R.E.M. may be defunct but...

[shipperx]

Lately singing "it's the end of the world as we know it..."  seems a bit too en pointe.

My state has an inglorious history that for reasons I cannot fathom they seem intent on repeating because they elected a bunch of rightest fruitcakes and we're on a recession fueled backlash nationwide. 

Things that cause me to shake my head and dislike what's going on around me:

The embarassing draconion immigration law the state has passed

The detrimental societal repercussions of the repugnant draconian immigration law

The fact that the only thing people are really complaining about in the  draconian immigration law... are the bits that inconvenience teh white people

The repugnant racist party head in Montgomery (don't miss the aboriniges comment  in addition to 'empty the clip'  comment or the fact that the jackhole kept his job)

And while we're at it, let's not leave out Republican Presidential candidate Rick Perry and his hunting camp  (Dude, your family may have owned that camp 'for a while'  but that word has been socially taboo for over forty years and was truly offensive for...well... ever.   Since the Perrys began leasing it in the 1980s(!) and still left that name... I'm saying bullshit to you, sir.  Bull-shit.)

Then there's Hank Williams Jr comparing the President to Hitler

And of course local jackhole talk radio host  Finebaum had to weigh in defending the arse

And that  same radio station woke me the other morning playing this Hank William's Jr song asking callers whether it was racist

(The answer you're looking for to that radio question is 'hell yes it is.'... not that many of the callers thought so... which is why I despair of willfully ignorant segments of our society.  Because Southerners -- of which my family and I are... going back for a couple of hundred years -- are taught many things to say regarding the Civil War, things like it was due to economic issues or that fond rememberance is about heritage not slavery.  But boiling away the platitudes, it was an economy... built on slavery.  It was a heritage... built on slavery.  And you can't neatly divorce one from the other as if they were in no way related... because they were.  An old rant of mine on the subject)

I realize that economic problems regularly lead to the seeking of 'other' as scapegoat and retrenching into defensive postures (see WWII) but, sheesh.  It's the 21st century, it would be nice if we were slightly better by now.

Comments

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

I find myself highly embarrassed that I've been a Hank Jr. fan for years, and own a lot of his records. *sigh* I've even seen him live. And now I'm pissed at him (although I have to admit, I haven't heard that song, and just a cursory read-through made me feel it was hugely SEXIST as well...).

Argh. My country embarrasses me so much.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Honestly, I never had a problem with the guy... but then I had never actually listened to stuff he said before. (And I didn't see the FOX clip because I've blocked Fox News on every TV in the house).

It was just that I woke up to that song mid-song on the radio the other morning and was apalled. Then when the song was over the DJ's were asking whether or not it was offensive. My sleep-addled brain was "WTF?! Hell yes that's offensive!"