Why when it talks like a bigot, and walks like a bigot, it’s not bad to call it a bigot.

OK, I’ll admit it. I’ve had it.

I’ve had it with the constant questioning about Obama’s patriotism. I’ve had it with the damn flag-pin. I’ve had it with the rumors about being a Muslim, or having a Muslim father, or being born in Africa. I’ve had it with the word “exotic”.

But more, oh so much more than that, I’ve had it to HERE with the coddling bloggers and press give to wilfully and profoundly ignorant and prejudiced people.

And I’m not talking about the strategists and politicians who take advantage of this to smear Obama. No, I’m taking aim at the sacrosanct always-innocent American voter, the last person on whom media ever decides to lay blame.

Let’s start in West Virginia, for instance in this video:

The lady in the yellow shirt, who says first that Obama was born in Africa and then that he’s a Muslim. She is a bigot, plain and simple. There is NO excuse for that sort of thing. Bending over backwards to try to explain it away or being understanding will not cut it. The other older lady in the video is much more discreet, and probably (hopefully) more common. She’s just “not comfortable” with Obama and thinks he doesn’t know the pledge of allegiance or the Star Spangled Banner. She of course does not bother to think why Obama, of all the candidates, gives her that feeling, in the absence of any actual evidence to that effect.

Moving on to the town of Flag City Ohio, we find a guy who’s more forgivable because he’s at least considering that the stuff he hears in rumors isn’t true. Saying of the contrast between what the ads and newspaper articles say and what the word of mouth rumors say:

“It’s like you’re hearing about two different men with nothing in common,” Peterman said. “It makes it impossible to figure out what’s true, or what you can believe.”

Now, what you do when you don’t know is you look it up, but I will give him credit for not taking the rumors at face value and since he’s aware he may not have all the facts is considering not voting. His friend Leroy Pollard has no such qualms about showcasing his stupidity:

“I think Obama would be a disaster, and there’s a lot of reasons,” said Pollard, explaining the rumors he had heard about the candidate from friends he goes camping with. “I understand he’s from Africa, and that the first thing he’s going to do if he gets into office is bring his family over here, illegally. He’s got that racist [pastor] who practically raised him, and then there’s the Muslim thing. He’s just not presidential material, if you ask me.”

“That Muslim thing” eh? Mr. Pollard is a bigot and an idiot.

Now at about this point I’m guessing a certain proportion of readers are already highly uncomfortable. I’m calling an American voter an idiot and a bigot to boot! It’s just so…direct, isn’t it?

And therein lies the real source of my anger. Everyone agrees bigotry and ignorance is bad. (Almost) everyone agrees that a certain amount of opposition to Obama is due to prejudice and ignorance. Most people are additionally perfectly willing to denounce and insult those who would use such prejudice to their advantage. But then they balk at the people who hold those prejudices in their hearts. The persistence of racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia is treated as a sad tragedy, and the people who showcase it are treated with a kind of pity, as if they were good people who are merely sadly misguided.

I’ve had it with this. What about personal responsibility? What’s this being non-judgemental about opinions, as if an opinion were sacred just because you had it? No, people who proudly showcase their bigotry do not deserve our understanding. They deserve to be denounced and laughed at. Racism can’t just be denounced in the abstract, but also at the personal level.

I have to lay part of the blame for this with liberals (even if I’m the resident progressive here). They have inadvertently caused some of this mess by making the word “racist” so charged, so vile, that it’s been rendered practically useless. It’s such a grave insult that now you practically have walk around in a white hood yelling “Obama is a N$%&&R” for there to be general agreement that you are a racist. Crying wolf on racism hasn’t helped one bit either, to the point where many (me amongst them) instantly resist the idea when it is raised.

But eventually it gets to the point where it can’t be ignored. For me it’s been a cumulative irritation every time the issue comes up. Whenever the point is made that there IS prejudice and it DOES have an effect on the election of Obama, you will almost invariably get to hear from people who don’t support Obama on policy issues and feel insulted. The racism issue is so charged that you apparently can’t have a discussion about racism/xenophobia/Islamophobia as it relates to the campaign without OVERTLY saying the blindingly obvious; not all opposition to Obama is based on prejudice.

But the fact that not all opposition to Obama is racist does not render it a non-issue, and it CERTAINLY does not mean that if you hold prejudiced views you should be treated with cuddly understanding and not the proper sneering scorn.

The Obligatory Disclaimers:

1. If you are opposed to Obama on policy issues, or because you think he’s inexperienced, or because you think he’s an “elitist” please do not complain to me that you are not a racist. I’m happy that you’re not, that does not change the fact that there are many people who DO hold prejudice. This post is about those people, not about you.

2. I’m aware that you can have a “gut feeling” mistrust of a person that has nothing to do with race. Not everyone who says “I’m just not comfortable about him” is a racist, xenophobe or Islamophobe. HOWEVER the fact that many people are NOT does not mean you automatically assume that none are or reject the conversation.

3. Shades of gray exist. Not all racism is KKK racism, people who are prejudiced may otherwise be lovely people (even personally nice to people they are prejudiced against). Each person must be treated as an individual, but discussion of phenomenons at the level of society do not stop because of this.

4. If you actually read this far, you totally rock.