Comments Posted By The Rollator
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I wonder if Obama was plotting the character assassinatin of Joe the Plumber over his dinner of lobster and Iranian caviar at the Waldorf Astoria last night.
What a guy.
Comment Posted By The Rollator On 17.10.2008 @ 08:24
TIME TO FORGET MCCAIN AND FIGHT FOR THE FILIBUSTER IN THE SENATE
Obama seems to be the likely winner, unless there is something unusual I'm missing. But I just don't see his coat tails being that long. The Democrats may pick up seats, but I don't think it's going to be a rout--those folks saying it's going to be a rout need to take a look at congressional approval numbers--and a few "safe" Democrats may even get handed their walking papers, even as Obama takes the Whitehouse.
I the there is much dissatisfaction out there with the status quo as there is with the Bush Whitehouse.
Comment Posted By The Rollator On 16.10.2008 @ 08:32
BLACK NIGHT RIDERS TERRORIZING OUR POLITICS
Man, the stuff going on in these comments just proves Rick's point.
@chuck tuscon: "Something to purge those deep down feelings that you fear might surface. I don’t believe any of what you just said.The only thing you forgot was to say, 'I’ve got some black friends.'"
What's the point of that comment, except to imply that Lionheart is, to some degree, being racist--and expect that that supposed racism can be used to silence or discredit his point. It's an immediate example of exactly what Rick was talking about.
@will: "America is still filled with racism. Neither Dr.Wright nor Farakhan ancestors institutionalized racism in America."
Good golly. What does that even mean? Black Panthers who advocated that the oppressed brother rise-up and kill whitey may not have been able to "institutionalize" the sentiment, and may not have been that great on the execution, and may have even had some sort of legitimate grievance behind wanting to kill whitey--but that doesn't make any less racists.
Black Africans were sold as slaves to European and Portuguese traders by other Black Africans. Thus, the initiators and enablers of slavery were black Africans that, from their perspective, saw slavery as a convenient way to make money, consolidate power, or dispose of enemies while building trade alliances, rather than a racial issue, per se. Surely, if the ancestors of white folks (many of whom did not participate in slave ownership, many of whom actively opposed it, as did their fathers and fathers' fathers, and many of whom trace their ancestry to Europe or elsewhere after slavery ended in America) are guilty by derivation, those Black Africans--and their ancestors--and the middle-eastern and indo-European and South Americans who also participated--are as guilty of the institution of slavery as white folks are today. But, for the most part, only one particular ancesteral group gets the blame.
I ramble. I just don't see it as being a clear cut issue that African Americans, presently or ancestorly, as a collective group are somehow innocent on all fonts by group association, while caucasians are guilty on all fronts, due to group association.
Unfortunately, the pendulum swings. It never stops in the middle. There was slavery, there was Jim Crow, there were Whites Only drinking fountains. And don't forget, an entire dominant political party--the Democrats--that referred to themselves as The White Man's Party.
Now, the pendulum has swung. Just as a little caucasian baby born a few moments ago is born into the original sin of racism (one for which there is no redemption, apparently), there will never be a point where whites won't be racists and African Americans won't be aggrieved victims. Racism is essentially defined as being white and ever disagreeing with or disobeying a black person. I expect, eventually, the pendulum will swing again, but somehow I'm dubious that the disagreements and the antipathy and the accusations will go away.
BTW, describing racism as "institutionalized" has become a rhetorical trick that says hateful race-based rhetoric from black people, or from white people speaking against white people, is okay, but criticism of liberal African Americans is racism.
I'm betting Obama is going to win. And if we think we're racists now, just wait until we've had 4 years of Obama. We'll find out how racist we really are.
One thing I do agree with Chuck Tuscon about. Anybody who thinks race is not a huge factor in this election (or won't be afterwards) is in major denial.
Comment Posted By The Rollator On 15.10.2008 @ 13:57
