Racism 39

Jimmy Carter has been catching a shitstorm for his racism comments earlier in the week. I haven't studied the text of what he said, but I believe the general gist is that the public hostility towards the President is because of race.

Now, I wouldn't say that these people are driven completely by race; I doubt they're springing outta beds every morning just because of race. But to say that there isn't SOME truth in what Carter says is to have your head in the sand, or you haven't spent more than 4 seconds in a hometown like my own. OF COURSE the President being half black is part of the reason some of these people are taking to the streets.

But, much like the pointlessness of arguing morality, there's no point to arguing race because it's not something very quantifiable or provable. So Obama's right to pretend there's no truth in Carter's claim, as anything else will simply be a waste of time. And of course would only cause more of a shitstorm.

Because one of the things we're learning these days is that CALLING somebody a racist is a worse crime than BEING a racist. Take, for instance, the outraged indignity on the right if someone wonders aloud if Joe Wilson's shouting at Obama was because he's black. HORRIFIED at the audacity to think such a thing. And yet nobody seems particularly incensed that he belongs to something called the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Wilson could've yelled out "shut up you fucking coon!", and when people called him on it the outraged money flooding into his office would make the money truck collapse, since Wilson would then become the "victim" instead of just some racist asshole. Shit's whack.