"Am I racist for being 'alarmed' at this?"

[conuly]

Seriously, be racist. See if I care. Nobody cares. But stop whining and acting like you're not! Just go whole hog and be a fucking racist and fess up to it like you're not ashamed to be a throwback in this day and age.

Or, since you *are* ashamed (and really should be) try not being a racist. Or just think once in a while, all right? And by think, I mean something deeper than "Oh, there's baby boys named Mohamed in England! It's so scaaaaaaary, those babies might cry on a plane, and it'd all be a plot. Ooooooooh!"

Comments

[conuly]

I keep thinking of the Empty Pants in Dr. Seuss's The Sneetches and Other Stories: aaagh, scary clothing!!!

Hey look, green pants aren't meant to walk around with nobody inside them!

Because he seems to be saying that the problem he has with Muslims is just their terrifying outfits, and that he'd feel much better if they all wore jeans or something instead.

He's actually happier that they wear their scary clothing, because then he knows whom to hate. However, he hates them because they're refusing to assimilate and wear what he wears.

It's a mistake to try to make sense of crazy behavior; the reason it's crazy is because it doesn't make sense.

The scary thing is that it does, you just have to find an opening into their round circle of circular reasoning.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

"He's actually happier that they wear their scary clothing, because then he knows whom to hate. However, he hates them because they're refusing to assimilate and wear what he wears."

... the opening into the circle of crazy reasoning is the realization that it is crazy. His logic, if you can even call it that, is all based on the axiom People like me are Good and its corollary People different from me are Bad. The Bad people are therefore Bad whether they're shamelessly flaunting their differences, or insidiously trying to conceal them.

The only solution therefore is to eliminate all the Bad people, which is right to do because they're Bad, which can be seen by how hostile and aggressive they get when Good People tell them how Bad they are and try to eliminate them for righteousness' sake.

The whole thing's crazy. It's like a scratch in the record, a glitch in the program, an endless cascade of pop-ups all saying the same thing: clearly a malfunction. The defining characteristics of right-wing authoritarianism (http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&q=right-wing+authoritarianism&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=d7bb1fad9f187d5c), which is what this is, read like diagnostic criteria out of the DSM: faulty reasoning, hostility to outgroups, profound character 'attributes', blindness to their own failings and to those of authority figures whom they respect (source here (http://www.suite101.com/content/right-wing-authoritarianism-a61455).) Such people aren't rational; their behavior makes no sense (is not adaptive or productive) because it's based on delusional thought-processes.

One could pity them, if they weren't so dangerous, because sheesh, think about how much it must suck to go through life like that. You see a man in a cotton shirt, or a woman in a skirt and shawl or whatever, and instead of thinking "Hmm, nice embroidery", you're filled with anxiety, thinking their choice of clothing shows they're Bad People who want to kill you. What amazes me is that anyone can even listen to this sort of talk without going "Dude, you seriously need therapy."