For those who need the alt text for the image, it is from diverging called "American people" from Oct 1964. The byline is "external vigilance is the price of freedom,", and the main headline is "the Ku Klux Klan is a victim of progressive".
The only reason we ever had trump is that Bernie sanders got screwed. Just like https://pslweb.org was screwed by the democratic party. That and running so far right that no leftist will ever vote democrat. Now even if the democrats ran Bernie I'd still vote socialist. https://Pslweb.org
We're only a short way away from them trotting out the Curse of Ham and defining religious freedom under the 1A to include the freedom to discriminate on the basis of skin color.
a classic manipulator/abuser tactic of reversing the actual victim-oppressor situation, (in claims, word only). but why do we, as a society, as a country, put up with the twisting of truth, and forced delusion of hate and power obsessed organizations and people?
Way less severe example, but this does remind me of watching “You’ve Got Mail” recently and seeing just how surprisingly relevant that was.
In particular, when Tom Hank’s Dad pulls the now-so-typical “those Liberals and their ways” schtick, right in the Gingrich era of early Republican bullshit.
I know it’s not the same severity and hatred as here (that was over an indie bookshop nearby Hanks’ new Border’s-esque corpo chain location), but I think it still stands about how long this sort of antagonism has been going on for, and not just a weird sudden post-Obama-era bitch fest.
@mikecarlton01.bsky.social guess where Alan Jones and all those 90’s shock jocks got the phrase “do-gooders from”? The fucking Klan. FYI Seth, Mike was one of the good guys on radio and print then and now. Bit of a Sydney institution
Wow. Do-gooders was a phrase heard on a lot of Sydney talk radio in the 1990's. I thought it was a product of Alan Jones and Stan Zemanek and co...a local, recent phenomenon. But look how old that usage is....and surprise surprise it's a Klan thing that made its way to Australia.
That magazine was published out of Cincinnati, OH by a "patriotic" organization that sought to save the nation from imminent, leftist ruin. It was called the NAAWP--the National Association for the Advancement of White People...and it was as racist as you'd imagine such an organization would be.
That NAAWP branding was adopted by David Duke 25 years later. I don't know if he took it from these Ohio racists or came up with the idea himself. This annotated copy of the NAAWP newsletter was owned by Walter Huss, the former chair of the Oregon Republican Party who was a great admirer of Duke's.
That earlier, Ohio iteration of the NAAWP was part of a national phenomenon where young "conservatives" became frustrated with their more staid elders in the movement and formed more aggressive orgs. Two of Huss's young proteges did the same in Oregon in 1964. https://sethcotlar.substack.com/p/speaking-at-reed-college-in-1965
In New Jersey the faction of the Young Republicans who thought racism and antisemitism were cool called themselves "Rat Finks." They used pretty aggressive tactics to drive out the moderates in the group. One of their leaders served as a judge in NJ his entire life. https://bsky.app/profile/sethcotlar.bsky.social/post/3kngp5smkik2e
Here's the statement of principles from that 1964 NAAWP. They were mad about Black civil rights "pressure groups," the federal government's slouch toward socialism, wasteful foreign aid, thought control by the liberal media, anti-discrimination laws in hiring and housing, and police reform.
I was researching my family history in Indiana county. As I browsed looking for obits etc, I was at first shocked to see ads in the paper for Klan picnics at the county fairgrounds. (1915-1930?). No mention of race or creed restrictions. I guess people knew who was or wasn't invited.
Seth: you (and @rickperlstein.bsky.social and @maddow.msnbc.com and @kevinmkruse.bsky.social etc) have documented how today’s RW mirrors the ideas, memes, and attacks of people long dead.
But how and why? Do they study their predecessors? Or is it something inherent to the political mindset?
They never changed, many still alive from that time. And the younger racists were made to tone down the hate for some time in the USA, but MAGA has given them air and encouragement to be loud and cruel again.
I've seen no evidence that any of today's right. wingers know this history. My sense is that the feeling of repetition or deja vu (deja ew?) that comes from encountering these primary sources has to do with how deeply their distinctively American "rhetoric of reaction" resonates with readers.
Can I just mention how much I appreciate you sharing your research? It's so helpful to be able to link my 1960s memories up to what came before and see the whole 20th century timeline.
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I read a lot of their newspaper published in the 20s in MN for a research paper and it was fascinating how “modern” their talking points felt. At the time I couldn’t help but relate it to the tea party which was rising at the time.
Their “peaceful gatherings” being attacked was a running theme.
Goes back even further. I recently read Klan War, about Grant’s fight with the Klan. And a popular opinion in the late 1860s and early 1870s was, “The poor ex-Confederates have suffered enough. The real problem is they’re still disenfranchised!”
Yup. There are *still* Klan activities in the area around Gettysburg. My sister lives in York, East of Gettysburg, and Klan was actively pamphleting her neighborhood when Obama was running. They have never gone away.
Comments
Gross.
The only reason we ever had trump is that Bernie sanders got screwed. Just like https://pslweb.org was screwed by the democratic party. That and running so far right that no leftist will ever vote democrat. Now even if the democrats ran Bernie I'd still vote socialist. https://Pslweb.org
In particular, when Tom Hank’s Dad pulls the now-so-typical “those Liberals and their ways” schtick, right in the Gingrich era of early Republican bullshit.
But how and why? Do they study their predecessors? Or is it something inherent to the political mindset?
a lot of the stuff they puke out now is like shit from the 80s or w/e but clearly goes back a lot farther
and farther than the 60s even
or further idk
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https://redloraine.wixsite.com/website/post/principles-of-abuse-and-the-internal-failures-of-racists
Right?
Their “peaceful gatherings” being attacked was a running theme.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/are-you-racist-or-just-anti-anti-racist/
Less than a decade after the damn Civil War!