Just thought I'd take a moment to say toodle-oo to Jesse Helms, who finally died this week at the age of 86.
Normally, I don't wish death on anyone, but throughout his term in the US Senate, Helms consistently proved himself to be a horrible, horrible man, an unapologetic racist, a sneering homophobe, a small-minded scumwad all too willing to exploit the worst in human nature for his own benefit.
He came to the senate by way of a campaign frankly targeted towards white supremacists, and while in office, bitterly fought anything he suspected would benefit niggers or faggots or pinkos or those stringy-haired feminists. He grew up in a segregated society, and he tried to hold firm to his childhood ideal even as the world shifted around him. He had no intention of becoming a better human being, and he never did.
What's truly disturbing is, this guy had power. He wasn't some fringe lunatic, he was a powerful and feared political force, and all presidents and players had to pay him respect, bowing before a man who proudly filibustered against a holiday honoring Martin Luther King, who supported apartheid and wanted a similar policy enacted in the US, who made a point of singing Dixie to a black colleague just to make her cry.
He was a pathetic excuse for a human being, and the fact that he was tolerated for so long, his opinions sought and influence courted, shames the nation.
2 comments:
Really not up on U.S. politics here, as I have never heard of this person. Wow, I can't believe anyone voted him in, let alone term after term? Aren't there laws in the U.S. against these sorts of attitudes?
Well, you can't legislate attitudes or opinions, of course, and the US has a particularly miserable track record when it comes to matters of race. For awhile, politicians courting the bigot vote had to use code words, but something tells me, with Barack Obama's nomination, straight-ahead racism will come right back into play.
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