« Colorado Women Against Palin Gets Some Press in Huff Po | Main | Still Think She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named Isn't Pandering To The Least Educated and Most Easily Manipulated? »

October 17, 2008

Violence Against Press Pool On The Rise at Palin Rallies

After having been on the receiving end of some of the most vile hatred I have ever witnessed for simply and silently holding up a pro-Obama/anti-Palin sign and after two weeks of deft mob manipulation and fear mongering at McCain/Palin events, you would think we would all be prepared for the culture war to simmer over to a boil. Perhaps because my sense of human decency is surprisingly still intact, I feel overwhelmingly depressed by the show of violence directed at the press pool recently reported from a Palin rally at Elon University outside of Greensboro, NC. Journalist and blogger Joe Killian was attacked by a McCain/Palin supporter as he attempted to interview a group of Obama supporters who had gained entry into the event.

The man began to say something about how of course I was interviewing the Obama people when suddenly, from behind us, the sound of a pro-Obama rap song came blaring out of the windows of a dorm building. We all turned our heads to see Obama signs in the windows. This was met with curses, screams and chants of “U.S.A” by McCain-Palin folks who crowded under the windows trying to drown it out and yell at the person playing the stereo. It was a moment of levity in an otherwise very tense situation and so I let out a gentle chuckle and shook my head. “Oh, you think that’s funny?!” the large bearded man said. His face was turning red. “Yeah, that’s real funny…” he said. And then he kicked the back of my leg, buckling my right knee and sending me sprawling onto the ground.

So this is what we have become. Correct me if I am wrong, but I have yet to see an Obama supporter attack a McCain protester or a reporter covering the campaign. John McCain may like to say that these are simply fringe individuals and how dare the media criticize the Veterans' Wives For McCain with their "you, know, little hats" who make up the bulk of his supporters. Well, John, I have news for you. I AM a veteran's wife and I know bullshit when I hear it.

All of this makes for some interesting political theatre, but the implications are grim for our nation's collective future. Americans may love to chant "U.S.A! U.S.A!", but that aggressive nationalism appears to undercut the reality of America's true diversity. With a large voting block now on an IV drip of unprecedented belligerent propaganda,
we are beginning to see the first stirrings of true violence. One American turned against another American, not in civil disagreement, but mano a mano.

Certainly, the Colorado Women Against Palin protest scheduled for the upcoming Palin rally in Loveland on Monday should be interesting. I was planning on getting a ticket and bringing our video camera, but perhaps, for fear of my own safety, I will instead document the proceedings from outside the Events Center. What shame.

Posted by bethamsel at October 17, 2008 12:01 PM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.bethamsel.org/mt/mt-tb.cgi/8

Comments

Post a comment