in which I say very little about things that matter, and way too much about things that shouldn't
posted by bitchphd
Via Unfogged, two things I waited to post about until all the Peeps were gone, because I just couldn't bear it.
On reviewing this post before putting it up, I realize that the relative weight I've given to points 1 and 2 pretty much reproduces the stupid-ass priorities of the mainstream media. Let's not talk about the way that the lack of regulation of private financial corporations and the government's incredible indebtedness to same are making government "by the people" into a hollow mockery! Look, there's a scary black man! So please, click on the Krugman link and read that before you go on to read my blatherings about the ongoing media obsession with scary black men. And I promise that in the future I'll try to be better.
1. Krugman's "concisely and effectively" explains why we are fucked.
2. Glenn Greenwald links to some truly atrocious racist bullshit (there's more, in the guise of a response to Greenwald, h/t LGM). (I suppose it's true that in order any "conversation about race" is going to involve resentful racists expressing their anger and frustration about it no longer being okay for them to say heinously racist things, combined with legitimate--if irritating--frustration at not understanding why complaining about how unfair it is that rap artists get to say "nigga" is, in fact, racist, yes. And that part of getting past that kind of crap is always going to involve someone being willing to explain it, repeatedly and in good faith, to the aggrieved doofuses, since the racist manipulators will always use bad-faith arguments to try to get the doofuses on their side.)
What those links--and the videos that I'm hearing from Mr. B.'s laptop, as he obsessively follows media coverage of the election--have convinced me of is that this is going to be the main Republican campaign angle against Obama (if he wins the nomination): Obama hates America. It's so perfectly Republican: obviously stupid, on its face--he hates America so he's running for president? yeah right. But underneath, the subtext appeals very cleverly to some real fears and anxieties that people don't want to actually acknowledge or face, and some things that they suspect may actually be true: Obama (who is black) hates America (because really, if you were black, wouldn't you?).
Maybe it's just the Peeps talking, but I really think that this is a big part of why the Crazy Black Preacher meme seems to have legs. It makes no sense--white preachers, and much more politically influential and famous ones at that--have said things that are far more offensive. Most churchgoers don't personally subscribe to every damn thing their pastors say from the pulpit. There's a long--and honorable--Christian tradition of criticizing society from the pulpit (is that not, in fact, one of the major purposes of sermonizing in the first place?). And regardless, Obama made a really really long speech in which he did, in fact, say in no uncertain terms that he disagrees with what Wright said.
But still, people are obsessed with it, and they're obsessed specifically about the "god damn America" part, which is getting linked, with the excuse of "you wanna talk openly about race? Okay, I'll tell you what I think of black people," to a lot of really heinous crap about how unfair it is for black people to be so angry.
Seriously, you don't need to be Sigmund Freud to sense that there's a certain return of the repressed going on here, a little projection, maybe. Why are black people so angry? Why are *you* so angry about black people's anger--or, for god's sake, spinning rims?
So yeah, that's my theory. That "Obama hates America (because he's black)" is going to be *the* stupid-ass Rovian negative bullshit with which we're going to have to contend until November, and that the reason for that is that the people for whom it has traction suspect, deep down, that black people *should* hate America.
Which is an awfully depressing thing to believe, so I guess on some level you can't blame people for feeling like they'd rather just be mad. But y'know, speaking as a depressed person myself, at some point you really do just have to ask someone to help you deal with your shit if you want to be able to function.
P.S. On that subject, btw, I don't know which of you all sent me George Lipsitz's The Possessive Investment in Whiteness, but thank you. I've got a pretty major backlog of "things I must read immediately!" on my bedside table, but I promise I'll get to it soon.
On reviewing this post before putting it up, I realize that the relative weight I've given to points 1 and 2 pretty much reproduces the stupid-ass priorities of the mainstream media. Let's not talk about the way that the lack of regulation of private financial corporations and the government's incredible indebtedness to same are making government "by the people" into a hollow mockery! Look, there's a scary black man! So please, click on the Krugman link and read that before you go on to read my blatherings about the ongoing media obsession with scary black men. And I promise that in the future I'll try to be better.
1. Krugman's "concisely and effectively" explains why we are fucked.
2. Glenn Greenwald links to some truly atrocious racist bullshit (there's more, in the guise of a response to Greenwald, h/t LGM). (I suppose it's true that in order any "conversation about race" is going to involve resentful racists expressing their anger and frustration about it no longer being okay for them to say heinously racist things, combined with legitimate--if irritating--frustration at not understanding why complaining about how unfair it is that rap artists get to say "nigga" is, in fact, racist, yes. And that part of getting past that kind of crap is always going to involve someone being willing to explain it, repeatedly and in good faith, to the aggrieved doofuses, since the racist manipulators will always use bad-faith arguments to try to get the doofuses on their side.)
What those links--and the videos that I'm hearing from Mr. B.'s laptop, as he obsessively follows media coverage of the election--have convinced me of is that this is going to be the main Republican campaign angle against Obama (if he wins the nomination): Obama hates America. It's so perfectly Republican: obviously stupid, on its face--he hates America so he's running for president? yeah right. But underneath, the subtext appeals very cleverly to some real fears and anxieties that people don't want to actually acknowledge or face, and some things that they suspect may actually be true: Obama (who is black) hates America (because really, if you were black, wouldn't you?).
Maybe it's just the Peeps talking, but I really think that this is a big part of why the Crazy Black Preacher meme seems to have legs. It makes no sense--white preachers, and much more politically influential and famous ones at that--have said things that are far more offensive. Most churchgoers don't personally subscribe to every damn thing their pastors say from the pulpit. There's a long--and honorable--Christian tradition of criticizing society from the pulpit (is that not, in fact, one of the major purposes of sermonizing in the first place?). And regardless, Obama made a really really long speech in which he did, in fact, say in no uncertain terms that he disagrees with what Wright said.
But still, people are obsessed with it, and they're obsessed specifically about the "god damn America" part, which is getting linked, with the excuse of "you wanna talk openly about race? Okay, I'll tell you what I think of black people," to a lot of really heinous crap about how unfair it is for black people to be so angry.
Seriously, you don't need to be Sigmund Freud to sense that there's a certain return of the repressed going on here, a little projection, maybe. Why are black people so angry? Why are *you* so angry about black people's anger--or, for god's sake, spinning rims?
So yeah, that's my theory. That "Obama hates America (because he's black)" is going to be *the* stupid-ass Rovian negative bullshit with which we're going to have to contend until November, and that the reason for that is that the people for whom it has traction suspect, deep down, that black people *should* hate America.
Which is an awfully depressing thing to believe, so I guess on some level you can't blame people for feeling like they'd rather just be mad. But y'know, speaking as a depressed person myself, at some point you really do just have to ask someone to help you deal with your shit if you want to be able to function.
P.S. On that subject, btw, I don't know which of you all sent me George Lipsitz's The Possessive Investment in Whiteness, but thank you. I've got a pretty major backlog of "things I must read immediately!" on my bedside table, but I promise I'll get to it soon.
Posted at 11:07 PM
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