I may not have posted anything, but I've certainly seen this horrible story about how the Libyian government is railroading a Palestinian doctor and six Bulgarian nurses to cover up their own incompetence. Children in a Benghazi hospital were infected, most likely by contaminated needles, and developed HIV. The convenient scapegoats in this case are, of course, foreign nationals.
Does that ring a bell for y'all?
Since 9/11, it seems as if wingnuttia has had a field day playing to fear, prejudice, and paranoia re: foreigners...in our particular case, foreigners whose skin tone is of a darker shade, e.g., the minuteman movement doesn't seem too worried about the U.S.-CANADIAN border. But I digress...the point is simply that, even as the Libyan government deserves our condemnation and contempt for an utterly shameless action, we might want to, ahem, notice some similarities to ourselves. These days, it's not even BEING foreign that turns wingnuttia all atwitter--merely being "not sufficiently 'Merikun" is often enough. Witness Glenn Beck, for instance. Or "Fraulein" Debbie Schlussel.
UPDATE:not to mention Rep. Vergil 'Carry Me Back to Old Virginia' Goode, R-VA...I'm sure he's a good friend of former Senator Allen.
Coincidently, Sadly, No! posted an excerpt from a Richard Hofstadter essay (turned into a book) entitled The Paranoid Style of American Politics. The excerpt is WELL worth reading, and Gavin M. accurately describes it as
"a near-perfect taxonomy of Wingnuttus americanus, that flourishing contemporary species that we know so well."
Indeed. Their paranoia, like I said, extends to pretty much anyone who isn't, well, pale-skinned--hence, their remarkably similar reaction to the teeming and, in their minds, non-white hordes of New Orleans following the engineering disaster that THEY refer to as a storm/act of God (never mind that New Orleans is multi-cultural/multi-racial--an accurate description of wingnuttia will include their tendency towards not wanting to be confused with facts once their mind is made up). And, while this is certainly a matter that goes WAY back in their history, it's not like we can't find some recent examples (and, as Billmon points out...and NOT only of the Deep-Fried Southern variety).
I think the Libyan example shows just how universal this sort of tendency, i.e., fear-of-the-other, is. It certainly makes it no less shameful. But, without holding out too much hope, this could be quite an enlightening (and not in a good way) example for us...if we took heed.
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