Conditioned Acceptance of the Unacceptable

Blue Girl, related an incident from her life in the world of advertising in response to my “Last Plane Out” post of 25-Aug-2005, which told of an encounter between The Viscount and a self-proclaimed Intolerant Christian.

She wrote:

"I was at a meeting Tuesday and had to present ideas for a TV commercial. The CEO of the company liked one way more than the other -- but he didn't put it that way. He stood up and said he "really, really hated" the one idea. (There were maybe 20 people in the conference room)I said -- Jeez Ron! HATE? You HATE it? That's pretty strong language to describe an idea! C'mon now, HATE?And he goes, "ok. I don't hate it. There are some thing's I really hate. Like Muslims and liberals. When I compare those two to your idea -- I now take it back. I don't hate it so much!"Well. There was some nervous laughter -- and then we moved on quickly."

How did we get here? Since when was it acceptable to proclaim hatred of literally millions of people openly, proudly and happily? I read that story, and I wasn’t surprised. Admit it. None of us are surprised when we are subjected to this sort of talk. If someone said in a business meeting, “Ok. I don’t hate it. There are some things I really hate like Jews and African Americans…” then we would be surprised. Outraged. How was Blue’s experience different?

The Republican Conservative movement has engaged in a concerted effort to demonize entire groups of people in order to achieve their agenda: The establishment of a Plutocracy in the USA. Liberals are an enemy of that agenda. We believe as Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the founding fathers’ believed: Government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Liberals understand that in order to solve any problem, first we must find out the truth. We hold the truth above any agenda. Conservatives seek their agenda with no regard to the truth. They have bombarded the airwaves with mantras of hatred against their enemies and it effects all of us. Deeply.

I have to fight my own demons in order to not succumb to their efforts. Watching the World Trade Center towers crumble incited feelings of bigotry against “those people,” as if “they all were responsible.” I have to force myself to be rational, to understand that an entire group of people should never be labeled and held responsible for the deeds of a few. We all must do this. We cannot let them condition us to accept the unacceptable.

I strongly want to remind everyone to visit the excellent Media Matters page on a daily basis so we can be armed with the truth when someone repeats their fabrications.

I don’t fault Blue Girl in the above situation. I wouldn’t have done anything differently. It is very hard when our livelihood becomes intertwined with politics. Indeed, in ’03 I was reported to HR for speaking out openly against Bush and the war in the office. HR actually apologized to me and said that I did nothing wrong. They just wanted to alert me to the fact that someone had complained. Interesting that some people who claim to be patriotic are actually patently un-American in their actions.

I have not been silent in social situations. I must be a crashing bore, but I don’t care. I know when I start talking about election fraud, corporate ownership of the media and the shifting of the tax burden downward, these things I speak of to the uniformed sound like the rantings of a paranoid suffering from conspiracy theory delusions. Still, yesterday’s rantings of yellow cake, Valerie Plame, fabrications of evidence to justify a war have all become today’s news, so maybe some of them remember that they heard it from The Viscount first.

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Please welcome Calidem and her blog Nite Swimming as a new friend of The Viscount.
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Portrait of Blue Girl courtesy of Neil Shakespeare.