Jared Yates Sexton: The Right and Weaponized Fear

[Nevilledog]

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Jared Yates Sexton
@JYSexton
All right.

We need to talk about the repulsive attacks on Ketanji Brown Jackson and how they are based on white supremacist conspiracy theories and intended to preserve domination by evangelical white men.

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jaredyatessexton.substack.com
The Right and Weaponized Fear
The attacks on Ketanji Brown Jackson are part of a larger GOP effort to use conspiracy theories to forward their agenda
8:42 AM · Mar 22, 2022

https://jaredyatessexton.substack.com/p/the-right-and-weaponized-fear?s=w


For anyone paying attention to Senator Josh Hawley, the performance was less than surprising. When it came time to question Supreme Court nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson, Hawley attacked her repeatedly in a display intended, specifically, to replicate for social media and fundraising advertisements. Hawley insinuated that Jackson had been lenient in cases involving child abuse and child abuse images, a charge he has continued to level in tweets leading up to the hearing.

This demented posturing is part and parcel of Hawley’s brand as he continues to cement his position as one of the leaders of the far right National Conservatism movement, but what also resonates here is just how firmly entrenched the Republican Party and the authoritarians are in a paranoid reality brimming with conspiracy theories. Hawley’s disgusting attack was a rehashing of QAnon and an assortment of Right Wing scare tactics that have powered their reactionary project for generations.

Many have scoffed at the overall influence of the QAnon phenomena and its myriad offshoots, but numbers don’t lie. Millions of Americans, whether they are even aware of the term “QAnon” or not, have internalized the components of its narrative and the essence of its lies. They believe that satanic cabals of child abusers run the world and the only means of stopping them is through violence and antidemocratic action. That people can even deny this fact has more to do with the GOP’s use of ridiculous figures in spreading the ideas and their swift discarding than any material evidence. The damage has been done, however, and even if “Q” never posts again, and even if history books want to forget what has occurred, the consequences will continue to ripple through our culture.

Simply put, GOP opposition to the first Black woman on the Supreme Court has nothing to do with cabals or child abuse. Similarly, the continuing attacks on public education relying on myths about “Critical Race Theory,” which Senator Marsha Blackburn accused the nominee of intending to inject “progressive indoctrination” into the culture, have little to do with the stated subjects. Instead, these conspiracy theories are weapons and cudgels wielded to hide the ugly, disturbing truth that the Right simply wants to conceal.

This is about protecting white, evangelical, patriarchal control.

*snip*

[CrispyQ]

1. Great commentary.

Culture wars have dominated American culture for as long as there’s been an America. Though some would like to pretend that this current moment is an aberration, there’s always been a simmering feud between the majority of the people and the very vocal and very angry reactionaries. In my research, I’ve tracked it back to the settling of the first colonies and they’ve wound their way throughout. And, in every case, they have a similar essence: white, evangelical patriarchs fearing a loss of control.

[crickets]

2. +1