h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've just read your response to a friend of mine in one of those stupid Jesus threads.

>>~*~This end of the world nonsense is being fueled in the United States by racism. Right wing Republicans keep saying that Barack Obama is the Antichrist. They're afraid the world will end if he becomes President.~*~

What? I'll give you two choices: Go to America yourself, get to know people, do some independent research, or I'll send you straight to Hell myself.


The person who wrote that post lives, and has always lived, in Memphis, TN. And Right Wing scum *do* keep trash-talking Obama on the basis of race as well as other issues.

I don't think it's on the basis of race though. In my own experience, America is no longer permeated by racism.

It's not *all* on the basis of racism, but the US is definitely still permeated with racism. I have friends and co-workers who deal with it on a daily basis. The city I live in is located in a county known for its racist and corrupt police force(s). I have family members who consider race a factor in a person's overall worth. I overheard racist slurs in an upscale restaurant at lunch today. And this is in an ethnically diverse, predominantly Democrat metropolitan area, not some nasty little one-street backwater.

I'll agree with you that in regards to the election, most of the people who would not vote for a black man aren't going to vote for Obama based on other issues anyway (i.e., they're in favor of interfering in women's health care, they support the war in Iraq, etc). But in recent polls, over 40% of Republicans polled identified as having attitudes that any reasonable person realizes are racist.

That said- as one of Obama's constituents, I can tell you that he's done some really wonderful things while in office, like working to pass legislation mandating video taping of interviews between police interrogators and suspects (police in Cook County have been been prone, historically, to beat or otherwise coerce confessions out of people who were in fact innocent). He's done good by me thus far.

Always assuming it's not moderated, can you give me links to the racist stuff?

Obviously I don't have time to link to every bit of racist garbage published in this country- that would take ages and the election would be long over. Unfortunately. Here's some- let me know if there's anything specific you had in mind. I don't suppose you want to spend your entire day reading racist filth any more than I do.

Here's a link to a poll that reflects racist attitudes on the part of many white voters- voters who for some inexplicable reason feel that too much attention is paid to the problems of blacks, or that they would not vote for a black candidate based on race.


http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/politics/20080716_POLL.pdf


I've used tiny URL on most of the original URLs, both to prevent that long-URL-thingy that sometimes happens in posts and also to make them less likely to be moderated.


http://www.slate.com/id/2198397/

http://tiny.cc/WFvwM

http://tiny.cc/7JPiJ

http://tiny.cc/f9mND (here Rush Limbaugh says some really repulsive things, sorry)

http://tiny.cc/CkXRQ

http://tiny.cc/qty1o (this is a blog- scroll all the way down to the comment by someone called "white dude")

http://tiny.cc/f7Xpo (this link leads to an article reporting about racist stuff printed in a newspaper and doesn't actually link to the newspaper article itself, but check it out anyway)

http://tiny.cc/D896p (here's an article about a disgusting billboard in a MO town called West Plains; though it is amusing that whoever designed the billboards acts like gun control, marriage and health care for women are bad things...)

http://tiny.cc/Rh78n

This is all I have time for right now. I apologize for the repugnant attitudes and language used in some of these places- it's made me sick to my stomach reading most of it.

Unfortunately I can't "link" you to all the attitudes and comments I see and hear in RL as opposed to the internet. But since they go on around you all the time, I'm sure you see and hear enough of it on your own.