A Note on Rolling Stone

This month's issue of Rolling Stone magazine (which I get for free thanks to points earned from recycling...see, it pays off) features an interesteing article by Matt Taibbi entitled "Tea & Crackers." In it, Taibbi recounts his experiences going inside Tea Party rallies and speaking with folks outside the rallies. Sidenote: I really don't think I should capitalize Tea Party, but I will.

Taibbi concludes that the Tea Partiers are "...pissed-off white people sent chasing after Mexicans on Medicaid by the banks that advertise on Fox and CNBC." He goes on to state that, "Tea Partiers aren't racist. They're just earth-shatteringly stupid, willing to believe the fantasy that white people are some sort of oppressed minority." Pretty scathing, eh?

I agree in many respects with what he writes, although calling them all stupid might not be my reaction. When I posted something derogatory on Facebook about the Glenn Beck rally, my cousin quickly pointed out that there were many black presenters at Beck's rally, and asked me why Martin Luther King, Jr.'s niece would be there if it was all white people only?

Here's the thing: for all the complaining that right wingers do over that liberal fuck-up called affirmative action, they themselves are now the kings and queens of the "token black." Too often I see right wingers hiding behind the party's token minorities and saying, "How could we be racist? See, our best friend is black/gay/Hispanic/a girl!"

It's really pretty pathetic. Bottom line: I know Americans are pissed and disappointed. Hell, I'm pissed and disappointed. But here's the difference: I'm not taking it out on immigrants, the poor, the struggling middle class, and the "other guy." I'm taking it out on Washington, lobbyists, and those who use their status to prey on folks like me. The middle class better wake up and (as the Fox News folks would say) stop drinking the Kool-Aid. Stop acting like bullies in a school yard picking on the kids who won't/can't fight back. And if you are one of those folks being bullied at every corner, take it as a lesson. Learn to fight.