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Friday, October 31, 2008 | 12:05pm
? Of the Day: Is there A Palin/ Obama Effigy Double Standard?
Are the recent string of hate displays attributed to race or double standard?
There is no question that this election more than any other in history has been hotly contested. Alot of hit has to do with those supporting their candidates being so informed about almost ever detail of the election via the internet and technological advancements. That’s the good part…the bad is that frustrations and tensions have reach unprecedented heights add that to the prevailing issue of race and we have the current political hotbed.
Prior to announcing his candidacy for President, Sen. Barack Obama was well aware of what lied ahead for him and his family. He was aware of the inevitability of receiving racist attacks, unfounded defamation in the press and even death threats due to the color of his skin. One such unfortunate biproduct were public displays of hate and effigy.
With the election just over 4 days away and the polls not looking promising for Sen. John McCain the venom has reached an unprecedented level. Obama effigies were reported this week on the University of Kentucky campus and outside a home in Indiana. There have been dozens of similar reports like these across the country but could they be more in response to a double standard than racism?
Many people have been outraged over the FBI and Los Angeles Police Department’s determination that they aren’t treating a Gov. Sarah Palin doll dangling from a noose in West Hollywood, Calif., as a hate crime. According to the agencies’ report they determined the display was part of a Halloween decoration.
“I’m not defending this; I’m not criticizing it. It doesn’t rise to the level of hate crime,” L.A. County Sheriff’s spokesman Steve Whitmore told The Los Angeles Times. “Now, if there was a crime against bad taste …”
So is there a double standard? Should we be excepting of the Sarah Palin effigy because her historical background is not rooted in the lynchings of our past? Do you believe the increase in Barack Obama effigy displays are in response to treatment of the Sarah Palin incident in Los Angeles?
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I do think it is a double-standard; and I frankly applaud you for having the nerve to ask the question.
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I think there are three things to keep in mind here…
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1. Being the Halloween season, it is a tradition to hang effigies around the house as part of the outside ‘horror decorations’ that some people put out. Usually this is of something that’s scary; and President Palin is pretty scary. I think there’s a big difference between having a hanging Palin or Obama at this time of year than there would be if we found them in other months.
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2. It is a natural side-effect of our free society that people have the right to be distasteful. Free speech is not always easy speech; and our right to preach honor peace and responsibility must also be offset by the crazy person’s right to preach hate, no matter how distasteful.
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3. Sometime’s a cigar is just a cigar, and in many cases people don’t realize how insensitive their actions are. While the noose is symbolic of past horrors to many in our country, some people honestly don’t know this; and their use of the noose is not intended as a reminder of these past horrors.
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I’ll give you a personal example (and I can’t believe I’m mentioning this). When I was young, I used to play “hit man”, where I would shoot my GI-Joe dolls from long distances with a BB gun. If I was a child doing this today, I’m sure that I would be forced into a psychologist’s office to deal with what would be viewed as my “aggressive tendencies”. But it wasn’t aggression, and I wasn’t doing it out of hate. I was just a kid who was bored, liked to shoot his BB gun, and got tired of shooting at targets.
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In other words: in every interaction between people, each brings with them the meanings of actions and words as they relate to their own personal life experiences. Without knowing these, otherwise innocent comments can appear as insults, insults can appear as innocent comments.
So you’re saying people hang barack and Palin to be funny or out of boredom and not rooted in hate. I guess as you said in your last paragraph each case is different.
I’m sure there are some who do it out of hate, and for all of the bad reasons we may suspect. But not always, and certainly not at this time of year.
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Someone is making up their yard for the holiday, so they want to have a spooky body hanging from a rope. They start stuffing the clothes with straw or rags, then someone says: let’s make it look like Palin, Obama, the hockey team from the other town that everyone hates, Saddam, bin Laden, etc.
alright. I’ll buy that.
man, this crap keep gettin worse and worse. but dont be surprised you see the national guard out at the polls. or cops. or ‘peace keepers’. something is gonna happen soon where they will be out and looking for ‘trouble makers’. watch and see….
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I think the difference is easy-The Palin doll is hanging in west Hollywood…An area of California that is majority homosexual. I’d bet money that it is hanging as an homage to Palins political views, mainly her disdain for the gay lifestyle…Yasee there’s no history of women being hung from a noose simply because they are a woman, or because they are Alaskan as governor Palin is. A symbol of a Black man hanging from a noose is completely different do to the history behind the Black man/woman and the noose. Now 1 may very well like to display Obama hanging from a noose simply because they disagree with his political views and not his ethnic background…However because of the history behind it 1 would know that it’s in very bad taste. And if 1 would chose to do it regardless—knowing damn well what the symbol of a Black man hanging from a noose represents,,, then yes that person is probably racist,,,or at the very least suspect of being a racist.lol…jmo….Wow 2 more days. Every little Black boy and girl will be able to walk around with their head held just a little higher. YES WE CAN!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good insight. Thank you for the contribution.
I think the hanging was in bad taste as well as a show of hate. I don’t care who is hanging from that noose if it’s black or white it shouldn’t have been done. Now I must say that I don’t agree with ANYTHING that Sarah Palin has to say. In fact I think that most of the language that has come out of her mouth has been hate filled and racist. But to hang a effigie in her likeness was just distasteful and out of line. No matter what she still has a family with young children but the sad thought is this is what this country is all about. Do I think it was tacky?? YES.. Do I think it was a hate crime.. Not a hate crime but whom ever hung it was filled with hate and I’m glad that they took it down.