Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Pimp My Power Structure

I haven't been talking about the O'Keefe/Breitbart boondoggle at all, but it seems very representative of something. If you aren't familiar with the story, it is an extension of the Republican war against Acorn as Acorn has the temerity to register low-income voters. Of course, participating in democracy is not something that should go unpunished so Acorn has become a Republican punch-line, just like purple hearts and torture. In order to further undermine Acorn Andrew Breitbart employed neveau Nixonian dirty Trickster James O'Keefe to go around and secretly record low-level Acorn staff members trying to deal with his fictional problem. What was presented to the media were a pair dressed in outrageous Blacksploitation pimp regalia and hooker wear, respectively, going around and getting Acorn to instruct them in how to avoid paying taxes. What it turns out really happened is that a normal looking man in a dress shirt and slacks went to Acorn offices with a girl in a skirt and claimed that it was his girlfriend who was being threatened by a violent pimp and they needed help getting out of the situation. They then went back and edited the videos heavily and inserted clips of O'Keefe in the pimp get-up. It is obvious to almost anyone what lame frat-boy level racism goes into the whole structure of this prank. What is worse is that the media bought it completely. They have gone back on it slightly, but not enough. What is truly infuriating is that all of this led to congress trying to shut off all federal funding for Acorn while the NY Times refuses to retract the "dressed as a pimp" language in their reporting. The attitude expressed by The New York Times' independent Public Editor, Clark Hoyt, says about all you need to know about the power structure in America. The fact that his papers participation in the right-wing Acorn hysteria might have led to lower-class people having harder lives, doesn't seem to way on his mind to heavily. If you want to read the original transcripts of the Acorn tapes, then go here. You will also keep in mind that James O'Keefe is the same criminal who is facing federal charges for messing with Sen. Landrieu's phones.

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attempting to silence the voices in my head.