The phenomenon of the political “hate speech” and its growth is one that fascinates me to no end. I believe in one sense that the internet has magnified what was already a trend that came before it, by amplifying the voices of those who say the most outrageous things. If you dislike George W. Bush’s policies, saying you dislike them is one thing; if you’re not running for office, you can say you hate him, and go from there. Each statement has to top the last: after a while, saying he’s just a Nazi is sort of old hat, so now he’s worse than Hitler, and should be tried for war crimes. Unfortunately for him, Obama is going to go through the same thing, and while your “Bullsh*t” meter works on the other side’s rhetoric, it seems to usually be completely tone deaf to one’s own foolishness.
The weirdness of this whole debate has gotten way out of hand. Society has essentially condoned people fantasizing about what would happen if the President was assassinated, the lynching in effigy of a Vice-Presidential candidate, and numerous smears and outrageous attacks on the person in the Oval Office. I joked a few years ago that if you looked hard enough, you’d be able to find the “Bush-hater’s Guide to Picking your Nose” at your local bookstore. In the next election you’ll have to look a bit harder to find the equivalent book about Obama, because (of course) anyone who criticizes him will be accused of racism…but it’ll be there, available on the internet somewhere.
