Monday, June 8, 2015

Walker's dog whistle echoes in a picture worth 1,000 words

[Updated] Call it the revelation of Walker's dog-whistle, in a frame, so to speak.

This amazingly-lifelike painting of some Milwaukee children was commissioned for the Governor's Mansion, but Walker had it removed after he took up residence there. 

The painting now hangs in the downtown Milwaukee Public Library children's area, which is nice, but what kind of a 'leader' who had just been the Milwaukee County Executive sends that message to an artist, a city, and its children?

Answer: the 'leader' who told a predominately white, upscale exurban community about 40 miles from where those kids in the picture lived that he didn't want Wisconsin to become another Milwaukee.

6 comments:

my5cents said...

What do you expect from a Right Winger?

Anonymous said...

"...what kind of a 'leader' sends that message to an artist, a city, and its children?"

A divide-and-conquer one. And yes, attacking the public you have a sworn duty to serve one group at a time is not "leadership", but Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the rest of Wisconsin's rightwing media echo chamber wants you to believe otherwise and regularly publishes/broadcasts propaganda to support economic attacks meant to enforce austerity across Wisconsin while giving money back to and subsidizing out-of-state multinational corporations and billionaires.

The brilliance of the divisive dog-whistle is that it falsely convinces middle class folks to believe that the struggles they have in this awful economy is due to all the people BELOW them on their perceived socio-economic status ladder instead of the people above that are kicking them into poverty.

To me, the most offensive and dysfunctional part of the dialog on our side is that we make this about people that are relatively well-off, constantly talking about the middle class, instead of creating a dialog to move people out of poverty (and into the middle class). As long as those with middle class lifestyles continue to make this about themselves instead of others that should have an economic right to some financial security, we lose these fights and the dog whistle is extremely effective.

An emphasis on those relatively well-off enables the media narrative that people in need of financial support for basic life-needs are what drags down our economy. Nothing could be further from the truth. If America has the Economic Bill of Rights that Franklin Delano Roosevelt promoted 80 years ago, we would have a booming economy. We cannot cut ourselves out of our stagnant economy. It is middle class voters that have largely enable republicans and Scott Walker. It is shameful that the narrative is about them instead of the rest of Americans that struggle to provide clothing, shelter, food, transpiration, and other economic needs for themselves and families.

Anonymous said...

FDR: "The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little."

Anonymous said...

my5cents: I expect them to piss themselves as we wheel out the guillotine.

Anonymous said...

ABC, in its typical mickey mouse reporting fashion, is not only ignoring the real stories about who scott walker is and the criminality behind his ascent to power, but is puffing him up with propaganda. This link is not for the feint of heart, but it is a disgusting example of how the national media is not only failing to vet Walker, but is picking up where Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Wisconsin rightwing media chamber left of, just shameless Walker propaganda falsely proclaiming him to be a "average joe" and a guy we'd like to have a beer with (BARF!).

How Scott Walker Fell In Love With His Wife, Tonette, Over Beer, BBQ and Karaoke

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/scott-walker-fell-love-wife-tonette-beer-bbq/story?id=31595769

Anonymous said...

@James @NY TIMES. Uh, one sentence on Mark Block. Enough material in this PR Watch story for an above the fold report retelling PR's effort built on the paper I no longer read.

http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/11/11114/cmds-quick-guide-mark-block-blocktopus