Showing posts with label 1984 Two Minutes Hate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 1984 Two Minutes Hate. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Can Republican HATE politics bring this country down?

GOP Hate and Fear
Daily Kos posted a piece recently, “Why Does The GOP Hate (everything sane)?” that is the best I’ve seen for putting Republican hate-mongering in perspective with its biggest supporter, the Tea Party.  It said, “The GOP has such an easy task when it comes to adapting people's minds to vote for them; Spread hate and they will be yours…”  Sounds like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and the master, Karl Rove.  Also reminds me of George Orwell’s 1984 but more on that later.

I Googled “GOP hate” and “Republican hate” and was able to formulate a list of what some pretty influential sites and organizations think Republicans hate, as follows:

Taxes, the poor and hungry, gays, Hispanics, liberals, gun control, animal rights, the truth, women, even those pregnant, the Occupy Movement, Barack Obama, science (as in stem cell research), public education, environmentalism, veterans, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, teachers, unions, and, yes, even other Republicans (as in Newt Gingrich)

There are probably more that I have missed but this will get the ball rolling and I encourage you to add to the list with your comments. 


Norman Lear

Many of us—all but the very young—remember Norman Lear’s TV sitcom All in the Family, starring Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker and Jean Stapleton, Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers as the rest of the family.  Archie was a “nice” bigot and was constantly chastised by his son-in-law “Meathead” played by Rob Reiner.  Many thought this character was patterned after Lear who abhorred bigotry.  Because of its insightful humor the show lasted for nine years on CBS.

Lear was concerned over how the religious right could repeatedly disgorge sermons that reeked of politics so he, through his organization People for the American Way, complained to a Los Angeles television station about one of Pat Robertson’s TV program.  Robertson responded with a threat of God’s wrath against him.  Jerry Falwell told his followers, “I am about to name the man that some people believe to be the greatest threat to the American family in our generation: Norman Lear!"

Falwell’s “threat” comment garnered Lear hate mail and death threats, one so threatening that the TV producer had to get protection.  Since most of this religious pack are Republican, it is astonishing that their religion—if that’s what it really is—would allow them to do such a thing, although it is commonplace they would as a right-wing extremist, particularly Tea Partiers.  Lear’s position is that “Our founders clearly intended that there be a level of separation between church and state.”



And as promised, the Orwellian connection between hate and the Republican Party.  In 1984, Emmanuel Goldstein is the face of the “Two Minutes Hate” which the citizens of Oceania were subjected to on a regular basis.  They were whipped up into a tremendous frenzy to hate Goldstein and anything else that didn’t agree with the Party.  What Goldstein said made perfect sense in defying this extremely hellish atmosphere and no matter how much hatred was directed against him and his leftist beliefs, his influence never seemed to grow less.

Sound familiar?  George Orwell was a novelist and political writer who was well acquainted with social injustice in the world.  The proles of Oceania represent the poor and out of work people in the U.S. today who are completely ignored by the GOP in favor of supporting the wealthy and large corporations.  (See the poor and hungry and those on Medicaid in the list above.) 

The difference is, where Goldstein’s followers, above, could only look on in the “Two Minute Hate” but could not take action, the progressive movement has begun to rebut the Republican hate messages with responses of hope.  There is no hope in hate, and the American public is beginning to see through the GOP façade.  And to answer the original question, the answer is NO, the Republican HATE politics will not bring this country down.

If you haven’t already, please check out Norman Lear’s People for the
American Way
.

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