Blogger Stephen Bridenstine reports on a TV commercial for Western Sky Financial, a Native-owned payday loan company:
First he surmises what the commercial's appeal is:
"Get Cash Fast" IndiansThis advertisement draws upon all the fears of the right-wing Tea Party movement. If you truly believe that your sovereign nation, the United States of America, is on the brink of financial meltdown, then where better to look to than another sovereign nation for help! Or maybe you actually need $2500.00 almost instantly but you wouldn't dare ask for it from one of those greedy, bailed out, stimulus-money-loving banks. Why, turn to your local neighborhood Indian reservation. They are after all their own sovereign nation, they can't possibly be connected to that fiasco in Washington! Western Sky Financial has subtlety turned anti-government angst into its own marketing strategy. (Just don't tell the customers about the billions of federal dollars and stimulus money that rightly goes to Indian Country every year, it will just ruin the illusion.)Then he notes some reactions to the commercial:
Western Sky Financial: Take TwoI was particularly disheartened at the large number of completely ignorant and racist comments:
"Do they come by with peace pipes when a person doesn't pay them?"
"Great Spirit say time to take advantage of the white man."
"Interest rate soar like eagle."
"Gives new meaning to 'getting scalped'"
"F*ckin' Indians..."
Once again, America has proven its wonderful track record of peace, tolerance, and understanding with Native Americans. Even when confronted with a tasteful advertisement of a man wearing a business suit, the mere mention of Native America provokes the worst sort of reactions among my fellow citizens.Comment: I wonder if this is the same company I covered here:
If you asked these people what they meant, they'd undoubtedly say they were joking. (Well, except for the last guy.) And most people would accept that the "jokes" were jokes.
Imagine these comments on a similar black-owned loan company:They have rhythm so they can dance around the lending laws.
Give them your bling so they can buy their own bling.
"You'll grin like a watermelon eater when we give you the cash."
"You sho 'nuff betta pay us back or we gonna get you, sucka!"Again, the public would denounce these so-called jokes as racist attacks. But the same things get said about Indians and no one thinks twice about them. We see similar jokes on network TV shows viewed by millions of people--for instance, the Emmy-winning Modern Family.
Two tribes’ Internet payday lending enterprises won at least a partial victory in the Colorado Supreme Court, which ruled Nov. 30 that the state has the burden of proving they are not entitled to sovereign immunity.
The full court also said tribal sovereign immunity protects tribal officers acting within their lawful authority as defined by the tribe, not by state law, and limited only by federal law.
3 comments:
For more on the subject, see:
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/national/States-high-court-upholds-sovereignty-111681694.html
State’s high court upholds sovereignty
Two tribes’ Internet payday lending enterprises won at least a partial victory in the Colorado Supreme Court, which ruled Nov. 30 that the state has the burden of proving they are not entitled to sovereign immunity.
The full court also said tribal sovereign immunity protects tribal officers acting within their lawful authority as defined by the tribe, not by state law, and limited only by federal law.
You are a lunatic, no where do tea-party people believe or do the things you allege. Grow-up liberal democrat and leave us alone.
What a well-reasoned argument, Anonymous...not.
First, the Tea Party comment came from blogger Stephen Bridenstine, not from me. I guess you weren't clever enough to catch that.
Second and more important, the racism in the Republican Tea Party is extremely well-documented. Read some of the many examples in my blog:
http://newspaperrock.bluecorncomics.com/search/label/racism
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