Jesus Christ may have famously said in Matthew 23 that the way to heaven is through serving the "least of these" among us, but on Monday's Sons of Liberty radio broadcast, toxic metal Christian rocker Bradlee and wife Stephanie Dean preached stereotypes about American Indians in order to bash all poor Americans as actually wealthy.
Pointing out that poor Americans own appliances--the "WalMart Effect" of cheap goods, while decent housing and essential services remain out of reach--has long been a standard trope employed by the right to bash poor Americans.
But it's rare for the Christian right to single out the improverished living conditions of Dakota and Lakota people living on reservations in South Dakota, while trotting out stereotypes about alcohol and tobacco, to ridicule all poor Americans.
During a discussion about the consumer goods--like microwave ovens--that poor Americans own--Stephanie and Bradlee single out some of the poorest people of color in the nation in order to mock all poor Americans.
Here's a transcript of the exchange, which took place about 44 minutes into the broadcast, and the audio of the segment:
BD: Nearly two-thirds, 63.7 percent, have cable or satellite television--
SD: You know, I have to--
BD: That's how poor America is--
SD: I have to say this, you know, we've done a lot of high school assembly programs in South Dakota and in South Dakota, you drive and you see, you know, especially among Native American nations, you see lot of these mobile homes and they'll just be the trashiest looking house and they just won't look good at all, but I notice, you see these really really bad-looking houses with the satellite smackdab on the side of the house--
BD--Oh yeah--
SD:--So it's like they've got these rundown houses--
BD: --Or cigarettes hanging out of their face--
SD: --And they've got these dishes--
BD: --Oh yeah--
SD:--These satellite dishes--
BD:--Or they're walking out of the liquor store with the 24-pack, these are the poor people--
SD:--I think you can afford what you want to afford--
BD:--Their groceries are paid for--
SD: --Exactly--
BD: --And if that's not good enought for you, friends, they're out there gambling--
SD:--Exactly--
BD:--Buying these little cards to see if they can win the big lottery, right? Let me go back...
The audio of the excerpt can be heard here.
Bradlee Dean first gained national notoriety when, as a guest chaplain at the Minnesota House, he questioned President Obama's faith in his prayer. He later unsuccessfully sued Rachel Maddow for defamation when she played a tape of part of one of his radio broadcasts.
Photo: Sons of Liberty radio personality Stephanie Dean, who was judging on our neighbors in South Dakota.
If you enjoyed reading this post, consider giving a donation via mail (payable to Sally Jo Sorensen, P.O. Box 108, Maynard MN 56260) or paypal:
The proper response to someone saying that "we've got it better than our parents, they didn't have (fill in the blank)" is to say "They also didn't have $200,000 in student loan debt, $300,000 in mortgage debt, and $75,000 in credit card debt."
Posted by: Phoenix Woman | May 14, 2014 at 09:47 PM