Think Again: The Surprising Success of the Right-Wing Rant

Crossposted with the Center for American Progress

For once, Foxnation.com got it right. "Dems Now Get Taste of Being Called 'Racist,'" said a screaming headline, and there's no denying it was true. How else to characterize a story in which ex-Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo and radio host Rush Limbaugh compared Sonia Sotomayor's opinions on race to those of the Ku Klux Klan.

David Duke found this to be a bit much. After all, he wrote, Judge Sonia Sotomayor, while Hispanic, was actually part and parcel of a Jewish conspiracy. Subsequently, Tancredo was asked if he wished to reconsider his KKK analogy. Alas, he declined. He also mentioned that he wasn't sure if the Obama administration hated white people.

Newt Gingrich also termed Sotomayor a "racist,"--a discovery he apparently felt so strongly about he announced it on Twitter it while visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. Not long afterward, however, Gingrich apparently thought twice. In what was widely characterized as an "apology," he averred the word "racist" was perhaps an unfortunate choice, but that Sotomayor's words revealed "a betrayal of a fundamental principle of the American system--that everyone is equal before the law."

Forgive us if we are a little slow on the uptake here, but in fact, that's simply another way of calling the nominee racist. To be fair, it also implicates sexism as well. And even if Gingrich could be honestly judged to have dialed back the criticism ever so slightly on this inflammatory accusation, several other conservative minions of truth and taste, Ann Coulter, Glenn Beck, and Tucker Carlson clearly felt no such compunction...

You can read the rest of Eric Alterman and Danielle Ivory's analysis in their recent article, "Think Again: The Surprising Success of the Right-Wing Rant ."

Eric Alterman is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress and a Distinguished Professor of English at Brooklyn College. He is also a Nation columnist and a professor of journalism at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism. His seventh book, Why We're Liberals: A Handbook for Restoring America's Most Important Ideals was recently published in paperback. He occasionally blogs at http://www.thenation.com/blogs/altercation.

Danielle Ivory is a reporter and producer for the American News Project. She lives in Washington, D.C.

This column was recently named as a finalist in the category of "Best Commentary -- Digital" for the Mirror Awards.

Comments

[StillAmused]

We have to ask ourselves why a group of social malcontents, developmentally arrested at the level of fourteen-year-olds, can seize THIS much of the national conversation.

... and be warmly welcomed and abetted by what comically passes for "the press".

[RobinSeattle]

The main problem is that the media has gone from journalism to stoking fifth grade level food fights in the name of ratings because heated conflict sells. The whole "racist" meme should make any thinking person's eyes roll due to its inanity, but the stenographers who call themselves journalists are now more than willing to give that crap credence because the sensational emotional impact of the word "racism" gathers eyeballs. Shameful. These people are the guardians of our democracy? We are in big trouble!

[teccoord]

Oh boy ... we get to throw racist mud cakes at each other. We get to write about who is the biggest racist today. Oh excues me ... the most renouned racist this week. If this is the best writting available today, and this is the best discourse we can find then we are in BIG trouble.
Every man, woman, and child is a racist. It is part of our natural DNA. Live with it.
The real question is how are we going to live harmoniously together on this earth. Maybe we can get lucky and destroy each other before we destroy the earth. That way we don't have to worry about the enviornment, global warming or any of those other insignificant real life items.
History will tell all. Hopefully there will be some non-racist around to read "Personkind History"

[jmpurser]

No, we all have an innate capacity for prejudiced but not racism. That's learned.

[jmpurser]

I keep hearing Democrats cheering that the GOP is done for because "all they have left is religious nuts, bigotry, and hate!" Folks, that's all the STARTED WITH. And with that they wiped out progress in this country for 30 years. This aint over. And the Democrats are working HARD to blow what little they've gained.

[noaxe397]

Agree 100%. Karl Rove is back, and with a vengence. Dems better watch out.

[NicoloM]

So Eric, isn't it a reasonable conclusion that the efforts you describe are propaganda? And propaganda acutally works?

Why the reluctance to call it what it is? Words matter to clear thinking-- isn't "enhanced interrogation techniques" a different frame than "torture"?

The racist allegations about Sotomayor are a pattern of false accusations magnified by mass media outlets to appeal to emotion and prejudice to persuade opinions for political advantage. That is propaganda, and for a solid 20% of the audience, it is effective, which makes ignoring it dangerous.

If what the right is doing isn't propaganda, I would appreciate your analysis why it isn't. If there was some other point to your post, what was it?

[ProfessorDuh]

Of course it's propaganda. Republicans have two standards of information and news. They have the real information, which must remain secret so that they can use it to line their pockets and/or gain power. And then they have public information, which is propaganda designed to fleece the rubes.
It's true of plenty of Democrats too, of course. It's the ruling class mindset. The ruling class LOATHES real journalism.

[wanda665]

you got that right

[mergina]

If the Republicans (and those few dems) come together to block her nomination, she will never get appointed. This entire pompous process to appoint someone for LIFE is ridiculous.

[Cyclone]

If that should happen the Republicans can kiss their return to power goodbye for 30 years. Exactly how many Hispanic votes will they get? You can add Africa American and most other minorites. Let's not forget independants and the few sane Republicans that don't go for their crap. I do agree with you on the LIFE part.

[S1m0n]

Now? When hasn't that been a right-wing talking point?

There's nothing at all novel about the conservative attack on Sotomayor: it's the same old-same old we've been hearing for decades.

[dumboldfarmer]

Oddly enough, it is impossible for anyone to actually be a moderate in this country now. Right-wingers call anyone and everyone who is not right wing left leaning liberals. Moderates, who are the true majority in this country, are getting sick of it.l

[RevSpaminator]

I think it is because both extremes have spent so much time demonizing the other that choosing a side is framed as a question of moral character. It wouldn't matter so much except that television has spent years supporting this process because it makes for lively arguments on camera and better ratings.

The politicians don't care if you are moderate, as long as you vote for them and buy from their corporate sponso... I mean contributers.

[JScott]

As alluded to.....yup those corporate media sponsors, they just act as enablers not informers.

[ProperGanda]

You took the words out of my mouth, great response!

[w8aminute]

Amen!

[BassMent]

Also, we have to recognize how significantly the Mighty Wurlitzer of the right wing has managed through constant droning to utterly change our society's assessment of the political spectrum. People who would have at one time been considered far-right reactionaries are now right in the middle of the conservative mainstream. FDR is now a socialist, and LBJ and out-and-out commie. Despite all of the conservatives' blathering about left-wing radicals, I can't think of a real radical who has any currency in public discourse today. I know there are some (Noam Chomsky is still alive, after all), but they have no mainstream access to the national dialogue.

It's stunning to me that politicians like Obama and both Clintons, who would have been considered slightly left or slightly right of center respectively a mere thirty years ago, are now branded as the lunatic fringe of the left. Unbelieveable how narrow our understanding of political ideology has become.

[RevSpaminator]

I think it isn't the point of view so much as the rant. People like to hear fire in an opinion, no matter how ignorant or arrogant the opinion is.

Listening, accepting and rational discourse are not valued because of the mass TV mentality. People who value intellectual conversation over a screaming match will either read something or listen to NPR.

If you want to see mass appeal for a left point of view, give the stage to guys like Keith Olberman, Jessie Ventura or even Jello Biafra (Yeah, that guy from the old punk band) and see how long it takes for them to gain popularity. Especially if you pay someone like Rush or Hannity to take regular abuse from them. (All those left wing representatives on most shows are paid to shut up and take it.)

It is sad, but that is how you get a point of view to the masses. Critical thought takes work and we are, after all, a lazy bunch of people, especially when we are off the clock.