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Someone told me once that mixed race marriages shouldn't happen because their children would be discriminated against. What a moronic and hateful thing to say, I thought! Using that logic, children with two black parents shouldn't be born either. I didn't think projecting one's own racism onto society was that clever, so I haven't thought too much about it since.
Recently I have observed a chorus of voices saying that if Sen. Obama wins the general election, he is likely to be assassinated.
If you Google obama assassination, you will find an article about "an ugly, popular search term" of late. It points to several articles, one of which is from the Washington Times which leads with "fears over the safety of the man seeking to become America's first black president."
There's this gem from the Telegraph:
A few voters even say they are reluctant to vote for Mr Obama because a Southern racist might shoot him.
"There are people in this country who will not accept a black president," said Marvin Henderson, 32, at a Bill Clinton rally in Amherst, New Hampshire
As a supporter of Sen. Clinton, Marvin obviously has a stake in making sure people think like that. Call it the "assassination smear." This instance seems to be a clear case of projecting one's own racism onto society. Is Sen. Clinton is aware of the edge this sentiment can give her? Does she try to harness it? Perhaps we will hear fewer of these stories once Sen. Clinton has no chance of securing the Democratic presidential nomination.
By the way, why do racists always have to be Southern? One of my favorite movies is "Crash," which at long last breaks the Hollywood stereotype that racists always have to be from the South. (There's more to the movie than race, but I digress.)
The New York Times takes the view that Sen. Obama reminds people of the year RFK and MLK was assassinated. RFK was white, so I guess they are trying to say the "rock star" excitement surrounding Sen. Obama makes him more of a threat. No obvious racism there, then, just fearmongering.
Bloggers, too, just can't seem to stop thinking about the possibility of Sen. Obama getting assassinated. The Huffington Post takes a different tack, intoning illogically:
After the recent murder of Benazir Bhutto, we realize once again that nothing excites the forces of hate and fear more than the prospect of decency and reconciliation.
Decency and reconciliation? Um, yeah, those really piss people off.
William Kern of The Moderate Voice takes the tack that since Sen. Obama is a target (cleverly illustrated with him shown at the barrel of a pistol), he should give Sen. Clinton the vice presidential slot. Who says Sen. Clinton doesn't have a Plan B?
Paul Silver, also of the increasingly inaccurately named Moderate Voice, expresses genuine concern for Sen. Obama's safety: "There may still be people in our society who feel that murder is justified to obstruct social progress," he says. But he, too, is saying this as a Sen. Clinton supporter. He adds: "And this is why I hope that Hillary accepts the nomination for VP; To create such a momentum for change that obstruction is futile."
This is something that I think deserves more attention, to me this is more a real smear than Sen. Clinton's campaign's alleged attempts to "Muslimize" Obama.
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1 comments:
I would really like to think this isn't a possibility, but that would be naïve – it's all good to be wary of security risks.
The progress we have made since the civil rights era is undeniable, though. Just look at how many African-American and minority politicians we have today, especially from the South. Of course, though, there is still a vast amount of ground to cover to become a "fully-equal" country (something that I seriously doubt will ever happen). Just look though– we have a black man and a woman with very good chances of becoming the leader of a country that was strangled by racial and gender divides less than a century ago, with remnants around today, still.
By the way, why do racists always have to be Southern? One of my favorite movies is "Crash," which at long last breaks the Hollywood stereotype that racists always have to be from the South. (There's more to the movie than race, but I digress.)
I've talked to a few conservatives who say that liberals think only white people can be racist, when on the subject of Rev. Wright. Naturally, there are probably a few liberals who think that, but the same goes for conservatives and every group. Stereotyping I think is one of the big factors that is holding back fixing the divides in society.
Bloggers, too, just can't seem to stop thinking about the possibility of Sen. Obama getting assassinated. The Huffington Post takes a different tack, intoning illogically:
After the recent murder of Benazir Bhutto, we realize once again that nothing excites the forces of hate and fear more than the prospect of decency and reconciliation.
Decency and reconciliation? Um, yeah, those really piss people off.
I feel as though Brunstein was not referring to mainstream society. Your average person on the street is not an extremist, your everyday Muslim is not a terrorist, and your average-Joe African-American is not a gang member.
He adds: "And this is why I hope that Hillary accepts the nomination for VP; To create such a momentum for change that obstruction is futile."
The chances of Hillary accepting the VP slot is extremely slim, in my mind. I have a post of my blog about this.
This is something that I think deserves more attention, to me this is more a real smear than Sen. Clinton's campaign's alleged attempts to "Muslimize" Obama.
While I certainly favor Obama over Clinton for the presidency, I really doubt the upper-Clinton campaign is really trying to smear Obama based off of that incredibly stupid Muslim "argument" (what's wrong with having Islam as your faith, anyway?). Maybe a couple low-level volunteers, but having the executive portion support these activities would just result in an immediate and total downfall in the minds of liberals and moderate conservatives, equalling having no chance of ever doing anything political again.
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