You are very correct, Biggerbox. They are angry. They don’t even know why. They would probably be much less angry if they weren’t in debt up to their eyeballs, if they had jobs they actually liked, and if they were getting better sex (or any sex). But don’t expect any of them to realize the source of their anger. They are angry about liberals, Obama, ACORN, Al Gore, socialized medicine and tax increases (that never occurred) simply because FOX News, Rush Limbaugh and the rest of the right-wing propagandists told them that this is why they should be angry. Al Gore is destroying their lives with his global warming of hoax – Sean Hannity says so, therefore it must be true.

America’s right-wing media is just as effective as Pravda was in the old Soviet Union. The people who believe this propaganda are just pawns, but they don’t know it. When you try to explain to them how they are being suckered, they get angry about that too. They will continue to vote against their own interests until they wind up sleeping under a freeway overpass.

Too many big words, not to mention no pictures of guns.

We didn’t control the megaphones or the images that were produced in the anti war movement. Interestingly enough the teabaggers found out that even though they *do* control their one channel and their talk radio they, too, were unable to control their message and image. But I strongly disagree that (pace the odd ANSWER and Mumia types) that the anti war movement did engage in much silly street theater. Most of it was darned sober.

aimai

Dumb but sinister is exactly spot on. It’s their everyday M.O. It needs to be said how wingnuts are oblivious to the fact that they create their own enemies, and use the results of this creation to “prove” that their fearful stance is correct. This isn’t to say that there aren’t evil people out there, there are. But the right’s dumb and sinister stance multiplies them, manyfold, unnecessarily. And they’re totally clueless about how this happens. They have the emotional maturity of little children and have yet to learn how they create their own living hells. And they can’t stand it when someone like Obama pulls the wind out of their sails, deflating the favorite defenses/thought patterns of their childish egos.

You’ve written some profound things about the nature of effective protest, including these few paragraphs today. I’ve often wanted to quote or link to your work in this area – may I suggest a sidebar where some of your best work can be readily accessed? Consider pruning back the blogroll to accomodate some of these gems. Thanks.

I don’t think most people outside of the Fox News orbit will remember the Tea Parties a month from now, which is too bad, since they really allowed the angry incoherence of that fraction of the Right to shine clearly. As Jamison Foser notes in his Media Matters column, they are angry. It’s impossible to tell why or about what, exactly. It’s mostly that they aren’t getting their way, angry like spoiled children get red-hot angry. That is the much worshipped “base” of the GOP. Angry spoiled children.

I believe America will continue to enjoy having well-adjusted adults in charge for some time, but it would be good for the country to acknowledge that the other side aren’t actually grown-ups with different opinions, they are cranky spoiled children who should be given a time-out.

The rantings about Texas succeeding or Hugo Chavez or tax rates or anything else are the semantic equivalent of the “I hate you! I hate you!” one hears shouted through the child’s bedroom door. It’s time for the adults to continue to go about their business, and pay no attention.

The only problem with the analogy is that pre-teens who are sent to their rooms seldom keep arsenals of firearms and explosives as a hobby.

Unfortunately, my coworkers know who Chavez is, even though they may not all be able to recognize our current Treasury Secretary, or say what cabinet post Hillary Clinton holds. They may not remember Hugo’s name, but they do recognize “that crazy bleeper/commie/Socialist down in Venezuela who said all those terrible things about Bush.” Their level of interest in Chavez would be about the same as their level of interest in a possibly-poisonous spider (i.e., equivalent to their level of interest in Obama). Just s few of the grotesque facts of life in my red state.