9-12 March in DC-29 by Andrew Aliferis
Tired of all the negative news lately? Move on to the more pleasant right wing mishigas in Missouri: "Basically, a clown wearing a mask of President Barack Obama came out during the bull riding event at the fair. The crowd was asked if it wanted to see Obama "run down by a bull." We're going to smoke Obama, man," says announcer.)
Things got worse from there, which doesn't surprise me, given the anti-Obama feeling among many fairgoers from rural Missouri, where Obama lost to Mitt Romney (at least 60-40 percent in much of outlying parts of state) in 2012 election.
Egged on by the crowd and the announcer, "One of the clowns ran up and started bobbling the lips on the mask and the people went crazy. Finally, a bull came close enough to him that he had to move, so he jumped up and ran away to the delight of the onlookers hooting and hollering from the stands." Read more.
From LA Times, "Perry Beam, a 48-year-old musician who describes himself as an "old country boy," was appalled by what he saw, "It was at that point I began to feel a sense of fear," Beam told the Dispatch. "It was that level of enthusiasm. ... It was cruel. It was disturbing. I am still sick to my stomach over it. ... I've never seen anything so blatantly racist in my life."
Thank you Mr. Beam and other conscious, thinking American citizens, who might believe this unfortunate spectacle constitutes the low point of the racist extremist right wing behavioral bag of tricks.
But don't relax yet. The millionaire, poison pump, bloviator from Cape Girardeau, MO., otherwise known as the drug abusing, cigar chopping, voice of unhinged America, initials R. L., was not quite satisfied yet. He took it a level lower by connecting this sickening display of raw racism to President Obama's appearance on the Leno Show: An action taken by several presidents before him, designed to reach a specific audience.
His logic? President Obama has diminished the office so this kind of behavior is his fault. Let me repeat that: The first black president has diminished the office because he did what several white presidents before him did and now deserves to be treated with the disrespect shown at that rodeo in rural Missouri.
So what? No one really cares about a bunch of hooters and hollerers at a backwater Missouri rodeo. All they did was confirm what we expect from them anyway. Their racism is no surprise to anyone. So what's the big deal?
It's not about the power of multi-millionaire political pundits who are obviously stimulating the neurosis of ignorant people to "rev up" their emotions and keep "em listening.
The real point to all this? It's a reminder of how the profit motive has such a dampening effect on morality.
I can understand a bunch of ignorant yahoos in MO listening to this one-man plague on society. But I sincerely believe his sponsors know right from wrong. So why do they continue to support this destruction of the American narrative?
It all comes down to money!
So the people at the rodeo in Missouri are victims of powerful forces who know better. Shame on them. Shame on all the moneyed special interests who create this kind of divisiveness in our society. As for the poor dupes who didn't see anything wrong with their antics, they are to be pitied.
In a state where a child can opt out of school assignment if it conflicts with his or her religious beliefs, what's left to do but have pity.
Robert De Filippis
