Like most political rhetoric, this started out at the fringes of the left, but in recent weeks, it has made its way into popular media.&nbsp Personally, I was offended when I read the following, which appeared in an early-August issue of the New York Times:

[T]he driving force behind the town hall mobs is probably the same cultural and racial anxiety that’s behind the "birther" movement, which denies Mr. Obama’s citizenship.&nbsp (source)

Now I can’t say that I’m surprised that Paul Krugman would stoop to these kinds of distraction tactics, but I hoped that this was isolated.&nbsp After all, Krugman is a second-rate political hack, who should stick to poorly reporting on economics.&nbsp Whenever he starts pontificating about other subjects, most people know to ignore him.&nbsp Unfortunately, his comments were just foreshadowing.

The most recent allegations of racially motivated dissent stem from Rep. Joe Wilson’s (R-SC) "outburst" during President Obama’s health care address last week.&nbsp Again, the New York Times ran forward, pointing and shouting "RACIST!!!" rather than admitting that people may have legitimate reasons to disagree with the president’s proposed plan for reforming the health care system:

Wilson clearly did not like being lectured and even rebuked by the brainy black president presiding over the majestic chamber.&nbsp (source)

The author of this piece of irresponsible journalism, Maureen Dowd, even suggested that Rep. Wilson’s behavior is clearly racist because no one has ever shouted at white presidents.&nbsp Apparently, she didn’t cover
President Bush’s 2005 State of the Union Address or his appearance at Obama’s inauguration in January.

Now, I agree, yelling out "YOU LIE!!!" in the middle of Obama’s speech may not be the most constructive way of voicing Rep. Wilson’s opinion, but you have to admit that claiming we won’t be paying for medical coverage of illegal immigrants under the proposed plan is more than a little disingenuous.&nbsp However, instead of debating the truth of the president’s claim, everyone’s clamoring about whether Rep. Wilson is a member of the KKK.

Now, the Congressional Black Caucus is getting on board, claiming that anyone who doesn’t support some kind of reprimand for Rep. Wilson must be a racist also:

And so I guess we’ll probably have folks putting on white hoods and white uniforms again and riding through the countryside intimidating people.&nbsp …&nbsp That’s the logical conclusion if this kind of attitude is not rebuked, and Congressman Wilson represents it.&nbsp He’s the face of it.&nbsp (source)

I could not disagree more.&nbsp The "logical conclusion" that I see is an environment where everyone is loathe to voice any original thought on political issues, for fear of being branded a bigot.&nbsp If you are the least bit paranoid, you would recognize that as thought control, and it should be called out as such whenever it rears its ugly head.

This story was originally published on The Legal Satyricon.