Bill Maher says America is a stupid country. Glenn Beck calls President Obama a racist. A CNN segment calls them both 'Wingnuts of the Week.'
Really?
Maher's statement is blunt and broad. And because he doesn't say certain people in America are stupid, one could accuse him of being hyperbolic or too general. But is that equal to someone like Beck saying stupid shit like "Obama has a deep-seated hatred for white people?"
Nope.
The only fair comparison you can make between the two is that both Beck and Maher are entertainers who say things in a certain way in order to get a response.
But I see this little CNN segment as part of a larger problem with my colleagues in the media today. They seem to bend over backward to draw parallels to the current antics of right-wingers to those of the left. And they do so at the expense of the 'truth.'
The truth is there's a history of angry white mob violence in this country that is fueled by fear of non-white people taking over. And that is what is spurring the 'Tea-baggers,' and the 'birthers' and the yokels at these town hall meetings to wrap themselves in an American flag and scream, "I want my country back!"
Unfortunately, when my colleagues in the national press see people holding signs comparing Obama to Hitler or Stalin or Mao, they say, 'well people have some strong feelings about healthcare. There are people with strong feelings on the other side too."
That's bullshit and we as journalists should know better. I suspect there are some of us who do suspect there's a strong racist element to these protests, but are afraid to be labeled as taking a partisan stand in the issue.
But sometimes, you gotta call a spade a spade. Or a racist fuckhead who holds up her birth certificate at a rally and calls the president a Kenyan citizen - a racist fuckhead.
Which brings me back to Maher, who, while he's not a journalist, is not afraid to confront ugly truths. And one of them is - as these right-wing, rally troglodytes are showing us - there are a lot of stupid people in this country.
