Two movies, two very different messages

[blpurdom]

So last night, Chris and I watched The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (English language version, with Daniel Craig) and this afternoon we saw Lincoln. Guess which one I liked better?

Comments

[author_by_night]

Okay, FYI the entry I just posted doesn't have anything to do with this one, although the topic does touch on racism but is more about how not all Obama opponents are racist.

Like I've said before, I don't get how these GOP candidates even make it to office, because I live in Republicana and... those views do not reflect the people I know here. Well, all of them... I do know racists and homophobes, unfortunately.

Though I must admit I'm not sure how "stuff" is racist? Am I missing something?

[blpurdom]

The "stuff" people have been talking about covers welfare, decent jobs, healthcare, schools--a lot of "stuff" that is in fact not just wanted by minorities, but that is also, traditionally, something people on the right CLAIM is only cared about by minorities, even though a majority of people on welfare in this country are white. (This particular type of coding is even more prevalent in the southwest, where the significant minorities in question are people of Hispanic ethnicity, legal or not). O'Reilly in particular most strongly implied that he was grousing about non-white people wanting "stuff" by implication, because he was moaning about the former white male majority being no more because they are now outnumbered by the "stuff"-wanting hordes; he was juxtaposing white men with everyone else (so white women are, by extension, also potentially included in the non-white-male group he feels all want "stuff", whether he intended to say that or not, since he wasn't being at all careful with his words). Basically, what O'Reilly brought

[author_by_night]

Yeah, O'Reilly sounds like a piece of work. I think that's putting it too nicely though.

Not all Obama opponents are racist, certainly. But a lot of the most prominent talking heads use language that has traditionally been used to bludgeon minorities (and women), so the connotations are still racist

I know what you mean. I have seen and heard comments that do amount to "anyone who doesn't like Obama is racist", but I understood what you were saying. Bill O'Reilly does sound racist to me, and is completely different from people I know who just happen to have conservative views.