Why the attack on Big Bird? For those of you who don't speak DOG WHISTLE, I'll translate:

[TrollBuster9090]

Sesame Street is a symbol of hatred and resentment for urban racists who are still carrying a grudge over the urban school bussing programs (bussing poor black kids to white middle class schools) of the early 70s.

Sesame Street debut on PBS: 1970
Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education: 1971

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desegregation_busing_in_the_United_States


So, why the hate on big bird? Because Sesame Street showed black, white and brown kids and adults living and learning IN HARMONY in an urban environment. It also portrayed interracial relationships (to a point= remember David and Maria?). This was contrary to the message the racists and segregationists were trying to put out, that bussing/integration would lead to racial unrest and chaos, and the white kids' education being 'dragged down' to the level of the black kids.

The BIG BIRD meme has gone viral. NOW IT'S TIME TO USE IT! Go out there and explain to people that Mitt Romney's attack on Sesame Street was NOT RANDOM. It was PURE DOG WHISTLE POLITICS designed to throw red meat to racists.

&feature=fvsr

40 years later...it still persists...

[rfranklin]

2. You are incredibly naive and lacking any historical perspective in making that comment...

The OP has a very good point. I still hear on a regular basis about how minorities are getting preferential treatment and stealing tax money from white folk. That is the number one reason that people in this country "vote against their own best interests." If you think that racism isn't alive and well in this country, you are foolish.

[MrDiaz]

6. I never said

racism wasn't alive and well. I just think it is ignorant to draw a picture of deep-seeded racism because he said he was going to stop subsidies to PBS. He may very well be racist, but THIS doesn't prove THAT.

[TrollBuster9090]

7. I didn't say he was racist. I said he was PANDERING to racists for votes.

Or are you going to deny that the GOP has been blowing the dog whistle on racism ever since the day Obama was elected to the Senate?

[MrDiaz]

8. although

i can kinda see where you are coming from...I still don't buy that that is WHY he said it. And I think calling this a form of racism is under minding all the real racism going on in america.

[TrollBuster9090]

10. I updated the post, and added the latest Fox News attack on Sesame Street last year.

Real racism is more serious than dog whistle politics pandering to racists for votes, that's true. But I still think it's worth pointing it out for what it is.

[MrDiaz]

12. I try not to watch

Fox, so i haven't seen that video, thanks for posting it.

[KansDem]

9. Point taken...

...but I think they have been blowing the dog whistle on racism ever since Nixon's "Southern Strategy."

Not to mention Reagan's "welfare queens" and his "come over to our side" speeches in wooing southern Democrats.

And of course the Willie Horton ad of GWH Bush's campaign.

But it has been ratcheting up since Obama came onto the political scene...

[TrollBuster9090]

11. Absolutely! But they've taken it to a whole new level since Obama was nominated. nt

[NYC_SKP]

3. "Don't take this personally..."???? Really?

followed by, "YOU are what is wrong with America".

Wow.

[TrollBuster9090]

4. *I'm* what's wrong with America?

I'm flattered, but I think you're giving me too much credit.

I was there, and I remember the reaction to Sesame Street, and all of the other TV shows that showed black/white integration. You'll note that those shows are all gone now.

PBS shows (Sesame Street, The Electric Company, The Bloodhound Gang) were particularly big targets because they were supporting a racial integration theme with tax money. There was serious resentment.

[efhmc]

18. Wouldn't show it in Mississippi. Family member refused a job there because of

the stupidity of that action.

[Mika]

13. When did DU eliminate the personal attack rule?

This post clearly violates it.

[TBF]

14. "YOU are what is wrong with America"

wow, way to spread those right wing memes ...

[Spitfire of ATJ]

19. "making outlandish claims about racism where there aren't any."

Oh, come on. The Right Wing in this country was all about White MALE Supremacy before 2008 but since Obama they aren't even trying to hide it anymore. Their panic is seen everywhere, even against women which they had almost accepted. Once women sided with Obama in the polls they dragged that ugliness back up too.

You want to see the racism in the base? Look at comments on YouTube and on the comments section at news stories, especially Yahoo News and on Facebook and Twitter. Keep in mind that these are just the computer owners. The ones who lack the ability to point and click are even worse.

[TrollBuster9090]

22. Better yet, look at the comments on the President's weekly addresses. But dog whistle politics is a

fine art, and nobody does it better than Gingrich. I loved Rachel Maddow's dissection of how he rattled off about ten dog whistle phrases in 30 seconds in one interview. The one where he used 'performer,' 'requires large amounts of sleep,' 'needs to go off and play basketball,' 'needs to go off and watch ESPN.'

Combine that with the blatant dogwhistle use of 'food stamp President' and 'welfare' and this election easily breaks all records for the use of dogwhistle politics. George HW Bush only used Willie Horton ONCE. They're blowing the dogwhistle every day in THIS election! Continuously.

[Quantess]

5. I loved Sesame Street when I was little.

One thing I picked up on, was the racial and ethnic diversity. My town did not have nearly that many black or hispanic people.

[drynberg]

15. Big Bird and Jim Leher are both S-Y-M-B-O-L-S

Both are RW rally points and Willard figured that only the 47% who he disdains and doesn't consider worthy of "ballot bait" give a care for PBS/NPR, so it was a cost free dissing in Willard's Platinum Brain. Take heart, folks, this is gonna be one hell of a rally cry against Willard. Couldn't happen to a more evil plutocrat...

[TrollBuster9090]

23. Well, the Big Bird remark was pure genius. It hit all the bases at once. Luntz and Rove

must have worked on it for days.

They want to get rid of PBS because it's the LAST SOURCE of facts and unbiased news, and the last home of actual investigative reporting, instead of just infotainment and political celebrity gossip.

That's the political reason for getting rid of PBS and NPR in general. Ostensibly doing it for budgetary reasons hits most moderate and independent voters, and then...just to make sure they rake in those last three million votes from the racist assclowns...target your remark SPECIFICALLY to Sesame Street.

[TBF]

16. I didn't know it went that deep but I did know it was a call out

to the folks who are against PBS (they are also against head start funding, the cartoon Barney and they were against teletubbies too). These folks like their white privilege and feel threatened by diversity. Thanks for the OP. K&R

[TrollBuster9090]

24. Thank YOU!

[tokenlib]

17. Recommending this thread because there is quite a bit of truth to it...

There is a lot to the "dogwhistle stuff" I don't like the "personal attack" comments because the thread is worthwhile and I would hate to see it locked!!

[TrollBuster9090]

25. Thanks!

[TBF]

27. They don't lock threads anymore unless they

are in the wrong forum to start with.

[JackRiddler]

20. I can attest that Sesame Street is despised among racists.

[TrollBuster9090]

26. Cosby to Cosby...

The other interesting thing about Sesame Street is that it's the only 'black/white integration' TV show that has survived, and it's paid for by PUBLIC money. All the private money integration shows are long gone. from 1970, starting with Cosby's show (the Chet Kincaid gym teacher one) and ending in the late 1980s (the spinoffs from the Huxtable version of Cosby) we had a whole slew of 'harmonious integration/ anti-stereotype" shows. Now they're all gone. All the PRIVATE MONEY integration shows, everthing from ROOM 222 to FRESH PRINCE OF BELAIR have become extinct, and the only integration show left is the one that was paid for by tax money.

I'm sure the closet racists would love to get rid of that one, since it disagrees with their personal philosophy, and can easily do it under the 'cut government spending' rubric.

Make no mistake about it, this is war. There is a small but active group in the GOP base that wants to reverse the entire civil rights movement. Killing off the racial integration shows is just a tiny 'mop up' operation, and reversing the Civil Rights Act (under the banner of 'personal freedom in business' ala Rand Paul) is the major battle, and killing ACORN and invoking voter suppression are just tactics in this war.

[lalalu]

21. T for the word Truth.