You know, I reconsidered two minutes after I posted, for that very reason. I think you’re right.
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Yeah, honestly, I saw it and was like, “that’s true” and then realized the more racist implications and thought more critically about it. It’s a good reminder that as white people, we don’t always automatically think in those terms and how offensive they can be. Clearly, Jones needs more people of color on his campaign, if he’s making literature like this.
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Noo - but it gives another perspective from yours.
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Holy fucksocks; this thread is turning into a shitshow.
Resident Black person on the forum, here; I think the flyer makes a valid point which is likely to be lost on the typical Alabama voter, so it’s not an effective tactic.
Given the apparent status quo, where even “the Devil himself is preferable to voting for a democrat,” I don’t know what the solution is; how do you even begin to reason with people so thoroughly entrenched in their partisanship?
But back to the actual topic at hand:
Dammit, Al;
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I don’t think it’s good idea to provide left leaning paper like WaPo as a factchecker in deep red state like Alabama. It could potentially backfired.
And a major derail. I’m going to ask @orenwolf to move the stuff about the flyer to a different thread, as it’s distracting form the discussion on Franken…
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I don’t blame ya.
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Honestly, if the democratic party can’t win by appealing to race in this way, then we’re really fucked as a country. We know that the GOP can’t, but the Democrats apparently can’t either.
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Is this legit? Something feels off about it.
It strikes me as more like something that an opponent of Doug Jones would put together that people would attribute to the campaign and say “ew” about. Something that would depress dem-skewing black turnout.
I am totally playing CSI: comments section here, though.
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It’s legit:
The flyers state they were paid for by the Doug Jones for Senate Committee. WHNT NEWS 19 reached out to the Jones campaign to confirm and they responded yes, they did send them out.
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Sigh. I… sorta get what they’re trying to say. “Hey, Roy Moore is getting a pass on reprehensible behavior because people say ‘he’s one of ours’. That’s not cool.” Dumb way to put it.
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It doesn’t matter - they are going to elect a child molester just to keep a democrat out.
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I feel like the Title should be “Integrity in Politics: Racism and Bigotry” as that was the initial spring board. Franken seemed to regain some, for both him and his party. Roy Moore is devoid of it, as it appears the Republicans mostly are. But then Doug Jones and the people around him thought his would somehow be appropriate. If they wanted to highlight hypocrisy there are different and better ways to do so.
It’s all just a giant douche and shit sandwich again.
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I actually thought the local news coverage had two very good local people addressing both sides from the community receiving the mailers.
This I disagree with. The type of racism in this flyer is the uncomfortable kind that is more than one layer deeper into the issue, and on its surface it appears to be a truth of the matter. Obviously the issues with this flyer should be displayed everywhere and explained, and Doug Jones needs to address the problems directly and not just blow it off (probably won’t happen).
However, Roy Moore is a sexual predator that is openly racist at even a surface glace. Moore is backed by white supremacists (and inviting them to campaign for him), tweeting scares about (black) felon voters, and his theocracy has led to open contempt for all Muslims. To compare those two as equally bad is extremely disingenuous and doesn’t speak to the other truth of the flyer - that the expectation is already there for the Democratic party to use black people as props. It’s just making Moore equal to the existing expectation of culture that we already acknowledge as a problem.
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Where are our Alabamians at (or a current one and a former one…)? @Jilly and @ChickieD? Thoughts?
I will say, I’m not from Alabama, but I grew up about 30 or so miles from the border, and these sorts of problems can be seen in rural southern politics, where the Democratic party has not had any traction for years now.
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not from alabama but as a white southerner i can tell you that my relatives who are rooting for moore regardless of whether he is a child molester or not would take one look at that flyer and say that “proves the liberals are the real racists because we conservatives don’t label and divide people like that.” iow, they wouldn’t even get the idea that it’s pwning them over double standards because they think talk of a double standard is a complete fraud.
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This speaks to the heart of the matter and is reminiscent of people comparing Hillary’s faults to Trump’s. Is this particular ad a mistake, a loaded attempt using a black man as a prop to goad guilty white voters into voting for Jones? Yes, absolutely. I think they are likely trying to do what the Matthew McConaughey character did in his summation in “A Time to Kill” wherein he asked the majority-white jury to close their eyes. He then drew a mental picture of the horrible atrocities committed against a little girl and slammed home with the comment: “Now imagine she’s white.”
That approach, similar to this ad, are incredibly problematic and deserving of intellectual dissection. But I don’t really blame this campaign for floating such a predictable narrative, even while simultaneously disagreeing with it. I’ve worked on the Doug Jones campaign these past months and he’s the best hope Alabama has had in a long, long time. Is he the white savior trope writ large with his prosecution of the perpetrators of the 16th Street Church bombing? Yes, again.
To possibly compare whatever racism/faults Doug Jones has with Roy Moore is an affront, a false equivalency. (Hillary’s emails!). Surely, yes, we need to point out the faults of our allies, but I must admit I get frustrated with such discussion when we are fighting against true evil. And make no mistake, Roy Moore is evil.
Politics and race in Alabama and Mississippi, well, it’s no simple thing. I lived in Indianola, MS, and they had a white mayor with a demographic of 80% black. I said earlier that it’s not unexpected that the Democratic party uses race as a prop, an instrument for their own interests. We must take these opportunities to examine our own political allegiances and prejudices, and I’m all in for how Democrats have failed us.
So, I don’t like this ad. It’s awful, but we are fighting for our lives here in Alabama, and I’ll take Doug Jones any day of the week and twice on Sundays against the likes of Roy Moore.
Get ready: Roy Moore will likely win. The entrenched hatred of Democrats runs too deep. I’ll leave this long-ass, rambling post with this conversation:
When your husband chooses to quote “The Karate Kid” during a moment of existential crisis:
Me: If Roy Moore wins, I’m not sure how I can ever defend Alabama for any reason, regardless of the wonderful people we know & love here.
Mr. Jilly: There will be no defense. Done right, no can defend.
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I have figured out what irritated me so much about this take - every targeted group of voters is, in effect, getting used as props by politicians in their campaigns. Black people, Latinos, Jews, Mormons, churchgoers, entrepreneurs, fast-food workers, industrial workers, union members, single moms, LGBTQAPDSMKETC…
And in every instance each individual group is simplified and reduced to one or two core issues the strategists think are of the greatest interest to its members in a given election cycle. It’s just pragmatic (cynical?) and most likely necessary streamlining of political messaging. It’s not an implied claim that single moms are not real people and that they’re only interested in preschool funding.
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This is the most politically tone deaf flyer I’ve seen in a long time. Honestly, if they can’t make a flyer that lists the reasons why you should vote for Doug Jones (I assume this is easy) then they shouldn’t run Doug Jones against anyone. Because it just comes off as a desperate appeal rather than saying “this is your chance to strike a balance in your favor” kind of thing they should be doing.
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