Friday, July 13, 2012

The Hate Lies Waiting


I know that I am a cynical son-of-a-bitch (no, Bill, say it isn’t so!), and very little that I read or hear surprises me anymore. But I’ll admit that this story from the Washington Post about a DC police officer assigned to Michelle Obama’s protection detail actually shocked me:
A D.C. police officer who worked as a motorcycle escort for White House officials and other dignitaries was moved to administrative duty Wednesday after he allegedly was overheard making threatening comments toward Michelle Obama, according to several police officials.

The police department’s Internal Affairs Division is investigating the alleged comments and notified the U.S. Secret Service Wednesday, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give details of the investigation.

The motorman allegedly made the comments Wednesday morning as several officers from the Special Operations Division discussed threats against the Obamas. It was not immediately clear where the alleged conversation took place or exactly how many officers took part in the conversation.

During that conversation, the officials said, the officer allegedly said he would shoot the First Lady and then used his phone to retrieve a picture of the firearm he said he would use. It was not immediately clear what type of firearm was allegedly shown.

An officer overheard the alleged threat and reported it to a police lieutenant at the Division, who immediately notified superiors, the officials said.
No matter what you may think of Obama, and regular readers know that I personally despise the man for the way he has consolidated and legitimized all of the horrible things that Bush wrought upon America during his eight year reign of error, what this incident portends could not possibly be more disturbing. This was not some unemployed loser ranting and raving to his fellow Klansmen and skinheads in some deep, dark Internet chat room. I don’t know which aspect of this story is more unsettling, that a police officer assigned to protect the first lady was harboring apparently serious thoughts about killing her or that he actually felt he had a receptive audience among his fellow officers and was comfortable enough to openly share those thoughts.

What this story really indicates is that in our public discourse we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg in terms of the amount of seething hatred and resentment being harbored by many of our fellow citizens. The Pretty Hate Machine has not only been injecting pure bile into our collective consciousness for the past 30 years, but it has been gradually becoming more blatant in its utter disdain for anyone who is perceived as the “other.” And it’s not just racism, although it along with sexism and homophobia are always the key ingredients in the volatile bile cocktail served up by the malevolent charlatans who pump out the propaganda.

The body politic in America is becoming like a forest undergoing a severe drought, slowly drying out and just waiting for the spark which will set off the inevitable conflagration. All signs in the economy are now pointing towards another market crash, though just how far away that event might be remains unclear. When it happens, and when unemployment begins to skyrocket again as a result, it seems pretty clear that the undercurrents of hatred thrumming just below the surface are likely to explode out into the open and threaten to consume us all.


Bonus: "Listening to some bullet head and that madness that he's saying"

15 comments:

  1. Bill just a heads up - your essay at http://paintedfire.org/prettyhate.html is gone along with the site itself. If you have it around somewhere would you please post it on your own blog? Having read the comments at http://billhicksisdead.blogspot.com/2012/05/pretty-hate-machine.html I was looking forward to a good read.

    Thanks!

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    1. Anon - thanks for letting me know. My Pretty Hate Machine essay is now immediately below this post. :)

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  2. I didn't really pay attention to the picture at the head of this post the first read-thru;
    grade-A creepy...

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    1. To me, the photo being in black and white makes it even more creepy.

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    2. I agree - like exhibit A at a post-genocide legal proceeding...

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    3. Creepy indeed, but FYI -- that WAS how Americans saluted the flag prior to Hitler's rise in Germany. We changed it because of him.

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    4. I did not know that - "The Bellamy salute";
      seeing photos of large groups of school kids doing that is intensely unsettling...

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  3. Hi Bill,

    I don't know if you check into ClubOrlov much but this post has an interesting twist on the Downward Spiral of the Pretty Hate Machine too:

    http://cluborlov.blogspot.com/2012/07/peak-oil-oppositional-disorder-neurosis.html

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    1. Interesting post - I'll have to bookmark that site...

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  4. Bill.., I have to say that your post is very much dead on. I have seen a real rise in the anger level around where I live. I am also starting to see the crime rate begin to rise. I firmly belive in another year we see some real domistic trouble hit this country and hit it hard.

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  5. Wow, didn't they do a background check? It's difficult to believe this could even happen.

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  6. Bill Hicks, we await your commentary on this:

    http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/2012/08/investigating-mitt-romney-offshore-accounts

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    1. Gail, what can I say, really? The Republicans have finally done away with all pretense and nominated a one-percenter's one-percenter. Romney is a true globalist in every sense of the word whose business career record clearly demonstrates that he has zero loyalty to America as a nation or to his fellow citizens. If we vote him in, we get what we deserve. Just too bad that there is no viable alternative.

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  7. We’ll run out of food for our plate,
    And places where heat’s not too great,
    We’ll run out of debate
    When it’s clearly too late,
    But we’re not going to run out of hate.

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  8. America's social deterioration shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody. As I write this a gunman opened fire in a movie theater
    screening the latest Batman movie, killing 12. I wonder how much longer it will be before things like this become just part of everyday life and are not even reported anymore.

    On the subject of rising mass anger against distant elites, see last week's Archruid Report: The Sound of Distant Tumbrils"

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