Conservatives pretty much have to make one of two choices; change what they believe, from their ideology to their so-called 'core values', to their very definition of how they define themselves. Or, they can go the way of the Dodo bird, into extinction.
For conservatives, if change is not BACKWARD, if it is not regressive to be consistent with how things were, or at least, how they perceive it to have been, then it is bad, wrong, and even perilous. So it is not surprising that we see conservative extremists like Mike Huckabee bemoaning gay couples in television commercials. Thanks to Raw Story and Right Wing Watch for the audio clip.
And it is not surprising that we see conservatives pitching their hate-filled hissy fits either, over bi-racial couples on television commercials, like the recent one run by General Mills for Cheerios. The comments were so bad, that General Mills had to disable the comment feature.
According to AdWeek, segregationist commenters descended on the ad titled “Just Checking” on May 28 with comments referencing "Nazis, 'troglodytes' and 'racial genocide.'"Sad to say for the increasingly minority view of the racist righties, their hate backlash produced a counter-reaction in response. From PRI:
General Mills disabled the comments section on the video and says there's absolutely nothing wrong with the ad — a view endorsed by many, probably most, users of social media.
After racist backlash, Cheerios ad draws support for interracial couples
A recent commercial for Cheerios sparked controversy among a small but loud group because of its use of an interracial couple.
Racist commenters late last week slammed a Cheerios ad for portraying an interracial couple in a recent TV commercial. But over the weekend, the company was cheered for its progressive casting. The entire controversy has started a nationwide dialog about modern racism.
A Cheerios commercial that used a happy, interracial family to advertise the heart-healthy benefits of the breakfast cereal became the target of racist commenters online last week.
But on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter support for interracial families and biracial children grew larger and louder.
According to AdWeek, segregationist commenters descended on the ad titled “Just Checking” on May 28 with comments referencing "Nazis, 'troglodytes' and 'racial genocide.'"
General Mills disabled the comments section on the video and says there's absolutely nothing wrong with the ad — a view endorsed by many, probably most, users of social media.
Meredith Tutterow, associate marketing director for the Cheerios, said on a General Mills blog that she was suprised to see such a negative reactioin.
“Multicultural families are everywhere, including on television, so the attention this has received from the media is somewhat surprising." Tutterow said.
The ad, viewed over 1.7 million times as of late Monday also had over 23,000 likes and some 1,000 dislikes.
Here is the commercial that sent right wing racists into a frenzy:
I couldn't help but be reminded of the lyrics to "The times they are a-changing' by Bob Dylan, as we see Huckabee threatening the GOP with a pull-out by the religious right if they veer away from their anti-gay positions. Of course, there is plenty of anti-brown people, anti-gay rhetoric as well in the current immigration reform legislation debate. There is always the obligatory "you're all going to hell" if you don't conform to the Christian pseudo-patriot Taliban equivalent given an airing. The Dylan lyrics, first verse, uses a rising water metaphor for change that could equally apply to the real effects of global warming. But it is in the second and third verses that have the greatest applicability to right wing regressive intransigence and hatred.:
Come senators, congressmenHere is Dylan, singing the whole thing:
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.
