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The word Danegeld has been allowed to fall out of our modern English vocabulary as a merely historical artifact. But fReichtards like Andrew Breitbart are reviving its timeliness in their trademark ‘first as tragedy, then as farce’ fashion.
The original Danegeld beneficiaries were a bunch of raggedy adrenaline-fueled gang members who leveraged their internecine murder and rapine skills into a profitable extranational extortion business. Saner, more prosperous tribes were harrassed into paying “tribute” as an alternative to non-stop hit-and-run raids along the most vulnerable edges of their territories. Their ensuing ill-gotten relative prosperity enabled the Vikings’ nascent efforts to organize at a national level. But the expense of attempting to run actual kingdoms, communities more organized than ‘Every thug his own baron’, led to increasing demands for more Danegeld to the point where the European targets eventually found it cheaper to organize their own national defence forces to push the Vikings back to the fjiords.
Our modern would-be fReichtard kings are sad little LARPers made overconfident by their targets’ failure to engage them as social criminals instead of mere nuisances. Andrew Breitbart is a noisy kitten in photoshopped armour, piddling in the public areas and leaving claw marks on the legs of those least able to kick him away. If the rest of us have to put up with his antics, we should at least use the correct term to describe them.
David in NY
“Millions for defense, sir, but not one cent for tribute!”
Emma
Yes, and we still haven’t learned the lesson. If you ever pay the Danegeld, you’ll never get rid of the Dane.
Donald G
Hmmm, this gives a new spin to those Capital One credit card commercials featuring the Vikings. “What’s in your wallet?”, indeed.
Luthe
Reposted from the last thread, as I feel the need to vent:
I just got a letter from the National Pro-Life Alliance. Only it didn’t look like a letter from pro-life loonies; it looked like a letter from a US Senator.
On the front, in the corner where the return address would be, there was a scrawled signature with the word “Senator” underneath. The letter inside the envelope was printed on paper with the header “United States Senate.” And it was signed by Roger Wicker, the Senator from the
leader in US poverty statisticsgreat state of Mississippi. The only way to tell who really sent it was the address printed in tiny type on the back of the envelope.Also enclosed in the envelope was a petition to Chris Dodd asking him to support legislation to declare a fetus a person in an end-run around Roe v. Wade. I’m so mad I could spit.
James Hare
@David in NY:
Indeed. Walmart spends millions to avoid a $7,000 fine. Sometimes you have to say damn the costs and stand on principle. That means defending people when folks use misleading tapes to attack them.
Otherwise you just encourage this shit.
KCinDC
So the White House once again surrenders to the demands of the latest right-wing freakshow, but this time after the surrender the bullies switch to attacking the White House for doing as they demanded. They’re now complaining that the big bad White House fired a poor innocent black woman for no reason, somehow omitting their own role in the affair.
Is there any possibility that the White House can finally learn from this that appeasement doesn’t work?
liberty60
The best thing to come out of this is that maybe Breitbart will be exposed finally as the race hustler he is, sort of the white version of Al Sharpton, and this was his Tawana Brawley moment.
James Hare
@Luthe:
They’re not allowed to frank letters for electioneering. It’s only supposed to be constituent contact. You should report him to the ethics committee (LOL).
wilfred
Save your breath. It’s nice to see real Breitbart-consciousness but believe me, he’s untouchable.
This is a creature who counts on Frank Gaffney, Pam Geller, and other assorted anti-Arab/Muslim racist/bigots and has not only survived but prospered.
He has gotten away with worse things for years.
_zack_
And what are we paying tribute for?
Just what are we buying off?
The answer, I’m afraid, is a Fox News/Breitbart sponsored “race war” which they think is in their interest to wage.
What would be the downside for a “race war” for Fox News and the Teapublicans?
They certainly can’t seem to see any.
As I watch one racial provocation after another (Black Panthers, NAACP, etc.) they always benefit.
They’re looking forward to things getting worse.
The worse relations become, the better for them. Or so they see it.
I think that works up to a point. But then, like Mark Williams, it implodes. At this point, they can’t see the implosion.
I can.
Mike in Denmark
Danegeld, by Rudyard Kipling
…
But we’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
…
KCinDC
@James Hare, Luthe said the signature was where the return address goes, not in place of the stamp.
arguingwithsignposts
@liberty60:
To be fair, the few times I’ve seen Sharpton recently, he’s seemed remarkably well-spoken and “toned down.” Maybe that’s just me. He also seems to have lost some weight.
Corner Stone
I think it’s an obvious corollary that once you laugh at the Dane Cook you never get rid of him.
Stooleo
Seriously, fuck Andrew Breitbart and any so called journalist who takes his shit seriously. BTW, hes getting sued which makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
Kryptik
@Stooleo:
Only about a year after the fact, after he already claimed the scalp and helped ruin a good organization.
Honestly, I’m just about ready to curl up in a bottle and drink myself into a stupor, because I can’t take this bullshit anymore.
arguingwithsignposts
@Kryptik:
And it’s only Tuesday.
jwb
@Kryptik: “Honestly, I’m just about ready to curl up in a bottle and drink myself into a stupor, because I can’t take this bullshit anymore.”
Which is exactly what they want. Creating discouragement is the whole point of this bullshit.
Kryptik
@arguingwithsignposts:
Which means three more days of dealing with wingnut bullshit before the weekend. Great.
@jwb:
Well, it’s working, considering the other half of it, the continued mainstreaming and internalization of their own bullshit, seems to be working like clockwork and without any fucking hitches.
MikeJ
@Luthe: Send copies to the ethics committee and the postal inspector.
postalinspectors.uspis.gov/forms/MailFraudComplaint.aspx
“Charity fraud” is probably the correct box to tick.
I’d also check with the FEC. Sounds a lot like an in kind contribution to me. You can at least file a complaint with them and let them decide if it’s worth tying up his staffers for a few hours.
Keith G
@Kryptik: I recommend Dead Guy Ale.
arguingwithsignposts
@Kryptik:
Looks like we picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
Stabetha
I had to post a better link to the viking kitten video. The youtube version was just terrible quality.
echelonrana.com/viking.html
lamh32
CNN reported that NAACP has taken back their statement on Mrs Sherrod. The NAACP comes in my mind as looking the worse off than any other in this story for at the very least, for either believing this fool without first verifiying, and they I’m sure had a big hand in the lead up to this woman’s “resignation”, even though, the final “forcing” was at the hand of the WH.
Here’s NAACP statement. Too little, too late:
NAACP: ‘We were snookered’
Everything that follows is the entirety of NAACP statement
” The NAACP has a zero tolerance policy against racial discrimination, whether practiced by blacks, whites, or any other group.
The NAACP also has long championed and embraced transformation by people who have move beyond racial bias. Most notably, we have done so for late Alabama Governor George Wallace and late US Senator Robert Byrd–each a man who had associated with and supported white supremacists and their cause before embracing civil rights for all.
With regard to the initial media coverage of the resignation of USDA official Shirley Sherrod, we have come to the conclusion we were snookered by Fox News and Tea Party Activist Andrew Breitbart into believing she had harmed white farmers because of racial bias.
Having reviewed the full tape, spoken to Ms. Sherrod, and most importantly heard the testimony of the white farmers mentioned in this story, we now believe the organization that edited the documents did so with the intention of deceiving millions of Americans.
The fact is Ms. Sherrod did help the white farmers mentioned in her speech. They personally credit her with helping to save their family farm.
Moreover, this incident and the lesson it prompted occurred more that 20 years before she went to work for USDA.
Finally, she was sharing this account as part of a story of transformation and redemption. In the full video, Ms.Sherrod says she realized that the dislocation of farmers is about “haves and have nots.” “It’s not just about black people, it’s about poor people,” says Sherrod in the speech. “We have to get to the point where race exists but it doesn’t matter.”
This is a teachable moment, for activists and for journalists.
Most Americans agree that racism has no place in American Society. We also believe that civil and human rights have to be measured by a single yardstick.
The NAACP has demonstrated its commitment to live by that standard.
The Tea Party Federation took a step in that direction when it expelled the Tea Party Express over the weekend. Unfortunately, we have yet to hear from other leaders in the Tea Party movement like Dick Armey and Sarah Palin, who have been virtually silent on the “internal bigotry” issue.
Next time we are confronted by a racial controversy broken by Fox News or their allies in the Tea Party like Mr. Breitbart, we will consider the source and be more deliberate in responding. The tape of Ms. Sherrod’s speech at an NAACP banquet was deliberately edited to create a false impression of racial bias, and to create a controversy where none existed. This just shows the lengths to which extremist elements will go to discredit legitimate opposition.
According to the USDA, Sherrod’s statements prompted her dismissal. While we understand why Secretary Vilsack believes this false controversy will impede her ability to function in the role, we urge him to reconsider and give everyday Americans a chance to surprise him.
Finally, we hope this incident will heighten Congress’s urgency in dealing with the well documented findings of discrimination toward black, Latino, Asian American and Native American farmers, as well as female farmers of all races.”
Cat Lady
From the “be careful what you wish for” department – I’m looking at you, anti-vaxers. Up next – diphtheria!
Zifnab
@David in NY:
I think today that saying is more like:
“Hundreds of Billions for defense, some of which is used as tribute, but most goes to buy shit that never gets built or doesn’t work.”
Keith G
@jwb:
Which is why it is so important that Obama and his inner circle lead a mighty push back.
During the 600-800s, Britons would pray,”Lord save us from the fury of the Vikings”, but not a damn thing changed until 849 when the early English Kings rallied their people and fought back.
Leadership is essential.
Comrade Mary
There’s an opening for Vilsackless, but will he take it?
WereBear
@lamh32: She should be reinstated with extreme prejudice; like getting a bonus or something.
Partner Unit is livid over this; apparently she was forced to resign while on her way back to her office, without a chance to explain anything.
Never cared for Vilsack; now I might never.
demo woman
It sounds like Vilsack is not going to be swayed according to TPM.
Zifnab
This is the quintessential lesson of the last twenty years. Maybe closer to the last forty or fifty. We’ve been engaged in class warfare, a massive redistribution of wealth and privilege, for over a generation. And now it’s all coming to a head. Racial bullshit is just a distraction. This isn’t about black or white, young or old, male or female. It’s about rich or poor.
The Monsantos and the McDonalds don’t give a crap if you’re black or white. They just want cheap labor and a high profit. You don’t need a tan to be a victim.
God, I hope this story gets enough headlines to finally make this a theme in American politics again. Sherrod wasn’t guilty of any racism. She was guilty of assisting someone outside the highest of income brackets. And she wasn’t targeted because of her race. She was targeted because she dared side against the haves and with the have-nots.
frankdawg
meanwhile the giant pussies (and allow me to apologizes to females everywhere who are not pussies but women – an important distinction) in the White house are rolling over & begging that Dimbart & company PLEASE use lube this time while fucking us all in the ass. And then they wonder why liberals and actual Democrats are not happy with the pussies.
arguingwithsignposts
@demo woman:
Facts are pesky things.
Also, too, wrt the actual farmers, would any of them actually give two shits about this bogus charge?
Kryptik
@arguingwithsignposts:
At least I’ll never have a drinking problem.
frankdawg
@demo woman:
Well I hereby charge Vilsack with racism & sexism and antisemitism and several other isms that will make it impossible for it to do its job! Does it think it should now resign to spare us all the controversy? Fucking pussy
liberty60
@arguingwithsignposts:
Actually, Sharpton does seem to have mellowed in his age;
Which is why I had to reach all the way back to Tawana Brawley for an example of his nutty moment.
Which is kind of what is happening here; Breitbart and the Right are still grinding axes against the civil rights battles of the 60’s. They really envision this as stiking back against Mau-Mauing Black Panthers who are marching in the streets trying to stick it to Whitey.
KCinDC
At least Tammy Bruce is refusing to back down from the attack on Sherrod (some real insanity in that feed), so the right-wing argument that the White House is bad for firing her will be muddled. Then again, wingnuts have never had trouble holding contradictory ideas in their heads.
On another subject, the most bizarre thing she said is “The Mark Williams satire letter is like the Mohammad Cartoons. Dare not!” I guess this means that the successor to “Draw Muhammad Day” will be “Insult Black People Day”—another fine American celebration of the freedom of speech.
Morbo
@Stabetha: rathergood.com is rather good. Haven’t been there in a while, wonder what’s new?
J.W. Hamner
I’m a pretty hardcore Obot according to ever FDL/DKos commentator I’ve ever encountered, but I’ll be pretty disappointed in this Administration if they don’t admit their grievous error and come down hard against this Breitbart nonsense.
That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN)
On the Danegeld story, it’s worth noting that once the Vikings were no longer able to raid Britain at will, they decided to invade northern France, change their names to “Normans” and then just conquer England fair and square. They then spent at least four centuries pillaging her all proper and such.
techno
@That’s Master of Accountancy to You, Pal (JMN):
My take in history is that the Viking countries just exported their vicious and violent folks. The reasons the word Danegeld fell into disuse is that the Danes are no longer in the extortion business–their violent distant cousins in England are (see The City).
And you are absolutely correct–the Normans (Northmen) were a bunch of Norwegians. Nice to know that the British upper classes are just a bunch of Norskes. Sort of like discovering those too-trendy-for-words Californians are just a bunch of Okies.
Redshift
Hey! Don’t go fouling the label of LARPer by associating it with these assholes! We LARPers are engaged in a harmless recreational activity, and contrary to ongoing denigration in popular culture, are well aware that we’re just playing.
Dressing up to do ratfucking still doesn’t make it anything but ratfucking.
Smedley
LARPer? Another arcane creation of the “in Crowd.”
It’s not in your self created lexicon…
Batocchio
The wingnuts aren’t cool enough to be vikings. But great post.
Anne Laurie
@Smedley: Live Action Role Playing. Not political, except insofar as all human social interaction rituals can be considered ‘political’.
...now I try to be amused
Associating Breitbart with a Rathergood Viking kitten is just wrong. Otherwise, a good post!
Elba Davis
wonderful stuff thanx :)