Post by jgaffney on Oct 9, 2008 0:38:27 GMT -5
Here's another one, this time from David Freddoso's The Case Against Barack Obama:
(Saul) Alinsky urged his followers not to display hatred toward the middle class - at least not overtly. Instead, he offered a narrative of class condescension, which viewed them as lost, confused, aimless and pitiable. He noted that any attempts to disabuse them of their irrational religious beliefs should be avoided because it would be met with hostility, that their insistence on good manners should be respected by radicals, who tended to eschew such niceties as they employed rudeness and intimidation to solve community problems. He wrote:
That may sound familiar. Consider the comments that Barack Obama was recorded making about rural, middle-class Christian voters at a cocktail fundraiser with wealthy San Franciscans:
Obama here was paraphrasing Saul Alinsky - dispaying this same radical condescension.
Maybe if someone in the Main Stream Media had explored this story a little deeper, we may have learned more about the candidate.
(Saul) Alinsky urged his followers not to display hatred toward the middle class - at least not overtly. Instead, he offered a narrative of class condescension, which viewed them as lost, confused, aimless and pitiable. He noted that any attempts to disabuse them of their irrational religious beliefs should be avoided because it would be met with hostility, that their insistence on good manners should be respected by radicals, who tended to eschew such niceties as they employed rudeness and intimidation to solve community problems. He wrote:
Seeking some meaning in life, they turn to extreme chauvinism and become defenders of "American" faith. Now they develop rationalizations for a life of futility and frustration. "It's the Red menace!" Now they are not only the most vociferous in their espousal of law and order, but ripe victims for such a demagogic George Wallace, the John Birch Society, and the Red-menace perennials.
Insecure in this fast-changing world, they cling to illusory fixed points - which are very real to them. Even conversation is charted toward fixing your position in the world: "I don't want to argue with you, just tell me what our flag means to you?" ... They use revealing adjectives such as "outside agitators" or "troublemakers"...
The "silent majority" now, are hurt, bitter, suspiciuos, feeling rejected and at bay. This sick condition in many ways is as explosive as the current racial crisis. Their fears and frustrations at their helplessness are mounting to a point of political paranoia which can demonize people to turn to the law of survival in the narrowest sense.
That may sound familiar. Consider the comments that Barack Obama was recorded making about rural, middle-class Christian voters at a cocktail fundraiser with wealthy San Franciscans:
You go into these small towns in Pennsylvanis and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not.
And it's not surprising that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
Obama here was paraphrasing Saul Alinsky - dispaying this same radical condescension.
Maybe if someone in the Main Stream Media had explored this story a little deeper, we may have learned more about the candidate.
