Roger Ebert on Saul Alinsky, teabaggers

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

"I had heard a great deal about Saul Alinsky's book Rules for Radicals, but had never read them. The Right has demonized Alinsky, linking him to Obama. Curious to know more, I went to Wikipedia and found the Rules themselves.

As I read them, it occurred to me that these Rules are strategic, not ideological. Alinsky was of the Left, but the Rules have no party.

As I look around America in 2010, it occurs to me that the group currently using these Rules most effectively is the Tea Party."

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/saul-alinsky-comes-to-the-tea.html

and a bit from Roger in the comments section:

Ebert: A man holding a racist sign at a Democratic Party rally would be quickly made to feel extremely unwelcome. You seem to believe such signs are fakes at Tea Party rallies, where they are common. Why don't the non-racist Party Members ask them to leave? You have to admit, it's a good question.

[Enthusiast]

1. The Teabaggers are Republicans,

Bush's base. I've never met one that wasn't racist. Sorry, but it's true.

[pinboy3niner]

2. Not all--but they have a disturbingly high tolerance for the blatant racists among them

[Enthusiast]

8. They are also tolerant

of corporate abuses. When they protest Wall Street I'll start to take them seriously.

[ck4829]

3. I find it so weird when righties act like Alinsky invented the idea to "ridicule the opposition"

Because I'm pretty sure that it started back when fire was humanity's crowning achievement, people were sitting huddled around it, arguing who should be the leader of the hunts, and who really doubts that the arguing didn't include demonizing and ridicule?

It really makes you wonder if our reality didn't diverge and go into some twilight zone parallel universe where teabagger logic is welcomed. Because in normal reality, people would be called crazy if they really thought that some writer back in 1971 was the first one to come up with the idea to demonize and ridicule the opposition.

[pinboy3niner]

4. If Alinsky were a conservative, he'd be hailed as a Teabagger hero nt

[trotsky]

5. Ebert is a brilliant guy. And Rule #10 couldn't be more accurate.

Rule 10: The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative. Avoid being trapped by an opponent or an interviewer who says, “Okay, what would you do?”

No fucking solutions from the teabaggers. Not one. Just endless criticism of what's being done and mischaracterization of it as "socialism" or increasing their taxes.

[JohnnyLib2]

6. Great, valuable piece by Ebert.

But too little, too late, in the sense that the right has so firmly demonized Alinsky/Obama. That's a phenomenon in itself.

[Scurrilous]

7. K & R

:thumbsup: