By Brigitte L. Nacos
Today, the British newspaper The Independent carried this huge headline on top of page one: “The day America took leave of its senses.” I think that the paragraphs underneath the telling header deserve to be highlighted here because they made the case for America gone wacko:
“Has there ever been a more absurdly surreal moment, even in US politics, that unchallengeable theatre of the absurd and the surreal? One moment, we were watching a property magnate, with one eye on the presidency, the other on his reality TV show ratings, and puffed up like a bullfrog, rejoicing on an airport tarmac in New Hampshire that America's President of two years had finally made public his birth certificate.
The next, America's TV networks interrupted their schedules to cut to the White House, where that self-same President appeared to confirm the momentous fact: not that Barack Obama had indeed been born, but that the happy event indeed took place, as no sane person has ever doubted, on the unimpeachably American soil of Hawaii, one August evening in 1961.
Of late, however, America has seemed to be taking leave of its senses. A quarter of the population, polls showed, and close on half of Republicans, still refused to believe that unassailable fact.”
There have been wacky people at all times in all countries. However, it took wacky Donald Trump and a compliant media to finally show all of America and the rest of the world how the nasty fantasies and racist conspiracy theories of the far-right fringe took over mainstream Republican politics and became focus points of mass-mediated national discourse.
No white president ever faced as far-fetched and dirty under-the-belt attacks as President Obama. And the reason is clear: For the bigoted anti-Obama movement pushers, for those among them who consider only Christians—and thus themselves--as God’s children, it is unbearable that a black man was elected into the highest office in the land. That’s behind the push to deny his presidency the legitimacy. It is plainly racism. Add to that the virus of Islamophobia that has spread rapidly in these circles.
Everyone knows that President Obama is a Christian. But for the anti-Obama movement he is at best a closet Muslim in bed with those who want to enforce Sharia law into the United States—at worst he is on the side of our terrorist enemies.
Instead of distancing themselves from the wackos in the ranks of their party, Republican leaders have remained silent, ambiguous, or have been even supportive.
The same despicable attitudes are displayed vis-à-vis the wacko-in-chief Trump. Both by Republican leaders and by media organizations and their personnel.
To treat the outrageous statements of Wacko Trump as one side of the story and seek from the president, the White House, and other the oppositional side lays bare the laughable practices of even the serious press under the cover of objectivity.
Looking at the coverage of Trump, the birther movement, and all the preachers of the hate-Obama kind shows that there is no longer a truth seeker role for most of the news media.
Not long ago, Trump said during an interview on CNN that “this country is a laughing stock throughout the world” since the U.S. was not moving more decisively in foreign policies.
Yes, America is a laughing stock throughout the world because of its attention to a wacko like Donald Trump, because of the many wackos who consider him good presidential timber, because of a majority of Republicans who embrace the lies of the Birthers, because of a Republican leadership without moral backbones.
And most of all because of an America preoccupied with wacko lies and wacko personalities at the expense of focusing on the real big problems and issues of our time.
Yes, indeed, The Independent is right: America has taken leave of its senses—not just for a day but for a prolonged period of wacko politics.
Just tried to share via facebook and they told me this site has been reported for 'spammy or blocked content'. Have filed a report saying you should not be. Keep up the great work
Posted by: Keith | April 28, 2011 at 09:22 PM
Thanks, Keith, this is strange, guess Mr. T. and/or members of his cheer section do not like my posts.
Posted by: brigitte | April 29, 2011 at 07:37 AM