pictures, politics & geekery

I’ll get this out of the way up front: I have no sense of humour

Texas Governor Rick Perry (possible Rep. presidential candidate, USA) said that printing money in this economic climate is ‘almost treason’, and that Ben Bernanke would have a hard time of it, in Texas. In response, liberal commentators have recalled Perry’s past quasi-support for Texas secession and branded this too as ‘almost treasonous’. Trollolololing all the way to the bank.

This is disgusting, dangerous rhetoric, whether it comes from Republicans or Democrats, conservatives or liberals. So let’s not, ok?

Rick Perry is a—quite possibly dangerous—jackass, but his very mild support for Texas secession isn’t treasonous. Nor is secession itself treasonous. Treason implies a betrayal of country so terrible, that it requires death. Wanting to leave, isn’t treason. Printing money isn’t treason. (In fact, the very idea of treason should probably just be done away with). All of this flimflam is just hyperbolic, base, political rhetoric, designed to inflame the passions of the not-too-closely-reading. And it does exactly that.

This shit works all too well, as anyone residing in a country with a healthy secessionist movement can tell you. Let’s not forget that sympathy for separatists is actually cause for execution, in many parts of the world, and both governments and ordinary people are perfectly willing to kill in the name of nationalism. ‘Treason’ has been used to target lingual and ethnic minorities. It has been used to target radical poor and people of colour, looking to get out from under their oppressors. ‘Treason’ was used in the United States only a few decades ago to root out such Communist sympathizers as musicians, actors, liberals, queers and people of colour.

The Rick Perry, Treasonous Tea Partier meme, is tasteless at best. And I’ll add to that: inaccurate, partisan, divisive, ridiculous. (Ridiculous, because Americans do so love their state partition and secession movements). Matt Yglesias’ “Call me old fashioned, but I think secession is almost treasonous,” has been retweeted over 100 times, by Democrats, progressives, and those vaguely on the left. Why yes Matt, that is a rather old-fashioned sentiment. The conversation has developed from there. From ha ha, treasonous Rick Perry, it’s already moved onto those Texans are kind of treasonous. Come on.

Can we just not? Rick Perry said an awful thing. How about we just expose his awfulness and his ignorance, and leave it at that.

ETA: Edited for mad spag errors.