Tuesday, September 8, 2009

An Open Letter to “Anonymous”

Dear Anonymous:

Back in July, I wrote a piece about Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. of Harvard University being accosted at his home by Cambridge Police Officer James Crowley. The post was sympathetic to Officer Crowley, and a few days ago you took exception. What you wrote in the Comments section was:
“Crowley would of beaten the daylights out of Rosa Parks. Six minutes after the 911 call was made, the man who made the error of Being Angry While Black was in handcuffs. Six minutes! Certainly some to that was the cop's travel time. Its not illegal to shout at cops in your own home or its porch.”

Since you made your comment on a site dedicated to the documentation of America’s anti-Republican culture, I wanted to clarify how you fit into the scheme of things.

The first point to note is that our anti-Republican culture puts racism and Republicans into the same box. Racists are Republicans, and Republicans are racists. They are a congruent set. When you speak of one, you imply the other.

I don’t know if Officer Crowley is a Republican or not, but I think you see that he exhibits Republican traits. He is a cop, so he must be in favor of “law and order” which is a Republican value. He is a white male, and you probably realize many Republicans look like that.

The second point is that our anti-Republican culture works through “themes”, those constantly reinforced slogans and beliefs that shape your attitude.

You see Officer Crowley putting the anti-Republican themes to work. The Officer is intent on curtailing the civil rights of Professor Gates. (“Republicans are shredding the Constitution.”) He singles out Professor Gates, knowing he is a teacher. (“Republicans are harming our children.”) Officer Crowley can’t wait to get to the confrontation. (“Republicans are bad people.”)

But here is where you “hit it out of the park”. The third aspect of our anti-Republican culture is intent.

You say that “Crowley would of (sic) beaten the daylights out of Rosa Parks.” You know Officer Crowley’s INTENT!

You are not referencing the non-racism stories that have come within the last few months: The Black Panther electioneering work in Philadelphia; the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) brawl with a black conservative. Rather, you see Officer Crowley’s intent as something from a half-century ago; something out of Mississippi Burning. You know what is in his heart, and it is dark and sinister.

When you see or hear something about Republicans and you immediately know their intent, your mind has achieved the highest level in our anti-Republican culture. You no longer need further indoctrination. If you now wish to move on and further your studies, you might go to the Middle East and see what an anti-Semitic culture can do for you.

However, here in America, you have been “perfected”. You have been taught to hate.

Thanks for your post,

Howard Towt
Anti-RepublicanCulture.com

2 comments:

  1. I appreciate your comments. However, I think the intended recipient may not "get" it.

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  2. I agree, but it's still worth a try.

    The concept of "intent" is significant. It is something we expect Supreme Court Justices to be able to infer about our Founders. It's something we ask jurors to determine when they are judging a "hate crime". It's also something that political figures like to manipulate.

    Officer Crowley's "intent" might be that of a dedicated peace officer responding to a suspected home invasion. It might also be that of a maniacal racist who likes to work at night holding a torch and carrying a rope. That's a pretty wide range of possibilities!

    The point to note is that when an individual judges Officer Crowley's intent, we often learn more about what's in THAT person's heart than in Officer Crowley's.

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