An update to Altemeyer's "The Authoritarians" about the baggers:
12. Prejudice. Studies have found that authoritarian followers are among the most prejudiced
people in society. It is the nastiest aspect of their ethnocentrism, and one they insistently deny—to
others and to themselves. And they really do not realize how prejudiced they are, compared with
others, because they associate so much with other prejudiced people. So their prejudices seem
normal and perfectly justified to them.
Racial prejudice appeared at many of the Tea Party demonstrations, in the form of signs,
banners, and tee-shirts—just as it did during the 2008 campaign after Sarah Palin energized the
social conservatives. Tea Party spokespersons attributed these racist attacks to outsiders, “a few bad
apples,” or fringe members of the group. However Carl Paladino, the Republican candidate for
governor of New York who was enthusiastically supported by the Tea Party as a “100%
conservative,” was discovered on April 12, 2010 to have emailed racist photos (and also a picture of
a woman having sex with a horse) to a long list of friends. One doctored photo depicted the
president and Michelle Obama as a stereotyped black pimp and prostitute. Another described an
African tribal dance as the Obama inauguration rehearsal. A third picture showed an airplane
landing behind a group of black men, with the caption, “Holy ****, run niggers, run!"
Paladino quickly disassociated himself from the emails he sent, saying “That activity is not
Carl Paladino.” He didn‟t however say who it was instead, but still insisted he is not a racist. You
can be pretty sure that the rank-and-file of the Tea Party doesn‟t think he is either. But the point
here is, he sent these pictures to so many associates, some influential people in the movement had to
know what he thought. And it was apparently all right with them too, for he got a rousing Tea Party
endorsement.
The vitriol directed at Barack Obama seems unprecedented to many observers. It may be
that most Americans now see him as the President of the United States who happens to be African
American. But to many Tea Partiers he is a black man/N-word first, who has no right to be
president. Instead, he is a Muslim, a foreigner, a gangster, a fascist, a communist, even the anti
Christ. And they will probably never see him as anything else.
http://home.cc.umanitoba.ca/~altemey/drbob/Comment on the Tea Party.pdf
eace
