Is this racist?

[HairOfTheDog]

“And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he asked. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to work. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as workers and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”


The media is what makes it racist, they tell you how to think. But a person that speaks the truth in their way is going to be attacked. The media controls the mindset in many people. Watch there will be more dirt dug up on this guy from now on as the PC Police flock to the front of the line.

Well, the only reason what this guy Bundy said is news is because the extreme right media (hi, Hannity) positioned him as a kind of folk hero for refusing to pay the $1.50 per head (IIRC) that every other rancher pays to have cattle grazing on federal/subsidized land.

IMO, it's not the media that's exclusively making Bundy look racist -- I watched/heard him deliver his words myself and can see how in the eyes of many he did a damned good job of that all by his lonesome. I do think that some of the headlines and analysis surrounding "his truth" (not the same as mine) -- which I believe he has a right to express as much as others have a right to express their opinions that he's a racist -- have sensationalized the story. But, that's not surprising -- the media cuts both ways.

Anyway, I don't know or care if Bundy is a racist. Either way, he's not a hero or a patriot to me. I do believe he's ignorant for opening his big fat mouth and generalizing about negros being better off as slaves back in the day than criminals and subsidy recipients when he is, in fact, taking advantage of subsidies and has resorted to armed criminal action in the process.

To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Bundy's never been a slave or a negro. But, he's certainly a hypocrite in my eyes.

[Maggot]

The black panthers are racist also, and yes some people are better off keeping their mouths shut. He certainly didn't sugar coat his ideals at all. Being able to say what you think in todays world is a challenge.

[HairOfTheDog]

The black panthers are racist also, and yes some people are better off keeping their mouths shut. He certainly didn't sugar coat his ideals at all. Being able to say what you think in todays world is a challenge.

I don't have a problem with him saying what he wants and the media covering it -- don't have a problem with the Black Panthers opening their big fat mouths either. I read/listen to it and judge it on its content, doing my best to take the media spin out of it.

Like I said, I don't know Bundy and don't know if he's a racist or just somehow believes he knows what it felt like to be a slave and knows how it feels to be a negro. I don't really care either way.

But, knowing what I do about his illegal -- media/politician-dubbed 'patriotic'--stand-offs with the government and what that entails, I feel strongly that the man is ignorant when it comes to his own hypocrisy and don't think he's an innocent victim of the media. It's JMO.

[blueberryhill]

I don't know if Mr. Bundy is a racist as much as he is one of those persons of the older generation who have never wanted changes. He along with some of his cronies would like to go back to 1862, bring back slavery, whip out the guns, keep the Feds off your property, etc etc, just another old coot who hates the Government....I think as soon as some of these old farts die off, it will be a better place. My granddaughter goes to junior high school where approximately one-half of the population is other than Caucasian. She has friends of several races and doesn't care about race, which is how it should be, in my opinion. Diverse population as town is located next to military base.

[Maggot]

A new statement from the racist pig.

What follows is a press statement of Cliven Bundy sent to The New American by his wife, Carol Bundy, moments ago:

We are trading one form of slavery for another.

What I am saying is that all we Americans are trading one form of slavery for another. All of us are in some measure slaves of the federal government. Through their oppressive tactics of telling the ranchers how many cows they can have on their land, and making that number too low to support a ranch, the BLM has driven every rancher in Clark County off the land, except me. The IRS keeps the people of America in fear, and makes us all work about a third or a half of the year before we have earned enough to pay their taxes. This is nothing but slavery from January through May. The NSA spies on us and collects our private phone calls and emails. And the government dole which many people in America are on, and have been for much of their lives, is dehumanizing and degrading. It takes away incentive to work and self respect. Eventually a person on the dole becomes a ward of the government, because his only source of income is a dole from the government. Once the government has you in that position, you are its slave.

I am trying to keep Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream alive. He was praying for the day when he and his people would be free, and he could say I'm free, free at last, thank God I'm free at last! But all of us here [in] America, no matter our race, are having our freedom eroded and destroyed by the federal government because of its heavy handed tactics. The BLM, the IRS, the NSA — all of the federal agencies are destroying our freedom. I am standing up against their bad and unconstitutional laws, just like Rosa Parks did when she refused to sit in the back of the bus. She started a revolution in America, the civil rights movement, which freed the black people from much of the oppression they were suffering. I'm saying Martin Luther King's dream was not that Rosa could take her rightful seat in the front of the bus, but his dream was that she could take any seat on the bus and I would be honored to sit beside her. I am doing the same thing Rosa Parks did — I am standing up against bad laws which dehumanize us and destroy our freedom. Just like the Minutemen at Lexington and Concord, we are saying no to an oppressive government which considers us to be slaves rather than free men.

I invite all people in America to join in our peaceful revolution to regain our freedom. That is how America was started, and we need to keep that tradition alive.

Cliven D. Bundy

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, there it is.

Cliven's invoked all the typical and skewed (IMO) comparisons, claims, and rationalizations as other disgruntled citizens who refuse to acknowledge the US government -- with a slant to try to stave off the denouncements of his "racism" -- two birds, one stone, and a whole lotta predictable oft-spewed rhetoric.

So now he fancies himself a slave and he's suffering discrimination comparable to that of Rosa Parks. He's a victim. But that's not all, folks... he's also a leader working towards emancipation for all; carrying the torch for Martin Luther King and telling me that I, HOTD, am also a slave and that I should share his views and join his revolution. Mighty white of you there, Cliven, but I'm gonna take a pass.

If he's got a single conservative pundit or tea-party politician still hailing or supporting him after that press-release, I'll be surprised.

Cliven doesn't wanna pay the same taxes as everyone else in his area/industry and thinks it's not fair that the rules changed after he'd already started grazing on that land.

Welcome to my world, Cliven. The taxes and regulations in my neck of the woods, not to mention the labor laws, keep increasing too. It hurts my bottom line and I don't like it. But, it's the same for everyone in the industry in this area and sometimes our protests are heard and we affect votes in our favor. When things don't go my/our way, I choose not to go on the rogue and stop paying my taxes, form an armed militia, and denounce the US government. And, I certainly don't liken myself to a slave who's been stripped of personal freedoms and choices because that's delusional and it's a little, well, batshit.

In my eyes, racist or not, he's just a criminal tax evader with delusions of grandeur. According to him, he's a victim of the American government and a savior of the American people. In the eyes of other disgruntleds, he may still be a hero.

Ah well, different views and different strokes...good thing we're not REALLY like those fortunate slaves of old and Cliven and the rest of us all have the freedom to speak our minds and express our dissenting opinions.

[Maggot]

Profit margins are almost at the point of not being worth the effort. Competition is such that its almost illegal to make a decent profit. It will get worse. Rules and regs are always going to be there but its getting almost impossible to etch a living in the U.S.A. today. His frustration is not his own.

[HairOfTheDog]

Yeah, he's definitely far from alone in his frustration over taxes and regulation -- I'm with him on that, Maggot.

I just don't consider my frustration to be analogous with the plight of slaves who were deemed "property" of others and had no rights to vote, change paths, air their complaints...some of whom were beaten, bought, sold and had their families ripped away from them.

Cliven has exercised his freedom of speech like nobody's business -- hosting press conferences to gain exposure for his cause. He's also exercised his freedom of assembly, invoked his right to bear arms, taken advantage of this country's freedom of the press, exercises his freedom of religion as the patriarch of a huge Mormon clan, and he has the freedom to change paths. His fight to avoid paying taxes to the federal government is therefore nothing like the black slaves' fight for personal freedom back in the day, IMO.

Anyway, I think Blueberryhill was probably pretty accurate in her assessment of Cliven Bundy. I hope his dispute with the government ends (or carries on) peacefully, with no bloodshed. The Feds definitely don't want another Ruby Ridge or Waco scenario, that's why IMO they backed off from taking his cattle as a result of the millions he owes the BLM in back taxes. But, I don't think they're gonna just let him keep using federal land without paying his share and they'll make another attempt.

[Nickdaflameperson]

I don't know if Mr. Bundy is a racist, but it all goes down to how much understanding we give to what someone says, it's all about words, maybe some use wrong the words and then are labeled as such, I do know though that for some things to change, first people must change their way of approaching their own self, it's all about ego..being selfish and having the need to leave the traces of your existence, some do it through power and fear, others through intelligence only, and few do it silently but loud enough to get the point through, and those few are the one's that matter, cause they change the route of the whole thinking, on the Planet Earth's brainy with choices species aka humans...lol.

[Nickdaflameperson]

Ok, update again, I just read the above, it doesn't make much sense..but then again, am just a cat, what did you expect from a meow...lol.

[HairOfTheDog]

Is this racist?

This float -- featuring a dummy of a sickly looking senior standing next to his walker, outside an outhouse labeled as "Obama Presidential Library" -- was part of a July 4^th parade in Nebraska.



It's stirred internet debate as some people are up in arms about it and calling it racist. I don't understand that in this case. I see it as political satire -- like the floatist expressing his views that Obama's health policies are driving the country into the shitter.

I wonder if the people who consider the Obama outhouse float racist also consider this float racist? It's from an Obama presidential rally and features George W. Bush being guillotined. That's his head in the basket.


I don't see the Bush float as racist either -- again, just political satire -- albeit more extreme, in my opinion.

If Hillary Clinton becomes the next US President, will political satire against her be automatically labeled misogynistic?

[SIXFOOTERsez]

Neither one are racist in my view, same as you. I think that the Pro Obama crowd will throw the race cars any time anyone has something negative to say about our fearless leader

[Cynical Ninja]

I liked the bit where the racist douchebag said he was “trying to keep Martin Luther Kings dream alive”.

Of course he is.

[crash]

A billboard that is currently on the I-20 in Alabama..

[HairOfTheDog]

Remember Cliven Bundy from the OP?

He's the millionaire moron rancher who was initially hailed as a "hero" by extreme right wing individuals, groups, and media. The one who formed an armed militia to stop the Feds taking his cattle after he refused (for 20 years) to pay the same $1.50 per head grazing fee all other ranchers on government land pay? The tax-evading rancher who fell out of favor with talking heads when he told the press how negros were better off as slaves than living on government subsidies, all whilst hypocritically leading a self-declared 'revolution' so he could profit off government land without paying? The 'patriot' whose militia posse included two thugs who left the Bundy compound and went on to shoot and kill two police officers and a woman before killing themselves in their "don't tread on me" final act?


Well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. The old moron's son, ^ Ammon Bundy, is currently leading an armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters in Oregon. He's formed a militia and beckoned via Facebook: ALL PATRIOTS ITS TIME TO STAND UP NOT STAND DOWN!!! WE NEED YOUR HELP!!! COME PREPARED", and has illegally taken over the property "indefnitely" to show solidarity for two members of the Hammond family. Cliven Bundy said he's not involved in this action.

The Hammond men were sentenced to 4 years prison time for arson -- Dwight Hammond has said he and his son plan to peacefully report to prison Jan. 4 as ordered by the judge. Dwight Hammond, 73, and Steven Hammond, 46, said they lit the a fire the federal land in 2001 and 2006 to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires.

The Hammonds participated in a peaceful protest yesterday, but stated publicly that they don't welcome the illegal occupation of the federal building by Bundy and his posse.

So, another rich mooching Bundy leading an armed anti-government militia stand-off with Feds, probably figuring that the Feds again won't respond to them as they would other types of gangs who commit criminal acts and point loaded weapons at law enforcement officers. Yee-haw.

Refs:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/oregon-ranch...ccupation/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/oreg...58f65be382

[Maggot]

Yet the EPA tossed heavy metals into a river and nobody was reprimanded or held accountable. Burning off a field should not be labeled arson. The fire reached a bit of federal land but it was a controlled fire. Getting thrown in jail for it is overreach. Maybe Obama should have another "beer" summit at the white house to calm things down. Remember the government uses the peoples monies to finance lawyers that have immeasurable amounts of dough. people have no way of getting the money to defend themselves. What is right becomes wrong in the beaorocracy. Then it comes to this. I'm reminded of the treaties that were broken with the American Indians when I see this stuff.

[Duchess]

For me it's not what he did in regards to the fire, it's the way people put themselves above the law.

[Maggot]

It looks like the land that was burned was once leased to them at one point. The land burned was government land that was reclaimed by the government. The prosecutor claimed that the fire was set to cover up poaching but that could have been created without evidence.

[HairOfTheDog]

It sounds like you're saying...If a group with whom you identify disagrees with the law, breaks it by destroying government property, has their day in court, is found guilty and is sentenced.........it's okay for armed protesters to illegally invade government property, and challenge law enforcement to a stand-off because it's an appropriate response to perceived overreach?

But, if government-employed law enforcement officers kill an adult or child and an unarmed group with whom you don't identify protests what they see as fatal overreach and demands their day in court, you consider that bullshit to be condemned. AND, if a subgroup of that group of protesters invades private or government owned property, they are thugs who deserve to be physically removed and incarcerated by the government because it's not an appropriate response to perceived overreach?

Am I understanding you correctly, Maggot?

[Adub]

It sounds like you're saying...If a group with whom you identify disagrees with the law, breaks it by destroying government property, has their day in court, is found guilty and is sentenced.........it's okay for armed protesters to illegally invade government property, and challenge law enforcement to a stand-off because it's an appropriate response to perceived overreach?

But, if government-employed law enforcement officers kill an adult or child and an unarmed group with whom you don't identify protests what they see as fatal overreach and demand their day in court, you consider that bullshit to be condemned. AND, if a subgroup of that group of protesters invades private or government owned property, they are thugs who deserve to be physically removed and incarcerated by the government because it's not an appropriate response to perceived overreach?

Am I understanding you correctly, Maggot?

Just get over it. White people can be armed and not perceived as dangerous. They can even make violent threats and have snipers aiming at federal agents and they are not perceived as dangerous. Just a bunch of wacko white guys with constitutional rights. That is how whiteness works.