ThinkProgress’ Matthew Yglesias Tries to Incite Genocide
Konservo on March 27th, 2009
As James Kirchick notes in Commentary’s Contentions:
Yglesias writes about the Foreign Policy Initiative, a new think tank/advocacy group founded by Bill Kristol and Robert Kagan. He opines:
When I was a kid, I remember hearing that cockroaches would not only survive the sure-to-happen US-Soviet nuclear holocaust, but actually emerge stronger than ever as they devour our irradiated corpses. Similarly, there’s a new think tank in town, headed by Bill Kristol, Robert Kagan, and former Coalition Provisional Authority spokesguy Dan Senor.
The use of the word “cockroach” to describe undesirable persons has a long history, but there’s a specific and ugly context that is most pertinent. In the run-up to the Rwandan genocide of 1994 — in which nearly 1 million people were massacred over the course of just 100 days — “Hutu power” radio stations used the word repeatedly to describe members of the minority Tutsi tribe.
This is exactly right. The Hutu power spokesmen used the radio to spread propaganda and indoctrinate Rwandans with hatred toward Tutsis. Additionally, Hutus who did not follow the extremists were labeled traitors, meeting the same fate as the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of other innocent Rwandans who were killed in the mid-1990s.
Kirchick rightly comments:
As an expert on nearly everything, surely Yglesias is aware of the word’s loaded history.
If this is so, then what would Yglesias have us believe?
It’s obvious. He knows what worked for the Hutus and he’s adopted their method. His targets are clearly “neo-cons.”
Check out this comment:
- kid bitzer Says:March 27th, 2009 at 10:00 am
could we just bring back tom delay to hose them all down with roach-killer?
March 30th, 2009 at 11:46 pm
Konservo,
That is the point. TP is totalitarian in nature. They seek to silence their enemies.
April 1st, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Tpafla now sleeps with the fishes!
April 1st, 2009 at 6:55 pm
katz,
Alive and kickn’!
April 1st, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Truth be known the people from TP are hateful people. Very cult-ish and excrusiatingly juvenile. I honestly don’t think they get out much or interact with people. But now that you say it, very totalitarian indeed. It’s like a bunch of “losers” get together and pat each other on the back when one says something like “stupid” “troll” ‘idiot”. Troll is definetely their favorite word. Individually or as a group I would recommend a serious psychological work-up.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Klatuu sleeps with the fishes!
April 5th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Rodan,
I know. It’s scary, he’s using the same tactics as the genocidal Hutus in Rwanda.
April 7th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
[...] looking forward to Jamie Kirchick and ThinkProgress Watch condemning Goldberg for his name-checking of Hutu Power [...]
April 7th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
You don’t see much Goodwining involving the Rwandan genocide.
April 8th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
CAPS LOCK CONSERVATISM IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL.
April 12th, 2009 at 12:59 am
you can’t be serious. that criticism doesn’t even rise to the level of grasping at straws. you may as well rearrange the letters of his name into something insulting - that’s about as attention-worthy.