I still think saying it's just racism is far too easy of an answer. I think this is what happened. All of these sentiments from differing factions in the republican party coalesced around Obama. He was painted very quickly as an "other" in many different ways, and then feared because that. For some that really was racism. For others it was kind of an inward racism in that he is just foreign or different from them. Republicans painted him as a socialist and as getting a lot of inspiration from European socialism. The stuff about Kenya came up and conspiracy nuts jumped on that. Add to all of that the fear of a democrat in office after 8 years of Bush and the fact that he campaigned on changing everything, and you just have an overall sentiment of difference and fear among a large portion of republican voters. Add in the typical Fox 6 type politics of fear and you have a veritable powder keg ready to go off at a bit of a spark. All of this got swirled around and mixed in with an air of legitimate discourse on a problem that some people might have actually had even without this president.
Racism is just too easy. It was all of these things and then it was all of these things combining in different ways that add to it. And then it was the realization of this process by the Republican party and the media outlets like Fox 6 that sparked things further.
I think you're giving them way too much credit. You have a dark skinned man named Barack Hussein Obama ascending to the presidency of the United States. This is only seven years after the country experienced a devastating terrorist attack from Muslim extremists. A lot of people simply weren't ready for it. In those seven years since 9/11, Americans were fed on a steady diet of hating Muslims. They still get fed it from right-wing media and other outlets. Which is why we see it springing up from time to time. The Ground Zero mosque was one example, and the ridiculous boycott of the Muslim American reality show was another.
A large group of Christian America doesn't like Islam, and I would argue that a majority of conservative Christian Americans don't like Islam. That seven years of muslim-bashing and muslim fear mongering is where a lot of the hatred comes from. The other source is good old fashioned American racism.
Look, I'm not saying these people are evil, or that they deserve to be arrested, or killed or something. I'm saying these people are scared and ignorant. You mix fear and ignorance together, and all kinds of bad things can emerge from the stew. You can see that fear in the videos I posted. They honestly believe this president is going to hire Al-Qaeda on Sundays to slam planes into their homes and churches. They really believed that shit, despite the fact that part of the vetting process involved his former pastor in a very Christian church.
You had the double whammy of a muslim-sounding name (that even sounded like two of the most reviled Islamic figures in American history), and an African American. That was simply too much for people in Middle America, the Rust Belt, and the South to take. So you ended up with the Tea Party.
Also, "prove me wrong" is a weak position to argue from. There's no credibility in it.
It wasn't so much a "prove me wrong" as a "If you have a better reason for this behaviour, then state it". Phoenixdark pretty much dismissed my evidence for my argument, without providing any counter evidence. Thus, I don't think my request was out of line at all.
And I'm still waiting.
