McCain is racist! Video and bloggers prove it! Nooooo!
September 16, 2008
I’ve been meaning to comment on this ridiculous post I saw on Sunday at Crooks and Liars, but just never got around to it. Thank FireFox for saved tabs.
As a Doctor of Racism, and an active practitioner, I feel I should exercise my authority in this matter to squash debates that demean racists everywhere.
bluegal seems to enthusiastically agree with Commonplace Book’s assertion that the video constitutes proof that John McCain is a racist… Please view the video at either site. I’ll wait.
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Now… I don’t mean to be dismissive of novices in the field, or to intimidate, but I have been practicing racism my entire life and I did not see a single racist thing in the ad (except for an oppressive white font on a black background). I didn’t see anything racist and I’m the type of person who sees racism in the sun rising on my white neighbour’s house before mine.
The narrator is a women, not a curmudgeonly old white man (though the ad is approved by one). The ad is mostly about Barack Obama (for those keeping track, Barack Obama is black so I can assume that plays a part in the confusion) but actually says “they lashed out at Sarah Palin” while showing a picture of both Obama and Joseph Biden (who is, forgettably, white) and his/their comments about Sarah Palin being “good-looking” (like how many have noticed that Barack Obama is… “handsome” during this election cycle), doing “what she was told” (like reading speeches written by McCain’s campaign and all), and “lying” (… I’m sure everyone can think of an instance or two where she lied without my help). In response to this, the narrator says: “how disrespectful… And how Governor Palin proves them wrong every day”
True, the start and end of that statement don’t have much to do with each other. But I don’t think that’s because the start is racially prejudiced against the end.
And there’s that use of the word “them”… Do you think the narrator is referring to “they” from earlier, the pictured Obama and Biden? Or is the narrator referring to all black people (who, I guess we are to have assumed, all think Sarah Palin is good-looking or are disrespectful of her good looks or something)?
Now these bloggers have apparently latched on to the word “disrespectful” as being the smoking gun of John McCain’s / Republican’s / All White People’s racist attitudes towards Barack Obama as, of course, no black person can be accused of being disrespectful without conjuring up horrible memories of the days when black people were forced to be… disrespectful? Wait. Why the fuck can’t we accuse Barack Obama of being disrespectful without cheapening the concept of racism?
The video could not make the case more clearly that they’re accusing Barack Obama (and Joe Biden) of being disrespectful of women and, hence, SEXIST! They are saying he has been dismissive of Sarah Palin by describing her in superficial terms (good-looking), assuming that she is docile or acting on the orders of a man (doing what she’s told), and a liar (because women are all liars. Yes, I’m a sexist too. I can be two things). THAT is the “disrespectful” behaviour they are accusing Obama and Biden of and it couldn’t be more clear. The only way you could see racism in that video is if you are SO PREJUDICED AGAINST REPUBLICANS THAT YOU IMMEDIATELY SEE RACISM IN ANYTHING THEY DO THAT HAS TWO INGREDIENTS OF RACISM (ie. a black person and a white person). JOHN MCCAIN IS NOT THE KING OF RACISTS! HE DOES NOT OWN US!
So please, let’s be a little more careful next time and not confuse racism with something that isn’t. Remember, the race card is black and the gender card is pink. John McCain was playing the gender card. Remember this. We’re going to be seeing it a lot for the next two months.
Sidenote: Both posts appear to be written by white women (I believe this is a picture of bluegal here, and Steph Mineart here), so their missing the gender-baiting of the remark and seeing race-baiting would be pretty ironic if it wasn’t just so like a woman to miss the obvious.
… and the cow goes moo
That was a mostly joke post about an issue that really does bother me. However the controversy at hand is so minor, and the accusation so absurd, that the only serious reply I could make to it would be “that’s just silly”.
I do anticipate some criticism for it, but I’ll happily defend my point (or retract my errors), or even defend the validity of my jokes in this context.
But seriously, THAT’S what passes for racism now?? You really would need a fucking doctorate in Racism to catch something subtly racist in that.
… the metacow
Obama is obviously using the race card because he has a lot to gain and nothing to lose.
Think about it, black people want racism to exist because they can use it as an excuse for everything, and because blacks are the biggest beneficiaries if racism exists.
How exactly would white people benefit from racism?
… just imagine if there was a White History Month. I believe that Black History Month just causes more segregation and racism. it should be changed into American History Month.
Blacks tend to be more racist because they can get away with it easier. They like to preach their 200 year old slave propaganda to take advantage of people.
And remember it was Obama’s church and racist pastor for over 20 years who claimed “God DAMN America!!!”.
Are you automatically racist if you disagree with a black person??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49h1x-i830Q
Who is Barack Hussein Obama really??
http://myspacetv.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=36421993
Well, I really don’t think Obama has played the race card more than he would have to by necessity (the fact that he may be the First Black President is a topic regardless of what he says or does). And I feel I’m pretty vigilant about watching for that.
If you mean bluegal or commonplacebook as playing the race card, then yes, I suspect you may be right. I will give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are far too high-strung and vigilant and seeing issues of race where none exist (ie. where criticism is made of a black person, as you pointed out), but it certainly is just as likely that many are trying to inject race into the debate just to unjustly paint John McCain as racist against black people. And that is why I felt I needed to reply in this long-winded post.
It is hard for me to argue whether or not racism exists as whether you define it colloquially (negative prejudice against races based on stereotypes, and acting in accordance with those presumptions) or more literally (assuming characteristics of a person based on characteristics associated with their race), not because I think it’s unclear, but because I think it’s impossible not to see. I can tell you racism exists because I do, indeed, practice it. If I befriend a similar-aged black male, say, at a new work place. And I’m heading down to play basketball with friends after work. And we need a 5th. I will probably offer an invitation. If I encounter a Japanese person, I might not. Simply put, I am predisposed to assuming that a black male likes basketball and is probably pretty good at it over any other ethnic background. SORRY! To think otherwise would require my ignoring the fact that 95% of black males I’ve known play basketball, and 100% of them were better than me at it.
(so yes, racism does exist and I’m proof of it. I also am witness to it frequently, and find the idea that it doesn’t absolutely absurd. But that requires a lot more work to provide proof of in a blog comment)
And that blacks are the biggest beneficiaries of the existence of racism? And that white people wouldn’t benefit from it? I urge you to re-read your comment there, as I don’t believe you are using the right term, we disagree ENTIRELY on what racism is, or there is some other confusion… I’m not sure how if racism (negative prejudice against races based on stereotypes, and acting in accordance with those presumptions) exists, how that is somehow great for black people? Or bad for white people?
I have no idea what you’re referring to as 200 year old slave propaganda… Are you saying black people have been trying to brainwash people for the past 200 years into believing that they were once enslaved?
I also don’t know how Reverend Wright’s saying “God DAMN America” is racist… Is America white? Is he, as a black man, damning white people thusly?
I also don’t know of any comments that Reverend Wright made that were racist exactly (or they don’t come to mind at the moment). Anti-American, perhaps. But once again, is America WHITE now?
The youtube link you provide is interesting in terms of being a spectacle, though I’m not sure what that has to do with your comment. I don’t know if anyone accused Sean Hannity or Alan Colmes of being racist for it.
And your myspace link, as far as I can tell, has nothing to do with the post (I am not advocating anyone vote in any way in that post) and close to nothing to do with your comment. Seems like just a hit piece on Obama. Which I suppose is related in the manner that I feel bluegal and commonplacebook were both just taking any excuse they could to attack the person they don’t want to be President and that link makes me suspect you are just doing the same.
I appreciate your comment though, but I really don’t understand the relevance of much of it. At my first reading, I thought it was auto-generated campaign spam or auto-generated racist spam (that I can’t tell the two apart in your comment can be interpreted a number of ways, but that was my honest reaction), but I decided to let it through as some of it was worth addressing and relevant, and I’d rather err on the side of free speech rather than censorship on my little blog.
… the metacow
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