Violence Works

The most missed object lesson about the Shirley Sherrod business is that in this country, at this time, violence works.

Or more specifically, reactionary violence.

We have seen how the Oklahoma bombing and the suicide attack on a Texas IRS building have, in the end, been adopted as "regrettable but needed," by the reactionaries in Congress. They have been effective rallying points.

The use of borderline armed propaganda last summer during town halls, coupled with implicit and explicit threats of violence, enabled the formation of the reactionary block known as the Tea Party.

The use of, what my father used to call, verbal violence has been established, defined, and implemented as policy of elected political the right (see Newt Gingrich's 1996 GOPAC Memo ), and by the main reactionary media (Fox, Limbaugh, etc).

And it works.  There is no countervailing force from the other side.  There are no armed progressives protesting outside of reactionary political events -- "we reject violence" is the riff you are more likely to here, no militias of our own,  there is no coordinated use of language to counter attack -- hammering home the point, and the reaction to verbal or threatened violence is to 1) wring hands, and 2) duck and cover.

In general, the violence has worked to cow any official progressive leadership.  And behavior that is rewarded is reinforce, that which is not is extinguished.

This time, with Shirley Sherrod, the truth got lucky.

As luck is the residue of design, the rest of us may not be so lucky in the future.  And that being the case, a logic of deterrence and the needs of the republic may require -- at the very least politically -- that both sides are armed.

They're at it again

`I'll whisper it,' said the Messenger, putting his hands to his mouth in the shape of a trumpet, and stooping so as to get close to the King's ear. Alice was sorry for this, as she wanted to hear the news too. However, instead of whispering, he simply shouted at the top of his voice `They're at it again!' 
Chapter VII, Alice through the looking glass.

It is cheap, but it does look list a Lewis Carol world out there.

Below are just a few of the articles on the latest attempts by BP to inhibit news coverage.

• The BP/Government police state
• Louisiana official blasts restrictions on media
• BP Media Clampdown: Journalists Now Face Possibility of Fines, Prison Time

What boggles my poor little mind is: "Why does the Obama Administration let this happen?"

It looks as if Obama has completely gone to sleep about the political implications of this.  (I have a moral certainty that they have decided to ignore the ecological and economic issues.)

This would prove an opportunity for Obama to put on his Superman cape, to appear forceful and truthful and overruling these new restrictions, admonishing the various parties, and perhaps sicing the FBI on them.

This sort of thing almost make you wonder if the conspiracy loons are right, and the multinationals do actually run the world through a dark cabal, dictating the elected leaders. 

I don't really believe that, as those who run multinationals are probably too dim to actually do this.  And given the choices in  politics -- corporate Democrats and flat earth Republicans -- they don't need to.

My low opinion of Obama continues to descend, as he attempts to get along with everyone (in this case BP), seems set on reinforcing the "Democrats can't govern" impression, and laying us open to reactionaries running the government again.

A major issue missing from the McChrystal affair

More amazement seems to have been generated about how access was given and used (by a free-lance Rolling Stone reporter, no less) to expose the insubordinate behavior of McChrystal and his team, than surprise at what was said.

What this behavior says about the chain of command in the United States* or the intelligence of officiers seems to have been missed by major new figureheads (Matthews, Cooper, etc).

One specific item seems to have surprised them: that  a reporter might actually forgo potential future access to print a meaning full story now.

What a concept, doing the job comes first, careerism later.

As Donald Rumsfeld would say "Gosh." 

Here are two worthwhile links about the issue

• The Politico Opens the Kimono. And then Pretends it Never Happened.
  From Jay Rosen's  blog Press Think Blog
   
• John Steward/The Daily Show's McChrystal's Balls - Honorable Discharge.

*For those who think this is a "thin skinned" reaction, consider what would happen to an NCO
  talking like this about the new 2nd Lieutenant.