I guess someone has to say it. Holden, my secret love, has this great series about what Chimpy says and how he talks. Not that actual humans can understand the Decider’s vernacular, but you know, some blogs shame “quality” SCLM
analysis of our Chimperor and Holden’s “Your Preznit Speaks” series is one. So I feel compelled to point out something I really hate, something that I’m told slipped into a certain speech today. Here’s the Hard Truth: Black people don’t have and haven’t had real power in this county. It’s pointless and stupid and racist to blame us for being poor, lacking in political authority and agency, or not being rich and connected. I decided this morning my word of the day would be ’canard.’ I didn’t know how approrpriate that would prove to be.
Today, right now, in this political moment, there is plenty of guilt, plenty of blame. Lots of people can have a slice of that cake. But on the grand scale of things, the amount of guilt and blame Black people “own” is pretty minor. Boilerplate: some poor white (and Asian, and Latina, and 1stNat, and…) folks who are straight men and women are also in this sorry club. But specifically, speaking of “what Black people gotta do” to make the world right is…well, Bushian. Bushist? Bushesque? I know it’s racist.
Bush will be gone soon, we need to coin a phrase. Anyway, let’s all stop blaming Black America for problems other people caused. Other rich, not Black, Bush-supporting, actually politically enabled people caused. Yo? People who emulate and mirror Bush-speak and think must be…mocked, at least.
Front page
I shall return
There has been a lot of talk about black folk and the church. I don’t have time now to really get into it but … The fact that they have involved the black church has consequences not only for the political landscape but for america as a whole. I haven’t forgotten MJS but time is pressing at the moment… I”ll be back directly.
Well, if my "Honey I've changed" post...
… doesn’t bring you back, Xenophon, I don’t know what will.
[x] Any (D) in the general. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
Problems Other People Caused
That does seem to be a current theme in American politics and culture, doesn’t it - blaming poor and powerless people for problems other people caused. How else to explain the stinginess over expanding S-CHIP (and the resulting right blog “investigation” into the child spokesman) while spending billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out Bear Stearns.
I was waiting for a table at a restaurant not long ago with my mother, who grew up poor and white in Appalachia. Near the door was one of those machines that sell toys, super balls, rubber spiders, etc., for some amount of change. Amidst the other toys was a set of “hillbilly teeth”, false teeth a child could wear like vampire fangs only these had certain teeth blacked out, gaps, etc., and generally showed the poor dental care that is often associated stereotypically with children in Appalachia. My mother, with complete disgust, pointed to the teeth and said “poor people are the only group it’s still okay to make fun of in this country.” And, of course, she’s right. Because when folks blame blacks (or other groups) for their predicament, who they really mean are the poor ones. Because if you blame poor people for being poor, if you find in them some moral failing (nevermind we all have moral failings), then you don’t have any obligation to help them. Which is, of course, the entire point.
it's Bill Cosby-esque, but doesn't help ppl.
If you simply blame and shame, you’re not providing better opportunities and support, etc, to stop the behavior you condemn, and you’re reinforcing that Govt doesn’t have a role and function for things you talk about—which is totally GOP.