bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep.

Anonymous said...

GOP Rep says Palin should stop:

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1008/14467.html

Anonymous said...

She's only as powerful as the idiots who follow her. She and McCain can't do anything on their own. People should know better than to swallow this bullshit, and I think there are more of us who see through it than idiots who don't.

That's my take!

Queen Mab said...

"She's only as powerful as the idiots who follow her." - David
Yep!

And it only takes one idiot to assassinate a really good person. There's hate and hate and more hate and fear and fear and more fear, no matter what. We have the choice: to fuel the hate and fear, or be about the love and hope.

It makes me beyond sad to glean this kind of work, energy, from our leaders, (or wanna -be -elected leaders.) It's so much like Bush, I could almost fall down and die from despair.

But I won't. Because I love and hope and am doing my own positive thing, as much as possible. And Obama is winning.

Smooches!
(Yes, sending kisses out, electronic or otherwise,is one simple way to be LOVE!)
Big smiles,
Melissa

AletaMay said...

I really worry that these people have been so riled up and are so frightened that after Obama wins the election they will become extremely dangerous.

I have found all of this so very discouraging.