Condescending and Patronizing White Folk.
The number of "white" people in these pages doing their darnedest to excuse away even then most absurd comments by Rev. Jeremiah Wright really does boggle the mind. Their refusal to treat him like the educated adult human being he actually is speaks volumns about their own latent prejudices. They are treating Wright like the little brother with a mental disorder who can't control everything coming out of his mouth. This is unbelievably condescending.
I suspect there is a great deal of guilt coursing through these otherwise well meaning people's veins, but really, you're not helping. You are not helping the community at large if you are forever in fear of criticising someone due to the color of their skin.
Criticising idiotic comments by Rev. Wright in no way lessens what the African American community has suffered in the last three-hundred years in America. It in no way excuses horrible injustices suffered by humans anywhere. It, also, in no way takes away from all the good done by the UCC.
The insane rhetoric in the right-wing world of FOX News shouldn't be conflated with the genuine concern of those of the secular, rational left.
Barack Obama spoke eloquently and rightly about Rev. Wright. I believe it to be a huge insult to Obama and African Americans at large to excuse away, or to explain away, or to try to understand, or to try put into context, Wright's idiotic rhetoric. Whether intentional or not, it's more than a little patronizing.
Barack Obama spoke eloquently and rightly about Rev. Wright. I believe it to be a huge insult to Obama and African Americans at large to excuse away, or to explain away, or to try to understand, or to try put into context, Wright's idiotic rhetoric. Whether intentional or not, it's more than a little patronizing.
I don't really see your point. I haven't seen anyone here defending the rhetoric about AIDS. And no one I've seen is suggesting that saying "God Damn America" makes for good politics (which is the only reason Obama is distancing himself...).
Some of Wright's rhetoric, through, isn't "idiot" at all. Most of what he said, actually, is true. At least from the snippets I saw on tv.
I think the real problem here is that the world is filled with shades of gray, and you don't seem to like that. Either Wright has to be rejected through and through, or you're a white person who's defending Wright's rhetoric only because you feel guilty from oppressing blacks for all those years.
The world, though, isn't simply one way or the other.
Wright, who's obviously a smart, accomplished person, has said some things that you -- and most everyone -- cannot understand. He isn't fitting the simplistic compartmentalization we use to to place people. He sounds like an Angry Black Man(tm), and yet, he's a preacher. He sounds like a PhD, and yet he believes AIDS was a government conspiracy.
What I am suggesting here is that, while I can't speak to every comment ever posted here, most of the people I've read who you might say are defending Wright out of guilt are perhaps not defending him, but trying to take the time to make sense of him. They are trying, instead of simply making a knee-jerk "we must reject and denounce him," are trying to see where he's coming from, and why he says the things he says. Personally, I think it's a worthwhile endeavor.
And, quite frankly, to suggest that any discussion of, or even defense of, Wright's statements and the man himself is "white guilt" is, in fact, what is patronizing and condescending.
March 17, 2008 9:54 AM | Reply | Permalink
But that's just it cscs...I can understand Wright. He's ignorant. He knows not of what he speaks.
You say "most" of what he says is true, then go on to say well, at least from the small snippets you've seen. WTF? Most?
Make sense of Wright? I can. It is the deeply condescending white defenders of his... yes idiotic... rhetoric that are unable to make sense of him.
March 17, 2008 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Most of what I saw him say in the clips they played on Countdown I think are true statements. That's what I meant.
March 17, 2008 12:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
"They are treating Wright like the little brother with a mental disorder who can't control everything coming out of his mouth. This is unbelievably condescending."
IF Wright said that whites deliberately spread AIDS to kill blacks (I still haven't seen that video), then I say he definitely has a mental disorder. How is that condescending?
Some Americans are trying to excuse Wright, but many are holding him to a far higher standard than they hold their government or media. We hear blatant lies every day from our President, our Congress, and our so-called journalists.
Demonizing Wright is just more BS. He is no worse than anyone else, and he speaks a lot of truth.
March 17, 2008 10:11 AM | Reply | Permalink
Here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ru1fpw69Fs8
March 17, 2008 1:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe it's time to recognize the presence of that 800 LB Gorilla everyone is ignoring...
Barack Obama is a mixed-race American man with deep roots in the African American community.
To say elements of the Democratic Primary are NOT about race is absurd. There is a mixed-race candidate (who is considered black by most) and a white candidate. These facts mean something to voters.
Most of the network talking heads are afraid to admit to or discuss the fact that different races of people have different priorities. That is not to say that any of them are less entitled to the rights and privileges that all American citizens should enjoy. It does mean that the majority of Americans, who ARE in fact white, are going to take notice when a popular presidential candidate loves and respects a man who hates whites at the top of his lungs.
Senator Obama's response to this crisis was predictable, as was the response of Senator Clinton to Geraldine Ferraro.
I believe Senator Obama's response to Rev. Wright's diatribes should be viewed as political medicine, and frankly, should be ignored as such. His responses change nothing.
What has emerged is the opinion that many African Americans either support the Reverend's opinions, or express that whites simply cannot understand the "spiritual ferver" experienced in many, if not most African American churches.
No doubt African Americans have experienced racism, but it is not because the United States of America made African Americans less free in my generation by law. Racism exists because whites and blacks don't have the same priorities, and the majority, in a democratic society, usually wins.
Finally, I must express that the idea that I should love and support another race and culture more than my own is ridiculous, and that I should be named a racist for such is getting old. I do not expect other races to embrace my culture either.
My problem with Barack Obama is his vague policy procalamations that MAY NOT BE in service to the majority. Because the media has not truly investigated Senator Obama, my vote is in question.
Senator Obama's response to Rev. Wright's comments are irrelevent. But the impression that Senator Obama stands by this man, speaks volumes.
March 17, 2008 6:40 PM | Reply | Permalink