Pam Gellar: Small-Minded Hatred

So, thanks to an e-mail discussion among some friends and family members I got to see an e-mail version of this article by Pam Gellar. The Blogspot version of the article doesn't convey the degree of fanatical shrieking as well as the e-mail did, which was full of underlining, font size changes and font color changes, not to mention the exclamation points in the title, used apparently without an appreciation of the irony.

By e-mail, I weighed in with my $0.02:

[I agree that] this is crazy person talk that isn't worth responding to. Except that I can't really let the Nazi comparison pass without comment, since it is so poisonous.

Pam Geller's recounting of Nazi Germany's history is seriously screwy. Hitler didn't accomplish what he did because the media liked him, or because he was charismatic, or because of his economic policies. These things helped him, but they could also be said of almost any politician. Hitler was able to whip his countrymen into a racist, jingoistic fury by portraying Germans as superior and other groups as inferior and evil. Comparisons between Hitler and Obama are particularly offensive considering that if Obama had lived in Hitler's Germany he would have likely been murdered or forcibly sterilized.

Comparing Obama to Hitler is hate speech. Before I take anything Pam Gellar says seriously she'll have to leave the racist rhetoric behind.

Also, how dare the right wing talk about stifling dissent? We're six years into a war that was waged on false pretenses. When people from any part of the political spectrum pointed out how thin or inconsistent the case for war was they were called a traitor and accused of giving aid and comfort to terrorists.

On a second point, Daschle didn't say, "Seniors should be more accepting of the conditions that come with age instead of treating them." http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/apr/03/chain-email/daschle-didnt-say-seniors-seniors-should-accept-ra/

I'd like to take a moment to respond to Gellar's article in even more detail here. Other than an accusation that the bank bailout was two trillion instead of 750 billion (without citation) and some vague scary talk about the economic stimulus and health care, Gellar make NO POLICY COMPLAINTS about the Obama administration. Seriously. She has "never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now" but she can't list any action taken by Obama that she disagrees with.

She is willing to toss in everything, including the kitchen sink.

We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why?

We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why?

We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (now violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it wants marriage to remain between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago? We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?

Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, Social Security is nearly bankrupt, as is Medicare and our entire government. Our education system is worse than a joke... (I teach college and know precisely what I am talking about.) The list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth. It is potentially 1929 x 10. And we are at war with an enemy we cannot name for fear of offending people of the same religion who cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.

1929 x 10?!?! That's almost (*gasp*!) 19,290!!!!11oneone

Anyway, it all sounds so awful! Who's going to come along to change all this?

Mr. Obama's winning platform can be boiled down to one word:? Change...radical change. Why?

What do you mean, why? You just spelled out why we need radical change! Sure, your criticisms of America were largely overblown and inaccurate, but you scared me enough to convince me that we need change!

Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same Nation of Freedom, again.

No, we don't want that kind of change!

But seriously, yes, change is coming. During all of Pam Gellar's lifetime, no matter whether the Republicans or the Democrats won the election, the one thing she could count on was a white guy in the White House. Change is coming, Pam. Get used to it. And lay off the Hitler comparisons, you're killing rational debate and the democracy that depends on it.