Sunday, August 15, 2021

Racist Projection

Definition of Projection: In psychology, projection refers to placing your own negative traits or unwanted emotions onto others, usually without reason. “It’s not ME. It’s YOU!”

What does projection look like when it is projected by racists?

Let’s start this discussion by taking a short stroll down Memory Lane.

Do you remember the “Simpsons” image of the FOX News helicopter with the words, “Not racist, but #1 with Racists”? I wonder if that survived the censors on reruns.

We remember when Tucker Carlson denied the existence of white nationalism, but he attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar for “hating America,” saying, “We have every right to fight to preserve our nation and our heritage and our culture.”

Omar is not hating democracy and equality, the fundamental American ideals and values. “Hating America” is how racists frame Omar’s revulsion for racist conservative white heritage and culture, of course.

“Preserve our heritage and culture” echoes the popular white supremacist slogan: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."

We remember Klan Leader David Duke wanted Carlson to be Vice-President.

"President Trump! You have one last chance to turn the tables, win this election and save America—and yourself! Nominate Tucker Carlson for Vice President. This would energize your campaign beyond belief." Duke tweeted.

And finally, we remember when Trump officials decided to cut the census period shorter last year. What were they afraid of? 

Enter again FOX(R)’s resident white nationalist, and therefore a “victim of racism”, Tucker Carlson:

Democrats are intentionally accelerating demographic change for political advantage...They said we were espousing something known as the Great Replacement Theory”, a well-known racist fantasy. In other words, “Shut up”.

(After playing the radical Right’s ubiquitous “race card” and “victim card” he cites census results showing fewer white Americans.)

As leading Democrats put it again and again, “Who cares? Fewer white people in America is a great thing and we should celebrate.”

(Cut to non-white CNN commentators.)

“Right now Stephen Miller and Donald Trump are at Mar-a-Lago, and they’re throwing up, because this is not the America they want to see.”

“I was at the White House the other day and guess who has got Stephen Miller’s old office. Her name was Susan Rice, and she’s one of us. And guess who was in Ivanka Trump’s old office. Julie Rodriguez.”

Thus Carlson’s reactionary racist conclusion: Did you hear that? “Her name is Susan Rice, she’s one of us.” Meaning she’s a Democrat? No, she means she’s not white. “Us” is the non-white people cheering the extinction of white people...it’s that evil. And if you want to encourage permanent racial division, and maybe even violence in America, that is exactly how you would talk on television. These people are completely out of control. They are dangerous.

How racist and divisive can you get? “Those Black and Brown people on CNN are dangerous and evil! They hate good white people like us so much they are cheering for our extinction!”

If Carlson isn’t the face of racist white nationalism, Hitler was a democratic socialist. Carlson is spewing the same hate for American people of color as Hitler did about Jews. “Those Jews are dangerous and evil! They hate good Aryans like us so much they are cheering for our extinction!” Not much difference, is there?

I get a lot of flak for comparing America’s radical Right to Nazis. But racists are racists. Authoritarians are authoritarians. They spring from the same fetid mire of bigotry and hatred. They are enemies of democracy and equality. They share the bloody trait and heritage of a violent coup and Putsch. The differences are context and uniforms. America’s radical Right racists wear MAGA hats, Q-anon slogans, and white hoods instead of swastikas. They desecrated the “Back the Blue” and US flags by beating police officers who thwarted their coup and protected our Congress and Constitutional rule of law.

Are they really that different from Hitler’s Brownshirts?

The real difference is our racist white nationalists are constrained by the Constitution and the power of the ballot to limit their power. For now. The radical Right are doing their utmost to remove the threat of fair elections and proportional representative democracy.

What would a white supremacist or Nazi say about a Black man and Latina woman remarking on Trump and Miller being disturbed by fewer white Americans, and for noting minorities in the Biden Administration?

I could be mistaken, but:

A racist and or a Nazi would accuse them of “intentionally accelerating demographic change for political advantage”.

He would be outraged at being called out for, “espousing something known as the Great Replacement Theory, a well-known racist fantasy”.

He would be enraged at a Black man accurately noting Trump and Miller would fear fewer white Americans, and as “not the America they want to see”.

He would see someone mentioning Susan Rice in Stephen Miller’s old office as, “non-white people cheering the extinction of white people.”

A white supremacist and Nazi might even describe the non-white people discussing those facts as being “that evil”.

FOX(R)’s resident white nationalist was projecting his hate and racism to the ultimate degree. “And if you want to encourage permanent racial division, and maybe even violence in America, that is exactly how you would talk on television. These people are completely out of control. They are dangerous.”

Yes, Carlson was correct about the Great Replacement Theory being a well-known racist fantasy. So he’s obsessed with pushing it. Those Black and Brown racists are “cheering the extinction of white people.”

Carlson is terrified of being in a minority in America. The evil he projects is from his own hateful and fearful bigoted nature. But racism isn't racism to the racist.

Why is that?

I don’t suppose it has anything to do with how minorities have been treated by racist white conservatives over the years.


17 comments:

Jerry said...

In order to truly compare American racists to Nazis one has to ask where are the concentration camps? Are there murders being committed arbitrarily in the streets? Is racism our national policy? Is our national government espousing racism as national policy? Crackpots like Carlson do not reflect America, its people, or its government. Yes, way to many idiots are suckered by the oratory of his kind, but it would never be a majority party in this country. As you said, it's power would be limited by our Constitution. Only a complete takeover of our Judicial system from top to bottom would even come close and there are to many checks and balances within our system for that to happen. Our past has included much sicker thinking than Carlson's in our leaders, but we survived. We have even overcome and progressed.

Jerry said...

Nazis didn't win some philosophical battle, they murdered their way to power and they had to be murdered out of existence.
I'm not just talking about the history of Trump (which you are fixated about) but the history of our country which was started as a slave nation and our presidents were slave owners. Seems your history starts and ends with Trump. Does that make them worse than Trump? We rose above our hate filled beginnings and guys like Carlson are no more important than David Duke has been for decades. Those kind of haters will always be with us. When whites are no longer in majority, racism will still be alive and well.

Dave Dubya said...

Jerry,

Yes, so here we are. We’ve made progress. Slavery is over, but the radical Right is suppressing the study and history of racism and its effects. That is the opposite of progress.

Actually the failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch was the Nazis’ attempt to murder their way to power.

Nazis eventually won enough votes to form a coalition government with the conservative right-wing German Nationalist People's Party. Hitler convinced President Paul von Hindenburg to appoint him as Chancellor. And he promptly dissolved all other parties.

Hitler learned he needed to exploit a weak democracy to be voted into power, and that required winning a “philosophical battle”. His radical Right white nationalism won enough votes to put him in government.

The fact that I read a lot of history, especially WWII history, is why I rant about racist authoritarianism. My other primary area of study is the Civil War and its causes and effects.

Some used to say, “It can’t happen here”. It did. The Right is winning the propaganda war, or “philosophical battle” if you want to frame it that way. “Government is the problem!” “The left hates America!” “The press is the enemy of the people!” “The election was stolen!” Those lies and the Big Lie are tearing this democracy into shreds.

The reality that Trump was president, holds power over the Republican Party, and remains free tells us how far we have risen above hate and racism. The fact that Critical Race Theory and the 1619 Project are demonized and outright banned tells us far we have risen above hate and racism. Republicans’ gerrymandering and suppression of minority voters tells us how far we have risen above hate and racism.

I don’t think most Americans understand the enormous threat the radical Right poses to our democracy. This has been the emphasis of my blogging since 2007, way before Trump became the leader of the radical Right. But he is exactly that now, and it is dangerous for us to forget it. It’s not about a fixation on Trump, but on exposing radical Right authoritarianism for the real threat it has become.

David Duke was never given a prime time TV show on a major cable network to spew the “Great Replacement Theory”. Tucker Carlson is exactly his kind of guy. And FOX(R) isn’t even as extreme as OANN and NewsMax.

The resurgence and rise of white nationalism as demonstrated on 1/6 show we haven’t risen above hate and toxic radical Right political indoctrination. Most Trump voters believe he won. This is unprecedented extreme radicalization.

When whites are no longer the majority, they WILL still hold most of the power. The radical Right has way more than their share of representation than the majority of Americans.

You said it yourself. When whites are no longer in majority, racism will still be alive and well.

As I said. They don’t need a majority to destroy our democracy. They just need enough indifference and apathy within the majority.

Take a look at how well our democratic republic is doing. The left are out of the picture. The Senate is locked down and the will of the majority is ignored. The founders ideal of consent of the governed is suppressed. The Right and their corporate sponsors are running the show. Radical Right voter suppression and election nullification are spreading rapidly.

And the Democrats have both Houses and the White House. What does that tell us?

Do you think it can’t get worse?

Dave Dubya said...

If Hitler and Mussolini were reincarnated, they would sound exactly like this:

“Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America”

"I spoke to the wonderful mother and devoted husband of Ashli Babbitt, who was murdered at the hands of someone who should never have pulled the trigger of his gun. We know who he is. If that happened to the “other side,” there would be riots all over America and yet, there are far more people represented by Ashli, who truly loved America, than there are on the other side. The Radical Left haters cannot be allowed to get away with this. There must be justice!"

“Save America”
President Donald J. Trump
August 11, 2021

********

This is the essence of fascism. And that man controls the obedient and willing party that has a lock on the Senate and the majority of state governments.

Jerry said...

There is no doubt there was a fascist movement in Germany, but your history does not tell the true facts that Hitler and his brown shirts beat, imprisoned, and murdered top government officials and elected German representatives before and after he was given the leadership off Germany.
To say Trump is a fascist is not the same as saying he is a murdering Hitler.
It's certainly true that a fascist government would destroy America as we once knew it, but that did not and has not happened despite the best efforts of Trump.
As far as I'm concerned Trump is in the past. Trump will not be reelected even if he does run again. Trump supporters who are still in office are the ones to worry about.
Yes, Trump has changed American politics, but then so has almost every president since 1789.
When you think someone is dangerous and evil it's typical to use the worst comparison possible; but as I have said before comparing anyone to Hitler is an insult to the Holocaust victims and the millions of other victims who died under Hitler's rule. There are despots that could earn a Hitler comparison like Stalin, the Emperor of Japan, and others who murdered millions, but Trump is not one of those.
If Republicans want to follow in the footsteps of Trump, then they are a danger to America. What's likely to bring them to power is incompetent performance by Democrats, especially Biden.

Dave Dubya said...

Jerry,
You're saying Nazis imprisoned top government officials and elected German representatives BEFORE they took power. I would like to learn about that. Share specifics please.

I think you're missing my point on racist authoritarianism.

No American has taken it to the degree Hitler did, but that's no reason to minimize or dismiss them. Who's to say how much destruction they would do without Constitutional restrictions.

Holocaust victims HAVE compared Trumpism to the early Nazi movement, and rightly so. They have seen that same racist authoritarianism before. And this is my point. This is NOT comparing masks to the Holocaust. It is noting the common roots of fascism and American white nationalism. Racist authoritarianism is the disease. Nazis, the Klan, Proud Boys, Oath Keeper, etc are the symptoms. Trumpism incorporates these elements.

No matter how you want to frame it, Trump's coup and Hitler's 1923 Putsch were the same beast out to kill democracy and equality. The hate is the same, and that justifies comparison to the early Nazi movement. The Holocaust was what can happen if the hate is not resisted.

Trump's presidency may be in the past, but his power and influence certainly are not. You're aware of the danger of Trumpism, but seem to deny or downplay it. This is a mistake.

If you pardon the comparison. Hitler is in the past, but Nazis remain.



Jerry said...

"No American has taken it to the degree Hitler did,"
Then why do you keep comparing them to Hitler?

"Holocaust victims HAVE compared Trumpism to the early Nazi movement, and rightly so."
There is no record that historians, the Holocaust Museum, or any Israeli backed Holocaust association have claimed Trumps political strategy was the same as Hitler's political strategy to get political power.

You seem to be attributing a philosophy to Trump that he never uttered in words.

Recheck your history of Hitler's brown shirts. It includes the beating and murder of German elected officials BEFORE Hitler won election.

Fascism has been around for a very long time before Hitler came along; and sadly the populace of a country have voted fascist as their leaders, like Italy.

Dave Dubya said...

US Holocaust Museum listing the early warning signs of fascism:

EARLY WARNING SIGNS OF FASCISM

1. Powerful and continuing nationalism
2. Disdain for human rights
3. Identification of enemies as a unifying cause
4. Rampant sexism
5. Controlled mass media
6. Obsession with national security
7. Religion and government intertwined
8. Corporate power protected
9. Labor power suppressed
10. Disdain for intellectuals and the arts
11. Obsession with crime and punishment
12. Rampant cronyism and corruption

Dave Dubya said...

Q-anon whore and terrorist tour guide Marjorie Taylor Greene had special words for Democratic women of color. “Ilhan Omar is a traitor. Kamala Harris is one too.” For sharing links to a bail fund for protesters.

Greene is the color of fascism.

Warning signs of fascism exhibited by Greene: 1,2,3,6,and 11.

That’s what Nazis did too.

Dave Dubya said...

Denying or minimizing the reality of the growing threat of white nationalist fascism on the Right is a grave mistake. The enemies of democracy and equality are relentless, and they are winning. Trump is out of office but he is still leader of the Republican Party. Trumpism, aka fascism, is still very much ingrained into millions of Americans.

Denying or minimizing this reality also dishonors the millions who suffered and perished by the cruelties of fascism. In fact it leaves the door open to more suffering and death.

Professor Jared Yates Sexton:

Constantly broadcasting veiled-New World Order fearmongering while an entire political party tells their base they’re being systematically replaced, their votes erased by satanic traitors, and that it will end with them in camps leads to violence. Period. (8-19-21)

https://twitter.com/JYSexton/status/1428718411954196483


The defining ideology of the Right is that a natural hierarchy exists wherein white, wealthy men should determine the course of society and that democracy, benefiting everyone else, represents an apocalyptic threat. That’s been the case for centuries and it defines this moment.

White Replacement Theory, the Big Lie, the selling of Orbán-style authoritarianism. All of it is a white supremacist, hierarchical mindset that tells Right Wing Americans that demographic change and democracy means certain doom and the only solution is to dismantle democracy.

None of this is new. From the beginnings of liberalism the Right has fought to destroy representative politics if it isn’t specifically tailored to white, wealthy men. Even in the 20th century this ideology was raging in America and helped inspire Nazism and eugenics.

We’re living in another crisis point and the panic of the Right is the same we have seen before, and it always leads to violence, oppression, fascistic tactics, and a battle over whether representative politics will be destroyed in favor of authoritarianism.

If you actually listen to the Right, whether it’s Tucker or the faux-intellectuals of the think-tank universe, it’s an undeniable vilification of liberal democracy and a deep, deep list for authoritarianism to rein in shifting demographics. It’s hardly veiled at all anymore.

I know Americans have a bias for the status quo and want to believe this thing will just resolve itself, but history and present events tell us we’re in a crisis point and that it will build and build unless the tension is resolved. (8-20-21)

Dave Dubya said...

Brown Shirts and Proud Boys. Are they really that different?


Unprovoked brutal assault just now in DTLA on journalists including @TinaDesireeBerg by Proud Boy Adam Kiefer, Capitol rioter Tony Moon, and antivaxxer Roman Gilbert from Covina. As usual the LAPD lets it happen. Bakersfield Proud Boy "Louie" (left, white shirt) with Capitol rioter #IAmTonyMoon kicking and punching people while they're down on the ground.
This Proud Boy appears to be stabbing someone repeatedly with a short knife in DTLA.
Today is the third stabbing in Los Angeles in the last five weeks by the Bakersfield Proud Boys.

https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1426661674145050626

Jerry said...

I thought word twisting name calling, name games were beneath you. Apparently not.

Dave Dubya said...

Jerry,
It seems the major obstacle in this discussion is your definition of comparing. You seem to insist noting similarities means equating. Maybe you want to deny the similarities. If so, you're not seeing reality. Maybe you don't see their racism, extreme nationalism and suppression of democracy and equality.

Those American authoritarian racists are not members of the Nazi party, and I never claimed they were. But damn it, they share the same horrible hatred and authoritarian nature. They are what they are.

By name calling, do you mean "Q-anon whore and terrorist tour guide Marjorie Taylor Greene". She is what she is. I suppose I could have just said she was projecting when she called Omar and Harris traitors.

Either way, she fits the descriptors. She's a fascist, too. I suppose that's "name calling", but it reflects her nature and character, so it's reality based.

Somehow "the gentle lady from Georgia" rings inaccurate.

I get accused of "word twisting" by radical Right types without evidence presented, so there is nothing for me to defend on that count.

I thought straw men and accusations without evidence were beneath you. Maybe it upset you to learn Holocaust survivors have noted similarities in the rise of fascism in both Germany and the US. For some reason you refuted that point with a straw man.

As I always ask from those on the right, refute my words, not what you assume or want them to mean. Good faith discussion ends when fallacy and accusations without evidence are substituted for fair discourse.

Still waiting for the names of top government officials and elected German representatives killed and imprisoned by Brownshirts. Do you know they were purged the year after Hitler took power? It was called the "Night of the long knives".

If you know history better than I do, once again, please share your knowledge or admit your mistake. Your aversion to responding to my request for information has me wondering how much history you really know.

Telling me, "Seems your history starts and ends with Trump" and "Recheck your history of Hitler's brown shirts" without offering facts to support your claims seems dismissive and condescending.

Whatever your reasons, your opinions are yours. The difference is I've supported my opinions with facts.

If all you have are more accusations instead of ideas or information, then thank you. I get enough of that from the radical Right. Or maybe you think I "hate America" for comparing racist American authoritarians to fascists of the past?

I will most certainly compare them. This is why.

US Holocaust Museum listing the early warning signs of fascism:

1. Powerful and continuing nationalism
2. Disdain for human rights
3. Identification of enemies as a unifying cause
4. Rampant sexism
5. Controlled mass media
6. Obsession with national security
7. Religion and government intertwined
8. Corporate power protected
9. Labor power suppressed
10. Disdain for intellectuals and the arts
11. Obsession with crime and punishment
12. Rampant cronyism and corruption


"You seem to be attributing a philosophy to Trump that he never uttered in words."

Are you sure about that? I can show words AND deeds, my friend.

Darrell Michaels said...

The nation is in grave danger with Americans and innocents on the ground in Afghanistan evidently being abandoned by our government and yet Dave is still harping on the previous president and "systemic racism". Freaking amazing...

Dave Dubya said...

Darrell,

I sympathize with Americans and others stuck in Afghanistan. We got over 80,000 of them out and will be getting more. Yes, Biden botched it for failing to consider the rapid Taliban takeover, but Trump's "great deal" gave it all to them, so they just stepped in.

Last I saw, the grave danger to the nation was triggered by Trump's Big Lie and insurrection. The radical Right is out to suppress voter rights, gain partisan control of elections, and to the seize power to nullify elections they don't win. That's another grave danger to the republic.

The American Taliban failed to overturn the election for Dear Leader, but who knows how many millions of his brainwashed cult are salivating for civil war?

Yes, there is a crisis in Afghanistan. Turns out the previous president surrendered to the Taliban and offered to pull out last May. Instead he left HIS MESS to Biden.

But you don't know that either, by believing only pro-Trump propaganda.

Freaking amazing...


Darrell Michaels said...

Stop believing your Pravda leftist media. We have NOT gotten 80K out. There are planes not at full capacity that have left Kabul.

Further, Trump's deal was based on conditions on the ground, and even if it was not, Biden as president (presumably) should have changed the damned deal to protect our people and friends. WTF, did the Taliban buy a bunch of Hunter's paintings or something? This guy is F$#%ing disgrace.

Keep screeching about the past president while this damned fool is destroying international relationships and leaving our people in harms way while he eats ice cream. I guarantee we will see more terrorist attacks, including on U.S. soil in the coming years because of Biden's incompetence, senility, and corruption.

Dave Dubya said...


Darrell,

How do you know? Damn it.

Tell me, how do you KNOW how many people have been evacuated?

I'll answer for you.

YOU DON"T KNOW.

Instead of screeching your partisan hate and nonsense, how about offering information?

Oh, that's right. YA GOT NOTHING.

The biggest terrorist attack in the US in years was Trump's Putsch. He attacked our democracy, YOU agree with his Big LIE, and then you bitch about how we evacuate from HIS DAMN SURRENDER!!!

"He should have changed the deal." Good God. If he did, you'd cry about that too.

I'm sick and tired of your damn Republican wars. So is the rest of the world.

You deny everything that isn't from far Right pro-Trump media. As always you offer ZERO information after you reject out-of-hand anything presented.

YA GOT NADA. Put up or shut up, sir.

I'll help.

Here: Prove this wrong, since you think you know more than anyone else.

Factbox: Evacuations from Afghanistan by country

https://www.reuters.com/world/evacuations-afghanistan-by-country-2021-08-26/