I want to thank those who have kicked in a little Christmas cheer to my Paypal account. I try to only ask once a year in December, but this site and this blogger would have perished without direct support over some tough times in 2014. Believe me, small donations are fine, I’m grateful for every single dollar.
After hearing and reading reaction to the Grand Jury verdict announced yesterday in the death of Eric Garner, I have to conclude there are some people, lots of them apparently, who seem to feel we might as well just line those people up and shoot them. Because if the victims are poor and especially if they’re black, they’re not real people.
NYT — It was never supposed to be a chokehold, the officer testified. It was a wrestling move. After two months of considering evidence in the fatal choking of Eric Garner on July 17, a grand jury on Staten Island was finally hearing from Daniel Pantaleo, the officer accused in the death. Officer Pantaleo, 29, led the grand jury through the confrontation, narrating three different videos of the arrest that were taken by bystanders. His task would not be easy.
One video, widely seen on the Internet, seemed to show Officer Pantaleo using a chokehold — a move banned by the Police Department, but not explicitly against state law — to bring Mr. Garner down. The medical examiner’s office determined that the chokehold, as well as compression to the chest, caused Mr. Garner’s death, and ruled it a homicide.
No, his task would not be easy. Unlike the Martin case in Florida or the Brown case in Ferguson, this one was on video from start to finish and was ultimately ruled a homicide by the coroner. The notion that there isn’t enough evidence to move forward and give all the parties involved their day in court is just fucking absurd.
And of course within seconds, the usual suspects were trolling away.
There is a growing blinding rage rising up in this nation, and I’m not talking about the rage a community or a minority feels with every miscarriage of justice, that anger is understandable, it is arguably justifiable. No, this rage is completely manufactured by a powerful right-wing outrage industry. It may come wrapped in religion or politics, it may be delivered by radio or cable news or traditional print media, but it’s all about getting people so furious they can’t think straight and keeping them furious at all times. That’s not a bug, it’s not even a feature, that’s the whole point. A large subset of America is intentionally being driven half-mad by the non-stop 24/7 right-wing outrage industry for a singular purpose: to make sure they’re as angry and irrational as possible the day they vote.
Alas, the rest of us have to put up with the industry’s victims the rest of the time. We all know some of them. The loudmouth who wants to ‘talk politics’ and then shouts down anyone who responds. The keyboard commando who trolls and flames articles using facts or inference they don’t like. The people who think threatening others with rape or torture is hilarious. The gun nut itching to try out their shiny new toy. And the truly demented, who now have license to blow up buildings and riddle everyone in sight with bullets. All orchestrated by a handful of creepy super rich people with an insatiable appetite for more money and more power no matter how much they already have. All so the victims won’t make rational decisions at the polls every two years.
Rational voters might consider the interests of their friends and family when they vote. Normal people might think twice before pitching in a few bucks to an emailed plea stoking the outrage de jure. A thinking donor or voter might listen to facts and make their decision based on them. Even a voter who is pissed off occasionally might cool down and think rationally. But if someone can be kept furious constantly, for years on end, for their entire adult lives, there’s a good chance they’ll be pissed when the outrage merchants come calling by email or TV to fleece them.
that they will die years before their time from the accumulated stress on their heart and circulatory system. Fear kills. And this kind of fear kills not only those who feel it, but also nearby people who the sufferers have been convinced are the source of their fear.