Right America: Feeling Wronged

[Tiger Edge]

Has anyone seen this yet? It's been airing on HBO. Alexandra Pelosi followed the Straight Talk Express and interviewed people at McCain rallies. She doesn't put words in people's mouth, so if you're thinking this is another Michael Moore thing, you're wrong.
It actually feels a lot like Jesus Camp, where you're thrown into a world that you would never experience on your own. I think if you asked some of the people who were in this documentary they would view it in a definite positive light as being represented as who they are.

Here it is on youtube, around 45 minutes total:

YouTube - Right America Feeling Wronged 1 of 5

YouTube - Right America Feeling Wronged 2 of 5

YouTube - Right America Feeling Wronged 3 of 5

YouTube - Right America Feeling Wronged 4 of 5

YouTube - Right America Feeling Wronged 5 of 5


Especially frightening, but not at all surprising, is the number of people in the backwoods who openly admit that they are racist on camera. I thought that racism would be a bit more shameful nowadays! Even though I believe the two black men in Mississippi were right on about there being racists in New York and such, but I don't think you could find people who would be open to admitting that on camera as easily as you could in Mississippi.

And the guy who thinks women shouldn't even be allowed to vote...

Thoughts?

 

[deep]

I was aware of her "project".

And I have not watched any of it.

I will say with the selection and editing anyone can make this type of video.

There easily could be one of Obama rallies with extreme views captured on video tape.

 

[Tiger Edge]

True, and there were plenty of those floating around too. Unfortunately, I've experienced this same type of Obama reaction from my own family, both in person and in inbox.

 

[deep]

Did you get the "No Easter Egg Hunt at White House " in your inbox?

 

[Tiger Edge]

Not yet, but I got one called "Plot to kidnap Obama" that's in a similar vein.

 

[deep]

Not yet, but I got one called "Plot to kidnap Obama" that's in a similar vein.

oh,

this one?

I am sorry

but when I see this shit

I just think how stoooooooooooooooooopid the person is that created it

 

[the iron horse]

"Especially frightening, but not at all surprising, is the number of people in the backwoods who openly admit that they are racist on camera."


I live in the backwoods of America and that statement is not true.

 

[BVS]

"Especially frightening, but not at all surprising, is the number of people in the backwoods who openly admit that they are racist on camera."


I live in the backwoods of America and that statement is not true.

What part of it is not true? You mean there is no one in the backwoods of America that openly admit to being racist?

 

[The_Pac_Mule]

I quote Ozzy Osbourne.

When will all this anger hate and bigotry be gone

that was from Dreamer, beautiful song.

 

[the iron horse]

What part of it is not true? You mean there is no one in the backwoods of America that openly admit to being racist?

The blanket statement was wrong.
There might be some, but I think there is more in the citities.

Gangs are not running wild in our neck of the woods.

 

[deep]

for sure, there are more bigots in cities

than in back woods

 

[anitram]

There might be some, but I think there is more in the citities.

Yes well basic math makes that pretty obvious.

 

[BVS]

The blanket statement was wrong.
There might be some, but I think there is more in the citities.

Gangs are not running wild in our neck of the woods.

Well I have lived in the south most of my life, and have relatives that live in some of these areas the comment was referring to and I find it to be very true. Read the comment again, it wasn't a blanket statement of all the south, it was a comment that it was frightening about how many would admit on camera that they were racist, and that's true, for I see it with my own two eyes. Even if the number was one it would be alarming, but the number is much higher in those parts of the country that would actually admit it, there are many many more out there that are racists, they just won't admit it, but the point was how many would admit it.

I'm not sure what gangs have to do with admitted racism, but I think you are mistaken to think the cities have more admitted racism than the backwoods of the south.

 

[the iron horse]

"I'm not sure what gangs have to do with admitted racism, but I think you are mistaken to think the cities have more admitted racism than the backwoods of the south."


I guess we disagree.

 

[financeguy]

Even if the number was one it would be alarming, but the number is much higher in those parts of the country that would actually admit it, there are many many more out there that are racists, they just won't admit it, but the point was how many would admit it.

What % of an average population, in your opinion, are 'racists, but won't admit it'?

Is this % greater, or less, in the southern states of the US, than elsewhere?

 

[BVS]

"I'm not sure what gangs have to do with admitted racism, but I think you are mistaken to think the cities have more admitted racism than the backwoods of the south."


I guess we disagree.

So you honestly think if you went to LA, Dallas, Chicago, or New York you find the same percentage of folks like in video 4? Honestly? How much time have you spent living in a major city?

 

[BVS]

What % of an average population, in your opinion, are 'racists, but won't admit it'?

Is this % greater, or less, in the southern states of the US, than elsewhere?

Well it's impossible to say what % are racists but won't admit it.

But yes, I would say the south still has a larger percentage of racists than elsewhere in the country. Not that they don't exist in other parts of the country but obvious racism is still more prominent in the south.

 

[financeguy]

Well it's impossible to say what % are racists but won't admit it.

But yes, I would say the south still has a larger percentage of racists than elsewhere in the country. Not that they don't exist in other parts of the country but obvious racism is still more prominent in the south.

Worldwide I meant.

 

[No spoken words]

Well it's impossible to say what % are racists but won't admit it.

But yes, I would say the south still has a larger percentage of racists than elsewhere in the country. Not that they don't exist in other parts of the country but obvious racism is still more prominent in the south.

Not to defend the South, but it strikes me as funny that in a thread about racism and such, you're making a sweeping statement about how the South has more racists. Why is that stereotype permissible?

 

[BVS]

Worldwide I meant.

Worldwide, I wouldn't have a clue. I would think you would have to compare more developed countries with more developed countries, otherwise it would just be apples and oranges.

 

[BVS]

Not to defend the South, but it strikes me as funny that in a thread about racism and such, you're making a sweeping statement about how the South has more racists. Why is that stereotype permissible?

Trust me, I'm the first to be offended by southern stereotypes, but I'm not stereotyping the south. I never said the majority of the south or even the south in general is racist.

I'm just saying that having lived or spent time in many parts of the country the signs of obvious racism aren't as prevelant as they are in the south. I can't really make any kind of judgement about racism in general, I am just speaking about those that would be obvious or upfront about their fears or ignorance.

 

[No spoken words]

Trust me, I'm the first to be offended by southern stereotypes, but I'm not stereotyping the south. I never said the majority of the south or even the south in general is racist.

I'm just saying that having lived or spent time in many parts of the country the signs of obvious racism aren't as prevelant as they are in the south. I can't really make any kind of judgement about racism in general, I am just speaking about those that would be obvious or upfront about their fears or ignorance.

Then trust me, there's plenty of racism as well as other bigotry to go around in big cities.

 

[BVS]

Then trust me, there's plenty of racism as well as other bigotry to go around in big cities.

I understand that, but do you honestly think there are the same percentage of folks that would admit on camera to being "not so partial to blacks", "I wouldn't vote for the ******", etc?

Look back at my posts I wasn't talking about bigotry in general, I'm talking about those that will actually admit to it or even say it with pride...

 

[Tiger Edge]

oh,

this one?

I am sorry

but when I see this shit

I just think how stoooooooooooooooooopid the person is that created it

That's the one.

I've also received "The New Air Force One" as well as a photo of the new presidential limo.

 

[yolland]

Racism exists in varying degrees, and the openly and coarsely expressed variety is definitely proportionally more prevalent in the South. It's not really a question of 'backwoods'; the area of Indiana where I live is pretty 'backwoods,' but here I can go for, I dunno, a year or two at a stretch without encountering a situation where someone freely uses racial slurs in public, or even the relatively more self-aware "I'm not a racist but...[racist sentiment]"-type statement. Where I grew up in Mississippi...try more like once a month. Racial tension is just closer to the surface, more palpable there (which yes, can go both ways; I also heard more slurs directed at white people there than I've heard elsewhere, though almost without exception aimed at individuals, not white people in the collective). And of course, as the election results displayed, highly racially polarized voting too. But if you're talking the bigger picture of racism as a continuum--sure, social and residential segregation by race, criminal sentencing disparities, etc. are well in evidence throughout the United States, and antiblack racism certainly isn't the only kind you'll see either; get out into the borough neighborhoods of many major American cities and you'll encounter a fair amount of rather ugly ethnic tribalisms, overall less coarsely expressed than what Pelosi found at a gas station outside Oxford, MS but ugly nonetheless. And as a (black) childhood friend of mine from MS who like me has long since moved away recently put it, at times there's something to be said for the clarity of knowing who's got problems with you upfront because they'll tell it to your face, as opposed to the cold-water shock of discovering that people who talk all openminded and self-aware (and doubtless believe they are) turn out not to be so much so, once you've unwittingly crossed some social boundary their surface manner suggested didn't exist.

But honestly, just from skimming through those clips in the OP...all the wide-eyed, deadly-earnest people she encountered at the rallies asserting that Obama "is like Hitler, he hates everybody;" or proclaiming him "socialist" in a tone of voice suggesting something more like 'serial-rapist murderer' then being completely unable to articulate even the vaguest definition of what socialism is; or declaring that he's a Muslim terrorist, "he said so himself"--frankly I found that considerably more scary than the smirking, chuckling trucker at the gas station, clearly relishing his opportunity to play shock-the-librul-Yankee-girlie with his nonchalance about using the n-word. As far as the resentful comment towards Pelosi by the black man sitting at the gas station, I think probably what that's more about is that both white and black people in Mississippi sometimes get fed up with perennially being roped into service as archival material for the latest dutifully melodramatic portrayal of Mississippi as living museum of the darkest recesses of the American soul...Faulknerian pathos and redneck rage, the cradle of the blues and the stronghold of the Klan, grand antebellum mansions and dilapidated shotgun shacks, blah blah blah yadda yadda yadda.

I'm not sure how helpful this documentary really is for achieving any insight into "Feeling Wronged," though; it seems more like an extended version of the Assorted-Soundbites-From-(Mostly)-Really-Scary-People type of video collage we already saw several times during the election.

 

[U2DMfan]

Trust me, I'm the first to be offended by southern stereotypes, but I'm not stereotyping the south. I never said the majority of the south or even the south in general is racist.

BVS, you did say this:

yes, I would say the south still has a larger percentage of racists than elsewhere in the country.

Unless you can prove that statement, then it's a stereotype.

 

[BVS]

BVS, you did say this:



Unless you can prove that statement, then it's a stereotype.

Yes, and then I tried to clarify that statement with next sentence.

Not that they don't exist in other parts of the country but OBVIOUS racism is still more prominent in the south.

I used the word "obvious" to try and describe the more openly racist. Context.

 

[deep]

A Mayor and Council member about 30 miles from where I live resigned yesterday because of the backlash from sending out that No Easter Egg Hunt cartoon? with watermelons

and now some school board guy in Staten Island resigned for emailing this image:

Clint Eastwood goes gunning for PC killjoys by saying we should laugh at race-based jokes | Mail Online


some old people are stupid.

 

[anitram]

Is there an epidemic of a lack of common sense going around?

It's as if the vast majority of people, once they enter the professional workplace, realize that there are things that are simply not acceptable there and that some e-mails should not be disseminated in the workplace. Regardless of whether you think they're funny, or we've gone too far PC or whatever. And then you always have these fools discussed in the thread.

 

[HyperU2]

If you want to pretend that racism only exists in whites then you might be safe in saying there isn't as much in the cities.