Way to go, right-wing nutjobs

[evkl]

For fuck's sake, honestly.

NEWARK, N.J. - A family who had supported Barack Obama's presidential campaign emerged from their home in the northwestern New Jersey town of Hardwick Thursday morning to find the charred remnants of a 6-foot wooden cross on their front lawn.

Pieces of a homemade bedsheet banner reading "President Obama , Victory '08," which had been stolen from the yard the night before, also were found, leading investigators to believe the banner had been wrapped around the cross before it was set afire.

Lt. Gerald Lewis of the New Jersey State Police said his agency is treating the incident as a bias crime.

Police believe the cross, made of two-by-fours bolted to a metal pole like those used to support road signs, was placed on the lawn sometime between 1 a.m. and 7 a.m., and fell over after being set on fire.

Homeowner Gary Grewal said he had noticed the Obama banner missing from his lawn the night before and reported it to police.

Grewal said his 8-year-old daughter, Arianna, spotted the banner wrapped around the burnt cross as they walked toward their car to drive to school.

"She saw it, that's what bothered me the most," Grewal said Thursday. "You can imagine the types of questions she was asking. It was very tough to explain."

Grewal, 51, a management consultant who emigrated from India, has lived in Hardwick Township, a largely rural community of about 1,500 people in Warren County, about 40 miles northwest of Newark, since 2001.

He said Obama campaign signs were regularly swiped off his lawn. He and his wife, Alina, actively supported the Obama campaign in the largely Republican area.

"I'm not going to be intimidated by something like this," Grewal said. "I don't go on anyone's property and do this. God forbid if I was African-American. We're living in the 21st century, and we've got to be afraid to express our beliefs?"

Grewal described his community as a nice place "with many wonderful people." But he said his daughter is afraid to sleep in her room, knowing someone was on the lawn while they were home.

"I'm amazed this can happen in this time and age," Alina Grewal said. "We're in the Millennium, the world has changed."

 

[flyinglilypad]

Wow. You have a serious bias. Nothing suggests whatsoever that it was from Right-wingers or Republicans. The burned cross would suggest it was an angry racist.

"God forbid if I was African-American. We're living in the 21st century, and we've got to be afraid to express our beliefs?""

They were probably targeted because they *weren't* African-American. A nutso racist is more likely to be even more enraged at whites and non-black people for voting Obama in.

 

[Transfinite]

Nothing suggests whatsoever that it was from Right-wingers or Republicans. The burned cross would suggest it was an angry racist.

...what's the difference?

 

[the gadfly]

Tell me you're not saying all right-wingers and Republicans are angry cross burning racists.

 

[Zeta]

Well, I would say that all angry racists are Republicans but not all Republicans are angry racists.

But yeah, doesn't change it much.

 

[flyinglilypad]

That's not true >_> hell, some racists are even communists, for god's sake.

I just love how it's okay for liberals to make all sorts of generalizations and smarmy, stereotyping remarks, but if a Republican does it, they're an asshole, a racist, or "picking on" someone.

 

[evkl]

I highly doubt left-wing nutjobs are burning crosses on lawns. I never said Republican, did I? Right-wing radicals are your KKK's, your white supremacist movements, etc. Left-wing radicals are communists, anarchists, etc, generally. This has all the hallmarks of a right-wing nutjob.

Edit: Further, communism and racism are somewhat opposing ideologies. I suppose you could want to work collectively ONLY with people of your own race, but typically being that far-left on economic issues puts you to the left on social issues too. Further, my rationale is, and maybe I'm crazy, but I can't recall the last time I heard liberals burning crosses on lawns.

 

[Misty]

yeah okay this thread got off to a bad start

also the politicization was wholly unnecessary and inappropriate for The Real World :/

 

[evkl]

So can I unlock if I move it to the soap box?

 

[the gadfly]

also the politicization was wholly unnecessary and inappropriate for The Real World :/

Roger that. Moving to The Soap Box. And I do believe you can unlock this thread evkl.

 

[evkl]

Or you can unlock, whichever works.

WHEE BACK TO THE FRAY~

 

[the gadfly]

Or you can unlock, whichever works.

WHEE BACK TO THE FRAY~

We mere mods can only open or close threads, not lock/unlock them.

 

[Fig]

...it's the same damn thing, isn't it?

Also, I have got to side with Ev on this one.

No, this was not (necessarily) the work of a Republican, but "Right-wing nutjob" is a fair description of the KKK and their ilk, because modern racism is essentialy a particularly violent and vile form of social conservatism, where the base creed is "Our culture is good and pure. We must not allow the Evil Others to pollute our good and pure culture and genes, thus we must keep them apart from us and us apart from them". That's pretty much all the KKK and friends are about, and it's a decidedly conservative (=right wing) agenda.

Which isn't to say there are no racists on the left (hah!), or that all republicans or right-wingers are racist (double-hah!). Just that most of this particular brand of racists - racism that's all about fear and hatred of the others, and of change brought about by the other, decidedly associate with one side of the political spectrum and not the other.

So yeah. "Right wing nutjob" is a fine description, IMO.

 

[Nekusagi]

Why does this story not surprise me?

 

[Eredar Warlock]

This kind of stuff scares me. Obama won. The way I see it now, we'll just have to grit our teeth and bear it if we don't like it.

But seriously, whoever these people are are screwed up in the head. I'm highly conservative - I've proven that multiple times. But this...this just plain frightens me. I don't see where people like that get it in their heads to do that kind of crap.

 

[PanicAttack]

I'll be absolutely blunt here. While movements such as the KKK aren't as prolific as they once were, they still exist. Obama's become President Elect of the US. Needless to say, this would piss said movements off. Therefore, I am completely unsurprised to see something like this happen.

 

[Nando]

They'll need to invent a way to encase Obama in steel when he takes office if we don't want to be swearing in President Biden before he's elected, at this rate.

I suppose I really shouldn't be surprised this happened maybe 90 minutes from where I live even though I am...

 

[Nekusagi]

I figure he'll have to give his inauguration address from a remote, secret location and have it broadcast on TV rather than do it out in the open in DC. I can't imagine any other way he could pull it off.

And he'll probably have to wear a Kevlar vest under his suit EVERYWHERE he goes. I just think it's sad there are still people in this country who'd want to do this...

 

[Nando]

I figure he'll have to give his inauguration address from a remote, secret location and have it broadcast on TV rather than do it out in the open in DC. I can't imagine any other way he could pull it off.

And he'll probably have to wear a Kevlar vest under his suit EVERYWHERE he goes. I just think it's sad there are still people in this country who'd want to do this...

Did you watch his victory speech on Tuesday? It was only visible for a short moment, but while he walked away from the podium you could clearly see he had plexiglass shields around where he was standing.

 

[evkl]

Something like that?