Look, I know that rage is overrated and counterproductive. But I can't help it. This ACORN thing has filled me with rage and if I don't write it down, I might quite possible explode.
Driving home tonight, listening to NPR, I heard a story about how ACORN was disbanding after "controversial videos that showed ACORN workers advising a couple who were posing as a pimp and a prostitute." I suppose it is too much to ask that NPR note that the videos were doctored, that that ruthless little cuss James O'Keefe NEVER entered an ACORN office in that ridiculous outfit and that the makers of that little wingnut porno weren't even above dubbing in voice-overs.
And now, ACORN, an organization whose mission was to organize low-to-moderate income people because they shockingly believe that those people are the best advocates for their own communities, has been run out of business. And now, thanks to that rotten liar Andrew Breitbart and his nasty little minion James O'Keefe, ACORN now stands for "shiftless negroes who are taking your stuff away;" a toxic little pot that people have been stirring in this country since 1865.
And how did this happen? How did a video so obviously amateurishly doctored, so ludicrous and nonsensical make it onto CNN and the New York Times without a single responsible journalist saying "hmmmm, this looks fishy, perhaps we should engage in that quaint thing we used to do... whaddya call it? Reporting?" It happened because of all the scores of successful dishonest branding coups of the right wing, the most insidious, pervasive and flat out dangerous is that of the "liberal media." And yet, no matter how obviously false the branding is, this doesn't stop the media sources that should know better from flailing their arms and screaming, "Hey, Rush! Glen! Lookit! I PINKY SWEAR PROMISE we're not liberal. Watch! Watch me punch a hippie!"
And what happens? The silly, stupid purveyors of this right-wing crap sit their lately unemployed asses back and decide that the reason they don't have a job and healthcare costs eat up what little money they have and they're scared and worried about the future is because of ACORN. And while they're whining about czars and socialism and tyranny (tyranny, for god's sake), the banks and the health insurance companies suck the last pennies out of their pockets.
And ACORN, an organization that may have been poorly managed but which, nevertheless, did good and important work folds.
So, yeah, I'm filled with rage.
If you have a mind, and aren't worried about how filled with rage you'll be, I suggest you read this which outlines exactly how just shitty the behavior of James O'Keefe was. Alternatively, this is a somewhat less rage-inducing (but still depressing) overview of what happened.
