Social media, I understand, is buzzing with interpretations of just what it was Kristi Noem meant by the words “One of ours, all of yours” on the podium during a news conference in New York on January 8, after Renee Nicole Good was killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis.
Some social media posts say it’s a Nazi phrase related to the Lidice massacre. Some say the phrase has something to do with the Spanish Civil War, and some say the phrase originated with Q-Anon. Neither I nor ChatGPT can find any good evidence for any of those citations.
Still, there are two important questions: Just what did Noem mean? And why did the mainstream media ignore it?
I think I can guess why the media ignored it. It was just another act of sanewashing. That such a phrase was actually used by an American cabinet secretary who commands thousands of men armed to the teeth should have provoked dozens of op-eds asking what it means, especially since pretty much everybody took it as a threat. Instead, crickets.
Noem, you’ll remember, is the person who wrote in a memoir about killing a puppy and a goat.
The phrase is intentionally vague. That’s to provide deniability. Is there a way to interpret it other than as a veiled threat of disproportionate retaliation?
David do you see this becoming a watershed moment ? The NYT did a good job in analysing the footage of the killing and showing the callous nature of it. But the story did not seem to be given the prominence it deserved.
Hi Chenda: We can only wish. But my cynical side tells me that, with one outrage quickly following another, we lose focus. The media have now moved on to new outrages — the disguised military plane, Trump’s attack on the Fed chief, speculation about Iran. And of course there will be new outrages tomorrow. Even Greenland has been temporarily forgotten in this morning’s headlines. It’s exhausting, isn’t it?
Your comment about one outrage after another describes exactly what is happening in our country. I find it truly frightening, it clings to to the saying, “This, too, shall pass.”
The person answering the White House Comment Line assures me all calls/comments are passed along. (The line is open 11 AM-2 PM, Tuesday-Thursday. 202-456-1111)
While I doubt the veracity of this, it is one way for direct contact. There is a wait sometimes to leave a comment. This tells me a lot of people are complaining about this administration. My anger and frustration have to be shared by many others.