Watch/listen to the alternatively heartening and disgusting Crawford interviews to Democracy Now! Don’t cheat yourself. Besides covering Cindy’s speeches this weekend, DN! interviewed pro-Bush protestors, Gold Star moms and Iraq veteran Sean O’Neill. DN! also talked to Bill Johnson, the owner of the Yellow Rose in Crawford, a store that boasts the largest collection of George W. Bush paraphernalia in the country.
YORUBA RICHEN [Democracy Now! interviewer]: You mentioned that – what do you think about Reverend Sharpton coming this weekend?
BILL JOHNSON: I think that’s great, because I’ve got a man ready to debate him at 2:30 when we get through with Cindy. So invite him out. We’ve got a gentleman coming in here from Washington, D.C. And I won’t give you his name right now, but he will be here. He’s a black guy, and he’s the right answer to Mr. Sharpton.
YORUBA RICHEN: Anything else you want the public to know about what you are doing here and why you are doing it?
BILL JOHNSON: Yes, and I want to finish up with Reverend Sharpton. You know, welfare isn’t the way. In the last verse of Thessalonians, it says “If a man will not work, let him not eat.” That means these people need to get off welfare and get out and get to work. And it says “Take care of the widows and orphans,” and we should do that through the churches. But the answer is we’re having a grand opening tomorrow, and we invite everybody to come and hear America. The silent majority will begin to speak tomorrow.
YORUBA RICHEN: Just one clarification, when you say they need to get off welfare, who are you referring to?
BILL JOHNSON: Anybody. Anybody. I mean, the thing is we’re talking about people that are standing for the wrong values that was America was built on. It needs to be that we all do our very, very best, and you know, the small business people like me or like this gentleman over here that’s in the photography business, we can’t carry all of these people. Everybody needs to do their part and be responsible. And it doesn’t matter who you are or what you are, everybody needs to earn their own wages. …
Racist asshole. (Changed from “racist pig” because it’s an insult to pigs, who are highly intelligent, sensitive, wonderful creatures.)
The Yellow Rose owner is a pig. I did not nor would not go in there after the stories I heard about the pig. Guess he has all kinds of bobblehead Bush dolls(how fitting hey?)but he has one or so I was told cutting off Cindy’s head. PIG is to nice a word for him.
But I think the same rules apply as to weak people who have become involved in a cult.
And it IS essentially weak people who believe this stuff. People with no insight, people who want to belong, people who can’t see the wood for the trees.
I don’t think hating them is the answer – finding better answers to their questions and beliefs is the answer.
Ultimately people respond to arguments. Offer them a better way and they may understand. “If at first you don’t succeed, etc…” It may be that friend of theirs that you persuade, who will do the job with people like the Yellow Rose owner. Or all the people that they know. One thing is for sure – they won’t cling to their extremist views if all their friends see the light.
Admittedly – in this time scale – there are some who will never change. But that is no reason to stop trying.
How else does anything get done?
But Sven, you have to understand:
They have no questions, only answers, and moral justifications and the rest of us WILL be damned.
I agree that hate isn’t the answer but neither can I muster the compassion that Ghandi asked to have for such as these…I can only follow his plea to BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT to see in the world and that does not include, for me, trying to talk these people down.
Right on, Brinnaine.
Besides, do you think Johnson will ever in a million years come to BoomanTribune.com and — if he did — he’d just call us the liberal media and storm off.
‘sides, I think the importance of publicizing these kinds of racist remarks is that the MEDIA that has to hang out in Crawford all the time needs to know what kind of an asshole this guy is….
I don’t recall, but can only imagine, the kinds of interviews that have been done with this man … probably making him out as some FOLKSY dude who just loves George Bush. No hard questions. And they’d NEVER follow up with his racist remarks like the DN! interviewer did.
and the frustration – but in the end, it IS possible to change minds.
If you fail to persuade, the message problem is always with the sender, not the recieiver.
That is not negatively intended. That means we just have to find more convincing arguments.
on this matter, but until you have come face to face with these types, it is hard to explain how impossible the mind changing is.
As someone who has banged her head, heart and soul against these attitudes and blind hatred, I cannot take responsiblity for them or feel bad for the efficacy of my arguments.
I have seen it time and time again and the bottom line for folsk like Mr. Johson is this:
Until a part of my argument hits home and personal for him, he will continue to ignore, “refute” and rage against any argument I make.
Do I hate him? No. Do I want to spend energy and time on trying to convince? No.
No. Brutes like him — and he is a brute — are so fucking hard-headed there’s nothing you can do to change him.
Unless by a life-converting experience — say, a group of black men save his life, protecting him from a group of Cindy’s followers who are beating him up* — he’ll never change.
We do, however, need to call this kind of racism out. And we need to make sure the media knows damn well what kind of a racist this guy is so they don’t do more any charming small-town-merchant stories about him.
_
*That’s a joke example … but it is the kind of example that would be required to ever begin to change him.
I agree – but I still say that maybe you could try an indirect approach. You both admitted that there might be a situation where Mr Yellow Rose might change. What could that be? Cindy has changed minds.
I always remember putting roses in gun barrels
I will not be kidnapping his loved ones and torituing them in the name of freedom and/or running his family out of town on a rail because of the color of his skin….so, do you see that there is not a way that I can instigate the situation in which his mind and heart might change?
MMMMMmmm..have to disagree with the analogy of weak people/cult people. These are Cadillac driving, RV driving, rich kid syndrome folks that were down there in Crawford “visiting”. Maybe the store owner fits that category. My republican sister is not a weak person. She has decided that the republicans have the answers for our country but disagrees with some of Bush’s policies. SHe is unwilling to hear or read what I tell her. I truly believe they continue to support Bushco because they don’t want admit THEY made a mistake voting for him in the firsat place. Oh, I know I am rambling and I apologise. My emotions are still very high from the weekend in Crawford.
What does his store look like? Any showed a video clip of the outside of the store … looked like a junk shop.
The store is small and like I said I never went in.
Sven, I will never give up hope that we will be able to make the change but agree with Bri that there are some that will never change. I also look at it from the perspective that they will never persuade me to go republican either, so there’s that.
all I know is what I observed and our side of the street was peaceful, quiet, sang songs of hope, God Bless America and the other side yelled and screamed and turned red in the face, saying things like Go home hippy, the 60’s are over, calling Cindy the “Bitch in the Ditch”. They all just look so angry. I don’t hate them, I pity them really.
I have never experinced what you have been thru. I bow to your better first hand knowledge
But you understand what I mean?
Yes I understand what you mean.
I understand too, Sven and I think you’re wonderful to feel that way.
But, it seems to me that Johnson has already been changed or, rather, cowed.
Just like most racists in this country have been cowed into obscuring their racism.
He’s been changed from stating his racism overtly — e.g., “that fuckin’ nigger Al Sharpton” — to switching topics from Sharpton coming to Crawford to people who live off welfare.
Just like the white Southern men’s club members on Ali G’s comedy series that — when Ali G asks them if the black servant is their “slave” — titter and say that, oh no, they don’t do that anymore…. but, and I forget exactly what else they said/did, but it was clear that that is exactly what they still WISH they had. A black slave, not a black man they had to pay.
I saw that interview also, and the fact that he switched immediately to talking about welfare right after talking about Sharpton told the story. I’m sure they left that in for that reason, it showed what a bigot he is and negated everything else he said right there. It’s obvious that he hasn’t done any research, or he would know that there are more whites that have been on welfare than blacks.
He went right down the line on the Republican talking points, like he had it memorized, even if it wasn’t relevant to the situation or topic.
I also noticed when he closed his eyes, as though to hide what he was thinking when he was saying something particularly crappy, and his other body language. He was trying very hard to look nice and harmless, when he obviously feels hateful and has a superiority complex because he is white.
It’s the pathology of privilege coming out. He actually believes that whites are better than any other groups. I grew up around people with these attitudes, and it is well nigh impossible to shake these beliefs. I don’t know how to help someone like that to change, that’s for sure!
Got it. Government welfare and corruption bad. Church welfare and corruption good.
I read through the above and I think “ignorant,” I think “unrealistic view of the ability of charitable giving to affect national issues,” I think “a very simplistic take on the economy.” But what I don’t immediately think is “racist.”
So, tell me what I’m missing.
The interviewer and he were NOT discussing welfare and economics.
They were discussing Cindy Sheehan and her supporters vs. his supporters.
He IMMEDIATELY associated the BLACK Al Sharpton with WELFARE.
OOOooo… great minds run together (or something like that). 😉
JINX!
See, my take on his response to Al Sharpton was that as soon as he heard that name he thought… Al Sharpton, who has not exactly been silent on social issues (and with whom, I agree about 95% of the time).
If Hillary was coming, I would expect the first thing out of his mouth to be something about Bill, not about Cindy. If Dean was coming, I would expect his first thought to be about how Dean was “crazy,” not about Cindy.
In short, I just read this as a man who was a victim to the Right Wing media machine, not necessarily a racist. I’m sure there’s a racist subtext to why Rev. Sharpton gets so much play and negative association in the press.
However, I’m not prone to label anyone a racist, as I can’t think of anything worse to say about someone who’s not holding a bloody knife.
My take on the interview is that as soon as the asshole heard “Al Sharpton”, his tiny reptilian brain associated that with ‘black’, then ‘welfare’. Ignorant simpleton though he is, I think the racist part is probably right on.
I did not listen to the interview, having only dial-up, it would take half a day for me to download DN!… plus, they use some funky formatting. I can’t seem to find a good source to stream it… if anyone finds one, please post. (I wish I could find it for RealPlayer or WindowsMedia… that download I could manage)
broadcasts DN! every weekday at 3 PM Pacific time. Don’t know whether this is what you had in mind, but I can’t resist the chance to plug KSER. Just follow the “Listen Live!” link and you’ll eventually get there.
http://www.kser.org
If that doesn’t work for you, you might try one of the stations linked to in the page below. publicradiofan.com is a great site for people who like to listen to radio over the Web. Me, for instance.
http://www.publicradiofan.com/cgi-bin/program.pl?programid=90
If you have any questions, ask and I’ll try to give you a hand.
You might check to see if DN! has a low-bandwidth download option for people on dialup, but frankly, it would probably work just about as well to go to one of the stations that streams it and listen to it in realtime.
It’s right here: video/audio page
Every day, you can click on this link at the top of the home page:
Listen/Watch entire show.
CHOOSE the first options:
Watch entire show – broadband or dialup
Listen to entire show – dial-up
You know, I’ve read at least one or two parts of the Bible, and I don’t remember Jesus telling the multitude they had to go break rocks before He fed them.
In fact I seem to remember this passage from the Sermon on the Mount:
Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Our Mr. Johnson probably has a reason why Jesus didn’t actually mean what he said.
C-posted at DailyKos.
You changed from pig because it was an insult to pigs.
Considering that assholes serve a wonderful purpose in eliminating shit, I think asshole is way too good for this guy.
“If a man will not work, let him not eat.”
Speaking of not working: correct me if I’m wrong, but hasn’t Bush been on vacation for the better part of the last month and nearly a year out of his first five as president?
Also, the quote says “will not work”, not “can’t find work.”
Just an observation.
hmmmmmm, this puts a bad light on pigs…unless of course, your an infidel ; )
typical talking points of all the Repugs, brainwashed, and firmly convinced, they’re right, and the rest….hell, they don’t count.
peace
The word “racist” has no longer has meaning. It’s been worn out from overuse.
It’s become an all-purpose expletive, as have the words “liberal”, “bastard” and “activist.”
These should be used only for stubbed toes or dead batteries.
jpk, I tend to agree. Although Susan’s anger and frustration are perfectly understandable, there are too many Americans like this fellow to dismiss them as ‘racist’. There is a difference, too, between someone like this guy who wears blinders in so many areas and someone else who openly hates people of color, etc. etc.
This guy didn’t strike me in the interview as a bad guy. Deluded, yes, but not a bad guy.
As for his religious beliefs, there’s a great article in the recent issue of Harper’s describing the peculiar version of Christianity embraced by American protestants. Highly recommended.