Cain and racism: headline vs. content
The CNN headline screams “Cain: Racism not holding anyone back.” Inflammatory words, although Cain—as a black man himself—is probably one of the few people who wouldn’t be immediately disqualified from office for saying them.
But did he say them? Nope:
“I don’t believe racism in this country today holds anybody back in a big way,” Cain said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “Are there some elements of racism? Yes. It gets back to if we don’t grow this economy, that is a ripple effect for every economic level, and because blacks are more disproportionately unemployed, they get hit the worst when economic policies don’t work. That’s where it starts.”
The gist of the rest of Cain’s remarks is that although there’s a residual amount of racism, it’s not a big factor for most people, who sometimes use it as an excuse for their failure to achieve. And that lack of education and concentration in economically distressed cities such as Detroit are other factors.
Today’s racism requires only that a person doesn’t transfers blame.
John McWhorter said about the same thing. Say it to a liberal and you get outraged incredulity: “You’re saying racism doesn’t exist?!?!”
Several years ago, Michelle Malkin was at Oberlin College about a book she had written, mostly about how vile liberals were in discussing issues, using their e-mails to her as examples.
Problem is…Oberlin has been dining out on their creditable fight with slave catchers about a century and a half ago. The entire thrust of the questions from the audience was about racism, which, among other things, was so rampant that it couldn’t even be seen. Nothing to do with her book.
These kids are being groomed to fight racism and if it doesn’t exist, they’ll be like the comic bit in a movie where a character runs at a door supposedly locked just as somebody opens it from the inside. If racism didn’t exist, it would have to be invented.
1. By no means do we live in a perfect meritocracy, but IMHO the following is a defensible statement by and large:
In today’s America, people who invoke bigotry as an excuse or as a reason for entitlement are doing themselves, and the country, more harm than good.
2. Richard Aubrey Says:
If racism didn’t exist, it would have to be invented.
New formulations are being invented all the time. I’ve read–didn’t save the link, sorry–that it’s racist to advocate a colorblind society. In some quarters, questioning AGW or gay marriage is comparable to racism. Academic speech codes. Not being “inclusive”; failure to celebrate diversity. Etc etc etc.
The lack of education, etc. is the result of the new Black culture since the ’60s. It is a culture, and I needn’t be an anthropologist to say that.
I caught a bit of PBS today on Montgomery AL in 1961, in which the most interesting factoid was that MLK, in the besieged church, was on the phone with RFK, the then-AG. On the phone! Let’s see if Holder will talk to any one us today. About anything.
But 50 yrs later the theme is still the white Southern bigots, brought to us in part by our tax dollars. I believe times have changed a little in the interval.
For sheer stupidity, I mean the type of stupidity that leaves slack jawed yokels saying, shiiiyat, you’ve got to watch the video where Rep. Lewis is denied a chance to speak. Wow.
If anything shows the mindless nature of your college educated zombie, this does. It’s disgusting to see human beings acting like robots.
I’m wondering if there will be a racism charge against the “occupiers?”
From Instapundit:
‘RACISM! David Bernstein on yesterday’s Smithsonian attack: “Pictures from the Washington Post show almost entirely white protestors. They attacked African American guards who tried to keep them out of the Smithsonian. Imagine the media reaction if a gang of tea partiers had assaulted a bunch of African Americans.” ‘
Wasn’t it in DC where they hired some minorities to give their protests a little “diversity”?
I can’t sit through the whole video of John Lewis denied to speak. Anyone point me to the approx time frame where they all drink the koolaid and groan in unison?
I am really warming up to Cain, his speech at the values voter meeting was superb, ho would box Obama ears in a debate. If you haven’t seen it is worth your time:
At the 1:34 mark in the video here:
http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/SummitAfter&showFullAbstract=1
Ted Cruz starts before him at 1:18 and is worth watching also, I have a feeling we will be seeing much more of him in the future.
Southern Blacks live at the tale end of a shame culture, which requires that shame be off-loaded, somehow. Saying that racism is an excuse, as many of my BUPPIE friends do, indeed, say, puts it in a moral framework, but this excuse-making is more a pathology than a moral failure. Trying to change this thing by a frontal (moral) assault, is futile, and maybe downright cruel.
My wife wants to know in re the city “occupiers” — aren’t these much the same people who protest the Palestinian “occupation” by Israel? Aren’t these folks the ones who equate occupation with evil?
I guess that, as with so many other things, it matters who your target is. Occupation isn’t bad if we’re taking back Wall Street from the evil bankers. White people preventing a black man from speaking is understandable, if he’s about to fill their ears with hateful conservatism. Republicans can’t use a symbol that looks like a target without being called murderers, while Democrats can use openly violent metaphors — and these silly “occupiers” can go further with their “eat the rich” slogans — and never get called on it. (Talk about “the soft bigotry of low expectations”…)
Racism now, racism tomorrow, racism forever!
Or, accurately formulated:
Race card now, race-baiting tomorrow, race industry forever!
Casual prejudice as satirized by the late Carroll O’Connor will probably always be with us. Often it’s bad, sometime it’s borne out of unfortunate experience, always the attempts to root it out reek of fascism far more real than the “anti-racists” warn against. In any case, it’s distinct from institutional racism.
Institutional racism in the U.S. of A. died out de facto when non-whites became managers, mayors, commanding officers and secretaries of state (the last example, under Bush the Younger). It ended de jure when Obama became president.
That’s a fact. An indisputable fact. Consequently, I submit that anyone who still believes in institutional racism in the U.S.A. after the election of Obama is a Marxist and, in a reasonable world, would be charged with treason.
For decades, when Arab “intellectuals” have written against the normalization of the relations between the Jewish State and the Arab world, they have railed against normalization for “uprooting the hatred of the Arab toward the Zionist, without which he cannot muster the will to fight the oppressor.” The Marxist perpetuation, nay, jealous guarding of the Race Card and their race-hatred is of the same nature: It is for the purpose of keeping the fire of the Marxists’ Manichean struggle against their Western, Bible-clinging, Capitalist enemies. There can be no greater sin in Marxist eyes than any suggestion that this war is over, that organizations and caucuses that have had their entire being in this fight can now do nothing but close shop.
That is what fuels the internationalist fascists’ fury most of all.
Deep Planet Six, chapter 6: Stink Babies
President Stink Baby was not happy. He very seldom was. He had been a good stink baby, he thought. He had smiled for the cameras, cooed and held out his arms for hugs and kisses, but now no one loved him.
President Stink Baby was very wilfull. He liked what he liked but what he liked often changed. He knew what he didn’t like: work and schedules and most of all, things he couldn’t understand. When that happened the scientists were called in to reformulate the theories to President Stink Baby’s satisfaction.
Stink baby was Dr. Crock’s (the renowned scientist)”live baby well” program. Babies, said Dr. Crock, were only good and if their natural wants and desires were in any way threatened or denied, harm would occur. If, said Dr. Crock, we can keep babies from being harmed, the world would soon experience peace and harmony.
The young toddlers soon learned they were in control and resisted changing and training. This was allowed. As a natural result, insensitive people had adopted the cruel practice of referring to Dr. Crock’s live well babies as stink babies. The stink babies had a formula for that: make every baby a stink baby, ooops, a “live well baby” and the baddies would go away. It was simple and to the stink babies, genius.
It is a pleasure to watch Mr. Cain because while watching, one knows one is watching a good man. When a man is a good man, what emanates from him is the goodness. Race is incidental: you don’t think, oh, I am watching a good white man or oh, I am watching a good black man.
When a person is, instead, steeped in the culture of his whiteness or blackness, then race becomes prominent. Race leads. That is not good, whether from a white or a black.
Say to those who see race: Let’s be humans, not racists.
MT. If they did, they’d be out of a job. Think Jesse Jackson wants to make his living runnng a church and preaching at weddings and funerals?
RA: I have faith that all people wish to find balance. I keep that faith, even for misguided racists. : )
There are better ways to earn a living than to be a racist.
There is redemption: after all, I was once a registered Democrat. : )
I sometimes think it infuriates leftist at how thoroughly America has left its racist past.
1965- How dare you notice my ethnicity.
2011- How dare you not notice my ethnicity.
MT. I call that real faith. As in, without or even in contradiction to empirical reality.
“balance” means what, exactly? Rhetorical, but you see where I’m going.
And “better” way of making a living is usually defined by the person doing it. Such as JJ, who is apparently living out his dream and getting rich at the same time.
balance? I think when we make up things to support our own position we can feel it inside and it is a feeling of tension rather than a feeling of ease.
I believe we all want lack of tension and the feeling of ease and openness.
That is … natual law. it comes from being fair, open, clear, kind, brave, and vigilant to the maintenance of balance.