NBC's FirstRead touches the third rail.
FirstRead actually says aloud what so many in Washington have been discussing at their dinner parties. Opposition to Obama, especially in the South, is about race more than anything else.
Personally, I don't think it's necessarily a conscious racism in alot of these people, but probably a much more amorphous sense of the foreign and "the other." Obama's "difference" acts as a symbol of a larger intrusion of the modern, complex society into the Andy Griffith fantasyland they want to believe in. The violence of the reaction is almost a tearing of denial.
Not perfectly said, but I think you get my point.
Personally, I don't think it's necessarily a conscious racism in alot of these people, but probably a much more amorphous sense of the foreign and "the other." Obama's "difference" acts as a symbol of a larger intrusion of the modern, complex society into the Andy Griffith fantasyland they want to believe in. The violence of the reaction is almost a tearing of denial.
Not perfectly said, but I think you get my point.
posted by mikevotes at
10:54 AM
6 Comments:
I know what you're saying. It's bigger than mere racism. It's an entire world view collapsing.
By
-epm, at 7:01 PM
Isn't that the basis of conservatism? Some desire to get back to a nostalgic view of a fantasy past. I live in a very red part of Virginia, the front lines, the home of the Confederacy. Often I here rants about how things used to be so good back when...we had God in schools, gays were not accepted, kids were not coddled, etc. And all the while I wonder how good life really was for those in society that were discriminated against—by law. And whenever I counter the fantasy good ol days, I am the one that "always makes things about race." It's a shame that there's a blind eye toward while privilege.
By
zen, at 7:28 PM
forgive me...that should have been:
"Often I hear rants..." and
"It's a shame that there's a blind eye toward white privilege."
By
zen, at 7:30 PM
EPM, yeah. Because racism alone wouldn't have this much fire. It's the threat of change.
....
zen, I'vs said it many times before, there were no blacks in Mayberry. No gays. no women who wanted anything beyond subservience.
Plus, in the real world versions of Mayberry, blacks were picked up, beaten up, and run out of town. date rape was common and unreported. It was not a great place except in fantasy.
By
mikevotes, at 8:22 PM
There's a whole sub-cult of TAGS(The Andy Griffth Show). They collect every episode and have transcripts and have memorized dialogue. Usually they're very right wing and reactionary. Sad little people.
By
Anonymous, at 9:26 PM
Let me just say that I don't want to get after the Andy Griffith folks too hard. I listen to those old 30;s, 40's, and 50's radio shows.
I find great comfort in the retro, too, however, I recognize it for what it is, Escapism, and I return to the real world.
PS. I never got the Andy Griffith show. That's probably why I use it as example.
By
mikevotes, at 7:06 AM
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