Wishing Right Wingers Were Sane

THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI has been infected with the classic, deadly American disease of racism, which is highly contagious, and must be resisted early and often, by whatever means necessary, including legislation. Perhaps a complete quarantine of the flagship campus might be in order, and if the African American football players can't be persuaded to call off their strike, old movies'll have to do for entertainment. Most interesting of all is the conservative reaction to the protest. Conservatives seem to feel that the whole thing is being made up, that there is no basis for protest against racism, and that the protesters are the villains, not the victims. Conservatives embrace tradition. In America, tradition includes the flag, apple tie, and Chevy, as well as a class based society segregated by great disparities in age, gender, wealth, social status, and power. During slave days, conservatives argued that the slaves were benefiting from enslavement. During Jim Crow segregation they argued their old states rights baloney, and accepted the brutality of segregation without a whimper of complaint. The liberals complained. When Martin Luther King was marching, conservatives dogged him and threatened him as a troublemaker. Now, they respond to the racism at the University of Missouri with contempt for the victims, calling the victims 'racists", and believing themselves, suddenly, miraculously, to be above racism. What a laugh. Over time, conservatives seem to be becoming less reasonable, but fortunately, increasing laughable and entertaining. To deny that racism lives in today's United States is to cling desperately to tradition; the tradition that says that whether there is racism in America should be determined by the people at large, not the government. Then, if the people choose racism, simply ignore it, which means, accept it. the conservative way. For most of American history, conservatives were in favor of racism, and before that slavery and segregation, and liberals were against it. Now, the libs are still fighting racism, and the conservatives insist it no longer exists. According to most conservatives, the current unrest at the University of Missouri has nothing to do with racism, but is instead a liberal conspiracy, intended to make trouble. Yes, they really believe that, believe it or not. Or maybe they're just pretending to believe it, and maybe they're pretending to believe that global warming doesn't exist, and that we would all be safer if we all carried guns. Probably not, but maybe. One can always hope. They may be crazy, them right wingers, but we hope they're not that crazy.