Hate Messengers Thriving In America

By James Donahue

We once found strange amusement in listening to the twisted logic perpetuated by the likes of such ultra-conservative flag-waving characters as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly.

Lately, however, the garbage spewed from the mouths of these vipers has turned to such racial, religious and political bigotry that we no longer find any pleasure whatsoever in listening to what they are saying. Rather, we believe their radical right-wing hate speech threatens to inflame the apparent line-up of fools who would believe such trash.

The constant daily assault on Democratic Party efforts to clean up the mess left during the presidency of George W. Bush, and the efforts by President Barack Obama and his cabinet to salvage a damaged economy, clean up the environment and launch a badly needed public health-care plan, might still be amusing if the issues weren't so deadly serious.

Such programming appears to be dividing a nation at a time when everyone should be pulling together.

That Savage once went so far as to suggest that all newspaper (and website?) editors that opposed Bush and (the American invasion of a Moslem country without provocation) be arrested and jailed for sedition was so ridiculous that the comment made headlines.

When Savage implied that anyone daring to question the actions of a fanatical leadership is guilty of subversion and treason he revealed to everyone that he is nothing more than a tool of extreme right-wing manipulators of American thought.

In a democratic republic, as America has always touted itself to be, the people are supposed to be able to speak their mind about everything, and question authority whenever they believe it is necessary. And this explains why people like Hannity, Limbaugh and Savage are allowed to freely spread their poison on the public airways unabated.

A lot of people are now questioning the actions of the Bush Administration. Many of us were questioning it even before we invaded Iraq. Even though it was considered unpatriotic and dangerous during the stunning days after the 9-11 attack, we were among the few that wrote in opposition of the open invasion of Afghanistan and the blind acceptance of the Constitutional assault brought by the Patriot Act.

What I find hard to believe is that people like Savage, Hannity Beck, O’Reilly and Limbaugh don't appear to see what a terrible mess we have made of the Iraq situation since our unwarranted invasion.

Columnist Llewellyn H. Rockwell Jr. once expressed it as follows:

"We have a 'war' that has proven to be a complete calamity in every conceivable way. The blood and violence are ghastly. It started as a war for democracy and American values and it is ending in body bags, a radicalized population, hundreds of billions (of dollars) wasted, and an emboldened horde of terrorists (gathering) from all countries."

In addition to that, Rockwell said "the original rationales for the war are proven hoaxes. The soldiers hate it. The Iraqis hate the soldiers. U.S. trained Iraqis are AWOL. We are talking here about a war disaster of historic proportions, even for the aggressor state."

Now that Mr. Obama is in the White House, the attacks have turned even more venomous. The personal assaults against Mr. Obama, the so-called “birthers” who would question his American citizenship, the constant accusations of socialism and the comparisons to Hitler are among the worst of the rhetoric.

This is dangerous thinking by a growing number of Americans who appear to be unwilling to accept the fact that we have a black man in the Oval Office. Never mind the fact that Mr. Obama is among the more intelligent leaders to take that office in many years, that he is struggling to fix the mess left behind by an outgoing administration that made the wrong turns in foreign, economic, legal and environmental policies and left America on the brink of total economic collapse.

The issue facing America today is something we all thought (or at least wanted to believe) was resolved once civil rights legislation became law. Unfortunately, laws cannot force people to love one another. And they can do little more than sweep the burning racial issues temporarily under the rug. The election of Mr. Obama appears to have brought the racists out of the shadows once again. If allowed to go unchecked, this issue threatens to bring this nation down on its knees.

We cannot fool ourselves; what this is all about is race. The radical right-wing Republicans, the so-called “blue dog” Democrats, the “Birthers,” and all of those radical radio and television talking heads spewing only slightly obfuscated hatred for our president are nothing more than bigoted racists. They aren’t saying it straight away because it is socially unacceptable in this day and age, but the issue is race. They are violently angry because there is a black man in the White House.

While all this is going on, the American media is wasting way too much time writing and talking about this irrational mess. Sadly the media is allowing it to happen. In comparison to the real problems facing the people of this planet, the senseless wars raging in Iraq, and Afghanistan and the politics behind them, are being made relatively inconsequential.

All of the radio and television talk hosts would do well to forget the color of his skin and get behind Mr. Obama and his hard-working staff. All Americans need to shift their focus on the environment, the impact the Bush Administration's policies had on air, ground and water pollution, and the growing threat of human extinction. Instead we have extreme right and left-wing radio and television commentators digging in for a verbal war over the building attacks against President Obama that have no foundation in fact.

A close examination of the real threat to every man, woman and child currently alive on this planet would make the Iraq war, the conflict between racial, religious and cultural groups and nations, and the petty political movements against the Obama programs (all promised in his campaign for office) pale in comparison.