The Sinister Art of Demogoguery

I had heard about Louis Farrakhan's anti-Semitism before. But it turns out there is an ulterior motive for him saying such disgusting and bigoted things. It is used to rally his followers together.

From Daily Kos: 

This phenomenon is something I’ve seen before. I recognize it.  Many, many years ago, when I was a young lad, I had a girlfriend who decided that she was going to become a devotee of Louis Farrakhan. It didn’t take long for that decision, along with others, to drive a stake through the heart of that relationship, but in the process I did get to listen to various and sundry speeches by Minister Louis and quickly discovered a pattern and strategy to them.

As we’ve all heard he would often say something during the course of his sermons that was quite inflammatory  [“Judaism is a gutter religion”], if not outright bigoted. Typically lines such as these get repeated in the media, but what doesn’t get mentioned is that his criticism isn’t just for jews [sic], he criticizes everyone, predominantly black people who let themselves be led astray, who fall into crime and drugs and fail to successfully manage their own lives. His message is, at its core, decidedly conservative.

What he argues is that there are forces in the world, white, jewish [sic] and even black, who strive to tear you down.  These forces want you vulnerable and weak so they can prey upon you.  They want you to suffer.  You must be wary of them, you must be wiser than them.  And you must trust that only he, only Minister Farrakhan will tell you truth about them, and about yourselves, and you will know he has told the truth as you see them attempt to discredit, discard and destroy Farrakhan. They don’t want you to hear his “truth,” they will bully and attack him for sharing it with you, that is how you will know who the forces who oppose you are. It’s a brilliant strategy.

He says something completely off the rails, people come down on him for it and he goes “See, I told you. They wanted to silence me to keep you in the dark.” It absolutely can’t miss.

We need to educate ourselves and learn not to listen to those who present complex problems as simple matters that can be solved by blaming some despised outsiders.

Down with racism and down with Anti-Semitism.