[Peace-discuss] Rich says its mostly racism...

[Morton K. Brussel]

I don't agree with  Carl's comments. What is wrong with Rich's article is not "class hatred"—one has to be of a particular mindset to come to that conclusion—, but praise for a health bill which is a betrayal of what most people need, a public not-for-profit, effective and inclusive health care measure. 

Rich writes mostly about the rants and demagogy of Republicans relative to the health bill, not particularly about the popular classes. Read what he says and then judge. What Rich also stresses is that indeed there is a vile and vicious mix of racism, sexism, and general misanthropy exhibited by Tea Party types and Republicans in antagonism to the health bill and the administration.  That is well documented. As Chris Hedges points out in his article, also posted by Carl, popular  anger (rage?) stemming from unemployment, loss of income, bailouts, governmental corruption, and a sense of helplessness before the plutocracy can turn pernicious if mobilized only for destructive ends. One would like to see such anger and disappointment used to progressive advantage, but their seems no well organized party to take up the cudgel.  

--mkb

On Mar 29, 2010, at 8:50 AM, C. G. Estabrook wrote:

> The most emailed article from the Sunday NYT:
> 
> Frank Rich, "The Rage Is Not About Health Care"
> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/opinion/28rich.html
> 
> 
> This column is like Rich's from a month ago ("Axis of the Obsessed and Deranged") that Alex Cockburn rightly characterized as "vibrant with class hatred."
> 
> Cockburn wrote, "To match the virulence of Rich's language you'd have to go back to the tirades flung at David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, some eighty of whom were burned alive outside Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1993, on orders from Attorney General Janet Reno."
> 
> Rich is at it again, using the tiresome charge that liberals use against their enemies: they're racists. They do so because they can't admit that real grievances come from class as much as race.
> 
> Most of those who oppose Obama's administration do so not because he's black but because they think (correctly) that he's not working for them. And they have real grievances: an honest count of unemployment would show over 20%; real wages haven't risen in 30 years.
> 
> Rich et al. think that real social protest can be smeared as racism.
> 
> 
> 
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