Thursday, March 20, 2008

Race-Baiting Bastards

I'm pissed.

I'm sick of having the race card in play every day in this damned election. My breaking point was Tuesday evening on a liberal blog (on which I left a pretty nasty comment despite liking the blogger on a more personal level) when I read a line there from some dickhead named John Nichols:
The Illinois senator recognized that the media-driven dialogue about sermons delivered by Wright had little to do with the content of the pastor's words and everything to do with the color of the pastor's -- and the candidate's -- skin.
I had already composed yesterday's post by then and was listening to the third straight hour of the Obama/Wright controversy covered from every conceivable angle. And I hit my boiling point. Because that is a quote that speaks to how too many stupid people focus on race above anything else. And they they bitch because it always comes down to race.

I have never been, am not, and will never be a racist. Yet that bullshit infers that I, because of my anger over the sermons, am focusing on race rather than the words. So if you think I'm a racist you're a moron and should have some battery acid with your Kool-Aid.

And this is the problem that results. White Americans are made to feel as though we are racist by default. We have to watch what we think, what we say, and it boils over in a few quarters into bad attitudes. Meanwhile, those who pretend to champion the cause of the black man keep this racial garbage in the mix by viewing every single thing through the prism of race. And I want to personally tell every one of these race-baiting bastards to go to Hell and die, because they are the reason for continuing racism in this country.

Naturally, I have the answer though, so listen up. Everybody has to eat a shit sandwich in their lives now and then. People who succeed polish off the sandwich and get to eating something better. But if you dwell on having to eat the shit sandwich, all you will do is succeed in reminding yourself that your breath smells like crap.

So let's just stop it. Eliminate talking about race in every damned thing you can. I avoid it like the plague most of the time because I hate talking about race. Because all it does is gin up resentment and anger. This whole post came about because I was pissed about race wars. And I don't want to do it anymore. So comment if you want, but don't expect me to be friendly if you want to keep going on about race.

And if you still think I'm a racist, Alzheimer's would probably improve your personality.

6 comments:

Dionne said...

Yes, the race card is getting very old.

Shaw Kenawe said...

I have never been, am not, and will never be a racist. Yet that bullshit infers that I, because of my anger over the sermons, am focusing on race rather than the words. So if you think I'm a racist you're a moron and should have some battery acid with your Kool-Aid.

That quote by Nichols is not about you, Patrick. It's about the "...media-driven dialogue about sermons delivered by Wright..."

Why would that make you upset. Nichols is criticizing the MEDIA for playing the video non-stop for hours, showing Obama's black minister railing and calling down imprecations against America. I also think Nichols is referring to what I have said again and again:

Plenty of white evangelical preachers have condemned, CONDEMNED America for what they see as her sins (for the conservatives it is legal abortion and not allowing prayer in public schools, for example. For black ministers, it's the way blacks have been treated in the past and even now in the present.)

This is anger being expressed by both communities at America. And no one can deny Wright's complaints of racism in the past.

The beauty in Obama's speech was where he said that Wright makes a mistake by not acknowledging that we have made tremendous strides in our racial problems. Tremendous.

That was the healing part. And also Obama had the grace and insight to understand how resentments can build in the white community when it perceives injustices against them. (Because he is both black and white.)

These are all legitimate and pressing concerns in both communities. And Obama gave us an opportunity to listen to him and think about ways of coming together to solve these problems and move forward.

He spoke to us as though we were intelligent and thoughtful people.

I hope the country is worthy of his belief.

As to your piss-offedness over race being brought up all the time, well, unfortunately, that is a fact of our culture. I'm afraid it will take a few more generations to overcome the stain of slavery.

My hope is in people like Obama, and Tiger Woods, who show us that it is their achievements that count, and not their racial mix.

My hope is also in my racially mixed niece, who will, if this country has the courage, grow up in a racially blind America.

Patrick M said...

Nichols is criticizing the MEDIA for playing the video non-stop for hours...

I think that's one of the two reasons this video gets the airplay. Because there's plenty of it and because the media is in the business of getting viewers.

As for the race issue, I think it's not the media driving the racial component. Again, they have video that will spark controversy, they will play it.

I wish they had been playing just audio clips, and no one knew what race Obama, Clinton or Wright were. Then we could have the discussion without the race element being brought up.

And the harshest critic of Wright that I have heard (Hannity, in this case) have said nothing specifically about racism as far as I've heard, until the racial component was flung into it. And then they were clear that it was his words.

As for the continuing state of race relations, you could probably generate electricity off Martin Luther King Jr's body at the speed it is spinning.

That's what pisses me off.

Toad734 said...

You should see this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v215/waymjoh/RaceRace.jpg

And for the record, it wasn't Obama who played the race card. Until someone found something his retired pastor said 8 years ago he had left it alone.

Patrick M said...

Toad, I never said it was Obama who played the race card. To his credit, he's minimized his use of race until this situation.

But that cartoon is the exact mindset that fucks the black community on a regular basis.

It may have been truth in the 1760's.
It may have been truth in the 1860's.
It may have been truth in the 1960's.

Today, it's more of an excuse than anything else. And it's enabling that mindset to continue. That's the fuel that keeps the race whores, the race-baiting bastards, and the racist pieces of shit in business.

And perhaps that's your problem as well....

Toad734 said...

Your blind if you don't see how that still affects America. Though I am not one of them, there are plenty of white people in this country who still owe their success and wealth to the success of their parents, their grandparents and even their great grandparents. Many of these great grandparents made their money off the backs of slaves. To say things are now equal because black people have the right to vote is naive. So you really think that someone whose great grandparents who owned a huge plantation and got rich and passed on that wealth down to his heirs, who could all afford to be educated and had years to make political connections, has no advantage over a black guy whose great grandparents were owned by guy number 1? No wealth, no eductaion, no power to pass down. And you think they each have the same opportunity? And and the one with the slave grandparents is still black and the schools he used to go to were shut down because we had wars and corporate welfare to pay for.

Sure, a non WASP named Kennedy became President, a half black guy now has the chance to become President but to think that becaus Oprah did it anyone can do it is again, naive.

This isn't to say that you just say fuck it and hand them welfare and not expect anything but i'm just saying that most of these people never had the ivory tower from which you are speaking from.