Friday, July 23, 2010
The Boy who Cried Racism
As I am sure you know there are people who cry "racism" at any chance they get: Keith Olbermann, Jeane Garlofolo, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, David Blumenthal and so forth. The point of this tactic is to demonize the opposition. So for instance is you disagree with the tea parties instead of calling them to be wrong about what they are complaining about you call them "racist" so that you can demonize the opposition. You search as hard as you can for find anything to do with race and immediately conclude that racism must be the key issue. I clearly have no respect for these kind of people but there is something else which is wrong about these criers of racism. And that is that they trivialize racism. If you complain and call everyone a racist, which is what 90% of what the "news" programs are today, you turn racism into a trivial issue. Because there are times when racism really is an issue, but when it is the same criers of racism that rise up and call it racism then I am immediately discouraged from thinking of it as racism. This is a problem with these criers of racism, they create a trivial issue from an important issue. It is just like these Jewish people who assume that anything not in their favor must automatically be anti-Semitic. The employer hired your goyish partner over you in a promotion, it must be because he is an anti-Semitic, these criers of anti-Semiticism delude themselves to believe. And once in a while, in a few occasions, there can be authentic anti-Semiticism, but when these people tell me someone was anti-Semitic I immediately refuse to listen to that because form my experience they cry anti-Semiticism at any chance they get. Racism, along with other isms when when it comes to hate must not be trivialized, so before you want to cry racism or whatever, ask yourself a lot of questions first.
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I don't know, I think that if you're not a racist, then it's hard to imagine that there are so many people who are, so you think that all these accusations of racism must be some kind of rhetorical ploy.
ReplyDeleteBut there really are a lot of racists out there. Just a generation or two ago, about half the country was openly and unashamedly racist, opposing desegregation and intermarriage, etc. Now that it's become unacceptable to voice such views in public, people are more quiet about them, but you want to believe they just vanished? In 50-60 years? Gone?
No, it's still there. It's there in the immigration debate when people talk about illegal Mexican immigration as an "invasion" and act like it's an enormous threat to America when really it's a net plus for the economy. It's there when Lou Dobbs and his friends in the media go on and on about the gang-bangers and drug runners but neglect to mention the millions of people who are working their asses off for minimum wage or less.
It's cousin homophobia is there when half the country still opposes gay marriage and a majority of Republicans oppose even things like civil unions. It's cousin religious prejudice is there when people rant about American Muslims as if they agree with Al-Qaeda.
Is it so crazy to think racism plays a role in the ridiculously disproportionate fear and hatred of Obama? Is it so crazy to think it plays a role in people's opposition to universal health care? (They think it takes money from "us" and gives it to "them.") Is it so crazy to hear the racism implied in the sentiment "we want our country back?" Or in the hysterical fears about what happens in a generation when America is no longer majority-white?
No, racism is out there and still a very relevant feature of American politics. It's just that you can't get away with saying anything overt now. You're a fool if you think just because people aren't saying it they aren't thinking it, though.
Didn't you grow up in yeshivas? Didn't you see blatant racism all the time there?
I do not disagree with what you wrote here but what does that have to do with what I said? I said that there are people who like to cry "racist" at any opportunity that they get, as well as "sexist" and "homophobic" (example, Keith Olberman). And then I said that it is these kinds of people who discourage me from accepting something as racism because they use racism as a motive in so many cases when it is not. That was my entire argument. I do not really see how to connect what you wrote with what I wrote.
ReplyDeleteMy argument was that the people you think are just crying racist at any opportunity might be just calling it like it is. I guess we'd have to move on to specific instances if you want to continue.
ReplyDelete"My argument was that the people you think are just crying racist at any opportunity might be just calling it like it is. I guess we'd have to move on to specific instances if you want to continue.":
ReplyDeleteI am surprised that you would ask me for specific instances. All you have to do is be a litte observant about what goes on the news (if you happen to watch them - if you are fortunate like me not to watch them). You really have no idea what I am talking about? You never notice it yourself? Okay here are some instances:
1)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPjPLIVZ2Pg - Keith finally realized to call someone every possibly "ist" that there is.
2)Someone made a comment about a terrible airport system by referring to it as something we expect to see in Africa. This was some sort of panel for discussion. And for a long time the entire discussion whether something like this was racism or not. This was on a news program that I am sure you do not have.
3)Just consider the Rand Paul story, I think that is an excellent example. Because you can twist what Rand says into sounding like he is in favor of Jim Crow. And that is exactly what much of the news were about. This is what made me lose so much respect for people on the left because I realized that if you give these people a chance to cry racism they would, they would be happy to cry racism at a chance like this. But in all seriousness, if one really intellectually considers what Rand said, there is nothing racist to it at all. Why was this the #1 story for a week or so?
4)Then there was some story concerning Harry Reid. I do not even know what it is. I do not know a single detail of that story. But I am assured it was some silly attempt by people to accuse another of racism.
5)Consider the cartoons in NY Times, or whatever the magazine was, that drew Barak as a monkey. The implication was obviously that what he did was stupid. But no, not good enough for the people on the news, for them it is the #1 story to go after the artist. They must twist something, which had no racism to begin with, into some vile and evil attempt by the artist. When we draw pictures of Bush as a monkey that is okay, no one says that is racism. No one says that is racism to white people. But when we draw a monkey caricature of Barack, oh my science, it must mean that it is racism based.
These stories go on and on and on. Can you understand that all of these stories are ridiculous attempts to accuse someone of racism? And if you agree with that statement. Can you agree that if constantly see these stories on the news then it would make sense why I would be discouraged from seeing the news and why I would not take these people, like Keith, who accuse someone of racism, in a seriousy manner? If you do then that is exactly what my point was with my post.