Blogs Sep 20, 2012 at 11:57 am

Comments

1
"Clint Eastwood must be so proud."

I don't think that's fair to Clint Eastwood. Seriously.
2
@1 - What, for creating the loudest dog whistle ever made? Yeah, that wasn't his fault.
3
I like Clint's movies.
I like a lot of Clint's politics.
But yeah.
When you volunteer to go on stage for people who have a racist tendency AND YOU SUPPORT THEM then this is what happens.

Clint did not do it.
Clint did not suggest it.
Clint will probably be completely offended by it.

Clint, you're better than this.
Don't let them use you to support their racism.
4
We call it hanging in effigy, not lynching.

I think it's amazing. If it was from somewhere else we'd consider it a wry statement on how conservatives hate a fictional character.

Also any donkey/elephant-shaped pinata's have to now be considered political statements.
5
Wow, the day when I feel compelled to defend a speaker at the RNC convention (particularly one who talked to a chair) was a day I thought I'd never see coming, but lo, here we are:

I think it's possible to support the general policiese of the old timey RNC (fiscal and social conservatism) without being a racist. I'd be suprised if Clint Eastwood was anything other than horrified by this. And I feel like a clever racist could come up with a dogwhistle out of nearly anything- all you need is an object that refers to or is linked in some way to prominent person of color.

But basically, Clint Eastwood's feelings are kind of tangential, right? This is horrifying and disgusting without sort of roping in the feelings or intentions of an aging and apparently confused movie actor.
6
@4 - Don't be obtuse. This is lynching, even in effigy. You can't pretend this is just an innocuous dangling of a chair from a tree; there is a rich, horrible history of hanging black people from trees in the South. This racist dipshit knows that, and so do you. Who else gets hanged in effigy anywhere in the US? Did Clinton get this treatment in the '90s? Is anyone hanging a Harry Reid dummy in Nevada or anywhere else?
7
That's really creepy, I don't think it's fair to pin it on Clint Eastwood either though.
8
Jesus. Fucking. Christ.

I weep for my country......

10
This makes the chair scene in Gummo look diplomatic.
11
@4 U.S. presidents get hanged in effigy all the time. When someone hangs a representation of a political figure we call hanging them if effigy. Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney have all been hanged in effigy in this country.

Terry Jones hanged an effigy of Obama in June. Another was hung in July in Arkansas. Another in March in Rhode Island and one more in January in Georgia. The news reported all as effigies... but now a chair is a lynching?
12
@11 - Whew, that's a relief. Glad to know all racial associations are null and void.
13
@4 Do I even need to talk about how frequently GWB was hanged in effigy? When we get upset about this, as racism instead of as offensive but protected political speech, we are playing right into the GOP's "double-standard" talking points. http://michellemalkin.com/2008/10/27/can…
14
@11 Racial associations come second. Obama is the president, who happens to be black. Presidents get hanged in effigy.
15
Hanging someone in effigy is one thing. Hanging someone who is black in effigy from a tree in a region with a history of lynchings is another. That's a lynching in effigy.

And I'm sure it was Eastwood's performance that convinced this guy to put up a racist display against Obama.
16
@13 - Racism is still protected speech, stupid. Doesn't make it any less offensive.

Of course if someone as level-headed as Terry Jones is doing it, that must make it perfectly normal.
17
An effigy is a likeness - a chair is a dehumanization. This is some fucked-up racist bullshit right here, Strange Fruit 2012.
18
@16 Actually no, racism is not always protected. Check out the hate crimes laws. People have been successfully prosecuted for creating racist displays that were judged to be intimidating or threatening. If this were just an paper-mache anonymous black man hanged in the man's front yard, that might well be illegal.

Obviously Jones is an asshat, but does the creator of the display matter more than it's content? The media has thus far treated actual effigies of Obama being hung as political speech, not as simulated-lynchings. I'm having a hard time figuring out why the chair is worse.
19
Seriously, though, until someone actually suggests legal sanctions against this asshole, could we all agree that yelling "free speech!" is an irrelevant argument? All I'm doing is saying this guy is a racist asshole; FREE SPEECH!
20
@19 You're the only one screaming.

I'm trying to say that words matter, that for other politicians this would be called an effigy, and that if this showed up in a Seattle gallery it would be considered a joke.
21
Shit. I live in NW Austin. This is why my job search is focused entirely on places out-of-state.
22
@20
"I'm trying to say that words matter, ..."

Of course they do. Which is why it is important to use to most descriptive word for the situation.

"... that for other politicians this would be called an effigy, ..."

Now you're contradicting yourself.
And in the same sentence, even.
Whether this would be ONLY an "effigy" would depend upon WHO was doing it and the HOW it was being done and the RACE of the politician.

"... and that if this showed up in a Seattle gallery it would be considered a joke."

Hey! How do you fit 24 Jews into a VW bug?
2 in the front seat and 22 in the ashtray!
See? It's a "joke".
But it is still a motherfucking bigoted thing to say.
And the only people who find it funny are other bigots.

Try to focus on the most descriptive and specific terms instead of generalizing, okay?
23
@9 You're full of shit.
24
Hey I am sick of all the race card why is it that we as white don't get to cry race everytime we do not like something. Get a grip
25
You folks know white people were lynched in the South, too, right? Some of you seem to have the crazy notion that only blacks were lynched. And by the way, "dirge" is right - this is hanging in effigy. And yes, GWB was hung in effigy many, many times. Google some Iraq war protest pics when you get a spare minute.
26
Looks like the idea is catching on.
Also in Virginia.

http://globalgrind.com/news/texas-republ…
27
dirge, you really are obtuse. No president has *ever* had the vitriol thrown at him, from wide-spread threats to his life, from knee-jerk criticisms over everything he's ever done or said until Obama. The burden of proof is upon the instigator to convince us it's not racially motivated. Until then, it's reasonable to assume that a conservative in Texas is a bigot, and made a symbolically bigoted gesture against Obama.

And to be clear: being a bigot isn't illegal. And we here in America are quite free to call him a douchebag, feel disgusted at his actions & express those feelings. Like all conservative apologists, you equate that criticism as stifling free speech. Go back to worshiping Palin.

Now, acting upon that bigotry by committing crimes *is* a crime. Because it is racially motivated, the victim is not the only target of the crime, but all who are part of that targeted group, the punishment is rightfully harsher.
28
"No president has *ever* had the vitriol thrown at him, from wide-spread threats to his life, from knee-jerk criticisms over everything he's ever done or said until Obama."

Your over the top insistence does not make this any more true, it only evidences how little you know of America's history of political calumny.

"The burden of proof is upon the instigator to convince us it's not racially motivated. Until then, it's reasonable to assume that a conservative in Texas is a bigot, and made a symbolically bigoted gesture against Obama."

Guilty until proven innocent, they call that in other contexts. My, not only are you over the top, but willing to give people a chance to prove they are NOT witches. You are great American!
29
Would it be ok if the chair was white? (Oh, it is.)
30
It's really an anti-Semitic thing. The guy is just warning any would-be Elijah's to stay away from his seder.
31
But Repugs are not racists!!

Why aren't the Negroes and the Colored folk voting Republican? Just can't put my finger on it. Such a mystery.

So even in 2012, lynching Black folks is alright for Repugs, huh? Wow.
32
@29, 30, 31 - Love, love, love.
33
If you don't/can't see this as racist, there's something wrong with you.

Please wait...

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