If you have any doubt as to whether the rodeo incident was racist

[loyalsister]

Consider the predictable response. The aftermath has revealed some of the most disgusting racist crap I have seen. Painting president Obama as someone who has an absurd sense of entitlement is another way of calling him an uppity n*****

Racists, the lot of ‘em! I mean, Bush never got this sort of treatment. Nobody ever mocked or satirized him. No crude jokes were told about him. Nobody ever wished violence or death upon him. Ever. You know why? Because he’s white. White presidents always get treated nicely, especially white Republicans. Just ask Lincoln. The whole country agreed for over two centuries that we don’t ever insult presidents, then you get into office and all of a sudden every day is Pick on the President Day. Outrageous!/div]

http://themattwalshblog.com/2013/08/13/an-apology-letter-to-mr-obama/

[Warpy]

1. Well, he does have a point

besides the one on his head. Stupid was satirized unmercifully. Remember Bush vs Chimp? And that wasn't the worst of it out there.

We didn't have rodeo clowns. I guess they were all afraid some yahoo was going to shoot them if they tried.

[loyalsister]

2. He wasn't satirized with violent imagery that I remember

nt

[Warpy]

5. No, but he was dehumanized

shortened, and turned into a barely recognizably human caricature. If it weren't for the cowboy boots, I'd have had a hard time knowing it was him during those years.

The rabid right uses violent imagery nearly exclusively because that's who they are. We don't because that's who we are.

[cherokeeprogressive]

8. Just a movie about his assassination.

Do a site search for "Death of a President" and note the DU reviews.

[loyalsister]

12. The title is too disgusting for me to want to delve into it

There are some things that should be off limits. I think joking about violently attacking or killing presidents is so distasteful that I find it especially embarrassing when it comes from our side.

[cherokeeprogressive]

22. I'm not sure who made the movie. "Our side" (as in DU) sure seemed to get a kick out of it though.

It won awards. Lampooning politicians, including Presidents, has been common practice since we've had Presidents. I don't have a problem with that in a general sense.

The "bobbling" of the lips thing I have a problem with, if only because lips have been part of the black stereotype. It seems as though this story, as all stories do, has grown though. At first, it was just the "bobbling" thing. Then it seemed to morph into something larger than life, what with people in the crowd reportedly screaming "kill the n*****!" and some stupid shit about a broomstick. It's like the old game called "telephone". The more times it makes it around the circle, the more outrageous the story gets. That's to be expected.

To me it's overblown, and not a little bit hypocritical. In this very thread, a poster called for *'s hanging, and here we are arguing about a caricature in a rodeo and people are even calling for the Secret Service and DOJ to investigate.

[loyalsister]

25. Calling for *'s hanging is worse

There is no doubt that the incident promoted racism. No one has disputed that the crowd cheered. It is hard for me to believe that the clown (whose job it is to predict audience response) did not know that his behavior would elicit racist response. Promoting it in a "fun" context is almost horrifying when you consider that people are teaching their children this.

[mwrguy]

32. and a similar book

same basic theme

[B2G]

41. And his head on a pike in Game of Thrones

Some things are inexcusable no matter the race or political persuation of the one being targeted.

MHO.

[1KansasDem]

31. See post #7

[loyalsister]

40. I think there is a world of difference between a Ministry concert

and a publicly funded event. The disrespect factor is much higher when the stage is mainstream.

[CBGLuthier]

37. There was a website where you could punch the shit out of alleged president Bush

In fact it (or a new version at least) is still up

http://www.celebritypunchout.com/GeorgeBush/

[Nuclear Unicorn]

46. I remember plenty, and so does the internet.

The question isn't whether this is tasteful, the question is -- what sort of society will we have if we censor speech? Should the people who created these effigies, signs and t-shirts pay a social or legal penalty?

I say, "No."

[loyalsister]

47. Which of the above is state sponsored

and publicly funded? Which is motivated by a long standing hatred of people who look like Bush? There are limits. A tax payer funded display of hate and racism is beyond distasteful.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

48. "Which of the above is state sponsored and publicly funded?"

That's moving the goal posts but if you must know -- Any of them that occurred on a college campus, and there were plenty.

[loyalsister]

49. Not really

If it had happened at a private event- a Ministry concert, for example it would have been different. The Klan has a right to have their rallies. Stoking racial tensions at an event that is funded by tax dollars is nothing like a protest organized by political opposition.

Protests on college campuses maybe. But, do you know of any college football games with announcers encouraging hate toward Bush?

[Nuclear Unicorn]

50. So we've moved from "I don't remember" to "OK, but not at a publically funded venue" to

"Well, was it at a football game?"

Campuses are tax-supported, far more so than rodeos, I'd imagine. Yet, none of the classless clods in any of these images should be sanctioned for their classlessness. Nor were they.

We are in serious danger of permanently strangling our own freedom to speak out in the name of scoring a meaningless temporary political point that will be forgotten by month's end.

[loyalsister]

51. oy

justifying racism with free speech appeals is not what I usually read here. The reference to a football game was to draw a comparison to the rodeo where the announcer stoked the hatred and racism. There was a physical act encouraged by the announcer in the fantasy realm of actually harming the president. It's an image that surpasses the photos of Bush.

[Jenoch]

3. "Nobody ever mocked or satirized him."

I'm no Bush fan, but I recall a lot of Bush mockery and satire while he was president and since.

[loyalsister]

4. I think that was the author's point

But, I googled and didn't find and violent imagery directed at Bush.

[Gravitycollapse]

6. Burning and hanging effigies are violent. And they were directed at Bush.

Not that I give a shit. He was a bastard who deserved to hang.

[loyalsister]

10. Sorry but no one "deserves to hang"

Are we so over the most recent shooting of an elected official that it is easy to forget that shit like that happens? Is it really so easy to disregard that we have a president who risk of having violence directed towards him is greater than probably any in modern history.

[Zestdog]

13. You might wanna take down your post

It sounds very much like a threat against a former president and that is illegal under current US law. Just a suggestion.

[Gravitycollapse]

15. Threat noun \ˈthret\ -

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/threat

1threat noun \ˈthret\

Definition of THREAT

1
: an expression of intention to inflict evil, injury, or damage
2
: one that threatens
3
: an indication of something impending <the sky held a threat of rain>

You might wanna take down your post and buy a dictionary.

[Agschmid]

18. It was a good hide IMO.

[Agschmid]

19. I'll reply here...

Your PM:

So do you not support former President Bush paying for his horrific crimes?

What I said was not a threat. Neither by definition nor intent. So if you want it to be hidden, what exactly is your reasoning?

However this...

I don't even want to quote your text I've decided, see the orig. post if you want to see this.

... is NOT the way to do it.

It was not an "okay" thing to say IMO.

[Agschmid]

21. Here is the reply you asked I post...

It doesn't matter whether you personally think it's okay. There are rules here...

And those rules very clearly define what is and what is not allowed to be posted. Stating that a murderous war criminal should be executed for his brutality is not a threat. Again, neither by definition nor intent. It is a statement of support. You want to post my responses in public? Don't forget this one.

It might not be a threat but it sure is in poor taste, IMO.

[Zestdog]

23. By your own referenced definition

I would say that a case might be made that your post meets the definitions for #1 & #2. Why take the chance?

[tumtum]

44. Yeahhhhhhhhh, that post might get a very uncomfortable visit from the Secret Service.

You can bet the NSA has probably already flagged that post.

[Zorra]

30. That's not right! He's guilty, but should at least be given a fair trial before they hang him.

I don't believe in the death penalty, so life in prison without possibility of pardon or parole is my recommendation.

[tumtum]

45. There's no such sentence of life in prison without the possibility of pardon or parole.

A Governor can pardon any state prisoner or the President can pardon any federal prisoner for any reason, even if the prisoner is on death row.

Not sure if the President can pardon state prisoners.

[tblue]

9. The "Bush or Chimp" site

was pretty mean, if you're a Bush supporter. But it wasn't racist. Not sure how you'd even make fun of a white person in a way that is as injurious as racism against black people, like this stupid rodeo clown.

Also, op says no one picked on Lincoln. Um, come on. He was shown the ultimate disrespect. And there was lots of mocking Clinton. Happened to all of them. But none of that was racist.

This acute show of racism is a new low in American politics, or a reversion to a previous low that we'd hoped was long gone, especially with the ejection of President Obama. I think mostly it's because they really don't have many facts to justify their hatred of him. What has he done that they don't like that directly impacts their lives?

[loyalsister]

20. Maybe by proxy?

The author mentioned Lincoln who was shot by a racist after freeing the slaves fighting a war in the interest of humanizing and freeing people of color. Thus the violence directed towards him was racially motivated.

[tblue]

27. I see that.

Yep. Makes sense.

[LannyDeVaney]

7. I openly cheered a similar satirical incident for Bush ...

Election night, 2004. Ministry concert in Nashville, TN. They opened with their song "No W" and a guy came out on stage in a bush mask. The band beat the crap out him. I admit it, I cheered. I laughed.

When I got home and mentioned this to my wife, she said "I don't agree with that". Until this incident, I never saw anything wrong with it. Now, I'm 50/50, still thinking about it, but my point is this sort of thing has happened before.

The link below is similar, although 2 years after I saw it.

[link:

|

[1KansasDem]

29. WOW If this had been done to President Obama DU would be going fucking nuts.

Makes the rodeo clown look kinda harmless.

[limpyhobbler]

35. That was awesome. I loved it when he beat the shit out Bush at the end.

I guess it's cool to mock politicians after all.

[Arcanetrance]

38. Any Gwar concert while Bush was in office

[customerserviceguy]

14. Just because racists react in predictable ways

doesn't make the original incident racist. I hope we always retain the right to make fun of a President in this country, no matter what party he/she is from, or what color he/she is.

[loyalsister]

16. It's not racist to encourage racist behavior?

There are plenty of ways to make fun of Obama without running him down or exagerating his lips. He does have big ears.

[ismnotwasm]

17. I have no doubts.

I don't understand doubt about the incident either.

[lunasun]

24. he is whack too

,,,,,,,,,all of this while taxes go up and Obamacare looms, threatening to strangle small business owners and put thousands more out of work, but so what? I’ve got two words: Food stamps. Or is it foodstamps? I don’t know, I can’t spell it, I can just use it to get my Lucky Charms and Dr. Pepper. You’ve made all of this “work” crap obsolete by increasing the entitlement state more than any president ever in history! You’re adding more than 11 thousand Americans a day to SNAP. You’ve got millions relying on the government for rent, cable, phone, even birth control. I guess this horrible economy stuff would be kind of a bummer if not for all the delicious welfare. Who needs an economy anymore? We’ve got you, baby...............

[loyalsister]

26. It's all in there

Lazy poor people and an uppity n**** taking care of his own. It's almost as if the author was thrilled to have an opportunity to get it all of his chest.

[1KansasDem]

28. The last few days I keep reading that the "jiggling" or whatever of the lips was the racist "thing".

That was done by a second clown. Has he been banned from the rodeo? Who was he? What is HIS name?

[mwrguy]

33. With Bush it wasn't racist

Sure it was similar, but the motivation was completely different.

[loyalsister]

42. Thank you!

Many of us said we hated Bush. But it did not carry the kind of hate directed toward Obama. The worst part is that people are unashamed of it and\or they are defended by people who claim it is just entertainment.

[exboyfil]

34. In my mind the forum of the satire was the

troubling thing. A state fair (and county fairs) are not supposed to be about politics. If this is done by someone in a private concert etc so be it, but it has no place at a county or state fair. These fairs are supposed to be about people coming together with common interests.

[Jenoch]

36. Politicians have been promoting

themselves and their causes at county and state fairs since those events first started decades ago.

[markiv]

39. 'state fair (and county fairs) are not supposed to be about politics'

you've never been to one, have you

[loyalsister]

53. At the one in my county

Politicians promote themselves. They do not spread negativity or attack each other.

[leftyladyfrommo]

43. Of course it was racist.

We have lots of racists here. A goodly portion of them are the kind of people who frequent rodeos.

I hear racist stuff all the time from people. A lot of the Bible Believing Baptists here think Obama is the anti-christ.

Ignorance is bliss, I guess.