A glutton for pain, I’ve been checking out quotes by the newly-minted “Awesome Republican Candidate” Michelle Bachmann. Once I regained consciousness, I noticed this particularly great one where she’s talking about the Founders and our proud history of immigration and equality.
It didn't matter the color of their skin, it didn't matter their language, it didn't matter their economic status, it didn't matter whether they descended from known royalty or whether they were of a higher class or a lower class, it made no difference. Once you got here [to the United States] you were all the same. Isn't that remarkable?"
Oh, unless you were black, of course. How silly of me. Or destitute. I mean, there’s a reason only propertied folk got to vote. Or if you were a woman. Or Spanish. Or lower class. Or had some sort of physical or mental handicap.
But aside from that, we were ALL equal. Especially if you were a white, propertied male. Well, only if you were a white propertied male. Anyway, you get the point. She’s right!
1 comment:
It's interesting to me how this process seems to work. They seem to make these statements in the expectation that people don't know any history. It's as if if I say it, it makes it true. And it works because people want to believe it. But it only works with like-minded people. It's sort of a collective wink-wink, nod-nod as if we will all pretend that these statements make sense. But in fact, I think these statements work because most of the people they are aimed at don't really care what happened in the past.
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