Discussion for article #232248
Since when has reality ever been a friend to a Republican’s world view? It would be one thing if they had a passing acquaintance, but they’ve never even met. Perhaps a blind date?
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Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal ® was widely ridiculed Monday when he slammed so-called Muslim “no-go zones” during a speech to a conservative London think tank.
I don’t know why the think tank needed to fly Jindal over to London to give this speech. They have plenty of ignorant conservatives in England. And they’re better speakers.
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It’s amazing how they do this.
Come out with some outright falsehood. Repeat it a few times. Let it become common RW knowledge. Finally have someone mainstream say it. Cue outrage. Then all of a sudden have a nuanced defense of what they said and how it’s not really outlandish, just taken out of context, etc.
All of a sudden the ridiculous thing becomes even more legit.
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Right, they could have just invited that UKIP stooge, Nigel Defarge…
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It might be helpful if Jindal would use New Orleans’ sketchy 9th ward as an analogy. “Going there is dangerous for outsiders. Even the police avoid it, etc,”
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no less than four times
Well that wipes out all the hours of coverage.
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Ya gotta hand it to them.
Conservatives have demonstrated they are incapable of governing or leading, have a strikingly tenuous grasp of reality, and ‘don’t believe’ in accepted science (even though they are “not scientists” by their own admission). And let’s not even consider their inability to recognize irony or create humor.
But by gosh they can initiate and build the most amazing architecture of lies to support their selfish, misguided goals. It really is impressive, in a sad, sick kind of way.
{sigh}…It’s the conservative way!
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What the Republicans have done is taken a general observation of neighborhood composition and imposed their own fears on top of it. A neighborhood has a relatively high percentage of Muslims suddenly is a “no-go zone.” This is particularly true if the neighborhood struggles economically.
You want to know why so many Republicans insist on conceal carry? It is because they are afraid they will accidently end up in a predominantly black or Hispanic neighborhood (their equivalent of a “no-go zone”) after dark.
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Isn’t the 9th ward where many famous black musicians live? I get it, the operative word is black. .
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Colbert nailed it from the start: truthiness. The “no-go” thing isn’t true, isn’t plausible, isn’t supported by facts of any kind, but oh, if you’re an ignorant lunkhead who enjoys entertainingly scary stories, it just feels so right. And that’s all that’s necessary. You could refute it empirically all day every day for a month and these people wouldn’t let go of it. And Jindal, who’s a shameless little weasel, knows that.
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To be fair, there have always been no-go zones for the right wing. They are of course all invented and self imposed, but they know these places exist, and where no decent folks would go:
- Inner Cities (you know, where those people are).
- An unfamiliar house of worship (other faiths are weird).
- Libraries (I finished skooll, don’t need no more learnin’).
- Other countries (USA! USA! USA!)
Actually, its a much longer list, it’s easier to just say what isn’t a no-go zone: anywhere that they and their friends/family go on a daily basis, and nowhere else.
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I’ve been fascinated by urban myth and rumor going way back to a course in social psychology decades ago.
Rumor and urban myth are closely related. They reinforce fears and prejudices and they’re just plain fun, too. They’re also good for “taking down” those in power we despise. (He’s a secret Kenyan Muslim.)
One of my recent favorites was the rumor that we would all be implanted with a chip under Obamacare.
I don’t believe anybody really believed that, but it was fun to repeat and even embellish it. The gun nuts have a veritable Chinese menu of myths about how the gubmint is planning to have the 101st Airborne gas gun owners and confiscate their guns.
In WW2 rumor was such a serious problem in the war effort that the government paid social psychologists to study rumor and ways to combat it.
I, for one, am not shocked that these myths and rumor persist even when debunked – especially among those dumb enough to watch Fox and follow buffoons like Jindal.
As I’m writing this it occurred to me that Fox is effectively one big rumor mill that feeds and supports the fears and hatreds of a large segment of our society.
Yep, don’t go with the no-go.
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Where did it come from? The same place the insane Benghazi claim came from. The Twilight Zone of the GOP.
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They were afraid he might try to give another SOTU rebuttal?
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I’d imagine the myth got started by credulous, entrepreneurial, xenophobic authors, who perceived the demand for credulous, xenophobic, unflattering portrayals of Islam.
I’d guess that 99% of people never see 99% of the world, simply because they have neither time, nor money, nor compelling reason to go. Calling the whole world a giant no-go zone would just be stupid.
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Faux is the propaganda wing of the GOP. It’s done more damage to itself than Obama.
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Where was the outrage when Belfast in Northern Ireland was one large no-go zone?
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This is nothing new. It’s the Big Lie, propagated by Goebbels and by Stalin’s propagandists in the '30s.
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I want to establish Republican no-go zones.
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