What we don’t talk about when we don’t talk about race
Shirley Sherrod
Even in intimate discussions among friends, it can be hard to talk honestly and in depth about race and racism.
It’s easy to see why. Irrational sentiments that burble up out of the most primitive recesses of our souls — emotions that are then refracted through personal and collective experience — just don’t translate easily into rational thought.
And once such a thought is formed and expressed, it must then be heard and processed by other minds that are grappling with those same challenges, but from a very different perspective.
A lot can go wrong in that translation from one mind to another. And when you scale that conversation up and try to involve millions in the discussion, the number of ways that things can go wildly wrong increase geometrically, particularly when some in the conversation are trying to manipulate it for economic gain or political ambition.
Those dangers have led many to conclude that in public, it is better to avoid the topic of race altogether than to risk misunderstanding and the inflammation of dangerous passions.
I disagree.
As painful as the Shirley Sherrod case has been, for example, I think the country understands itself better today than it did a week ago.
True, some of what we’ve come to understand is not that pleasant. We’ve seen the power of people such as Andrew Breitbart, who released a harshly distorted video depicting Sherrod as a racist. He almost destroyed her career and her life in the process, yet he still refuses to apologize or take responsibility.
Andrew Breitbart
We also saw elements of the American media as well as the Obama administration leap to conclusions on command, like well-trained poodles wearing shock collars, only to sheepishly reverse course once the truth became known.
In the process, though, we also became familiar with the real story of Sherrod, a black woman who was born and raised in the Jim Crow South and who lost her father in a murder supposedly committed by a white neighbor who was never prosecuted.
In the last few days, hundreds of thousands if not millions of Americans have watched the 43-minute videotape in which Sherrod relates her struggle to overcome the resentment and distrust toward white people created by that and other experiences.
It’s a great story, honestly told, and I’d bet that most of those who took the time to watch that tape at one point reflected on their own, perhaps uncompleted journey to that same grace that Sherrod has tried to attain.
That is a good thing. America has never been a static concept. To the contrary, it has existed in a permanent state of transformation politically and economically as well as demographically.
Within the past generation, long-term trends such as immigration, civil rights, gay rights and feminism have transformed the face and power structure of the country. As a result, the ability not just to tolerate but to welcome and celebrate those of other backgrounds has become essential to success.
Until a few years ago, many Americans had talked themselves into thinking that we had put questions of race behind us, that we had already emerged into a post-racial society in which such things no longer matter. And while the election of Barack Obama might have been seen as confirmation of that belief, in fact it has done the opposite. It has brought to the surface elements of racism that many had tried to pretend no longer existed.
It is important to keep that statement in perspective. In uncertain times, strong and sincere disagreement about the nation’s course ahead is inevitable. The political standoff that exists in Washington today would exist even if Obama looked and talked like Mitt Romney, because it is based on honest differences of policy and ideology, not race.
But if we’re honest, we must also acknowledge that race has given some of the opposition to Obama a nasty edge and a passion that at times is out of proportion to its inspiration.
These are tough times. It is a lot easier to trust your fellow man when you feel secure in your job and home than when you wake up each morning fearful it all might be snatched away by forces that you cannot comprehend or control. What we’ve seen in the last few days is the danger posed by those who would profit by stoking and feeding those fears, rather than try to calm them.
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542 comments Add your comment
RF
July 23rd, 2010
12:38 pm
Mark- ONE book title on a reading list?? Surely you can do better than that. BTW, what’s the web address for the site? I’d love to see what else is on the list. Gotta get ready for the winter when there’s nothing to tend in the garden…
RB from Gwinnett
July 23rd, 2010
12:38 pm
This whole conversation is a waste of time as long as the black mayor of Atlanta can produce an ad accusing a political candidate of wanting to return to a time of “water hoses and police dogs” and there is no fallout, yet every white person who ever says anything in any circumstance or context it villified. See Trent Lott.
When you liberals are ready to hold your own kind to the same standard you hold white conservatives to, I’ll listen to you on the subject of race relations. Until then, you can all go preach your apologist message to some other choir.
@@
July 23rd, 2010
12:41 pm
Fred:
Have I finished my yard yet?
Nope.
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I will be trying your suggestion. I figure if I get started around 4:00, I can get it done no later than 9:00.
I’m about to start weed eating the borders though. That part, I DON’T like.
Doggone/GA
July 23rd, 2010
12:41 pm
“When will people realize that Sherrod broke the law 20 years ago the law still said that the govt. could not discreminate on race”
And when will you realize that 24 years ago she WAS NOT working for the government?
RF
July 23rd, 2010
12:43 pm
“Point…what ought to be fun is how the lot hereabouts and representative of society in general try to fit it into the black-white paradigm…” Josef, it fits under the “us against them” paradigm. Just wait, the judge is already hearing the initial stuff in the lawsuits against AZ. I expect today, or at the latest tomorrow, we’ll be off to ranting about the borders. The Sherrod situation was just a diversion to the well-worn black-white subtext.
Mark
July 23rd, 2010
12:47 pm
Does there there have to be more than one..But since you asked, there are more than one. .Why would you recommened a book like that anyone unless you were a radical?
An Atlas reader, Chuck, has a student in the eleventh grade in an Ohio High School. Her government class passed out this propaganda recruiting paper so students could sign up as interns for Obama’s Organizing for America (OFA is the former mybarackobama.com site.)
Obama is using our public school system to recruit for his Alinsky-inspired private army. Organizing for America is (and I quote) recruiting in our high schools to “build on the movement that elected President Obama by empowering students across the country to help us bring about our agenda” …………of national socialism.
The Ohio High School is Perry Local in Massillon, Ohio.
This is incredible. And evil. Suffer the little children — enlisted like SS youth. This is no accident. Obama is poisoning our public school system. He acts as if it’s his own private breeding farm. Once again academic learning and achievement is hopelessly abandoned, and supplanted by radical leftist activism from the leftwing Alinsky indoctrinators in the perverse public school system.
Children must be advised to expose this ugly propaganda. Children must tell their parents how they are being used and manipulated. Parents, warn your kids. Better yet, home school.
Check out the recommended reading list page 4:
Rules for Radicals, Saul Alinsky
The New Organizers, Zack Exley
Stir It Up: Lessons from Community Organizing and Advocacy, Rinku Sen
Obama Field Organizers Plot a Miracle, Zack Exley, Huffington Post
Dreams of My Father Chicago Chapters, Barack Hussein Obama
JohnnyReb
July 23rd, 2010
12:48 pm
Bosch, here’s the link to the article – America’s Ruling Class. You will find this very interesting reading, it slams both the Dems and Repubs. Take notes, I will be asking quesitons!
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/07/16/americas-ruling-class-and-the
@@
July 23rd, 2010
12:48 pm
One last comment on this thread, then I’m out to crank that sucker (weed eater) up. It’s the hardest part of lawn maintenance.
Was on the track with a friend this morning. She mentioned something a friend of hers said. The friend “just happened” to be black.
Had she never been the descendant of slaves, she would never have had the opportunity to be American, and for that she was thankful.
Kewl!
Mick
July 23rd, 2010
12:50 pm
Outhouse
Here’s something to get this tropical storm kick started-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UmmbF1Zyvk
Fred
July 23rd, 2010
12:51 pm
Doggone/GA
July 23rd, 2010
12:36 pm
Depends on if it’s an automated reply or not. If not, well I got one once within 30 minutes and that was 5 years ago and I still have the job!
+++++
Nope, it came from the person I sent it to. I’ve spent the last several years raising my daughter and my wife says now that she’s in school, I gotta get a job. It’s a painful thought lol. I have been a contractor for the past 20+ years, but I don’t want to do that any more.
@@: dang, that’s too late. If the grass isn’t mowed by the time SWMBO gets home my butt will get mowed. Guess I better get out there and do it……….. Think i can convince her that it took all day to apply for that job?
jewcowboy
July 23rd, 2010
12:53 pm
I wonder when Obama will ‘refudiate’ claims he is a racist…
And now a geography lesson from Ms. Palin (since we’re still beating a dead horse):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRENP2D55LQ
jewcowboy
July 23rd, 2010
12:55 pm
@@,
“I’m out to crank that sucker (weed eater) up. It’s the hardest part of lawn maintenance.”
Stay hydrated…it’s scorching out there!
Fred
July 23rd, 2010
12:57 pm
Wow JCB, it’s a regular epidumbic………….
theyeshaveit
July 23rd, 2010
12:57 pm
Old Wrath of Sour Grapes mike was here again.
JohnnyReb
July 23rd, 2010
12:57 pm
“Are you saying that because a person is Black, they are also radical?”
Oh Well, no I am not stating that. I have known and worked with many black people who I believe were a better person than I. However, that does not mean Obama is not a black radical.
Fred, I should read Obama’s book, but it will not change my mind. Why a person believes as he does will not influence my disagreement on what he does. I have seen enough evidence to know that I hope every single change Obama has made and will make be repealed, starting with the health care bill.
jewcowboy
July 23rd, 2010
1:00 pm
Fred,
“it’s a regular epidumbic………….”
RF
July 23rd, 2010
1:00 pm
@Mark: Web address please??? As I said, I’d love to see the reading list also. If you want to persuade someone by mentioning a website, it’s a good idea to post the address… Could I PLEASE have the website to which you referred for the reading list?
theyeshaveit
July 23rd, 2010
1:07 pm
JCB,
That was funny.
RF
July 23rd, 2010
1:07 pm
And AGAIN, dear Reb, you are allowed to believe him to be a radical. I don’t have a problem with that view (even if I most adamantly disagree). But you have yet to adequately explain why calling him a “black radical” is necessary or proves anything. It would seem that you think being a “black radical” is somehow more potent than just being a regular radical. Your repeated denial of that just doesn’t hold water. Does it add any power to the word “radical” to call someone a “white radical”? We don’t hear that term used because it’s meaningless. Yet the repeated mention of one’s skin color in connection with the term radical says that you believe that there is a distinction between a “black radical” and a “white radical”. What about “hispanic radical” or “native-American radical”? What about “Jewish radical” or “Christian radical” or “Feminist Radical” or “Gay Radical”? Do we really need the class, race, or sexuality distinction? NO, so why the emphasis on black radical???
NJ
July 23rd, 2010
1:08 pm
The problem I have with people blaming Democrats or Republicans or the ruling classes, is that we created them. The voters that is.
Basically the Founding Fathers had it worked out. Or they thought they did. No matter how much conservatives want to argue, the founders wanted to “limit personal wealth” They did not mind a person getting wealthy enough to live very comfortably and for their family to live very comfortably” But they wanted to strip away any wealth that went beyond that of allowing them comfort, and allowing them to use the excess wealth to take over government in their own interests. So the founders hated corporations, because to a man, they believed corporations would create a new aristocratic ruling class, based on money, rather than land.
Conservatives in America even conservatives among the founders, wanted to create a new ruling class. Alexander Hamilton was the foremost proponent of creating a ruling elite, even to the point of wanting to create an American monarchy, with a hierarchy of aristocratic positions beneath the monarch. Jefferson opposed this, and later on Andrew Jackson reinvigorated Jeffersonian Democracy in a way that gave the small man as much power as the wealthy one.
Every president from Washington to Lincoln predicted that America would not be destroyed from the outside, by some foreign power, but from the inside, and the mechanism of that destruction would be the corporation. It allows a small group to put together a huge amount of excess wealth, to use it to control government in their interests and against the interests of the average working man, the average American in any age of our history. The founders had an answer and each one of them who favored popular rule rather than aristocracy called for a progressive “INCOME” tax. The base of a person’s wealth, property, was not to be so subject to tax as to cause the owner to have to lose his property rights. But any wealth produced by that property was fair game for taxation to prevent any single person, or group of people, from being able to combine their wealth in order to subvert the government and use the wealth to propose legislation that favored them at the expense of any other particular group.
The primary thing that cause the end of the great American experiment was reducing the top marginal tax rate to an absurdly low rate under Reagan. This did nothing to stimulate growth of the American economy. It created the growth of profit for a small elite ruling class, which is now America’s Aristocratic class. No one can get elected to office without becoming part of this class, and favoring it’s interests. European history is filled with such examples. The Kings always had to bend and give way to the lower level nobility, as happened with Magna Carta. In Eastern Europe and Russia, it was not the highest level aristocrats who had the most power, but the boyars, who were at the bottom rung of the nobility. This roughly translates into “count or countess” and it was this group who for example, formed a governmental body to elect the kings in countries like Poland.
As soon as you allow one group to gain enough wealth to control government, you have lost your Democratic Republic. Because the wealth of the one allows them to constantly have the ear of the government. Who LOBBIES, for Joe Average?
theyeshaveit
July 23rd, 2010
1:13 pm
RF, you raise some good points with Reb. Let’s see if he can “refudiate” them.
neo-Carlinist
July 23rd, 2010
1:19 pm
@@, OK then, perhaps “observed Carlin” is more appropriate than “studied”. I was not suggesting Carlin should be “studied” in the academic sense. but to bring the whole thing full circle (in an internet-age) kinda way, it didn’t matter whether or not Carlin penned it because somebody “saw it on the interent” (as with the edited Sherrod clip). ever hear the John Fogerty tune “I Saw It on TV”? “…I know it’s true because I saw it on TV…” As far as yard work goes, when you mentioned cranking up the weed whacker, I picture “Carl” (Bill Murray) cleaning up his living quarters in Caddyshack with a gasoline powered blower. Oh, and RB from Gwinnett, you know so much about “the Black mayor of Atlanta” because you live in Gwinnett?
NJ
July 23rd, 2010
1:20 pm
Yes that is how Boortz and his ilk can get around the issue of “reporting” the news, and distorting it. They claim to be a conservative “Saturday Night Live” however because conservatives like Boortz are notoriously lacking in any ability to be humorous, the point is lost on those who listen to them.
Anyone Remember Fox News’ disastrous attempt at humor to compete with people like John Stewart and the Colbert Report. Went down in flames, because conservatives really have an inability to not take themselves too seriously.
The difference is all in their ideas on taxation. Even guys like John Kerry openly stated, double, triple my taxes. I will still be doing fine. Conservatives squabble about having their taxes increased by 900 dollars a year, on hundreds of thousands of dollars in income.
jewcowboy
July 23rd, 2010
1:23 pm
NJ,
“Anyone Remember Fox News’ disastrous attempt at humor to compete with people like John Stewart and the Colbert Report. ”
That “Half hour news hour” was horrible…their regular news coverage is more humorous…
JohnnyReb
July 23rd, 2010
1:24 pm
To RF and theyeshaveit
From Wiki – The Black Radical Congress or BRC is an organization founded in 1998 in Chicago. It is a grassroots network of individuals and organizations of African descent focused on advocating for broad progressive social justice, racial equality and economic justice goals within the United States.
Clearly Obama fits within that description.
Paulo977
July 23rd, 2010
1:24 pm
NJ..@1:08pm …well presented!
Fred
July 23rd, 2010
1:24 pm
jewcowboy
July 23rd, 2010
1:00 pm
At what point did being smart and educated become a liability?
++++++++
As I keep saying, I’m an Independent. But just damn, the Pubs give more fodder to comedians than the Dem’s. The “Bushism’s” were great, but it looks now like Palin has leaped in with both feet to fill the void left by Bush. I really don’t think there is a political bias among comedians, it’s just that pub polico’s just do more stupid stuff than the Dem’s. Hank Johnson’s “island tilt’ was only good for a few days, but Palin produces material for them every time she opens her mouth. But……… maybe since sh is such an easy target there should be a bag limit on her……….
neo-Carlinist
July 23rd, 2010
1:28 pm
Paulo977@1:24pm, agreed. I guess this makes Dwight Eisenhower (military industrial warning) a Jeffersonian. Interesting, and somewhat ironic that he cut his teeth in the military, which is itself and aristocracy.
Southern Comfort
July 23rd, 2010
1:32 pm
focused on advocating for broad progressive social justice, racial equality and economic justice goals within the United States.
It’s a shame that in this day and age, those who would seek racial equality and economic justice would be considered radical.
(SMH)
Fred
July 23rd, 2010
1:32 pm
Holy Bat Poop NJ, that little monologue is about the most twisted factually incorrect thing I have read in ages that wasn’t labeled as satire or comedy. Did you go to public schools?
Do you remember the name of the comic book you read all that “history” in?
jewcowboy
July 23rd, 2010
1:33 pm
Fred @ 1.24,
I agree with your post. I thought Biden would be a rich source of comedy for Republicans; he certainly is for Democrats.
neo-Carlinist
July 23rd, 2010
1:34 pm
Fred, as I see it, Palin is just Bush with a nicer a** and bigger t*ts. she’s the same malleable anti-ideologue. that’s right, it’s not a typo. Bush was too wealthy to concern himself with “ideology”. Palin is not part of NJ’s “ruling class” or American aristocracy, but she is too blinded by her own ambition and ego (much like Obama) to concern herself with ideology, which makes her useful to what my friend calls “the true decision makers”. so, to stay on message, Palin or Bush are not racists anymore than Shirley Sherrod is. these people are merely useful to those who benefit from keeping race on the table.
RF
July 23rd, 2010
1:39 pm
@Reb: Shoot……and MISS again! The BRC is what it is…and so are radical organizations on the right (I’m sure you know the names so I won’t waste time typing them). Is Obama a card-carrying member of this organization? No? Just as Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon, etc., etc. were not members of any “radical” organization that I can recall, so you couldn’t pin any of those names on them.
I still don’t get, and quite frankly don’t think you can explain, why it’s necessary to call Obama a “black radical”. I accept your opinion of him as a radical and totally allow you to call him that all day long. Again, does being a “black radical” make one any worse than any other type of radical? If not, then why does that particular title have to be used?
Fred
July 23rd, 2010
1:39 pm
Southern Comfort
July 23rd, 2010
1:32 pm
It’s a shame that in this day and age, those who would seek racial equality and economic justice would be considered radical.
+++++++++++
What is more of a shame is that someone who can obviously turn a computer on and off AND find a website and make a post has such abysmal reading comprehension skills. The Black Radical Congress CHOOSE that name. THEY “labeled” THEMSELVES. JohhnyReb didn’t do it for them. i doubt they even know who he is.
Just Damn JohhnyReb. I don’t agree with your assessment of our current President, but I applaud you on your defense of your use of the term. They may not like it, but i don’t see how RF and Eyes can refute it. That was a good find. I’m impressed. I have to admit I underestimated you on your first few posts.
RW-(the original)
July 23rd, 2010
1:39 pm
It’s a shame that in this day and age, those who would seek racial equality and economic justice would be considered radical.
SoCo,
It seems to me that the closer we get to racial equality the more radical it makes someone trying to organize a group to agitate for it.
neo-Carlinist
July 23rd, 2010
1:42 pm
Fred, I don’t know that NJ’s screed came from a comic book. that said, thanks for replying AFTER you drank the Kool-Aid. The status quo is evidence we the People traded a Monarchy for an Aristocracy (well, maybe a plutocracy or oligarchy, but such distinctions are like demonstrating the difference between a monarch and a dictator. Six or one half-dozen). the only question in my mind is; where the Founding Fathers prescient, radical thinkers, or did they simply feel like having 10 people run the show was better than having one? The idea that what made the United States unique (social mobility, or the ability to move between classes) may have been in play before 1900, but once the wiring was done and the concrete set (Aristocracy in place), that club was no longer accepting applications. And Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Mark Cuban, Arthur Blank and Donal Trump ARE NOT in “that club”
jewcowboy
July 23rd, 2010
1:44 pm
Well crap…there goes a legend.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128565997&ps=rs
“Journalism Legend Daniel Schorr Dies At 93″
RF
July 23rd, 2010
1:47 pm
Fred- I adamantly defend Reb’s or anyone else’s right to call the president a radical. Is there a point to calling him a “black” radical?
Fred
July 23rd, 2010
1:47 pm
RW-(the original)
July 23rd, 2010
1:39 pm
SoCo,
It seems to me that the closer we get to racial equality the more radical it makes someone trying to organize a group to agitate for it.
++++++++
And another one lol. the BRC named THEMSELVES as radicals. No one else did that for them. SO by using the term that they themselves CHOSE (I put one too many O’s in the post to SoCo) it somehow makes those of us not in the group as racists?
I don’t get it. one of us needs a sign…………
http://www.clevver.com/music/video/23505/bill-engvall-heres-your-sign.html
HDB
July 23rd, 2010
1:50 pm
Fred July 23rd, 2010
1:39 pm
JohnnyReb July 23rd, 2010
1:24 pm
Maybe the reason the BRC labeled themselves as “radical” is that for the US, it IS a RADICAL concept that racial equality and economic justice should be an American idea!! Would that not be an extreme change from the current paradigm??
RW-(the original)
July 23rd, 2010
1:50 pm
Fred,
Has anybody ever told you you’re obnoxious?
Fred
July 23rd, 2010
1:53 pm
The Kool-aid Neo? Perhaps you can do a little research on the founding fathers and income tax. YOU may call masonic and modern day neo nazi conspiracy theories as credible sources of “history’ but I sure as hell don’t.
RF: He explained that. He used little words too. He had decided President Obama is a radical. President Obama is black. Connect the dots. As to WHY he has to call him a black radical? Well I reckon he doesn’t HAVE too, but he wants to. Last time I looked he is still free to do so. WHy are you riding his ass becasue he does? I seem to have missed your tirade on the group 100 black men. Or the Miss BLACK USA pagent, or BLACK entertainment tv. DO white people have some sort of lack of freedom to express ourselves the same as black people have?
Southern Comfort
July 23rd, 2010
1:54 pm
Fred
Do we have to go there with the reading comprehension??? For starters, where did I even say anything about JohnnyReb in my post? And you want to try to talk about my reading comprehension? Maybe you should focus closer to home first. It’s clear that he thought the group as radical as he’s already said Obama’s a black radical and then stated that Obama fit that group’s description. If that was not what he was trying to say, then maybe he should have stated it a little differently.
RW
I’ll just be glad once it’s all over with. Dealing with ignorance kinda grows old after a while.
neo-Carlinist
July 23rd, 2010
1:56 pm
seems to me whatever “racial equality” means, we have it in the 14th Amendment. but it is no different than any other “law” or “right” – namely it exists to create the illusion we have rights and choices, and exist in a free society. Marx said religion is the opiate of the masses. well, the Constitution is the opiate of America’s unwashed masses. might still be a pretty good deal, but not really “as advertised in my book” and I freely admit that I (nor George Carlin) have the first idea about how to make a better mousetrap, or if trapping mice is worthwhile to begin with. of course, filling peoples’ minds with horibble stories of plaques, chewed electrical wires and stolen cheese kinda creates the need for a mousetrap, doesn’t it? here’s my question (and I presented the same question to JB a few days ago); if our rights are “inalienable” and “bestowed by our Creator” then why is the 14th Amendment even necessary? Carlin always said, “power does what it wants…” so as I said earlier, either nobody is racist (just being human) or everybody is a racist (just being human). laws (and allegations) benefit those who crave power and control. that’s not a radical idea. it’s just a sad fact of life.
JohnnyReb
July 23rd, 2010
1:57 pm
RF, here’s my last stab at this. Obama is a black radical because he fits the description and commonly accepted connotation. If he was not pushing the same objectives of black radicals, he would not be one.
If a white boy was spewing the same BS as does the black radicals, he would be a radical, but certainly not black. Trying to erase “black” from black radical bucks history and accepted norms. You may not like the term black radical, but it desribes a certain group and their objectives.
Fred
July 23rd, 2010
1:59 pm
Many people find the truth obnoxious RW. But to answer your question, don’t you think the answer is self evident? Of COURSE people have told me I’m obnoxious. People like lies and PC talk and not being held accountable for the things they say or do. THEY want the freedom to express THEIR views, but really don’t want those who disagree with them to have the same rights.
I have a knack with English (actually American as that’s really what we speak) and a tendency to get to the point, not beat around the bush. That discomfits the insecure or those trying to obfuscate. Most people fail to see their own hypocrisy while calling other hypocrites. I kind of act like an umpire lol and help them see it. Like the Baptists who say every word in the Bible is true and correct and then go on to say that Jesus really DIDN’T turn water in to wine at a party, he made grape juice…………… boy they REALLY get mad when you laugh at them about that………
Are you a Baptist RW?
RW-(the original)
July 23rd, 2010
2:04 pm
Good for you, Fred and no.
HDB
July 23rd, 2010
2:05 pm
Fred July 23rd, 2010
1:53 pm
Can’t you see that BET, the Miss Black USA, 100 Black Men, et. al., were CONSERVATIVE, FREE-MARKET answers by African-Americans in response to not being considered a part of the media….or American representation?? What year was Vanessa Williams crowned Miss America? (1983)!! When was BET launched? (1980)!! When was the Miss America Pageant founded? (1921)!! When were the major broadcast networks founded? (ABC: 1943, CBS: 1928,NBC: 1926). Note the time frame of reaction to being excluded!
neo-Carlinist
July 23rd, 2010
2:09 pm
Fred, I am spinning many plates at the moment, but NJ’s screed wasn’t some half-baked “masonic conspiracy theory”. As one who favors an occassional “summit” with John Barleycorn, I am quite familiar with the Founding Fathers and their views on the income tax. when the Republic was just a wee lad, (end of the Revolutionary War, Washington was President), the Congress needed to pay down the war debt (taxes). In many areas (especially Western PA) many Americans of Scotch-Irish decent distilled their own whiskey, and it became something of a currency. This really wasn’t an issue because most of these folks were farmers or tradesmen, with little income to show, so in lieu of payment for a new barrel, or a bushel of corn; a jug of hooch was traded. Now how is Uncle Sam gonna repay the French when he can’t “tax the income” of these “rebels”? A ta was levied on whiskey, but it was particularly harsh (higher) on the home-brewed variety. The (corporate/commercial) distillers in Boston or Baltimore might have to pay $5 for a 100 barrel batch, while Joe Six Pack had to pay $5 when he brewed a 10 barrel batch. The farmers “rebelled” and Washington himself mounted up, mustered a force of Federal Troops, and put down the rebellion. That’s not some drunkard’s bar story; it’s the first (and last) time an American President led troops into battle (well, except for the movie Independence Day, but that was against aliens, so it doesn’t really count).
HDB
July 23rd, 2010
2:09 pm
neo-Carlinist
July 23rd, 2010
1:56 pm
seems to me whatever “racial equality” means, we have it in the 14th Amendment.
Not really…..note the differences in sentencing when a black person and a white person are charged with the same crime; note the denigration of black people in the media….but white people are the largest group on welfare (note Appalachia!)! Note how Ronald Reagan created “welfare queens” and put a black face on them! Equality has yet to occur in the US….although the Constitution guarantees it!!
Fred
July 23rd, 2010
2:10 pm
Southern Comfort
July 23rd, 2010
1:54 pm
It’s clear that he thought the group as radical as he’s already said Obama’s a black radical and then stated that Obama fit that group’s description.
+++++++++
Gee, and the fact the call THEMSELVES Black Radicals is somehow different isn’t it? That is their NAME. How can it be more clear? We are back at reading comprehension skills. Try reading the words ON the page, not putting your own in there. And yet you DARE talk about the ignorance in others?
Don’t pout and get all discombobulated, open your mind and understanding WILL come eventually. I know many people who think President Obama is a radical. Depending on the definition, they may be correct. There is no denying the FACT that he is Black. SO what? Is being a radical a BAD thing? Is being black a BAD thing? I don’t think so on either score. Jesus was a radical. He loved to go to church on the Sabbath and pick fights with the preacher and church leaders. If we want to label him further, I think we could correctly say he was a RADICAL JEW. Oh the horror someone who is not afraid of words or afraid to use them. Whatever shall we do with this Fred character………….
Black Radical or not, I still support my President. A radical is what we need in my opinion so I can’t say I’m all worked up about it. One could even say that I have expressed some radical ideas in this post. You gonna call me a radical and expect me to get all upset about it? It ain’ta gonna happen. RW implied that he thinks I’m obnoxious. SO what. I am and can be. Am I supposed to get mad because he uses the correct word that accurately describes my behavior at times? Ain’ta gonna happen.
Words are beautiful. Use them, embrace them, love them. Don’t try to wipe them off the face of the earth because you either don’t like them or don’t understand them.
JacobLocke
July 23rd, 2010
2:13 pm
@Fred – reminds me of a joke:
What’s the difference between a Baptist and Methodist?
The Methodist will say hello to you at the liquor store.
RF
July 23rd, 2010
2:13 pm
@Fred: I read his little words and YES he does have the right to use whatever name he likes. I just don’t see why it matters whether one is a “radical” or a “black radical”. I’m only making a point about it because of the inanity (oops, big word- too much for you?) of having to tack on “black”. It is irrelevant, pointless, and frankly doesn’t help move the discussion in any positive direction. Just as there is no useful purporse to call someone a “white radical” or any other racial tag before “radical”, I thought it might be pertinent to make him think about it. I keep forgetting that conservatives have a hard time doing that without one of Glenn’s chalkboards…
@Reb- So, would it be fair, or even necessary, to call someone in the KKK a “white radical”? I seriously don’t recall hearing that used with the same frequency that “black radical” seems to be used. I could be wrong, but just IMO. But, you have the right to whatever title you choose and I’ll accept the reason- even if I most adamantly do not agree. Stalemate- now let’s move on.
I’m officially off this subject. Anyone seen Nathan Deal’s first ad since the primary? OMG he needs to put some money into advertising because this one is sooooooo lame!! It’s on youtube- Pit-i-ful!!!
HDB
July 23rd, 2010
2:14 pm
Fred July 23rd, 2010
2:10 pm
In some semblance, we ALL are radicals…..
Can’t argue with you there!!
RF
July 23rd, 2010
2:18 pm
Okay, Fred, one last parry and I’m REALLY out of this. The BRC does, in fact, call themselves Black Radicals. Okay- so how does that connect to Obama? Just because he might have similar views doesn’t make him a member of the party and thus not subject to the title. I could start a “White Radical Congress” and it wouldn’t necessitate calling Bill Clinton a “white radical” because we shared similar views on some issues. Just saying I wish we could get past the distinction of race. And as my dad would say, “wish in one hand and sh*t in the other and see which fills up first.”
Southern Comfort
July 23rd, 2010
2:18 pm
Fred
Dude, whatever you’re drinking or taking, slow down a bit. You’re getting all pouty and discombobulated and fustrated too over this, not me. I could care less if they named themselves The League of Slap-Happy Incompetent Snickerdoodles. I don’t see Obama as a “radical”. He’s just another politician in the long line of politicians we’ve had leading this country. He’s no better or worse than any previous one. People throw around adjectives like Mardi Gras beads to the point that they don’t carry much weight anymore.
I’ll leave you to ponder on ignorance. There is a difference between being dumb, stupid, or ignorant.
neo-Carlinist
July 23rd, 2010
2:21 pm
HDB, my point exactly. politicians and “activists judges” (and conservative judges, for that matter) can repeal or re-affrim whatever laws they like. no law, and I mean NO LAW is worth the paper it is written on. anyone who has sat on a jury or heaven forbid been a litigant in a criminal or civil case knows this. think about it, for whatever reason, we faught a civil war. 600,000 Americans died, and when it was over, Lincoln “freed” the slaves, and Congress “put it in the book” with the 14th Amendment. did this “act of Congress” wipe out (whatever) “racism” (is)? sure, and it was SOOOOO effective a law, that less than 100 years later, LBJ et al, passed the 1964 Civil Rights act. So here we are in 2010 (45 years later) and gosh oh gee, oh my, isn’t our “society” absofreaking-lutley “great”? To whom should I address the thank you notes?
Fred
July 23rd, 2010
2:24 pm
Are you referring to the Whiskey rebellion of 1794 Neo? If so some of your facts are a bit wrong. Henry, “Lighthorse Harry” Lee actually commanded the Army. but in a general sense you hit some of the main points. It was however an EXCISE tax, not an INCOME tax that caused the dispute. Note the difference between the words EXCISE and INCOME. Initial boy with the comic book history book was talking about some mythical “income tax” that the founding fathers supposedly created……..
RW-(the original)
July 23rd, 2010
2:25 pm
RW implied that he thinks I’m obnoxious
Fred,
Let me be more clear then. You are obnoxious. Better? You’re also delusional if you think your behavior comes from some position of enlightened truth. You’re just obnoxious for the sake of being obnoxious and I guess I’ll put you down as a scroll troll.
Southern Comfort
July 23rd, 2010
2:26 pm
gosh oh gee, oh my, isn’t our “society” absofreaking-lutley “great”?
neo
You sound just like my PT instructor at the academy. I was just waiting for you to say, “Now drop and give me 20!”
HDB
July 23rd, 2010
2:27 pm
SoCo….I’m more worried about the CONCEPT than the name…in some ways, we ALL are radicals…..any time we invoke change and people can’t handle it…we’re considered to be radicals!! I can deal with Obama being called a radical…because he’s attacking the status quo!! As Fred said….maybe we ALL need to be a bit radical sometimes……
josef nix
July 23rd, 2010
2:27 pm
RF
Appreciate the response above and agree with you entirely…
One question–
In a free and democratic society, what’s wrong with being a radical of any stripe? Radical–from the Latin radix, root…radicals get to the root of what’s rubbing them the wrong way or what it is they want to talk about…
Paulo977
July 23rd, 2010
2:35 pm
Can we live together in our lifetime?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O1aAfbYKwo
DawgDad
July 23rd, 2010
2:36 pm
“Electing Obama, at least symbolically, points out a shift in the power structure that scares some people mightily.”
Yes, but to the vast, vast majority on the right that’s because he’s LEFTIST and has nothing whatsoever to do with race. There are any number of black people I would vote for for President in a heartbeat, certainly over McCain, and Obama just happens to NOT be one of them. Policy, not race.
JacobLocke
July 23rd, 2010
2:38 pm
neo_Carlinist – ooooooooh. LOL!
neo-Carlinist
July 23rd, 2010
2:38 pm
Fred, from Wikipedia:
In October, Washington traveled west to review the progress of the military expedition. He met with the western representatives in Bedford, Pennsylvania, on October 9 before going to Fort Cumberland in Maryland to review the southern wing of the army. Convinced that the federalized militia would meet little resistance, he placed the army under the command of the governor of Virginia, Henry “Lighthorse Harry” Lee, a hero of the American Revolutionary War. Washington returned to Philadelphia; Hamilton remained with the army as civilian adviser. See, way before Richard Nixon and Watergate, “plausible deniability” (a/k/a CYA) was de riguer in DC.
Not from Wikipedia: a tax is a tax, and it seems to me that if whiskey was a currency (income) the tax on whiskey was an income tax in excise tax’s clothing.
MARK
July 23rd, 2010
2:38 pm
RF…ever heard of google?…but since you are not able…here ya go..barrackobama.com
MARK
July 23rd, 2010
2:39 pm
sorry…barackobama.com
HDB
July 23rd, 2010
2:40 pm
DawgDad July 23rd, 2010
2:36 pm
You may be one of the few…but that’s not the case of many!! I couldn’t vote for McCain because he didn’t think that many like me are viable constituents….and his voting record was antithetical to my interests!! I can’t vote GOP because of the same reasons….and I have no other options available! I may be taken for granted by Democrats…but at least they know I exist as a constituent!!
BravesFan79
July 23rd, 2010
2:40 pm
I love black women, its a shame that their men abuse them at such a high rate that Femicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for young Black women. #1 is AIDS.
I worked all over Atlanta for my job, including the heavy latino gang areas of Buford Hwy as a door to door sales rep. The thing i like about latinos compared to blacks. #1, they take care of their women and kids. #2 they usually only do violent crime against other hispanics.
Dusty
July 23rd, 2010
2:41 pm
RW,
There’s always hope. Fred said he applied for a job. Let’s hope it was not for Bookman’s “position”. There are some things even worse than …. ….oh nevermind…
Fred
July 23rd, 2010
2:46 pm
I don’t need to ponder on the differences between ignorant, stupidity, OR dumb. I can sum them up very neatly.
Ignorance is not knowing something. By definition we are ALL ignorant because no one knows everything.
Stupid is lacking the basic intelligence to understand something. Not understanding that we are all ignorant could be called stupid I would think.
Dumb means you lack the ability to speak. In earlier days some equated the lack of ability to speak with intelligence so a more informal definition propagated and used by the ignorant became “accepted.” IE that dumb meant stupid.
I am not ignorant on any facet of the conversation thus today and since you say you aren’t, I have to conclude that you are just plain stupid. Or arrogant, or perhaps both. Just because YOU don’t think President Obama is a radical, does not mean he is not. You have already shown that you lack the capacity for dispassionate logical thought and the ability to admit ignorance. You have preconceived notions of what you are going to read before you read it, therefore you don’t actually comprehend the meaning of what you are reading. You won’t entertain the idea you may be wrong on something much less admit it. That’s ok, most people have that problem. Don’t tell anyone, but I make that same mistake myself occasionally. I had to step back and re-evaluate the erroneous conclusion about Scout I made last night and correct it. Unlike you however, I see it as no loss of face to be wrong and will freely admit it when I am. I did last night on the blog below.
So basically SoCo, I need “ponder” nothing that you have said, because you basically have said NOTHING other than if you think it should be this way then THAT’S the way everyone should think it should be. If they don’t they are stupid. but I DO have to get those tomatoes peeled and cooked down for my sauce to night.
You are welcome to come over for a plate or two of spaghetti lol. You see, I don’t get mad. I exchange ideas when I can, learn when I can, and teach when I can. In a good conversation, all three happen, but not anger. Passion maybe, because good ideas and values demand passion, but rarely anger.
Ed Troncalli of Troncalli Doge in Cumming gave me a good lesson some 10- 15 years ago. He told me anger is a wasted emotion, it only harms you, not the person you are angry with. The person you are angry with either doesn’t care or WANTS you to be angry with them, either way it doesn’t help you. . One of the wisest things anyone has ever told me. I wonder how that old fart is doing lol, haven’t thought of him in years, but I have never forgotten that lesson.
jewcowboy
July 23rd, 2010
2:47 pm
Dusty,
I found something for you…slightly strange..yet intriguing at the same time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awp3-7EVM0Q
RF
July 23rd, 2010
2:48 pm
Josef- absolutely agree with you. Often the most impact, throughout history, has been made by those later branded as radicals. I’m sure even the president doesn’t mind being called a radical. In light of how life in this country went down the tubes by ‘08, anyone suggesting change will earn that moniker. I guess I get punchy because I’ve heard, too many times, about the president being a “black radical”. And most of the time it’s in the context of trying to make him look worse than just your ordinary, run of the mill radical. It’s like degrees of sin- most people will say there aren’t any, but talk about having an abortion or being gay and they’ll get worked up in an instant.
Dawgdad- I think you’re right about the majority. We’ve were in a huge conservative movement there for a while, and any change is going to take a while to accept. But it doesn’t take long to find the rather ample minority who are, in fact, scared that the traditional power structure is changing-and not in a good way. I come from a long line of country folk who are convinced it’s the beginning of the minority takeover of the United States- which they began fuming about in ‘65 when the Civil Rights Act was passed. There are more of them out there than you might think.
BravesFan79
July 23rd, 2010
2:50 pm
By tha way.. i like Obama as a man. I cant think of a better role model for the black community! If more young blacks modeled themselves after Obama instead of rappers that promote pimping, abusing women, and drug dealing then blacks would get more respect from all the other races.
RIP to the decent young man killed in Clayton yesterday, its a shame the bad ones take out the few good ones. #1 killer of black men = murder. #2 killer of young black women = murder. Its not racism, its realism.
neo-Carlinist
July 23rd, 2010
2:50 pm
BravesFan79, no offense, but I don’t think your brush is quite broad enough. only after you “go door-to-door” in “latino gang areas” beyond Buford Highway (Dekalb) should you present your extensive research findigs about the Lationo culture – try Gainesville (Hall), or maybe some of the areas off Jimmy Carter Blvd(Gwinnett)
RF
July 23rd, 2010
2:55 pm
Mark- went there earlier in the day, but didn’t see a reading list. I just went back, and maybe I’m scanning too fast and missing it. I’m not being sarcastic here, I promise. I really do want to see the reading list, but I’m not sure what page it’s on.
roldawg70
July 23rd, 2010
2:58 pm
great article jay
one of the best
it reminded me, that america is an ideal. we all see what it could be, both left right center.
we may all different visions of what could be, but i would pray they we all would remember that most of us want whats best for america. even when we know we disagree on what that ideal state would be.
not demonize one another
enough of my preaching
Fred
July 23rd, 2010
2:59 pm
Dusty and RW: Bite me. You use the first trick of the rushophiles. When you don’t have an intelligent response, attack someone and call them names or hurl insults. How sad and pathetic. I see nowhere where you refute my posts or conclusions, you just go straight to personal attacks. I understand. You lack the capability to attack my reasoning and personal attacks usually draw one into the 5 year old “I know you are what am I” arguments that you so crave. Sorry I can’t accommodate you.
I am not defined by the labels YOU choose to foist upon me. I am defined by who I am and the truth. It’s sad that you really have nothing to add except insults. But then, that is the main problem in America today. The only “solutions” to any problem is “You suck and your mother does too.” People have so much pent up rage that they can’t respond rationally. They think thye have to be “right’ no matter what. About EVERYTHING. It’s as sad as it is amusing………..
But in the political scheme? RW and Dusty are irrelevant. You two will vote republican no matter what. You will be cancelled out by the democratic fanatics. It’s people like me, who actually think that decide EVERY election lol, and you just HATE that fact.
MARK
July 23rd, 2010
3:00 pm
ok, let me see what i can do RF…gimme a sec
josef nix
July 23rd, 2010
3:01 pm
RF
On the matter of race and radicalism. I’m one of the few hereabouts who is in support of reparations for slavery, which qualifies me as a radical. I share a perspective with a black fellow. We agree on a plan. He’s no doubt a radical, too. The plan we agree on was proposed by some Confederate veterans following the late misunderstanding and the so-called reconstruction. Does that qualify us as neo-Confederate radicals?
Fred
July 23rd, 2010
3:03 pm
I’m interested in your plan jo-nix. I am curious how I am responsible for something when my family didn’t come to this country until long after slavery was over and done with……..
jewcowboy
July 23rd, 2010
3:08 pm
Fred,
“It’s people like me, who actually think that decide EVERY election lol, and you just HATE that fact.”
Hopefully you aren’t one of these as well:
http://www.newyorker.com/humor/2008/10/27/081027sh_shouts_sedaris
josef nix
July 23rd, 2010
3:09 pm
Braves Fan–
I am pretty much a no-fan of President Obama as a poltician. But when it comes to what you are addressing, I am very much a fan. He is a role model for family values and not just for black men, but all men. I get accused when I say something against his policies of being a racist and told that I never agree with anything he does. The attackers conveniently overlook that I sing his praises for his having told his followers in no uncertain terms to leave Palin’s kids alone (they didn’t heed him, of course), that he dotes on his own children like a proud papa should without trotting them out for show. I got my feathers in a ruff when he was being pilloried for taking his beloved for a night on the town. I could go on and on, but the point is, this is one place he walks the walk. I respect and admire him for that. Now, if he’d just get off his sorry ass and…
Don't forget
July 23rd, 2010
3:13 pm
Lets cut the bull on why the conservatives call Obama a black radical rather than just a radical. It’s to stir up fear and loathing for Obama and distinguish it from a term they love and respect, namely radical conservative.
MARK
July 23rd, 2010
3:15 pm
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c60bf53ef0120a83335c6970b-popup….try that…sorry im not very good at this computer stuff
MARK
July 23rd, 2010
3:16 pm
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c60bf53ef0120a83335c6970b-popup
josef nix
July 23rd, 2010
3:16 pm
Fred–
It’s not my plan. It’s a Confederate Veteran plan. Simple, those companies and institutions still in business which profitted from the iniquitous system–Aetna, Metropolitan Life, Harvard, Brown, Stanfrod Universities, Illinois Central, Baltimore and Ohio Railroads, among others–should be assessed the value of, for instance in the case of the insurance companies, the slave properties they insured and never paid up on, in the case of the railroads the cost of the slave labor which went into their construction, the universities the portion of their endowments which came from slave-trade interests–and that money used to equalize the gap…under the Confederate veterans plan, the idea was to provide the resources (sort of 40 acres and a mule) to give the freedmen a base from which to start for socio-economic development. It was the failure to do this post emancipation which led to pretty much the problems of the 20th Century and which we are taking with us into the 21st.
Mama Says
July 23rd, 2010
3:16 pm
Jay and fellow bloggers,
As a white male conservative I have supported several things that are of “liberal thought” and in doing so I have come to understand the true meaning of political labels. As a moderate conservative I have and still do support gay adoption, gays in the military, equal pay, truth in sentencing and most of all the efforts to ensure that our environment is taken care of. With that said I CANNOT escape the label which is placed on me by liberal minded folks.
All I have to say is that I am a conservative and the assumptions are made. People assume I am against anything Obama-because I am a racist rather than and overall disapproval of his policies, I am against ILLEGAL immigrants when all I want is for everyone to follow the law–not just me etc….
The truth is this case demonstrates what has been done to white men, in particularly southern ones, over time. Race relations is the tipping point–it has the ability to deflate an otherwise adult conversation and the simple allegation illicits a defensive response that in most situations is used to “prove” the accusation itself. No person can every deny racist exist, the problem it brings are apparent but an often ignored problem is also just as likely to illicit that anger—that hidden 2nd problem is the fact that the accusation immediately disarms both parties from reasonable conversation and it is assumed that the accuser is correct–for the accusation is never challenged. (I suspect out of fear of being associated with a racist)
I’ll end with this, and I have often asked this of several of my non-anglo friends. If I go to the store and the white clerk acts as if I am not there and then slowly responds to my need, I feel she/he is just lazy and unresponsive. How do minorities face the same employee and feel so confident saying that person is a racist ? Perhaps if we asked we may find out that person has lost a family member, gotten demoted of suffered something that impacts their life, yet some folks seem to already know they answer—–which in and of itself is a judgment based on color.
The truth is in the eye of the beholder and as you say Jay discerned by us though our life experience, a life experience which by definition makes us bias in our judgments. When we learn to stop jumping to conclusions about each other and take the time to get the entire truth we will overcome racism. The question of knee jerk reactions and jumping to conclusions should have been addressed a long time ago—at best when the public was just suppose to assume that we, who do not support Obama for policy reasons, are the ones who are judging based on race.
MARK
July 23rd, 2010
3:18 pm
its not on his website any more bacause it said they were no longer taking apps…but that was a page from the application that showed the reading list
josef nix
July 23rd, 2010
3:19 pm
Fred
How are you responsible because your ancestors were bog trotting the auld sod, so to speak, when all this took place? Well, they came here, became Americans for what this great land promised them, bought into it and called it theirs. Well, there’s the bad that comes with the good…
jewcowboy
July 23rd, 2010
3:20 pm
Mama Says,
“With that said I CANNOT escape the label which is placed on me by liberal minded folks.”
That knife cuts both ways…
RF
July 23rd, 2010
3:22 pm
Josef- “Does that qualify us as neo-Confederate radicals?” LOL Well, I guess if we’re going to have to tack on a subjective title so we can tell each other apart at the radical conventions, you could have that one…
Okay, so since I support gay rights and women’s right to choose, and also have strong family values since I’m raising two wonderful children, what would be my title…. Rainbow Neo-Wacko Family radical??
Mama Says
July 23rd, 2010
3:25 pm
jewcowboy, when have yo been called a racist ?
I will simply go by your moniker—-and I will assume you are of Jewish faith. I will ask you this either way though. In the modern era of race relations which would impact you the most being “labeled” a Jew or being labeled a racist ?
Sen. Webb says ‘white privilege’ is a myth | Cynthia Tucker
July 23rd, 2010
3:29 pm
[...] pretty difficult to have a rational discussion about race, for the reasons my colleague Jay Bookman has outlined today. Quite frankly, his list of reasons is incomplete: Today’s political and [...]
Dusty
July 23rd, 2010
3:30 pm
Dear jewcowboy @ 2:47
Thank you for your musical selection. Needless to say, I shall always think of you when “Yodeling Queen” comes up.
PS,,,I am beginning to feel that FRED may not like me. Would you mind sending him a musical selection? Something like “You aint nuthin’ but a hound dog”. Thank you again.
RF
July 23rd, 2010
3:33 pm
Mark- Interesting… the source of the page looks a bit dubious, but if it is an actual application to intern for OFA, there would be some discussion to have. I’m going to have to read some of Alinsky before I can judge him. Just looking at the titles, and the fact that “radical” rarely has a good mainstream connotation, I can see where it would bother you. I’ll have to see if I can scare up a copy of Alinsky’s book (hopefully the public library will have it) and let you know how dangerous it is. As Josef pointed out in recent posts, being a “radical” is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as the radical is for a cause you support. I doubt the titles listed in this application mention government ovethrow or socialist takeover of western society as chapter headings.
Thanks for the link. I’ve got some new reading to do!
HDB
July 23rd, 2010
3:36 pm
Mama Says July 23rd, 2010
3:16 pm
‘All I have to say is that I am a conservative and the assumptions are made..”
Reverse the paradigm..and the situation is similar: All I have to say is that I am a liberal…and look at the assumptions that are made!! Conservatives say that they want to follow the law…but fail to note that certain laws TARGET those that conservatives FEAR….not to make the situation equal!! When a liberal disagrees with a conservative policy, we are called traitors, fascists, communists…anything BUT Americans! If that liberal is also a person of color….conservatives quickly play racial issues to marginalize the opposition!
Don’t get me wrong..it does happen on both sides of the equation…but as a white male, you have yet to have people FOLLOW you in stores thinking that you are a thief; you have yet to have cabs pass you by because you are a person of color; you have yet to be a victim of bad service because clerks feel you won’t tip…or you don’t have any money to purchase things!! These are things that when brought forth…are marginalized by the majority and stated that we are too “sensitive” about what occurs….and we just need to let it go!! Aretha said it best: RESPECT!! The problem is that too many from the conservative side deem respect a one-sided idiom….but it isn’t!! THAT is the paradigm that needs to change: mutual RESPECT! Don’t have to agree all the time….but at least respect me as a human being!!
MARK
July 23rd, 2010
3:41 pm
your welcome.RF..I assure you it came from his website, but I understand wanting to do your own research on it.
Alinsky is often credited with laying the foundation for the grassroots political organizing that dominated the 1960s.[5]
Alinsky advises his followers that the poor have no power and that the real target is the middle class: “Organization for action will now and in the decade ahead center upon America’s white middle class. That is where the power is. … Our rebels have contemptuously rejected the values and the way of life of the middle class. They have stigmatized it as materialistic, decadent, bourgeois, degenerate, imperialistic, war-mongering, brutalized and corrupt. They are right; but we must begin from where we are if we are to build power for change, and the power and the people are in the middle class majority.”
In Rules for Radicals, he argued that the most effective means are whatever will achieve the desired ends, and that an intermediate end for radicals should be democracy because of its relative ease to work within to achieve other ends of social justice
Alinsky’s most famous book, Rules for Radicals, is basically an instruction manual on communist organization and agitation. It compiles decades worth of philosophy and research by Alinsky, much of which had already been successfully implemented throughout his career. As you probably know, today’s most famous community organizer is Barack Obama. It also turns out that this is not by coincidence. Obama was a long-time student of Alinsky’s ideas and methods, and has spent time implementing them and teaching them. It has also been rumored by some media personalities, such as Rush Limbaugh, that Michelle Obama even used quotes from Alinsky’s book in a speech
josef nix
July 23rd, 2010
3:42 pm
RF
That’s a radical group I can join! I am gay and we raised three kids with traditional family values!
jewcowboy
Now, remember, we’re a RACE! Adolf said so…