The Least Among Us

I spend a lot of my time pissed off about the fact that teabaggers are so easily duped. The shit they believe is impossible for me to comprehend anyone taking seriously. But the thing that is worse, to me, is that this is deliberate. There are a lot of radio, internet and television talking heads that they listen to religiously. And every message they get is to be afraid. "Our country is under attack. Our way of life is under attack." They totally believe it. Obama is going to take all of their rights away. They are threatened by Muslims, and gays and immigrants and all people of color. They have been convinced that all of these people, in one way or another, are trying to take away their rights. And the worst of them project a violent rage toward all of those who they were programmed to hate. It is terrifying.

Everyone has heard of Rush Limbaugh and the Fox cable entertainment channel. But there are so many more voices that they get their hateful messages from. A lot of them, believe it or not, get messages of hate from their church. I researched a blog I did last month and the pastor of a mega-church here in town was condemning Muslims and the poor. He was supporting the hateful rhetoric they hear all week on the radio. And another pastor, quite literally, told his congregation that he hates the President, prays for his death, and called his mother a whore. (See Here) This conglomerate have been able to successfully brainwash an entire political movement.

It sounds dramatic, right? Angie, you are exaggerating. Ok. I tell you what ... I will offer you a handful of stories here and I want you to imagine anyone on the left doing it. Ever. We have assholes who will throw paint on someone wearing a fur coat, but we don't have anyone who decides the answer to any fears they have about their political or religious views is violence. Or worse.

In March of this year, a man in Georgia planted a bomb in a public park in an attempt to make the community aware of the Muslim threat he believed the country was under. He demanded that "No one is paying attention to what is going on in the world." This self-professed "Patriot" put the bomb in a backpack and added some Muslim memorabilia, a copy of the Quran and a map of the Jewish Community Center of Atlanta. He literally picked out a name that he thought sounded foreign and put it in the back pack. All items were meant to be evidence, after the pending explosion, of a Muslim performing a terrorist attack. Please understand. The bombs in the backpack were real. He left them at a national park. Anyone could have picked that up and been blown up. And once arrested, what was he charged with? Terrorism? Nope. He's a white man. It was probably just a mental issue. He was charged with: an attempt to damage or destroy by means of an explosive property owned by the United States of America.

Also in March, a man in New Orleans went to the airport with a duffel bag carrying a machete, six homemade explosives and poison spray. He sprayed two TSA officers in the face with the poison and then chased another with the machete. He was eventually shot and killed and when they searched his car they found more chemicals to make explosives. The TSA are targets for hate by two right-wing radio personalities, Alex Jones and Glenn Beck. Beck actually tells his listeners that he believes the TSA are working for the President as his "secret army." And he has an audience. Again, its more than my mind can embrace. This man who attacked with explosives and a machete, based on irrational fear, was also determined not to have been a terrorist. He, too, was white. He, too, they said, probably had mental health issues.

In August, 2012, a Wisconsin man shot and killed six and injured four at a Sikh temple. His hate was so ignorant and lazy that he didn't know the difference between Sikhs and Muslims. He was a white supremacist and in a neo-Nazi band. He had been telling friends that a holy war was coming. I found no mention of his having a mental problem, but he lost all of his jobs for a drinking problem. Had he not killed himself that day, I'm sure that would've been his defense.

In September, 2012, a Virginia man killed himself and his family. He as afraid that President Obama was going to be re-elected. He worked as a defense contractor and was sure that, if re-elected, President Obama would cut defense spending. So, out of that fear, one Sunday after church, he shot his wife and two sons and then himself, rather than face whatever world would be created by a second Obama term. Information was released to state that he suffered from mental health issue, as well.

In June, 2014, a couple, Jerad and Amanda Miller, who were big fans of right wing radio host Alex Jones, went on a shooting spree. They had expressed a lot of anti-government rhetoric and hatred for authority. They managed to kill two police officers, throwing a Tea Party flag and Nazi swastika on their dead bodies and then killed another person before they were finally killed.

Per the Southern Poverty Law Center, in the last six years right-wing hate groups, militias who call themselves "Patriots," have killed 63 people. These groups are literally convinced that America is under attack and it is their duty to protect her. Meanwhile, they are the terrorists. They are the ones who are wreaking havoc. Out of fear and hate they rally around a flag and a right to bear arms and terrorize whomever they deem a threat. And it seems like the list of those who are threatening them gets longer and longer.

So last night in Texas a group of redneck tebagging trash held a cartoon drawing event, arranged by a woman named Pamela Gellar. When I heard this was her event I nearly lost my  mind. A lot of the moron trolls on Twitter cite her or send you a link to some absolutely unbelievable lie. She is so outrageous that I literally sent her a message last month and asked her how she sleeps at night with all of the fear she is deliberately trying to instill in others. And she arranged an event in Texas for people to draw pictures of Mohammad. It is an Islamic rule that no depiction of their prophet ever be made. She decided this would be a good idea to have a celebration of their freedom of speech and said it was inspired by the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

In January she had a rally to protest a Muslim leadership conference in the same town as last nights shooting, Garland, Texas. She told the group that they were coming to take away Americans freedom of speech. You can go here to see her rally in January. It is a little funny. Or a lot. She is literally telling them what to say to the media. She told her audience that they are soldiers in the battle for America. Because..yeah. And, finally she reminded them to be righteous and not to embarrass the movement.

She was OBVIOUSLY trying to start trouble last night. She even had the police there ready to catch the terrorists when they showed up. Fox (not) News interviewed a woman who said, "our way of life is under attack." She thought the event was a great idea to show off their freedom of speech. Now, please understand, this entire event was a reaction to Muslims in Texas having a leadership conference in January.

Apparently when the shooting happened, an officer entered the center where this event was going on and informed the guests that there was an active shooting. The group inside literally started singing "God Bless America" in unity and then they began to pray together. Close your eyes. No. I'm not kidding. Close your eyes. Envision people under a shooting attack that they deliberately incited are huddled together singing "God Bless America" and praying together. Have a moment with that vision. What did you just see? Right! They are as brainwashed as a real cult. (Of course, Fox (not) News pointed out that it was a patriotic display of the true "spirit of freedom of speech").

The Fox host interviewed Pamela Gellar and asked her if she ever considered that this event was a bad idea? She was off-put by his question and snapped back, "What should I do? Abridge my freedoms so as to not offend savages?" She then went on to remind Americans that, "This is the new normal," in our country. This bitch wanted something like this to happen. She said it was in response to the Charlie Hebdo event in January. That event was VERY different. They printed a magazine to show their speech because they had been threatened. The magazine had received a threat and they were standing up to bullies. No one had sent a threat to this group in Texas. They created their own imagined threat because a Muslim leadership conference was in their town. They have been brainwashed to believe that Muslims are coming for them and a holy war is on the way. This is literally a reaction to a fear they were instilled with. They baited the shooters. And they willingly put their own lives on the line in hopes that this might happen.

The next time anyone drones on and on about terrorists, remind them that we have had more Christian terrorist incidents since 9/11 than Muslim. In the last 20 Years 4700 acts of clinic violence were perpetrated against abortion clinics in the USA by "Christians." They are the ones creating all of the hate in our society. And they are too stupid to realize it. And, sadly, we are stuck with them.



HateGroups(See Here)