What's a little hateful rhetoric?

Or games...

h/t to John @ Democurmudgeon

Posted in its entirety:

Amusement Park Offers Alien Attack, Where you get to Shoot Black Man Holding a Scroll Labeled “Health Bill.”

Jaw dropping hardly describes the latest offering at a carnival of horror. 

The head of an eastern Pennsylvania amusement company, Irvin Good Jr., has yanked a carnival game in which players shot foam darts at an image resembling President Barack Obama. Good said his company, Goodtime Amusements, won't offer the game again. Good said that he voted for Obama and that the game wasn't meant to encourage violence against the president. He said the image was conceived and painted by a staffer. 
"It was just a big, big mistake in judgment, and I feel sorry about it," he told The Associated Press. "I can't take it back, but I can try to make it better."

The figure used as the shooting gallery target, with 'The Prez' belt buckle and 'Health Bill' in hand. Photograph: lehighvalleylive.com


Just how bad was the game? I hope you’re sitting down. 

The game, dubbed "Alien Attack," featured a large painted image of a black man wearing a belt buckle with the presidential seal and holding a scroll labeled "Health Bill." Players could win prizes such as stuffed animals by hitting targets on the image's head and heart. 
Kathryn Chapman, 55, of Medford, Mass., spotted the game and complained to Good. "What is the message you are sending kids, that if your views don't agree with somebody else's, shoot them? I just found it incredibly disrespectful and violent," Chapman said Wednesday. "And this was the president, the highest office in the country. It was absolutely appalling." 
The Obama-themed game had been running since April. Good said he had received one other complaint about it before Chapman's.

Any wonder 42 percent of Americans believe Obama is American? 

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This is beyond pale.  I had a debate with a cousin about some of the rhetoric being tossed around on the Right.  It's eliminationist in nature. Basically it dehumanizes opponents, vilifies opposing views, and encourages violence against them or outright elimination of an entire bloc of people.  He told me not to worry because it was all 'just talk'.

This is a very dangerous slope in my opinion.  We're moving to a place where people think it's ok to label fellow Americans as "Enemies of the People" or "Traitors" because we don't agree on the same policies or values.

This attitude is rife in the conservative movement and must be called out.  There are two books out right now that document the rise of this rhetoric.  Over the Cliff: How Obama's Election Drove the American Right Insane and The Eliminationists: How Hate Talk Radicalized the American Right, both of which do a fantastic job of breaking this down.

Words matter.  If you can control how people think, you can control their behavior.  When far-right conservatives joke about 'Open Season on Liberal - No limit, no license required' it offers those on the fringe license to do just that.

Metaphors aren't simply rhetorical flourishes, they link like concepts and transfer values.

More later on this topic...

UPDATE:

Just after posting this, I saw this video over at Crooks and Liars, where Glen Beck directly links Obama to Satan. This is insane.