Feel a little better? A little calmer? Good. Me too. Now, here's the thing. I think some people around here -scratch that; a whole big boatload of people around here - have got to stop and take a breath a bit more often. We are in the process of blowing our collective gasket here, y'all, and I am really, really concerned about this situation. Let me tell you a little story, okay?
I am in South Florida, where yesterday, there was a 3-hour lockdown of every school in Broward County. At the time, all we heard was that a credible but unspecified threat of some kind had been communicated to a local radio station, and that government buildings and schools in Broward needed to be on high alert. My own child doesn't attend school in that district, but I have a niece and nephew, a godchild and many family friends who were affected by this. It was a long, tense wait while we tried to find out more information about what had happened.
Well, today, some of that information is beginning to surface. And apparently, the threat had something to do with local radio talk show host Joyce Kaufman. She is a real special lady, let me tell you. You may have already heard some of her greatest hits in the news recently, but just in case, here's a few nuggets of wonderful that Kaufman has dropped in her time:
“If you commit a crime while you’re here, we should hang you and send your body back to where you came from, and your family should pay for it.” (this was part of a screed against illegal immigrants)
"...a vast number of Florida's elementary and high-school history and geography textbooks are Islam-slanted."
“There’s no way I’m going to live in a country that’s been radically Muslim-ized … and I’m not afraid to say it."
And, of course, her most recent tirade advocated violent measures if the elections didn't go the "right" way:
“I don’t care how this gets painted by the mainstream media, I don’t care if this shows up on YouTube, because I am convinced the most important thing the Founding Fathers did to ensure me my First Amendment rights was they gave me a Second Amendment. And if ballots don’t work, bullets will.”
Unfortunately for her, this uplifting message did show up on YouTube. And on the Rachel Maddow Show, and all over the place. Interest in Kaufman's inflammatory comments skyrocketed after recently elected Congressman-to-be Allen West announced he had chosen her as his new Chief of Staff.
Within a matter of hours, infuriated people all over the state of Florida began calling and emailing local newspapers, media outlets and websites in protest. For some reason (hmmmm, now what could it be?), there were quite a few Floridians who could not believe that a man who'd been charged with representing the best interests of our state would make such an extreme person part of his inner circle.
What happened next is still a bit unclear, but it all begins to connect to the school lockdown we had in Broward yesterday. Today, reports are beginning to link the anonymous threat that caused the lockdown with Joyce Kaufman. The radio station she works for was the one that initially received the threat via email, and the email was about Kaufman. It is still unknown at this time whether the man who sent the email was supporting Kaufman or opposing her, but whatever his perspective, he had obviously been worked up into some sort of unbalanced state and decided that maybe he ought to shoot some random people somewhere in Broward.
Today, on Kaufman's radio show, she announced that she would not take the job as West's Chief of Staff. In typically understated fashion, she said she'd dropped out of the gig to protect West from any controversy she would have brought along with her:
"I will not be used in an electronic lynching by proxy.''
Yeah, forgot to mention that Allen West is an African-American, so I guess "lynching" thing was eventually gonna enter into it at some point. :/
Folks, I have lived in Florida for nearly 40 years. I have dealt with hurricanes, alligators, the Bush/Gore election debacle of 2000, and Pastor Terry Jones. I have seen drama, y'all. And I guess I ought to be used to it by now. But let me tell ya, I am more than a little demoralized by this latest political soap opera.
I campaigned here for Obama in 2008. As I did, I saw a lot of things I hadn't seen in people for a long, long time. People in my state who had felt disenfranchised and disconnected from the government for many years were suddenly active, aware and excited about the election. People who had been emotionally and spiritually exhausted by the events that transpired during George W. Bush's presidency were suddenly seeing light at the end of the tunnel. People who had been dealt major blows - losing their jobs or their businesses, losing their health insurance, losing their homes, even losing their loved ones to war - found a way to hope and to focus on the prospect of better times to come. It was an amazing thing for a jaded old broad like me to witness. The cockles of my heart are pretty resistant to being warmed too easily, but warmed they were nonetheless as I joined with these people to try and support Obama's presidential run.
Some would say (and have said) that Obama's campaign was a sham, and that all he had were words. Rhetoric gets a bad rap lately, and more often than not, that's deserved. But the greatest statesmen in American history were often great orators, and their words stirred Americans during times of war and adversity. Sometimes, when all we had were words to keep us going, we got by on them and found our way to better times. Now, I'm not saying that words are all you need to govern successfully, especially in this politically treacherous age. Once Obama got to the White House, that lesson was made painfully clear. But the words of hope and change he used in his campaign were not empty ones to many, many people I know, nor were they to me. They inspired us and got us busy trying to make this country better in some way. Unfortunately, after being elected, Obama could no longer address his words mainly to those who supported him. He had to speak to the whole nation, and he was not adequately steeled or prepared for the onslaught of other people's words trying to negate or drown out his own. Those words have been harsh, unyielding, and very effective in killing both Obama's momentum and the momentum of those who had supported him.
And now we can see the result of these escalating battles of rhetoric. Those who will use their words as calls to violence, intolerance or hate can stir passions in people just as effectively as anyone who preaches a more positive message. In fact, it's simpler to energize people with negative words, since they are so much easier for most people to agree with. Joyce Kaufman, and more importantly Allen West, our elected representative, had not been worried that the passion they created in others would work against them. But it has, and it is working against all of us when it starts posing an actual threat to the safety of the public. I will take Obama's type of rhetoric any day of the week if it gives people an urge to do something good for their country, rather than the type of fear-mongering, antagonizing rhetoric that Kaufman and West - and so many others - are relying on to politically empower themselves every single day.
So, if you are beginning to experience rhetorical overload - if you find yourself worked up after listening to a radio show or reading an article or watching the news; if you are arguing regularly with others who don't share your views; if you find yourself thinking about the things "they" are doing to piss you off in ways that make it seem like it's a matter of life and death - just stop, and take a breath. If we don't get a grip around here, this talk may well become a matter of life and death for some kid sitting in school, or a secretary working in a government building, or who knows who else. Listen to the words that move you to make things better. Filter out the ones that serve no purpose other than to anger or scare you. And then try to encourage those around you to do the same. Words changed people in this country for the better many times over the years. Words can do that for us again if enough of us say and listen to the right ones.
Yeah, forgot to mention that Allen West is an African-American, so I guess "lynching" thing was eventually gonna enter into it at some point. :/
Folks, I have lived in Florida for nearly 40 years. I have dealt with hurricanes, alligators, the Bush/Gore election debacle of 2000, and Pastor Terry Jones. I have seen drama, y'all. And I guess I ought to be used to it by now. But let me tell ya, I am more than a little demoralized by this latest political soap opera.
I campaigned here for Obama in 2008. As I did, I saw a lot of things I hadn't seen in people for a long, long time. People in my state who had felt disenfranchised and disconnected from the government for many years were suddenly active, aware and excited about the election. People who had been emotionally and spiritually exhausted by the events that transpired during George W. Bush's presidency were suddenly seeing light at the end of the tunnel. People who had been dealt major blows - losing their jobs or their businesses, losing their health insurance, losing their homes, even losing their loved ones to war - found a way to hope and to focus on the prospect of better times to come. It was an amazing thing for a jaded old broad like me to witness. The cockles of my heart are pretty resistant to being warmed too easily, but warmed they were nonetheless as I joined with these people to try and support Obama's presidential run.
Some would say (and have said) that Obama's campaign was a sham, and that all he had were words. Rhetoric gets a bad rap lately, and more often than not, that's deserved. But the greatest statesmen in American history were often great orators, and their words stirred Americans during times of war and adversity. Sometimes, when all we had were words to keep us going, we got by on them and found our way to better times. Now, I'm not saying that words are all you need to govern successfully, especially in this politically treacherous age. Once Obama got to the White House, that lesson was made painfully clear. But the words of hope and change he used in his campaign were not empty ones to many, many people I know, nor were they to me. They inspired us and got us busy trying to make this country better in some way. Unfortunately, after being elected, Obama could no longer address his words mainly to those who supported him. He had to speak to the whole nation, and he was not adequately steeled or prepared for the onslaught of other people's words trying to negate or drown out his own. Those words have been harsh, unyielding, and very effective in killing both Obama's momentum and the momentum of those who had supported him.
And now we can see the result of these escalating battles of rhetoric. Those who will use their words as calls to violence, intolerance or hate can stir passions in people just as effectively as anyone who preaches a more positive message. In fact, it's simpler to energize people with negative words, since they are so much easier for most people to agree with. Joyce Kaufman, and more importantly Allen West, our elected representative, had not been worried that the passion they created in others would work against them. But it has, and it is working against all of us when it starts posing an actual threat to the safety of the public. I will take Obama's type of rhetoric any day of the week if it gives people an urge to do something good for their country, rather than the type of fear-mongering, antagonizing rhetoric that Kaufman and West - and so many others - are relying on to politically empower themselves every single day.
So, if you are beginning to experience rhetorical overload - if you find yourself worked up after listening to a radio show or reading an article or watching the news; if you are arguing regularly with others who don't share your views; if you find yourself thinking about the things "they" are doing to piss you off in ways that make it seem like it's a matter of life and death - just stop, and take a breath. If we don't get a grip around here, this talk may well become a matter of life and death for some kid sitting in school, or a secretary working in a government building, or who knows who else. Listen to the words that move you to make things better. Filter out the ones that serve no purpose other than to anger or scare you. And then try to encourage those around you to do the same. Words changed people in this country for the better many times over the years. Words can do that for us again if enough of us say and listen to the right ones.
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