Racism, Radicalism, Religion and Sheffield, Massachusetts.

For a history department chair, this woman ain’t so bright. Roughly as bright as a black hole and as sharp as a nerf basketball.  I refer, of course, to Catherine McNicol Stock. Ms Malkin brought to my attention this execrable opinion piece by the Connecticut College History Department Chair.

It starts out well enough:

Despite her efforts to portray herself as an average, small-town, “folksy” American, Sarah Palin’s political views – ardently pro-gun, pro-censorship, antichoice and antigay – make John McCain’s conservative credentials pale in comparison. What few observers have said, however, is these beliefs are not just extreme – they are radical, and even bear a comparison with some of the most notorious “rural radicals” of our time.

She’s ardently pro-gun, joining the vast majority of Americans who live outside the enclave of upper crust New Haven intellectualism. She’s pro-censorship but never banned any books. (Ms Stock, not all you read on the internet is a fact. What you read in some jackass email is even less so.) She’s antichoice which is a interesting way to phrase it. And she’s antigay despite vetoing a bill that would have taken away same-sex rights for state employees. And making John McCain’s conservative credentials “pale in comparison” is something you could do at least 30% of the time by randomly polling someone on the street, unless we have redefined conservativism to include belief in man-made global warming and embracing illegal immigration.

But that’s not really what pisses me off about this mindless tripe. She then goes on to discuss how the Pacific Northwest is a breeding ground for racists, and thus Palin is suspect.

Many of us have forgotten the threat once posed by domestic terrorists and instead have turned our attention to foreign terrorists. But we should never forget that in the late 20th century, ultra-Christian, antistatist and white-supremacist groups flourished in the states of the Pacific Northwest – called by many the “Great White Northwest” – the very region that Sarah Palin and her family call home.

Really? Many use that phrase? Have you tried using teh Google with the phrase “Great White Northwest” and see what it yields? I’m not exactly finding legions of folks using that phrase. I get Canadian recipes with Chef Bari, some reference to a mountain called the “great white teacher” (damn racist mountains!!!), and some fleet of ships. I also got some shark hits, but you get the idea. Even supposing you drummed up Cletus the Local Yokel to use that phrase, what are the chances he’s referring to the crystalline water that falls from the sky and not the demographics found there?

From there, she argues that the fewer people of color the more obviously racist the area is.

Although home to tens of thousands of native peoples, Alaska is not much different in terms of diversity from the other states of the region. African Americans live in areas near important military installations in Anchorage and Fairbanks and almost nowhere else. Wasilla, where Sarah Palin was mayor, makes the census’ list of the top 10 Alaskan communities with the largest number of African Americans because they make up a full 1 percent of the population. Rough calculations suggest that 65 blacks lived in the town.

OK Dumb Dumb, let me go through this for you right quick if I might. According to Wikipedia:

The racial makeup of Wasilla was 85.46% White, 0.59% Black or African American, 5.25% Native American, 1.32% Asian, 0.13% Pacific Islander, 1.32% from other races, and 5.94% from two or more races. 3.68% of the population were Hispanic or Latino.

I grew up in ULTRA LIBERAL Massachusetts, and my Dad was a delegate for John Kerry, ergo my discussions with him to this day center on sports teams. Let’s take a look at my home town. It’s Sheffield, Massachusetts.  It lies just south of Stockbridge, Mass, a town that has been home to Norman Rockwell, Edith Wharton, James Taylor, Arlo Guthrie etc.  The demographics for my town are:

The racial makeup of the town was 97.36% White, 1.05% African American, 0.30% Native American, 0.24% Asian, 0.54% from other races, and 0.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.32% of the population.

What is more is that this hotbed of hatred has seen the rise of violent movements in the past. Just mere miles from the bustling metropolis of Sheffield, angry anti-government radicals have engaged in serious violence. One guy even attacked a government armory in neighboring New York and then had the temerity to make off with the cannons and travel through our town on the way to Boston to attack more government forces. Damn radical Henry Knox! This was but the start, later on some radical farmers banded together and attacked the government during Shays Rebellion. From this radical cauldron was I birthed, here to wage battle on my betters, the History Department heads of Connecticut College, which until today I had never had the displeasure of hearing about.

Back to Ms Stock:

But the region also must be defined by its history of intolerance, resentment, antistatism and violence. Appearing in the region in the 1980s and 1990s were some of the most notorious “hate radicals” of our time: militia groups, survivalists, Identity Christians, secessionists, white supremacists and others.

She’s apparently talking about the Northwest again and not Sheffield. Now mind you assuming that the “Northwest” is some monolithic entity is ridiculous. By way of comparison, Ms. Stock notes that the:

Aryan Nation, with headquarters in Hayden Lake, Idaho, actively planned to rid the United States of African Americans, Jews, and other “non-Aryan” peoples.

It is precisely 2,541 miles from Hayden Lake, ID to Anchorage Alaska. It is less than half that distance from Selma, Alabama to New Haven, CT (1144.99 miles). So, if she feels comfortable lumping the region together like that, I will too. In areas like New Haven Connecticut, racists were in positions of legal authority and used it to subjugate minorities by refusing them the right to vote, and assaulting them when they attempted to do so.

Unfair? You’re god damned right it is. But so is using Aryan Nation to besmirch Alaskans.

Anyway, from there, Ms Stock goes on to discuss Ruby Ridge (with Randy Weaver), Ted Kaczinski, and Terry Nichols. But even this comparison makes absolutely no sense. Randy Weaver was born and raised in Iowa then moved to a remote cabin in Idaho. Ted Kaczinski was born in Chicago and then went to school at Harvard. Terry Nichols is from Michigan.

Iowa….Michigan…Illinois…. Wait for it…. Wait for it….

PROOF!!! The Big 10 promotes violence. Must be the case, otherwise what could account for these three being from there?

Her penultimate paragraph is HI-FREAKIN-LARIOUS!

There is no evidence that Palin was ever affiliated with white-supremacist groups during her years in Idaho or at home in Alaska. [Let’s file this in the “No Shit Sherlock” folder] On the other hand, the beliefs of ultraconservative, evangelical churches like her family’s come dangerously close to those of the Christian Identity movement of those years. Likewise, Palin’s husband was a member of a political party whose members favored secession for Alaska, suggesting an affiliation with radical antistatism.

And the denouement to this piece of tripe lets us know that she didn’t bother to research any of it, just flinging it out there like a monkey flings poop at the zoo.

Perhaps somewhere on the record, Palin has publicly condemned the radical politics of her region. But it is hard to know where she stands on issues of race, equality and diversity. Thus it is high time to review the cultural ideals and models of the radical rurals from the Great White Northwest and find out for sure where Gov. Palin stands.

Here’s an idea, how about we stop attacking ALL groups of people: gays, minorities or NORTHWESTERNERS, be they from this mythological “Great White Northwest” place or not. You can’t argue against prejudice and racism at the same time as prejudging people who happen to live in cold regions with fewer minorities. I look forward to your next article about Sheffield, and the dangerous band of radicals that she propagates.

Incidentally, according to Hate Crime Statistics, in 2004 Vermont, with 602,735 people had 28 reported Hate Crimes. Alaska with 273,714 had 9. Green Mountain Boys indeed! Harrumpf! Oh, and DC with 553,523 residents had 49. Must be the gangs of White Supremicists running around.

WANT MORE PROOF?  This is from that notoriously rightwing organization the Southern Poverty Law Center, which purports to track Hate Groups.  Are they a good enough entity to rebut your assininity, Ms Department Chair?

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Category: Politics