I had to attend to some family matters over the past few days, so I was unable to respond to several other comments on the blog that featured this photo of Mrs. Obama:
Me Claimable Ho
I don't understand how someone who had the intelligence and insight to write this:
"The atmosphere throughout the blogosphere is malignant. It is bound to have a deleterious effect on our health both mental and physical, if we remain involved with it much longer. The blogs have become nothing but a repository for childish hatred, extreme cynicism, insolence, bilious rhetoric, malevolence, spite, and lunacy."
would put up a post with no purpose other than to mock, malign, slander, smear denigrate, insult, demean, and debase Michelle Obama. There's no humor in implying with a specially selected anagram of her name that the First Lady of the United States is either a whore or like a whore. Everyone with a functioning brain knows what the word "Ho" stands for, and especially what it insinuates when placed under the photo of a black woman.
As I said in one of my comments, Mrs. Obama is a loving wife and mother who has comported herself with grace, intelligence, and good humor as our First Lady.
I wonder how humorous the people on the right would find it if anyone placed an unflattering photo of either Laura Bush or Nancy Reagan with the word "Ho" under it.
What is the purpose of engaging in something as base as that with this First Lady? The only explanation I can come to is that it is a deliberate attempt at "putting her in her place." And what motivates that sort of sneering degradation of a woman [who has done nothing more than embrace a cause, as all first ladies do, and promote it]--what motivates that sort of venom can only be guessed at. And it's just horribly depressing to think about what the underlying motive really is.
Unfortunately when people engage in such character assassination just for the fun of it, the result is just more childish hatred, extreme cynicism, insolence, bilious rhetoric, malevolence, spite, and lunacy, we all wish were not part of our attempt at talking to each other.
29 comments:
I left my several comments at Free Thinke's blog. I haven't the energy to repeat them.
Good post Shaw.
The self-righteous are generally not introspective. They can be quick to outrage when they perceive hatred, malevolence, spite, etc. on the other side, yet blindly indulge in it themselves, with no sense of irony.
On right-wing sites, Mrs. Obama is routinely a target for abuse as vile as that directed against the President. I'm baffled at what they have against her specifically, unless it's just an extension of the need to tear down any black person occupying a respected position.
Here's the thing, Shaw. Essentially it's a racist reaction to a bi-racial president and an African-American first lady. We've read all the reports on how the white conservative male is going to be a minority very soon. This is his last grasp as trying to make himself feel potent, when soon he and all of his fellow bigots will become politically impotent.
He deserves pity more than anger. Remember never assign to malice what can more easily be explained by stupidity. They have nothing else to fight the change with, so they indulge in mocking and debasing a black woman.
In years to come, Americans will laugh at their puny attempts to stop the changes that are most assuredly coming, that have already come to this country.
And Obamacare will be among those changes that they will fail to stop.
Cha-cha-cha-changes! They'll all be left behind, licking their bloddy paws.
For someone who likess to think of himself as well-bred, above the masses sort of person, and a good Christian, his blog post mocking and insulting the first lady is a shocking example of low character. There is no humor in implying the First Lady of the United States is a whore. This is how the lower classes express themselves when they dislike someone or something. I'd expect this from a gutter-dwelling wino, not a refined, educated person.
Intelligence, education, and refinement can take one only so far. Acquiring wisdom is by far more important and thus valuable.
M. Fischer, I don't agree that the person who published the post on making fun of Mrs. O and suggesting that she's a "Ho" is of low character. Rather, I think at times he lets his hatred of the First Family cloud his judgement.
Off topic, but it has to be said:
Homeland Security confirms that right wing groups have been deliberately launching cyber attacks against the ACA website. Which qualify as acts of terror. Goes right along with what was reported earlier about what groups REALLY sponsor the vast majority of domestic terrorist acts. They are financed by a small group of the uber wealthy, and goaded on by a group of extremist clergymen and white supremacists. I know I am a prophet crying in the wilderness, but the Tea Party and their Patriot Movement ilk are dangerous extremists with no real regard for democracy or the constitution. If you really want to see what these people are about, google dominionism or christian reformation movement.
Shaw, I like you chose not to believe he is of low character. I am however puzzled why someone of his intelligence, education, cultured background, and basic decency would post something like he did or hate the First Lady or her children. I understand the dislike for the President's politics and policies.
All you have to do is read the comments at that blog to see the type of cretins that are attracted to posts that make fun of Michelle Obama. Who would want to be in that sort of company anyway? Nasty, brutish folks enjoy each others company. Talk about a snake pit.
More like a sewer.
Thanks Shaw... what I encountered there, and the fact that Free chose not to intervene, shows how much some on the right value real discourse.
It used to be if someone said certain language offended them, the person, or people using that language respected the wishes of that person, and apologized.
Nowadays, all bets are off. The internet, with its anonymity has given everyone a free pass to use language that would stun their grandmothers.
Sadly, I am wondering if and when we ever have another Republican FLOTUS, what the left will do.
WIll they tell her to shut up? Will they post the most unflattering pictures? Will they incessantly mock her and make up nicknames for her?
And will the malcontented people on the right who in the last few years have claimed that first lady's have no business addressing anything, because they are not elected, hold them to the same standard?
We'll see...
We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be. ~ Kurt Vonnegut, 'Mother Night'
ok... I think FT is merely a prentender who is not sure who he wishes to pretend to be. A terribly inconsistent writer and commenter.
re: right wing blogs.... the few times I have gone to some, I find them rather drearily boring. Almost as if they are deliberetly striving to be supermarket tabloids. ....so it goes.
okjimm, Vonnegut is one of my favorite writers, and I've often posted the quote in your comment. Wasn't there another one from "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater" that said, "Damn it, but kind to each other?"
I think that was from the note he wrote to the newborn twins...
The comments on the hate-fest blogpost for Michelle Obama are depressing. The best thing to do when one confronts that level of bile and malignity is to stay away.
I've learned a few useful things in life, and one of them is that happy people don't engage in such things. I'm sorry that so many of the people posting in those comments are so desperately unhappy with their lives.
Poh-Tee-Weet!
Dave,
I was most definitely NOT a George Bush supporter during his 8 disastrous years in office, but that disagreement with his policies never led to my trashing and maligning Laura Bush or her daughters.
Why so many rightwing blogs spend so much of their time slandering her is a mystery.
My hunch is that people feel powerless, and what better way for them to pretend they have some control over their lives than by maligning and demeaning a woman who isn't on those blogs to defend herself.
It's actually quite cowardly, but it's what they do to pretend they're in charge.
The good news is that Michelle Obama will be our First Lady for the next three years, and there's nothing they can do to change it.
, "Damn it, but kind to each other?"
"Damn it, BE kind to each other."
okjimm, here's another Vonnegut quote that helps explain the hate phenomenon that engulfs the rightwing blogsphere:
“They do not love one another because they do not love themselves.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five
..Poh-Tee-Weet!//
indeed :)
,,,,
"Damn it, BE kind t,,,o each other."
ya, more indeedieness on that too.
,,,,maybe if we could tax nastiness...folks would at least try kindness a bit more. ok, one more before I need to go....
Richard Brautian~
“Karma Repair Kit Items 1-4.
1.Get enough food to eat,
and eat it.
2.Find a place to sleep where it is quiet,
and sleep there.
3.Reduce intellectual and emotional noise
until you arrive at the silence of yourself,
and listen to it.
4, "
More indeediness, okjimm!
Shucks, shaw, the wingnuts call it "worshipping Michelle" if you don't call her a "Ho," and run ugly photos of her on your blog.
And Michelle worshipper? They say that as if it was a bad thing!
She is beautiful, smart, and very, very likable.
For the first time in my life, I'm proud of who our FLOTUS is!
heh.
Wow Mr. Cucumber, born in 2009 and so well written already. Amazing!
F.T. has the right to post whatever he wants. That's free speech. And others have the right to criticize his choice to malign and humiliate the First Lady of the United States of America in photos and nasty names.
"Ho," indeed.
If FT or his fans are feeling outraged at the reaction by left leaning people, then they should look deep within their dark and nasty souls at what it was that instigated this attack on our African-American First Lady.
No one wanted to stop FT from exposing himself in this sad display of pettiness and bad manners.
We certainly can learn a lot about what sort of character a person possesses by how he or she behaves toward people they disagree with.
This goes both ways, BTW.
There is nothing "both ways" when a character disorder masquerades under the guise of partisanship. The self-serving contradictions, rage reactions, calling attention to oneself, incivility, and callous disregard ... all signs and symptoms and predicable outcomes of narcissism. It was merely a matter of time before this became palpably obvious to everyone.
Octo... in concurrence. It is also...and I have said it before....the worse sin is that it truly is boring. It reminds me, some of the rantings of the extreme right, of the Flat Earth Society
http://www.alaska.net/~clund/e_djublonskopf/Flatearthsociety.htm
there is some 'amusement' in perusing...but it soon grows repetitve and trite. Yes, some of the more erroneous reactions from that group should be refuted and countered... but...it makes more sense to take actions that could have more effect than to continue to rail against such limited thought processes displayed on some of the blogs.
You're correct, okjimm. It is predictable and boring, and it is also very juvenile to make fun of a woman's physical appearance.
But the rightwing blogs and their commenters revel in this childishness. Tearing down and mocking the First Lady is their favorite pastime.
Can you imagine a more boring and unimaginative group of people?
//Can you imagine a more boring and unimaginative group of people? //
well... there are Chicago Bear fans....and there is a slim book called, "The Wit and Widsom of North Dakotans". All two pages of it.
I have a notion that many use her as a surrogate to attack Barack. In some ways she bothers them as much as he does.... intelligent, educated, good looking, meaningful. AND BLACK. Scares them, it does...so they use cheap petty humor attempts to allay what they fear most; that which the cannot understand.
Tea Party is actually too nice a term. I enjoy a good cup of Earl Greay... they are Flat Earthers... afraid, afraid... that they m,ay fall off.
"Boring" is not my choice of word.
Okjimm, have you even been faced with this dilemma? You have a very close friend who is being abused by a newfound acquaintance, and you don't know how to intervene.
You witness the abuse daily, weekly, month after month; and you ask yourself this: If the newfound acquaintance disrespects her core beliefs, offends her friends, and insults her readers and supporters, then how can subject acquaintance be considered a friend of your friend!
Furthermore, when subject acquaintance states fondness and affection for your friend in a blatantly fixated and unwholesome manner, then you have even more reason for concern.
You suffer in silence with knowledge that subject acquaintance is a consummate narcissist who thrives on - ravenously hungers for - constant adulation and attention.
You know well in advance the inevitable outcome when subject acquaintance will betray your friend - when she no longer feeds his grandiosity and he becomes bored or angry and finds any flimsy excuse to devalue her.
Inevitably his unwholesome affection for her turns into hate without reason or mercy.
Shallow flash-in-the-pan that he is, he will rationalize this betrayal with public ridicule of your friend while placing himself on a pedestal of self-glorification.
This is NOT a story about politics or partisan debate; the real story is about a pathological personality victimizing your friend.
Octo... I guess my point is/was... that most of the blatant writing on some of the right wing blogs is ...a ridiculous begging for attention. Somewhat like a class clown that thinks overtly crass behavior is amusing because the rest of the class laughs in a nervous way.
Yes, it is pathological, but in that disorder the class clown cannot discern any reality, only that they are getting attention. FT seems to fit. He strikes me as a very lonely, aging individual ... who finds himself crumbling.
Social networking has given so many a voice to broadcast the most inane thoughts, words.
as McLuhan forecast...it is the medium that has become the message. I will not acknowledge those who use the medium for no other purpose than attention. They share no amusement, no thoughts, no feelings...they give nothing to enrich anyone's live.... empty people.
Yes... I have seen this behavior in 'meat-time', real life. There it is easier to take concrete steps to stop the behavior. The best being... to ignore them...to just walk away. Call them a jerk as you do, insure that they can harm no others, destroy any cxredence they may have...but do not feed them. It is what they want...the only thing they want.
Now, it may not always work...but ... it is a hurt, to be ignored. Ignore them, delete them...it is a tactic.
Okjimm,
I noticed a typo in my last comment (above). I had intended to type the word "ever" instead of "even" which changed the sentence from innocuous to strident. Not want I intended at all, I hope you were not put off. My apologies.
Acknowledged, your point about pushing the envelop on outrageous behavior in Cyberspace. In recent years, there has been a marked tendency to push all standards of civil discourse further into the wilderness.
Meek Walter Mitty types who act vicariously - and anonymously - on the Internet: Bigots, bullies, cultists, garden variety egotists, misfits and malcontents, misogynists, predators, radical rednecks, right wing sycophants, spam bots, and trolls. Annoying and cloying as they are, they are easily dispatched with a quick "delete." I couldn't agree more.
With respect to subject acquaintance, and the subject of this post, I said what needed to be said and hope the matter is now closed.
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