Glenn Beck and the New American Civil War

Hey Folks,

Here’s an article I posted yesterday about the DC’s “Restoring Honor” Tea Bagger conference. If you like it, be sure to go back to the original on The New Gay and leave a comment.

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Was there ever a time when it wasn’t terrifying to be American? I have no memories of this from when I was little. But when I was little I didn’t understand the notion of disenfranchisement and I wore pajamas with little feet on them. I didn’t see things as I do now.
My first inkling of “the way things are now” came when I was a junior in college. My Mennonite roommate was watching The Daily Show, which I tuned into for the first time since it was run  by Craig Kilborn and was mean towards old people and the mentally deficient. I saw it as a remarkably thoughtful progressive news source, but said Mennonite said he tuned in once in a while to “get his dose of liberal media.” This was about a year after the terms “red state” and “blue state” had fallen into popular use. It was nice to have it official, then. There are two Americas.
And it’s really hard not to split this into the dichotomy of “us” and “them,” but I’ve been a “them” since before I even kissed a boy. And I’m such a “them” now that I might as well get it tattooed on my forearm, or sewn in a star onto the lapel of my jacket.
I know this because I made the mistake of going down to Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” Rally on the National Mall this past Saturday. We, as producers or consumers of the “liberal media,” know what was wrong with this. The disgusting appropriation of Dr. King’s legacy, for one. The idea that Glenn Beck is anything more than a puppet for the organized right, no matter how much he claws at his own wrists and claims stigmata. Mostly, though, the untold galvanization of a legitimately disenfranchised America — the increasingly invisible working class — into an engine of intolerance.
The things that are wrong with our country right now, most of them, are wrong for everyone. The economy stinks like my balls after a jog, the word “American” is a global shorthand for boorish wastefulness and our inability to adopt a sustainable energy policy means that boner-killers-of-the-soul like the BP disaster are going to become increasingly common. In short, we’ve witnessed the absolute death of the American dream.
And this is a good thing. The current definition of American dream involves a car and a big house in the suburbs. Since the former’s rendered all but unaffordable with gas prices, and the latter’s probably been foreclosed, this is a great time to revisit the ideals that this country was ostensibly founded on. Ideals like freedom, tolerance and sanctuary for those who don’t want to be lorded over by tyrants.
Instead of doing that, though, xenophobia has been nurtured like a small child and let loose in the garden of the gullible. America’s current tattered state means that it’s most susceptible to positive change. We’ve lost so much that we’re finally willing to rebuild. The 2008 election is living proof of this, as the messages of change and hope would mean nothing if we weren’t stagnant and despondent. Same with the current state of gay rights.
What this means, though, is that our “them” (or the other “us”) is seeing some of their long held privileges dissolve at a time when it’s really all some  Americans have left. History has taught us well and frequently that nations need scapegoats when things fall apart, and in this nation that role is being filled not just by specific minority groups (though Focus on Family and The Birthers have shown what happens when we get too close to equality) but by the entire range of creeds and behaviors that have come to be known as Liberal.
What I learned at last Sunday’s tea bagger rally is that things are bad. Really bad. Ammonia-plus-bleach bad. Hundreds of thousands of people were hanging on the every word of Beck, and the straw woman known as Sarah Palin, and every other speaker they trotted out to represent “the real America.” The problem is, though, that they didn’t say anything. The whole thing was just a cavalcade of platitudes, words like “honor” and “glory” strung together to form a coherent subtext: “You’re right. You’re real. They’re not.”
It was smart of Mr. Beck to ban all political discourse from the event. If you need a big favor from your friends, do you put your hand out immediately or throw them a party, a rockin’, kick-ass party, and ask three weeks later once you’re on their good side?
I’m not sure exactly what that favor will be, but it’s not so hard to guess it’ll be an uprising. What Arizona is getting away with right now is so unconstitutional it makes my School House Rock DVD’s bleed, and I suspect that’s only the beginning. Things are going to get worse for those of divergent races, religions, nationalities and ethnicities simply because they are close to getting better.
When those who really need their rights and privileges butt heads with those who need them taken away, what else could happen? If this country isn’t headed for a literal civil war then we’re about to get further into an idealogical one then anyone can afford.
The only question, then, is when is it gonna happen? And when are they going to come for us?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 at 9:12 am and is filed under Politics & Activism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.