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ARMOR FROM THE COLLECTION OF ANN AND GABRIEL BARBIER-MUELLER
ACT Foundation, Inc.
William N. Banks, Jr.
Cousins Foundation
Burton M. Gold
Sarah and Jim Kennedy
THE ANN & GABRIEL §'
BARBIER-MUELLER S
Museum f
BUYTICKETSATHIGH.ORG
Armor of the Nimaitachidd Type, attributed to Myochin Yoshimichi, Muromachi period, ca. 1400 (helmet bowl); attributed to Myochin Munenori, mid-Edo period, eighteenth century (armor),
iron, gold and copper alloy (shakudo), silver, bronze, wood, gold, brocade, lacing, fur, and leather, T192. © The Ann & Gabriel Barbier-Mueller Museum, Dallas. Photo by Brad Flowers.
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An urgent call to
reject hate and
fearmongering
The uptick in antisemitism has been on full display in
Georgia for the last few months.
It started with hateful fliers being left on streets and
driveways in Sandy Springs and Dunwoody, then in
neighborhoods around East Atlanta.
In June, Neo-Nazis showed up with swastika flags at
synagogues in East Cobb, Macon, and Warner Robbins.
These bigots have always operated in the fringes, but lately,
they’ve been emboldened to bring their hate to the public
square without fear of punishment. A report by the Anti-
Defamation League shows a 63% increase in antisemitism in
Georgia.
Social media is awash in politicians and pundits tacitly propping up the behavior or
joining in with thinly veiled anti-Jewish tropes — and sometimes not so thin.
Remember when Georgia’s own Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested the Rothschild
banking firm was behind the creation of a “space laser” that started the California
wildfires?
These antisemitic tropes that Jewish people and institutions secretly control
the world have been around long before the Third Reich and still flourish among
conspiracy theorists and
hate groups.
Disinformation
and outright lies are so
prevalent and casual on
Twitter that you need
to have Google open in
a separate window to
fact-check nearly every
post.
From the anti-
vaxxers to those still
litigating the 2020
presidential election to
the appalling attacks
on the transgender
community, there’s a
dastardly conspiracy
lurking behind every
fearful post.
And fear is most
definitely at the root. Fictional President Andrew Shepherd summed it up succinctly
in his press briefing room speech (and if you haven’t seen “The American President”
stop reading now, watch, and come back enlightened) when he says his opponent is
“interested in two things and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you
who’s to blame for it.”
Fearmongering has long been a gambit for winning elections, but the tactic has been
dialed up off the meter in the age of social media. For this election cycle, the LGBTQ+
community has been thrown on the fear altar. The tired, old “gay agenda” trope is back,
drag queens are no longer camp entertainment but “coming for the children,” and
trans women are “erasing real women.” Don’t even get me started on the whole “woke”
baloney.
This nonsense is really enough to make your head explode, but then you realize
there are thousands — perhaps millions — who have been fed a steady diet of lies and
fear. These folks vote and they will push the button for whichever fearmonger has the
most money and loudest voice.
Just before we went to print, Bill Nigut’s “Political Rewind” — often a source of the
most reasonable discourse on today’s hyperpartisanship — was scrapped by GPB after a
decade. Moves like that make finding the truth all the more difficult and allow fringe
elements to seize the narrative.
As we move into another presidential election cycle, I encourage everyone to spend
less time on social media, read more (including the words and research offered by those
with different leanings and beliefs), and maybe spend a day or two at the National
Center for Civil and FFuman Rights in Atlanta.
Reject darkness. Remain in light.
DARKNESS CANNOT
DRIVE OUT DARKNESS:
ONLY LIGHT CAN DO THAT.
MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
EDITOR'S
NOTE
Collin Kelley
4 | JULY 2023
RoughDraftAtlanta.com