Attacking the hater of hate

I’ve mentioned before that because of my work hours, I sometimes find myself listening to late night radio going to, waiting for and traveling on a bus. Jim Bohannon, allegedly  one of "The 100 Most Important Radio Talk Show Hosts in America" and in the “National Radio Hall of Fame,” has a weekly show that airs after midnight; I haven’t decided yet if he is a contributor to the right-wing talk that pollutes Seattle’s air waves, but the fact that he is relegated to a time period usually occupied by right-wing wackos suggests that his allegedly “moderate” viewpoint is also ”extreme” by daytime “standards.”  

Anyways, the last time I ran into him on the radio dial he was talking about a subject that interested me, former Packers quarterback Brett Favre. Favre, of course, had said in a radio interview that he is suffering memory loss (he couldn’t remember that his daughter played youth soccer over the summer) which he contributed to too many headshots during his playing career. The discussion went on about player safety and seemed to be on a rational track until Bohannon took some calls, and wouldn’t you know it but the “wackos” who stay up late listening to the radio were the ones calling in. One female caller who said she was a football fan said she loved seeing players clobbered on the field, because otherwise it wouldn’t be football; the general tone was that men who play the sport know what they are getting into anyways, so we needn’t worry about silly things like player “safety.”

I was getting ready to switch over to the BBC newscast on NPR, but then Bohannon mentioned that he was going to discuss the topic of “hate speech” in the current political environment, so I waited to see what that was about. Now, unless it is a “progressive” or “liberal” talk personality, you never hear anyone on the radio calling out the Right for its racism and contempt for the working people; perhaps it is a “given” that this dead horse doesn’t need any more beatings, but more likely it is because the Right doesn’t want its true motivations aired out and discussed. 

But no, the object of Bohannon’s ire was that scoundrel who always gets into the hair of Republicans and their Tea Party extremists pals, Florida Rep. Alan Grayson. You got to admire a guy who “tells it like it is” and won’t back down one inch—in fact, advances even further into their faces when they complain. Rep. Grayson certainly has more courage and integrity than those gutless wonders in the Democratic hierarchy, who joined Republicans in denouncing the Congressman. 

What was Rep. Grayson’s “hateful” sin? He and other likeminded Congresspersons sent out an email fundraising message that included a photo of a Ku Klux Klan cross burning, with the cross forming a “T” followed by “ea Party.” Above the photo is the caption “The Tea Party: No More Popular than the Klan.” Of course if you are Tea Party member, or voted for one, naturally you don’t want to be called out for it. 

Sure, in the Tea Party’s staged media events only people who appear to be rational human beings are allowed to speak (excepting Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachman and Ted Cruz); but go out into the countryside where the provincials congregate, and you will hear and see the most despicable and unapologetic harangues and placards like “Obama’s Plan: White Slavery,” or “The American Taxpayers are the Jews for Obama’s Ovens.”

Some people are not even that "subtle"; I found a photo of a white male at one Tea Party rally holding a sign that proclaimed "IMA BIGOT IMA RACIST IMA TEABAGGER." I suppose he could have just been a troublemaker, but the message was accurate.

This is their true motivation. The Tea Party can talk about “fiscal responsibility” day and night, but what they are really up in arms against is any hint of “income redistribution.” Even if they can benefit from a program, like the Affordable Care Act, they oppose it if even one person they do not regard as a “real American” does. Everything these people believe—whether social, political or economic—is defined through the prism of race.

“I’m calling them out for their hate,” Rep. Grayson told an uninformed interviewer. “That’s not wrong. That needs to be done. It’s the only way to end it.” Today, it is “fashionable” to accuse those who point out and attack hate with being haters themselves. The hypocrisy of such an accusation is as much pathetic as it is an exercise in denial. As for me, count me in as a proud member of the fraternity that hates the hater.