Monday, April 13, 2009

Tea and Mad-foolery

With Tea-Day at minus two days and counting, the organizers are busily trying to establish their grass-roots creds today. They're trying to draw an analogy between Move-On's support for the anti-war protests and FreedomWatch's exploitation of the gullible GOP base to create a new wedge issue for purely partisan reasons. The obvious difference is that anti-war demonstrators were rallying around a clear cause and the tea parties have no defined purpose other than establishing a false narrative and harassing a Democratic President.

The anti-war movement didn't have a major television station and all its star anchors promoting the rallies for weeks on end, much less guest hosting them. Hell, the media wouldn't even cover them and to the extent they were forced to mention them, repeatedly minimized the number of attendees. Keith Olbermann didn't headline $500 a plate fundraisers for anti-war marches. Glen Beck is doing that and how many *regular folks* can afford to attend that kind of event?

These tea parties look to me like little more than a GOP fundraiser. Even FreedomWatch is cashing in on the tshirt concession. Always a sure-fire moneymaker. The base does love their tshirts. But beyond that, what's the end goal? The anti-war movement wanted to end a war. So what do the teabaggers want? Do they think they will scare the politicians into abolishing taxes altogether? Do they believe they going to destroy socialism, or Marxism, or whatever imaginary demon they're battling?

With all the hyping done by Fox, I expect attendance will be pretty good, so they won't feel so alone but when the party is over, these people will still be in the minority. A majority of Americans trust Obama to deal with the economy. It may make the discontents feel good to wear their snarky t-shirts and wave tea bags around to show that they're mad as hell, about something. But to most of the world, they're going to look -- just mad.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]

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8 Comments:

Blogger Capt. Fogg said...

I don't have a clue what they're angry about - if Obama's tax plan goes into effect, they will save money. If the Bush temporary cut expires, the top tax rate will still be near historical lows and if a 40% top rate is tyranny, than what about when it used to be 90% and we didn't have the boom-bust cycle that we get each and every time the top rate goes below 50%

ARe these people, stupid, ignorant, insane or just a pack of liars. [sigh] yes, that's a rhetorical question.

5:17:00 PM  
Blogger Libby Spencer said...

I'm sure you already know the answer to that Fogg. And it's pretty clear that what they're really mad about is they think the dirty effin hippies are winning.

6:19:00 PM  
Blogger Cosa Nostradamus said...

.
A look at the current blazing astro-turf situation in an already-Third World country might be instructive. Former Thai Premier Thaksin, ousted years ago for blatant corruption, is using his stolen moolah to bankroll a "popular" uprising that has now claimed several lives in Bangkok. Rupert Murdoch is watching attentively. Where's that damned Patriot Act? I had it a minute ago!
.

5:44:00 AM  
Blogger Libby Spencer said...

The irony is, if Bush was still in office they would be arrested for wearing those t-shirts and confined to "free speech" zones behind chain link fences.

10:21:00 AM  
Blogger Natch Greyes said...

Does anyone know what the #Teaparty is about other than corporate/GOP greed? I've posted an article about it but I honestly cannot tell you what they're about.

1:42:00 PM  
Blogger Frog said...

I recently blogged about these BS tea parties on my blog under "Goodbye Cancer."

This is a preposterous attempt at making a change and they all know that, they simply want to complain about Obama and/or liberals and/or people that disagree with them.

For a multitude of reasons these people are less then intelligent, reasons I detail on my blog.

TheFrogBlogg.blogspot.com

2:05:00 PM  
Blogger Mycos said...

Heya Frog, Libby... All. Have you seen these links regarding the conservative (= authoritarian) personality? I never tire of reading through them. ;-)

"Persons who had a dogmatic belief in religions and adhered to the teachings of absolutist and perfectionistic religious groups, tended to be more frequently and more intensely emotionally disturbed than those who followed less dogmatic religion (Ellis, 1986). Authoritarianism and religious fundamentalism were positively correlated, with scores on authoritarianism significantly related to ethnic and racial prejudice, hostility toward homosexuals, and punitiveness in prison sentencing (Wylie & Forest, 1992). According to Parker (1990), dogmatism and orthodox belief were incompatible with ethical acuity.

Excerpt: "Change in the Conservative Personality Equals Change in the Offender with a Resultant Reduction in Recidivism"

http://www.doc.state.ok.us/offenders/ocjrc/95/950725C.HTM
http://tinyurl.com/csye92

Or: "Studies explain so much about these people. Yes, the research shows they are very aggressive, but why are they so hostile? Yes, experiments show they are almost totally uninfluenced by reasoning and evidence, but why are they so dogmatic? Yes, studies show the Religious Right has more than its fair share of hypocrites, from top to bottom; but why are they two-faced, and how come one face never notices the other? Yes, their leaders can give the flimsiest of excuses and even outright lies about things they've done wrong, but why do the rank-and-file believe them? What happens when authoritarian followers find the authoritarian leaders they crave and start marching together?
I think you'll find this book "explains a lot." Many scattered impressions about the enemies of freedom and equality become solidified by science and coherently connected here.

http://tinyurl.com/ys2j6o

And:
Motivated Closed Mindedness: New Section on Political Conservatism

"We have growing evidence to show that groups whose participants experience a high need for cognitive closure tend to develop a syndrome we have referred to as "group centrism". This includes the development of autocratic leadership, conservatism with regards to group norms, rejection of opinion deviates, conformity, and the tendency toward ingroup favoritism and outgroup derogation."

http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~hannahk/nfc.html
http://tinyurl.com/c8b8pl

3:42:00 PM  
Blogger Libby Spencer said...

Mycos! So nice to see you. Thanks for the links.


Hello to you two Detroit readers.

9:21:00 PM  

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