Think Progress says that the following ad by some idiot Birthers is racist:
This isn’t even “dog whistle” racism. It’s right in your face, poking you in the eye.
Really?
Is it racist? It’s not impossible that it is. I’d have to know more about the context. For example, to take one of many aspects of the analysis, one might ask: is this particular group prone to making racist attacks on Obama?
An ad like that will look different coming from the KKK than it might coming from Alan Keyes. It’s stupid either way — but racist? Depends.
But any discussion of the topic must necessarily take account of the well-known fact that “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” is a concept that is inextricably intertwined with the famous images of the three monkeys. And conservatives can’t allow themselves to be cowed into not using that image, when it’s appropriate, just because some leftist might call it racism.
And so, as stupid as Birtherism is, we can’t bow to an outfit like Think Progress, whose level of “analysis” begins and ends with: “President black” + “monkey image used” = RACISM! This much is clear.
It’s a bit like the “analysis” provided in this SEK post accusing Dan Riehl of racism because he railed about ACORN in the following manner:
Breitbart’s video busts told us what they do best. The pathetic part in all this is that they were not just allowed, but encouraged to run wild on taxpayer funding by corrupt liberals, including Obama. They should all hang together if you ask me.
To which SEK responded:
[T]he fact that the first metaphor that occurs to him when criticizing blacks is a hanging party tells us that when he disagrees with blacks, he couches his disagreement in terms of stretched necks and strangled bodies. People for whom that is an instinctive response are people who are racists.
Or maybe they are simply invoking the well-known phrase about hanging together. I’m not saying it’s used appropriately; it’s more like it’s a cliche. But when you are going to assert, as a blanket matter, that any reference to “hanging” is racist when the people you’re talking about happen to be black, then you’re just being silly.
Getting back to those monkeys, allow me to present a couple more “racist” images:
Here’s the bottom line, lefties: if you guys get to use the monkeys when they make your point, then so do we — even if the target is black. We’re not bowing to your little accusations of racism any more.
We’re just tired of it. And you don’t get to decide this stuff on your own any more.