Hi, this article is so important to understanding the current white fascist backlash going on in our country. It’s disgusting and upsetting to realize the depth of racial hatred and fear mongering by so many Americans. I grew up during the 50’s and 60’s also. I went to public schools in a suburb of Los Angeles. My school experience was exposure to kids of many races- African American, Hispanic, Japanese, Chinese, Phillipino, etc. To this day I don’t understand the fear and vitriol from the right wing at all. I am really disgusted at the Fox broadcasting networks (I won’t call it a “news”network) and the corporate sponsors that enables their trash to be spewed out daily. It’s a continuous propaganda and half-truth garbage bending the lazy and gullible to believe in an altered reality that allows them to hate and fear “the other” half of Americans. I subscribe to “The Bulwark” for rational articles from “never tRumper” conservatives even though I am thoroughly Democrat. Today’s articles called out Tucker Carlson’s scary power over the Fox network spewing out racist ideology and lies. I am disheartened to realize how powerful Fox and similar far right outlets are- family and friends watch those sources and for example-I was recently told by a longtime friend/coworker that President Biden has dementia and she was afraid “he has control over the nuclear buttons and we should all be worried. And that he’s messing up the country “. Really! Even though tRump was committing crimes and demonstrated lying to an art form his whole presidency she’s swallowing the right wing propaganda. So I worry for America and I didn’t expect to enter my senior years watching family and friends turn into cult members. I don’t understand their mindless acceptance of the right wing lies. Where’s critical thinking in this country? Fact checking sources instead of wholesale swallowing of misinformation? Rational policy debates? What’s happened to putting the welfare of the majority over the privileged minority? Thank you Thom for your continual contribution to accurate historical and political information-and for letting me vent my frustration.
I grew up in the 50's as well. America is not going back to that time. Women are not going to give up birth control and go back into the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, as unpaid servants. Not even the most vocal and vicious of the female Republicans (Boebert, MTG, etc) will go back to that, despite their rhetoric. Can you imagine Ingraham putting on the prairie dress and becoming a good submissive wife? Gays are not going back into the closet; the are done with that. They now have families, children, marriages and a stake in the national identity. Blacks will no longer sit at the back of the bus, as they did when I was a small child. They won't use the back door, drink from separate water fountains or stop protesting police brutality. The hateful 30% can cause sporadic civil unrest and likely kill innocent people, but they can't stop history, no matter how hard they try. Hitler tried. It worked for a while and then fell apart. Many died in his attempt. Perhaps this is a lesson that needs to be relearned every 60 years or so. I hope not. You mentioned the church as being part of the hate-generating dynamic. I posit the evangelical twisting of scripture as the *source* of most of it. Anyone who's spent any time driving across the "heartland," and tuned their radio to the AM right-wing hate broadcasts by grifting "pastors" knows exactly where the sickness originates.
I want to preface my remarks by saying it's impossible to break ties with some of our right-wing connections. A polite "agree to disagree and let's move off that subject" will hopefully end the blather. We should not ruin our day and risk our mental health listening to their poison, unless you are on a research mission.
To this Report, I say hallelujah! We have won some battles. Who did---we did, the Boomers. We took what our ancestors (the abolitionists, the suffragettes, and civil and human rights leaders) taught us and continued their work. We gave the history and our information to Gen X, Millennials, and now Gen Z so they could carry-on. That's what is important, not changing minds of those lost in their superiority fantasies.
It's all about brains, how they work and how they don't. That's what really ails the world. The Boomers and younger gens have and will continue that research.
Racism is a disease in America, and not everyone can be cured right now. To hell with Tucker and the expensive horse he rode in on!
Thanks for your work, Thom. We see that you give it your all.
Re: The Equal Rights Amendment. The tide was turned by the Mormon Church. Essential read: "From Housewife to Heretic." Shirley Johnson. One would hope that women, having so much to lose and being a commanding percentage of the citizenship, would be the best hope to turn things around. But even though my Mom was a charismatic career woman who was shocked when PG&E made us get my Dad's signature on my first apartment contract, (1975) she was born a Bircher and died a Birther, and would have adored Donald Trump. In a scramble of moving between 3 houses in 2011, I didn't catch the PG&E clerk selecting my husband's name to put on the house he had never lived in, and wasn't going to. I am almost afraid to try to fix it. As a sole female resident, would they now require a big deposit from me?
A nomination for the Book Club-We the Resistance by Michael G. Long. “Documenting a history of nonviolent Protest in the United States. Forward by Chris Hedges, Thomas Paddy Knowles. The best history book lesson I have ever read! I am a retired teacher of Political Science history Education and have read quite a few books in this area in my 70 years. You and I are the same age and took similar paths, to educate and the truth!
You are a much better researcher i by far and I respect you for that.
My price has been paid by a continued sentence in Facebook jail! Perpetually! If you have not noticed a good many of your listeners are too! Last Friday there were a half dozen of them! The price of being Progressives who aren’t shy!
Keep on keeping on Thom! I would like to ask you a question, Without the demonstrations of the 60’s we experienced to affect meaningful change today and with the Supreme Court full of Conservative Reich Republican judges who have committed treason by a coup D’ tah by deciding the 2000 election, taking it away from Gore and putting an unqualified moron puppet in the Presidency, How can we get rid of those traitors who are the biggest danger to democracy in America today ? Paddy☘️☮️❤️🙏
In support of Thom's argument, about 3 years ago I quit being "PC". Yep, the one thing me and TrumPutin agree on.
I began calling Nazis - Nazis. In postings, I avoid the word "Nazi" because it's evocative, and for some, triggering, but the fact is these are Nazis.
If you look at Nazi Germany, the entire nation eventually became a willingly self-deluded society hoping the guy they were following was the pied piper and not a lemming cliff diver.
The frightening thing is Germany in 1929 was arguably the most civilized nation on earth; how could they POSSIBLY become a nation of misled drones in 15 years?
Never mind how an entire nation was radicalized, and never mind that German Nazis did believe differently than modern Nazis, what matters is that an entire nation COULD be radicalized. It was not a small or trivial effort, it took all of 15 years.
Look around the USA, what do you see? You see the Nazis coaxing women-haters out from under their rocks with abortion lies. You see the Nazis coaxing black-haters out from under their rocks with racist lies. You see the Nazis coaxing Latino-haters out from under their rocks with immigration lies. Right now, we have these disparate groups of haters nervously associating, while Nazis are grooming them daily, and seeking one spark to unite them.
I call them out. I tell friends and relatives who are being groomed by Nazis that they are being groomed by Nazis. It's the truth.
Go ahead and say to them "I understand why you are terrified of black, people but why are you letting Nazi organizers convince you that you should team up with people who are terrified of women and people who are terrified of Latinos to destroy our free market economy and democracy?"
Make them think.
No, I haven't cured anyone, but more than half are no longer going to vote for Nazis.
Wow. Hot off the presses: Alito Supreme Ct. draft overrule of Roe. Been YouTubing a bit. Average Joe doesn't think abortion, stand-alone, should be a right, but has no clue about the 100-page struggle to balance State rights against American citizen personal rights, about which so much wailing and shredding of garments lately. Watch Thom's space....
When black people were "controlled", the USA had just as many problems as today, but we were not improving.
Letting black people "loose" has changed the problems, causing many problems that didn't exist when black people were "controlled".
Nitwits freak out about these new problems, but fail to notice one critical fact - NOW WE ARE ABLE TO FIX THE PROBLEMS.
It looks gloomy if you don't step back and look closer, but the truth is if we continue all this turmoil and hassle, the USA will probably be far better off sooner than we expect.
Let me relate what a South African friend said. When they ended apartheid, his company was forced to hire local blacks. They'd never hired local whites. Most of their employees were from other cities that provided the education unavailable where they were located. No surprise, hiring local blacks was a failure. They almost went under. They weren't alone, half the industries were failing. The Managing Directors (same as a CEO in the USA), raised hell with the new majority black local government. The new majority black local government had no money, so they opened a trade school and asked local businesses to provide the teachers for free. My friend said now they hire entirely local, black and white and brown, and are kicking ass on companies in EUROPE. I met them because I had an expensive piece of equipment that needed repair, but the only shops that could repair it were in Korea, Japan, and Switzerland. Shipping made my repair cost more than buying a new machine. The South African company arranged a local truck across three countries to one with regular shipping to SA, and I was able to repair the machine for half the price of a new purchase. When the machine arrived in SA, they called me. It was built with "lazy" construction techniques, which is why it had failed in 2 years instead of the usual 30. They sent pictures of what they proposed to change during repair. It came back looking robust and reliable. We installed it and it's now run 10 years non stop without issues. As backup, we had ordered a brand new $200,000 machine from Korea. I called the Korean company and they looked at the pictures and invited the SA folks to Korea, where the manufacturing process was corrected.
The guy who came up with the improvement was a black Engineer from a family that had never done anything but unskilled labor. My contact said his only regret about Apartheid was that it EVER existed. He said "If we'd have been just a little smarter, South Africa would be the world leader in many ways".
The bottom line is apartheid is far more peaceful and comfortable for the minority than trying to blend a society, but any boat goes faster when you let everyone grab an oar.
Just curious what you guys think about Sam Harris’ take on this issue compared to Thom Hartmann. I’m having trouble reconciling Harris’ views. This podcast was just dropped by Harris today:
“Western Culture and Its Discontents
A Conversation with Douglas Murray”
“In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Douglas Murray about his new book, The War on the West. They discuss the problem of hyper partisanship on the Left and Right, the primacy of culture, Hunter Biden’s laptop, the de-platforming of Trump and Alex Jones, the new religion of anti-racism, the problem of inequality, the 1619 Project, history of slavery, moral panics, the strange case of Michel Foucault, and other topics.”
Hi, this article is so important to understanding the current white fascist backlash going on in our country. It’s disgusting and upsetting to realize the depth of racial hatred and fear mongering by so many Americans. I grew up during the 50’s and 60’s also. I went to public schools in a suburb of Los Angeles. My school experience was exposure to kids of many races- African American, Hispanic, Japanese, Chinese, Phillipino, etc. To this day I don’t understand the fear and vitriol from the right wing at all. I am really disgusted at the Fox broadcasting networks (I won’t call it a “news”network) and the corporate sponsors that enables their trash to be spewed out daily. It’s a continuous propaganda and half-truth garbage bending the lazy and gullible to believe in an altered reality that allows them to hate and fear “the other” half of Americans. I subscribe to “The Bulwark” for rational articles from “never tRumper” conservatives even though I am thoroughly Democrat. Today’s articles called out Tucker Carlson’s scary power over the Fox network spewing out racist ideology and lies. I am disheartened to realize how powerful Fox and similar far right outlets are- family and friends watch those sources and for example-I was recently told by a longtime friend/coworker that President Biden has dementia and she was afraid “he has control over the nuclear buttons and we should all be worried. And that he’s messing up the country “. Really! Even though tRump was committing crimes and demonstrated lying to an art form his whole presidency she’s swallowing the right wing propaganda. So I worry for America and I didn’t expect to enter my senior years watching family and friends turn into cult members. I don’t understand their mindless acceptance of the right wing lies. Where’s critical thinking in this country? Fact checking sources instead of wholesale swallowing of misinformation? Rational policy debates? What’s happened to putting the welfare of the majority over the privileged minority? Thank you Thom for your continual contribution to accurate historical and political information-and for letting me vent my frustration.
I grew up in the 50's as well. America is not going back to that time. Women are not going to give up birth control and go back into the kitchen, barefoot and pregnant, as unpaid servants. Not even the most vocal and vicious of the female Republicans (Boebert, MTG, etc) will go back to that, despite their rhetoric. Can you imagine Ingraham putting on the prairie dress and becoming a good submissive wife? Gays are not going back into the closet; the are done with that. They now have families, children, marriages and a stake in the national identity. Blacks will no longer sit at the back of the bus, as they did when I was a small child. They won't use the back door, drink from separate water fountains or stop protesting police brutality. The hateful 30% can cause sporadic civil unrest and likely kill innocent people, but they can't stop history, no matter how hard they try. Hitler tried. It worked for a while and then fell apart. Many died in his attempt. Perhaps this is a lesson that needs to be relearned every 60 years or so. I hope not. You mentioned the church as being part of the hate-generating dynamic. I posit the evangelical twisting of scripture as the *source* of most of it. Anyone who's spent any time driving across the "heartland," and tuned their radio to the AM right-wing hate broadcasts by grifting "pastors" knows exactly where the sickness originates.
I want to preface my remarks by saying it's impossible to break ties with some of our right-wing connections. A polite "agree to disagree and let's move off that subject" will hopefully end the blather. We should not ruin our day and risk our mental health listening to their poison, unless you are on a research mission.
To this Report, I say hallelujah! We have won some battles. Who did---we did, the Boomers. We took what our ancestors (the abolitionists, the suffragettes, and civil and human rights leaders) taught us and continued their work. We gave the history and our information to Gen X, Millennials, and now Gen Z so they could carry-on. That's what is important, not changing minds of those lost in their superiority fantasies.
It's all about brains, how they work and how they don't. That's what really ails the world. The Boomers and younger gens have and will continue that research.
Racism is a disease in America, and not everyone can be cured right now. To hell with Tucker and the expensive horse he rode in on!
Thanks for your work, Thom. We see that you give it your all.
Re: The Equal Rights Amendment. The tide was turned by the Mormon Church. Essential read: "From Housewife to Heretic." Shirley Johnson. One would hope that women, having so much to lose and being a commanding percentage of the citizenship, would be the best hope to turn things around. But even though my Mom was a charismatic career woman who was shocked when PG&E made us get my Dad's signature on my first apartment contract, (1975) she was born a Bircher and died a Birther, and would have adored Donald Trump. In a scramble of moving between 3 houses in 2011, I didn't catch the PG&E clerk selecting my husband's name to put on the house he had never lived in, and wasn't going to. I am almost afraid to try to fix it. As a sole female resident, would they now require a big deposit from me?
Supreme Court has voted to overturn abortion rights, draft opinion shows:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473
A nomination for the Book Club-We the Resistance by Michael G. Long. “Documenting a history of nonviolent Protest in the United States. Forward by Chris Hedges, Thomas Paddy Knowles. The best history book lesson I have ever read! I am a retired teacher of Political Science history Education and have read quite a few books in this area in my 70 years. You and I are the same age and took similar paths, to educate and the truth!
You are a much better researcher i by far and I respect you for that.
My price has been paid by a continued sentence in Facebook jail! Perpetually! If you have not noticed a good many of your listeners are too! Last Friday there were a half dozen of them! The price of being Progressives who aren’t shy!
Keep on keeping on Thom! I would like to ask you a question, Without the demonstrations of the 60’s we experienced to affect meaningful change today and with the Supreme Court full of Conservative Reich Republican judges who have committed treason by a coup D’ tah by deciding the 2000 election, taking it away from Gore and putting an unqualified moron puppet in the Presidency, How can we get rid of those traitors who are the biggest danger to democracy in America today ? Paddy☘️☮️❤️🙏
In support of Thom's argument, about 3 years ago I quit being "PC". Yep, the one thing me and TrumPutin agree on.
I began calling Nazis - Nazis. In postings, I avoid the word "Nazi" because it's evocative, and for some, triggering, but the fact is these are Nazis.
If you look at Nazi Germany, the entire nation eventually became a willingly self-deluded society hoping the guy they were following was the pied piper and not a lemming cliff diver.
The frightening thing is Germany in 1929 was arguably the most civilized nation on earth; how could they POSSIBLY become a nation of misled drones in 15 years?
Never mind how an entire nation was radicalized, and never mind that German Nazis did believe differently than modern Nazis, what matters is that an entire nation COULD be radicalized. It was not a small or trivial effort, it took all of 15 years.
Look around the USA, what do you see? You see the Nazis coaxing women-haters out from under their rocks with abortion lies. You see the Nazis coaxing black-haters out from under their rocks with racist lies. You see the Nazis coaxing Latino-haters out from under their rocks with immigration lies. Right now, we have these disparate groups of haters nervously associating, while Nazis are grooming them daily, and seeking one spark to unite them.
I call them out. I tell friends and relatives who are being groomed by Nazis that they are being groomed by Nazis. It's the truth.
Go ahead and say to them "I understand why you are terrified of black, people but why are you letting Nazi organizers convince you that you should team up with people who are terrified of women and people who are terrified of Latinos to destroy our free market economy and democracy?"
Make them think.
No, I haven't cured anyone, but more than half are no longer going to vote for Nazis.
Wow. Hot off the presses: Alito Supreme Ct. draft overrule of Roe. Been YouTubing a bit. Average Joe doesn't think abortion, stand-alone, should be a right, but has no clue about the 100-page struggle to balance State rights against American citizen personal rights, about which so much wailing and shredding of garments lately. Watch Thom's space....
Thom, In my post, I neglected to say thank you for your courageous and thoughtful writings. They are appreciated.
When black people were "controlled", the USA had just as many problems as today, but we were not improving.
Letting black people "loose" has changed the problems, causing many problems that didn't exist when black people were "controlled".
Nitwits freak out about these new problems, but fail to notice one critical fact - NOW WE ARE ABLE TO FIX THE PROBLEMS.
It looks gloomy if you don't step back and look closer, but the truth is if we continue all this turmoil and hassle, the USA will probably be far better off sooner than we expect.
Let me relate what a South African friend said. When they ended apartheid, his company was forced to hire local blacks. They'd never hired local whites. Most of their employees were from other cities that provided the education unavailable where they were located. No surprise, hiring local blacks was a failure. They almost went under. They weren't alone, half the industries were failing. The Managing Directors (same as a CEO in the USA), raised hell with the new majority black local government. The new majority black local government had no money, so they opened a trade school and asked local businesses to provide the teachers for free. My friend said now they hire entirely local, black and white and brown, and are kicking ass on companies in EUROPE. I met them because I had an expensive piece of equipment that needed repair, but the only shops that could repair it were in Korea, Japan, and Switzerland. Shipping made my repair cost more than buying a new machine. The South African company arranged a local truck across three countries to one with regular shipping to SA, and I was able to repair the machine for half the price of a new purchase. When the machine arrived in SA, they called me. It was built with "lazy" construction techniques, which is why it had failed in 2 years instead of the usual 30. They sent pictures of what they proposed to change during repair. It came back looking robust and reliable. We installed it and it's now run 10 years non stop without issues. As backup, we had ordered a brand new $200,000 machine from Korea. I called the Korean company and they looked at the pictures and invited the SA folks to Korea, where the manufacturing process was corrected.
The guy who came up with the improvement was a black Engineer from a family that had never done anything but unskilled labor. My contact said his only regret about Apartheid was that it EVER existed. He said "If we'd have been just a little smarter, South Africa would be the world leader in many ways".
The bottom line is apartheid is far more peaceful and comfortable for the minority than trying to blend a society, but any boat goes faster when you let everyone grab an oar.
Just curious what you guys think about Sam Harris’ take on this issue compared to Thom Hartmann. I’m having trouble reconciling Harris’ views. This podcast was just dropped by Harris today:
“Western Culture and Its Discontents
A Conversation with Douglas Murray”
“In this episode of the podcast, Sam Harris speaks with Douglas Murray about his new book, The War on the West. They discuss the problem of hyper partisanship on the Left and Right, the primacy of culture, Hunter Biden’s laptop, the de-platforming of Trump and Alex Jones, the new religion of anti-racism, the problem of inequality, the 1619 Project, history of slavery, moral panics, the strange case of Michel Foucault, and other topics.”
https://www.samharris.org/podcasts/making-sense-episodes/281-western-culture-and-its-discontents