Now you tell me, what about this picture is so bad or so strange that could cause them to attack this child? But attack they did. Just look at some of the comments from "Free Republic".
"A typical street whore." "A bunch of ghetto thugs." "Ghetto street trash." "Wonder when she will get her first abortion."
And it gets better, or worse I guess I should say..
The thread was accompanied by a photo of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that featured the caption, "To entertain her daughter, Michelle Obama loves to make monkey sounds."
Though this may sound like the sort of thing one might read on an Aryan Nation or white power website, they actually appeared on what is commonly considered one of the prime online locations for U.S. Conservative grassroots political discussion and organizing - and for a short time, the comments seemed to have the okay of site administrators.
Moderators of the blog left the comments - and commenters - in place until a complaint was lodged by a writer doing research on the conservative movement, almost a full day later.
"Could you imagine what world leaders must be thinking seeing this kind of street trash and that we paid for this kind of street ghetto trash to go over there?" wrote one commenter.
"They make me sick .... The whole family... mammy, pappy, the free loadin' mammy-in-law, the misguided chillin', and especially 'lil cuz... This is not the America I want representin' my peeps," wrote another.
Yes, you are reading this correctly... They left it up and never said a word..but then I am not surprised, are you? We have been seeing more and more of this lately and I am sure it will just continue.
But, hey, Palin is the only one whose children get attacked right? No one says anything about the Obama kids right?
At least that is what she would have everyone believing, and what the media has been spouting this last week and a half. How terrible she has been treated, how terrible her kids were attacked. No one ever attacked the Obama children, no one ever attacked Michelle. No one ever dared say anything against "The Chosen One", as Palin put it.
Finally the owner of the site decided to say something and step in.. His comment is toward the last of this section.
Such was the onslaught of derision on the site that the person who originally complained about the slurs, a Kristin N., claims only one comment in the first hundred posted actually criticized the remarks as inappropriate.
A note on the front of the blog reads, "Free Republic does not advocate or condone racism, violence, rebellion, secession, or an overthrow of the government," but one comment on the thread read, "This disgusting display makes me more and more eager for the revolution," while another read, "I never actually wnated [sic] to be a pistol before but..."
After attention from other blogs, the thread was suppressed and placed under review, but before long it was returned to the site intact, and attracted a new series of racial slurs when the original complaint email was posted publicly to the site, with the sender's email address intact.
"The writer has a point," wrote site owner Jim Thompson sarcastically. "We should steer clear of Obama's children. They can't help it if their old man is an American-hating Marxist pig."
The emphasis is mine, just so you can see what he said for sure, yes, Jim Thompson is the owner of the site, and you see he was being fully responsible for everything that was said. There is more...
"I agree Jim," wrote commenter, by the nickname NoobRep. "The kids didn't pick their commie pinko pansy of a father. Nor did they choose to be put into the spotlight. But Obama/Soetoro is fair game and so is his witch of a wife."
"Poor kids. I hope they're not 'punished with a baby'," wrote another. "Hopefully they won't deal cocaine like the Kenyan."
"DIRTBAGS! All of them. Our [White House] is now a joke to the rest of the world. We have no respect and this is not going to turn out well, mark my words. We will be hit, and much worse than last time. We are now seen as weak and vulnerable. Ghetto and Chicago thugs have taken over."
Only after significant negative attention from a host of left wing political blogs did the maintainers of the Free Republic site place the thread under review for a second time, before finally pulling it.
Yes, finally, enough people started yelling they decided they better pull it down and at least pretend they were looking at it, and take it down maybe for good this time. Who knows? But, wait..there is more, if you can stand it.
In the wake of the controversy, some Free Republic posters complained about the vitriol.
One poster by the name of "fullchroma" wrote, "To Jim Thompson: The recent uptick here in racist vitriol, aimed at Barrack, Michelle and their children has made me wonder if I belong. My objection to Obama has nothing to do with skin tone. Is the ugly stereotype of Conservative racism true?"
Another, going by the name of TChris, wrote, "Free Republic is a political discussion forum. It SHOULD be beneath us as a group to stoop to such juvenile tactics as I see increasing here lately. Do we REALLY have to insult Mrs. Obama's appearance like a clique of nasty 14-year-old girls?"
But such opinions were not shared by all. Said Roses of Sharon, "Poor libs .... Too late, the battle has been joined."
So, yes, there are a few people on the right side out there that do have some morals and ethics about them.. but they are few and far between, and as you can see, they get attacked and cursed at for even bothering to have an opinion that is differing.
But, never fear.. I didn't find this in any of the newspapers or on any of the sites in the USA, no, this had to come from a Canadian site.. Only someone in Canada would be strong enough to call foul.. our media here in the USA can't call out the GOPers...
UPDATED
The author of the article in the Vancouver Sun was Chris Parry, as was pointed out to me in the comments, so thank you Mr. or Ms Parry for your honesty and your integrity. I meant no slight by not giving you credit, I was not aware that I had to call your name. Thank you again for having the bravery most of your colleagues it seems your American counterparts don't have.
6 comments:
Tangodaddy in Canada does cry foul This kind of talk is not acceptable, Master leader G W bush proclaimed his children be beyond the criticism you might have for him.
But racist and sexist remarks are the hallmark of republican politics.Remember McCain's joke about Chelsie.Nothing ever changes with these people. The republicans are crude crass and so out of touch with reality they will never be in charge again!!!
It is a shame that Thompson allowed these comments to be displayed on the FR web site, but it is not surprising to me as I've been subjected to these types of comments all of my life. The Obamas and their daughters have experienced this before. What responsible African American parents do in situations such as this is face them head-on by discussing what happened and how to deal with them, always focusing on the goal of being successful in spite of people like this. I'm fairly certain that the Obamas have done this. Sure, it hurts the kids, but with a strong support system and loving parents, they'll become stronger, get beyond this, and continue working toward their goals. This is what I did with my daughter when she was exposed to racism when she was growing up, and she has turned out just fine. When one lives in a society where one is thought of as a second-class citizen, one learns to persevere, and that the best result comes from working hard and achieving one's goals. Who knows? Sometimes the very people you don't like may just end up being your boss. This is the Obama story, and the FR racists hate it, but can do nothing about it except launch feeble attacks as a form of protest. I can't resist saying to them: good luck with that. Obama doesn't care. Neither does Michelle, Marian, Sasha, or Malia. That's the winning strategy when dealing with racists.
Annette,
Are you going to credit the Vancouver sun for your entire post?
Those comments came from one article that Chris Parry wrote.
Since Chris Parry is the author of the Vancouver Sun article I am giving her/him credit in a way... I am sorry if you feel I didn't give her or him enough. If it will help you feel better I will update the post and add the name.
hey there...wow..this makes me sick..we finally have children in the WH...really nice kids..and their dad is working for us...there is NO reason to slight or make fun of them...they are children...I loved seeing Malia in her Peace Shirt...we are going to watch them grow up...I think it is so exciting...and it also reminds us daily that Obama is a Dad not just our President...
I am sick of the repugs getting to call names and mock EVERYTHING about this presidency...
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