1 - I have enjoyed Qasim's newsletter for a few months now and appreciate his perspective.
2 - I am deeply disturbed by the hateful, racist extremism perpetuated by the far right. People perpetuating hate should not be given public platforms and should be held accountable.
3 - I am not apologizing for anyone who is spreading hate - and the people called out in today's newsletter use their platforms to perpetuate hate and bigotry and they should be ashamed of themselves.
HOWEVER:
I'd disappointed with the left for uncritically evaluating and bashing these and other extremists for the wrong reasons - especially when there are plenty of valid reasons to bash them.
In two of the examples from today's newsletter, the words these guys were quoted as saying are ambiguous at best. I didn't need NPR to tell me (though they seemed to reach the same conclusion as I) that Lowry actually seemed to be mispronouncing "migrant" or "immigrant" rather than saying the N-word. You can even see him making the "m" shape with his mouth. He may be a racist, but he didn't use the N-word in this case.
And Senator Kennedy was awful. He was extremely disrespectful and unprofessional with Dr Berry, But I clearly heard him say, "You should hide your head in a bag;" not, "You should have your head in a bag," as quoted in the newsletter. Both are rude and inappropriate, but the difference between the two is very important. The former denotes shame (bad enough), but the latter evokes violence and could even be considered a dangerous dog whistle.
We are truly fighting for our lives as we enter the final stretch of the most terrifying election most of us have experienced. PLEASE, let's stay above the fray and work hard to build and maintain credibility in this chaotic time. I promise, people will continue to say reprehensible things to show who they really are and what they really believe. Let's focus and report on those things so people can decide for themselves how dangerous these people are.
Thank you for your support. I will say regarding your critiques, I very carefully listened to the interview and even ran it through my auto caption software and it repeatedly came back as the N-word. Given the history of the national review of being very pro racist I am not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, because there is no doubt.
Likewise with Senator Kennedy, I don’t think there’s a meaningful difference between have andhide. Either way it’s dehumanizing and disgusting, especially at a hearing about dehumanizing anti Muslim bigotry.
First a couple clarifying points:
1 - I have enjoyed Qasim's newsletter for a few months now and appreciate his perspective.
2 - I am deeply disturbed by the hateful, racist extremism perpetuated by the far right. People perpetuating hate should not be given public platforms and should be held accountable.
3 - I am not apologizing for anyone who is spreading hate - and the people called out in today's newsletter use their platforms to perpetuate hate and bigotry and they should be ashamed of themselves.
HOWEVER:
I'd disappointed with the left for uncritically evaluating and bashing these and other extremists for the wrong reasons - especially when there are plenty of valid reasons to bash them.
In two of the examples from today's newsletter, the words these guys were quoted as saying are ambiguous at best. I didn't need NPR to tell me (though they seemed to reach the same conclusion as I) that Lowry actually seemed to be mispronouncing "migrant" or "immigrant" rather than saying the N-word. You can even see him making the "m" shape with his mouth. He may be a racist, but he didn't use the N-word in this case.
And Senator Kennedy was awful. He was extremely disrespectful and unprofessional with Dr Berry, But I clearly heard him say, "You should hide your head in a bag;" not, "You should have your head in a bag," as quoted in the newsletter. Both are rude and inappropriate, but the difference between the two is very important. The former denotes shame (bad enough), but the latter evokes violence and could even be considered a dangerous dog whistle.
We are truly fighting for our lives as we enter the final stretch of the most terrifying election most of us have experienced. PLEASE, let's stay above the fray and work hard to build and maintain credibility in this chaotic time. I promise, people will continue to say reprehensible things to show who they really are and what they really believe. Let's focus and report on those things so people can decide for themselves how dangerous these people are.
Thank you for your support. I will say regarding your critiques, I very carefully listened to the interview and even ran it through my auto caption software and it repeatedly came back as the N-word. Given the history of the national review of being very pro racist I am not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, because there is no doubt.
Likewise with Senator Kennedy, I don’t think there’s a meaningful difference between have andhide. Either way it’s dehumanizing and disgusting, especially at a hearing about dehumanizing anti Muslim bigotry.