What is terrorism? Bill Ayers, Sarah Palin and the Politics of Fear

Bill Ayers is finally speaking out.  He's been interviewed recently by Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! and Teri Gross on Fresh Air.  Now he has a great Op-Ed in today's New York Times.  I can understand why he didn't want anything to do with the media during the election but I'm glad he's out there now to provide us, finally, with a truthful response to Sarah Palin's outlandish charges of "domestic terrorism".

By now you should know that the facts are that, unlike the U.S. government, Bill Ayers and the Weather Underground never killed or harmed anyone during the Vietnam War and never intended to.  Their goal was to call attention to the atrocities being committed in our names.  They committed destruction of property, yes, and I can understand that that is, to some, a crime (albeit a relatively minor one).  Their method was imperfect but their only real mistake was immaturity and naivety, not immorality.

It's worth thinking about the insidious innuendos behind Palin's use of the Bill Ayers bogeyman during the election and why such fear tactics were, rightly, rejected by the majority in this country. 

There's something grossly deranged about a society that can so easily get so many of its people to value inanimate objects over animate ones. 

They won't call it that of course but what else is it when the destruction of property in the U.S. elicits more outrage than mass killings in far off countries?  The U.S. government and its allies in the south killed millions of people during the war in Vietnam.  Sarah Palin in all her "outrage" over "terrorism", however, had nothing to say about that.  It was the guy who blew up desks and trash cans in offices who was the real terrorist. 

Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. were attracted to Sarah Palin's chirpy fascism during the campaign.  That should not be surprising.  People are often distracted, at least temporarily, by superficial "beauty".  But most of us have seen enough movies to know that when someone so readily plays people's basest fears and insecurities to their own advantage, they're usually cast in the role of the villain and you know they're going to lose in the end.

As Bill Ayers said, "Demonization, guilt by association, and the politics of fear did not triumph, not this time. Let’s hope they never will again"

Comments

[Christian DE NEEF]

I wouldn't call Sarah Palin's policy fascism -- an abused term referring to an ideology that has the state or nation as the highest priority, rather than personal or individual freedoms (including expression) -- but I think her discourse was (is) outright populist. And this seems dangerous enough, as history has shown often enough how charming/charismatic figures can attract the following of the masses, and how dangerous that can be for our weakened democracies.

Interestingly enough, the populist discourse has not worked and democracy may have emerged stronger from the recent elections...

[macon d]

Yes, property before people has been installed in most Americans as "common sense." Some wake up to whose (elite) interests that common-sense notion really serves, but sadly, too many haven't yet.

[SGT Troy Younts]

Happy New Year! for what it's worth :-)I was born in Oklahoma. Grew up with Apache and Comanche cousins although my side of the fam is caucasian. I don't look for sympathy with what I am about to say but I felt very uncomfortable with my 'whiteness' as an adolescent and a teen. I wanted to be ANYTHING other than white! I think- for me-it was because I sense a great poverty of meaningful connective tradition in White Culture generally speaking. White Culture Co-opts other cultures. For me, this poverty has been a theme. I have been married twice-a German, a Half Japanese-with whom I have a BEAUTIFUL 5 year old daughter-and I am now married to a young Cuban woman. I, apparently still don't want to be white!

[Dave W.]

Check out Hilzoy's take over at Obsidian Wings. Ayers doesn't deserve the demonization he got from Palin and McCain and their allies, but he's being selective about his recollection of that time. The Weathermen/Weather Underground weren't nearly as scrupulous about only targeting property as he suggests.

[Dahni Uru]

I was a left-leaning professor in the '60's and early 70's, and met Bill Ayers. I completed my Master's Degree at Stanford U. in 1966, and was initilly a supporter of the Berkely fiasco.

What changed? I heard from Ayers and his group that since they were much more intelligent than most people, they should be able to make the rules; even if they had to get violent in order to get attention and gain supporters.

They did that; as I believe they admit. I left. I'm not that smart or that violent.

Get the facts, then chirp all you wish.