The Limits of Polite Wingnut Discourse

Wow. Glad I was sitting down.

They’re not upset because he’s a racist – he explicitly described himself as such in 2003 and nobody at NRO called for him to be fired – they’re upset because now everyone is looking at them, some even wondering why, if they’re so offended by his words, they don’t resign.

And then some people wonder why a kid like Trayvon gets killed.

@karen marie has her eyes tight shut: Racism is a qualification at the NRO. They just don’t like it when you are obvious about it.

Having bigoted views is not in and of itself what qualifies you to be an Asshole. That only comes when you make your views public and find yourself annoyed because people get offended with you. For another example, see the late Andrew Breitbart. (Too soon? Nah.)

Who could have predicted as early as the mid-60s that the GOP would become populated by racists and sociopaths and … oh wait…

One could say to avoid armed members of the majority culture in work vehicles.

@karen marie has her eyes tight shut: The Web has been around almost twenty years now, but there must be some more recent moment when the Collective Online Consciousness coalesced. Derb has his past, and that past can be Googled — as it has been since he posted the column — but 2003 seems so long ago. If he had written that earlier tripe in, say, 2006, I wonder whether it would still be common knowledge today.

2006 comes to mind because, well, Cocktober. If I were to mark the beginning of our latest Modern Era, I would mark it with a Wide Stance.

And away he goes…

We never would have published it, but the main reason that people noticed it is that it is by a National Review writer. Derb is effectively using our name to get more oxygen for views with which we’d never associate ourselves otherwise. So there has to be a parting of the ways. Derb has long danced around the line on these issues, but this column is so outlandish it constitutes a kind of letter of resignation.

Truly astonishing. Where did NRO get a conscience?

Breaking – Dude got fired over the column.

@nojo: They didn’t. Like I said, they want their racism to be the crypto variety.

@Tommmcatt Wears A Hoodie Daily:
Dootyshire kind of destroyed that illusion and brought it out in a bigass neon sign.

30 years of RWers denying “we’re not racists” and “there’s no such thing as a race war” went down the toilet thanks in large part to the Trayvon mess.

LWers aren’t pure either (see Geraldine Ferraro for example) but the “left” tends to “weed out” their own.

This appears to be a good point for me to refer you to this NYT article from 2008, the early days of the glorious TEA Party. There was an individual from my area quoted in this article. First the quote:

“This so-called climate science is just ridiculous,” said Kelly Khuri, founder of the Clark County Tea Party Patriots. “I think it’s all cyclical.”

“Carbon regulation, cap and trade, it’s all just a money-control avenue,” Ms. Khuri added. “Some people say I’m extreme, but they said the John Birch Society was extreme, too.”

Now for a quick leap forward to present day Clark County, Indiana. This same Kelly Khuri is a candidate for the county council. I’ll keep you posted on how that works out. Our primary is next month. Please keep your fingers crossed for me.

@Tommmcatt Wears A Hoodie Daily: To your point, some folks are noting that Lowry managed to give Derb the boot without mentioning “racism”.

I didn’t use the word either. But mainly because I thought it redundant.

Have you ever noticed that hate-crazed, old white racists are the only ones that don’t think that they’re racists?

& @nojo: That’s some solid gold alt-text you’ve got there.

Love it that they use his nickname while distancing themselves.

Stil, makes a change from the gays.

@Dave H: Wow.

Okay. I don’t know if things are incredibly nuts, if I’ve been incredibly naive, or maybe I’ve been asleep. Someone tell me–what the fuck is going on? Has the world always been this way, and I was a fool to believe that things were better? I dunno.

During the Cold War, we had a common enemy, and I was one scared kid. Things seemed better socially, but we’re light brights, and I grew up near a college.

Now we have no real enemy, and we’re viciously turning on each other. I don’t understand why. I really don’t get it. I’m worried about my kid. I wish I could turn him white.

@Leave me alone; I’m drunk: It was ever thus.

@nojo: Someone lied to me.