Liberal's Horsehair Shirts
--Scene on the third day of the Los Angeles riots
following the Zimmerman acquittal. The story calls them
"demonstrators" and the peace sign is nice, but note the
rioters in the background.
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee,
Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven
--Matthew 18:22, KJV
There is no political solution
To our troubled evolution
Have no faith in constitution
There is no bloody revolution
--Spirits in the Material World,
The Police
And now it's all right. It's OK.
And you may look the other way.
We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man
--Stayin' Alive, Bee Gees
_______________________
following the Zimmerman acquittal. The story calls them
"demonstrators" and the peace sign is nice, but note the
rioters in the background.
Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee,
Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven
--Matthew 18:22, KJV
There is no political solution
To our troubled evolution
Have no faith in constitution
There is no bloody revolution
--Spirits in the Material World,
The Police
And now it's all right. It's OK.
And you may look the other way.
We can try to understand
The New York Times' effect on man
--Stayin' Alive, Bee Gees
_______________________
Almost no one has addressed the concerns in the previous two posts (Zimmerman Lynch Mob; Oh, Man), which is the way the press and the media are shaping, dividing and entrenching you. Oh, and let us not forget "distract".
The presentation over the hawked party line, and those liberals who march in lock-step ... they are creating nothing new, and are simply regurgitating their own brand of hatred. The sheer power of their only partially-informed outrage is astounding.
Friend BadTux is the pied piper for many who wish to fashion this sideshow into some sort of legitimate dialog on race. I appreciate his concern for racial bigotry, which is an ugly and persistent thing which is the sole domain of no class, race or religion. In his comments he shares specifics of what it was like (presumably) for him growing up black in America.
Certainly most of us born without a silver spoon in our mouth -- which would be most of the people taking time to blog -- could share similar stories of injustice. Surely my grandparents, parents and I all have our tales of woe. But I see the tragedy inherent in your trying to out-tragedy me, BadTux, and you fail to see that.
You also note the familiar sociological phenomenon of youth "trying on" other identities. Certainly not all young women who don Beyonce's or Lady GaGa's bling are hootchie mamas, and not all young men whose drawers fall mid-thigh will be robbing a bank, but what precisely are you defending? The male gansta culture is steeped in an angry, misogynistic attitude -- are you suggesting that we forbear the young men who "try it on for size" and "scuffle" with us? Should we allow our heads to be bashed on concrete due to the societal burden into which they have been born? Jesus may have turned his cheek 7 times 70, but not many of us are He.
The liberal news service I mentioned failed to publish my comment questioning the violence in the Good Liberal's responses, but did see fit to publish letters calling for Z.'s murder. This is a blatant contradiction, and a hatred which is not any liberalism familiar to me. (In addition, The Good Liberals at that site have published the most slanderous anti-Semitic screeds I've read this side of the century, yet they will not brook censure from an outsider.)
I see these too-many liberals for what they are, full of ugly sound and fury, signifying nothing. They stand revealed in The Emperor's New Clothes. Ranger says to me, "Let's stick to military matters"; I respond, "This is a war, too, and probably a more relevant one to most people's lives. This incident reveals that there is a war on in the media and the press for your mind and your very soul (if you are so inclined.)"
The power of bigotry and blind hate is seductive,winning over most people -- liberals and conservatives, alike. The jagged energy that fuels the many makes me cringe. You are the bright people, the intellectual and involved ones. You are probably not the ones pulling the strings in society, but you have the capacity for reason; sadly, it does not seem as though you are engaging it.
In Violence Unveiled, author Gil Baile makes a strong argument for our being at a crossroads regarding how we view violence. He argues that Christianity ushered in reverence for the meek and compassion for the scapegoat. Our collective guilt and shame makes liberals forbear any burden imposed by those whom they identify as having been dealt with roughly. At the same time, we are reckoning with the admiration of violence as a mechanism for group catharsis and purification. Baile's book is based upon the provocative theories of anthropological philosopher Rene Girard.
One cannot hold bile and hatred -- not even for the right side -- and be balanced and healthy. You are either conflicted or in automaton form, and the best you may achieve is an artful presentation of your anger.
[correction: blogger BadTux writes that he is not black.]
Labels: liberal bias, liberal bile, trayvon martin george zimmerman, zimmerman trial
posted by Lisa at 2:47 PM
23 Comments:
The first three letters of the word "assume" are ASS, which is apt because that is what people who assume usually make of themselves. And if you wonder why I am chortling about some of the ASSumptions you made, you'll have to read why at my own blog (which was *not* a response to this post, I posted that yesterday afternoon, well before this post went active).
I'm not a woman and I have no personal experience with what it feels like to be called a slut or whore because of the dress I'm wearing, or fearing to walk some places after dark because a rapist may be lurking, and there are no organizations devoted to the proposition that I must be forced at gunpoint to bear the child of a rapist. But I am certainly capable of empathizing enough to know that being a woman in America, while better than in most other nations, is still not the same as being a man in America -- it implies there are places you can't go, things you can't do, laws that apply disproportionately to you rather than to males. It is sad to note that there are some who refuse to apply that same lesson to race. But so it goes.
I would go so far as to say that race and especially Racism 2.0, are the new flag (like patriotism and religion) in which the scoundrels cloak themselves.
And the bottom line is always power and the trappings thereof.
Let me ask... If and when the ogre of scary Hispanics shooting black babies, and blacks shooting white babies, coalesces into the determination to 'do something', and give up a little mooooooore liberty in the name of security, and the laws get rolled back beyond Jim Crow to pre Magna Carta (chattel/property of the Crown) days...
Do you think that Diane Feinstein, or Eric Holder, or Rosie O'Donnell will go around unprotected by arms?
Cholo, interesting that you mention the ogre of scary brown people shooting people of other shades of brown. Especially since the crime statistics show that most crimes are committed against people of the same race (the percentage of crimes by black criminals against whites is 1/3rd of what math would predict if black criminals were race-neutral in who they victimized). But math is hard. And ignorance of math makes it easy to stampede the populace into making stupid choices. And racist hate-mongering -- raising the ogre of scary brown people who want to rape our women and children -- is such an easy way to scare people. Even if crime is declining. Even if the percentage of crimes by black people against white people shows that they *don't* target white people. Because racism is built into our genomes, I suspect -- all of us fear the "other", it dates all the way back our gorilla ancestors, who lived in prides of apes led by alpha males and the "other" was to be hated and reviled because they were eating fruits that were *ours*, and the response to seeing the "other" was to throw feces and hoot and howl. It's *easy* to reach that prehistoric hind brain. Which is why demagogues throughout history have tried to get their populace to be a bunch of racists, because that lets them scare the populace into giving more power to the demagogues. Sounds like the history of my home state of Louisiana, now that I think about it...
BT,
I have made no assumptions, save for presuming you were speaking about your experience (it was actually Jim who told me you were black.) In truth, I would not have made that presumption were it not for his statement; thank you for clarifying that you may or may not be black.
When a student at FAMU, I gave a presentation on Zora Neale Hurston's "Their Eyes Were Watching God." Afterwards, a cohort of students followed me asking, "How could you get that so right -- how did you understand her plight?"
I responded with Sojourner Truth's, "Ain't I a Woman?" It was a learning moment for us. Of course as a compassionate human we can understand the others position; however, we can never live it, no?
I presume you feel vindicated for my (incorrect?) presumption of your race, but even if it was not correct, my initial observations on the press today, stand.
BT if you're real good for the rest of the year I'll get you this for Christmas:
http://whitegirlbleedalot.com/
It's a pretty good read, IMO.
BadTux, I note a bit of testiness with that comment. I have always enjoyed your writing and only hope it won't follow-through any more than it needs to.
As for the (Capitalist) media, well, I hope we all know by now who its owned by and what its purposes are. But I'm not disagreeing with you on Establishment Liberals.
Writer Chris Hedges ended up breaking with their ranks when he saw through them; especially their position on race. His journey is elucidated in his recent interviews with TRNN and its a series (not yet finished) that so far is definitely worth seeing to the end.
BT,
I made the error of believing you to be a grown up gangsta, and so i told Lisa that you are a Black dude.
I ASSUMED that no white dude could be so self loathing.
If you want to hang your hat on something, why not fixate on Rwanda or Darfur. Zimbabwe might be a good choice also.
jim
THis is interesting - in a very kind of way - too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRuSS0iiFyo
1. If George's last name was "Gonzales" or similar, we would have not heard much at all about this incident.
2. In the 503 days from the said incident and the trial result, nearly 11,000 African American men were murdered by other AA men in the US.
3. Can you name ONE of those near eleven thousand?
C.
I love it. Any Jew who criticizes the behavior of the State of Israel towards non-Jews is a "self-hating Jew", and any white person who criticizes the behavior of white people towards people of color is a "self-hating white person". Wow. Glad to know that. It's utter bunk and nonsense of course, just a cheap rhetorical stunt to attempt to shut down conversation that you don't want to have (because it makes you uncomfortable, clearly, else you would not be resorting to cheap rhetorical stunts like that), but since you clearly don't want to have to conversation, I'll let you be.
-BT
BT,
Now you got me all confused.
Easy to do with a old guy.
You can't talk too well with me , but yet you claim that you can talk to gang bangers.I'd like to see that interaction on a dark inner city street.
All i was trying to say is that you jumped in Lisa's shit for making assumptions, and i was the guilty party.
I made the assumption b/c of your comments, which were easy to confuse your race.
Now maybe we should discuss gender:)
jim
jim
In case you're wondering how to talk to a thug:
1) Don't, unless you have some reason to do so as part of your official government duties.
2) Be polite and mild-mannered, explain what business you're about, do it, and leave. You're not there to engage in a penis-measuring exercise, you're there to get something done -- enumerate how many people were in the house on March 15 2010, deliver a letter from the school district to a parent, or whatever reason you have for being there.
3) Leave once you've done what you need to do. Real thugs -- the kind who do drive-by shootings and sell street drugs -- are not people to chit-chat with. They're high-strung and easy to offend.
But Trayvan Martin was not a thug, he was a teenage adolescent still in the process of growing up. You still want to be polite and even-tempered talking to a Trayvan, but if you can't talk a Trayvan down, you have no business being called an adult. Yes I had training in how to de-escalate what they called "situations", but hardly a lot, it was mostly common sense. In the end it's all about treating a kid (or an adult like the one that everybody in one small town told me not to go to his house because he had a bad habit of shooting at government employees) like a human being rather than a criminal. Believe it or not, people often live up (or down) to the way they're treated. Just sayin'.
BT, so what do we do when thugs enter our neighborhood? Cower in fear? Cross the street so as to avoid them?
This latter is problematic, isn't it? Someone like you would then be complaining that someone crossed the street to avoid "a black person". But what to do when so many blacks imitate the dress, speech and gestures of thugs (e.g. gangsta rap/gang bangers)? How do we know if we should take the risk that the people heading towards us are not thugs? Why on god's green earth should we have to take that risk?
Unlike you, I don't freakin' care if some afro gets upset because we crossed the street to avoid him. That's his problem for looking like his thuggish bros. If he walked straight and talked straight and dressed more upscale, we'd probably stop and say hello.
I don't understand why you get so upset about it.
Why make excuses for these people? They are their own worst enemies and you would seek to help them continue.
Just for kicks I have let my hair grow out. It's about shoulder length now; little more actually. Sometimes I wear dirty jeans and a t-shirt after farm work. People say I have the body of a body builder and I am told that I exude an air of calm confidence. So I recognize that a muscular long haired man dressed like a rough neck walking erect down the street is intimidating or scary to some - like a wayward barbarian in their midst. I have already seen that people react to me much differently than when I was high and tight and all Brooks Bothers. People are only put at ease when I smile and say "hello" in a clearly friendly and honest manner.
The difference between me and your blacks is that I recognize this and I don't blame the good folks of small town for being prejudiced against the log haired me on first sight. Your blacks are whiny boys and girls that want their gangsta cake and eat too. They scream discrimination because they are too lazy to clean themselves up and they just to get paid for doing nothing except being black.
Those of us who live in big cities know how to walk down a street without being afraid of everybody we see, "no one". Sorry to hear you don't know how to do so.
You have a choice as to how you dress and how you wear your hair. A black man does not have a choice as to what color his face is. When the D.C. police detained Attorney General Holder for running to get to a theater show on time, they weren't looking at his dress (business casual) or his hair (high and tight). They were looking at the color of his face.
I believe that the choice that many young black men make to dress in the garb of thugs is a bad choice. I do, however, make some attempt to understand why they do it (i.e., "if I'm going to be treated like a thug anyhow because of the color of my face, I might as well dress like one"). That ability to understand behavior without condoning it does not appear to be in your skill set. Too bad.
BT, I am not afraid of everyone I see and I not infrequently go to the big city. I am, however, aware that some people are dangerous and I will not take risks; especially if my wife is with me.
You are seriously down playing crime statistics that show that black on white violence is way higher and way more likely than white on black violence. Read "White Girl Bleed A Lot".
Also, you might be interested to know that I was born in, and lived in, a very big city until I was 19 years old. I know very well that there are neighborhood dividing lines that are like a DMZ. These are always along racial/ethnic divides. You don't cross them and, if you do, it is a very real risk of physical harm or death. All of the major cities have these.
IMO, you, yourself, are confusing understanding why people do what they do (psych profile) with accepting what they do/excuse making. It's as if you think that by engaging in the former you must then do the latter. Whereas I am, indeed, able to do the former without taking the step to the latter.
As evidence, I hear you saying quite a bit about why black people do what they do, but you condemn white people for doing what they do in response. Why no understanding for the whites?
Also, with regards to Holder being stopped by police for running to a theater, I don't put much stock in such tales of minor woe. This is something he said at a NAACP conference. Who knows if it's true or if he's just trying to build his cred.s and whip up the base. I note that a google search on the topic reveals many more hits concerning Holder having people arrested for exercising their rights.
Even if true, so what? Plenty of white folk - myself included - have been stopped and questioned by police for doing the same kind of thing. It proves nothing. They didn't drag him over to a tree and lynch him or anything.
Was he arrested for being a member of a radical black org. that illegally took over an ROTC building?
The guy becomes AG of the US and he still complains that he is oppressed by prejudice. What a piece of work. More whiney I wants to get paid cuz I black behavior.
And I'll tell you something else. That behavior has gone too far and it's going to set blacks back a long way. Dem.s will lose the mid terms and the next POTUS elections because of it.
BTW, just when I thought the T/Z thing couldn't get any more out of control weird:
http://freebeacon.com/irans-mullahs-demand-justice-for-trayvon/
politics makes for strange bed-companions.
No1,
yeah, give me a break on the Holder tale of woe.
When's the last time any of the top dogs went anywhere w/o their protective services details. Or their drivers?
these guys are worse than 60's rock stars.
jim
well, I am not from your country so dont call me a Dem, or Repub. Wasnt a kid walking back to his fathers place, by all accounts having done nothing wrong when some armed man started stalking him first in a car, then on foot?
Then by all acounts got right in his face, and I bet that man looked pretty big and intimidating to a teenager...where was his right to stand his ground...seems to me the lesson is he should have been packing himself....maybe thats the lesson here, everybody should carry. I have a feeling this only happened because Zimmermon thought he alone was armed and could back stop the situation to his own advantage.
Anon. that is the story that certain interest groups want you to believe. It is not the story that was revealed in trial.
Could you please direct me to the trial transcripts so I can read them myself. Thanks
No1, Holder was a federal prosecutor at the time. Federal prosecutors don't have security details. So let me get this straight. You're saying that racism -- judging people on the color of their face, not on their character -- is fine, as long as racists don't actually *kill* black people but merely follow them around or stop them for running while brown, driving while brown, shopping while brown, and etc.? That's what you're saying? And you just called the Attorney General of the United States a liar? But wait, I forgot, all those darkies are liars. Alrighty then :).
Regarding crime statistics, I don't rely on hate-mongering books with an agenda to sell. I have the official FBI crime statistics. They're on the Internet, y'know. What they say is that if you are a white person, being assaulted by a black person is 47% less likely than the percentage of crimes committed by black people would suggest. Doesn't exactly suggest that black people are targeting white people :).
But wait, the FBI is biased and is lying, and a book that hyperventilates and sensationalizes is more correct than the FBI. Alrighty, then!
Finally, regarding some neighborhoods, if you don't have business there, don't go there, because they're dangerous places. That's regardless of your skin color. There's also some white neighborhoods in the rural South where I would not suggest that you wander because when they identify you as an outsider there at a time when you shouldn't be there, they might kill you just on general principle. I know this is true because they are my relatives. The woods are big, and they know them well...
"You're saying that racism -- judging people on the color of their face, not on their character...."
Negative. I am saying that just because a person is dark and gets stopped doesn't mean the stop was because he was dark. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
That said, read your FBI stat.s and tell me who is most likely to commit violent crimes (or easy to make stick arrests) and then explain to me why LE wouldn't develop a profile that tends to point to minorities such that they would keep a closer eye on them.
The book is a bit hyperbolic. Still it should suggest to you that hate crimes cut both ways. The events described therein are not fiction.
"Finally, regarding some neighborhoods..........."
What about when they leave those neighborhoods which are often in close proximity to decent citizens in their neighborhoods. Why tolerate those 3rd world neighborhoods within our cities at all?
The boys from Deliverance generally don't spread their violence to upstanding neighborhoods. They stay in the backwoods.
Post a Comment
<< Home