A number of blogs like MyDD and ThinkProgress have remarked upon the new wingnut talking point comparing the violence in Baghdad to that which might be experienced here in your average large city. Like Philadelphia. Ummm…right. Denial — not just a river in Egypt.

You may be saying — wasn’t that a week or two ago? Well, the thing is that it’s come up before like this post in Sept. And further back in June, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) tried to claim that living in Iraq was about as dangerous as living in D.C.

OK, so there are a couple of layers here. First, there’s the basic http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=32636703inaccuracy of this argument. ThinkProgress says:

In Baghdad, the Brookings Institution’s Iraq Index estimates that 5,320 people are killed a month are projected to be killed this year, meaning Baghdad had 13.2 times more murders than Philadelphia.

It’s about the same for D.C.

What makes conservatives think they can get away with what sounds to any reasonable urban or even suburban dweller — hopelessly either deluded or misinformed? Well, maybe um, racism based in ignorance? Comparing major American cities to war zones doesn’t speak well to some conservatives’ esteem of these otherwise popular locations on the east coast.

Still, the goal here must be to confuse those Americans who live in flyover country who fear both darker-hued people and the cities they live in. Check it: The 2000 census said that Philly is only 45% white and for D.C. the 2005 census found 39% of residents were white.

So the implication is that Iraq is just like the mean inner city streets of Philly with swarthy people killing each other willy-nilly? It is the white man’s burden to try and help these savages and bring order. Apparently. Or maybe it’s just a few bad apples wilding in the rough section of Southeast DC or the “wrong” neighborhood of Baghdad. It’s just a bunch of niggers — sand, crips or crunk flavor — shooting at each other.

It’s insulting simultaneously to the citizens of greater Philadelphia, DC and Baghdad plus anyone else in America with half a non-racist brain. And if you think we won’t hear this particular thought balloon tossed out there a few more times from the folks who resist calling the Hobbesian jungle that is Iraq a civil war — think again.

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