Al Sharpton is a decent man

The BBQ Pit
261

Get off the cross, asshole. It’s winter, we’ll need the wood.

LHoD pointed out the fact that you were being a bombastic asshole, albeit in kinder terms. You responded by calling him a racist. If you think there is the possibility of a reasonable argument when you’ve just called someone a racist, who isn’t a racist, then you’ve got your head jammed up your ass farther than I’d thought.

“That rhetoric isn’t helping, it only alienates people.”
“Only a racist would say that. Hey, why aren’t you being nice to me now, you racist?”

You remind me of a petulant teenager who simply cannot accept responsibility for his own actions.

I’m a Doper.
You’re an inflamatory asshole who tosses around hollow rhetoric and is too much of a shitlicking coward to accept that when you call a man out, you’ve started a fight.

Do I really need any other reasons, Mr Kreskin/Freud?

Again you wanna be martyr schmuck, it’s this exact revolting pattern that gets you your deserved reaction. I’ve told you, many times, exactly why little cowardly shits like you piss me off, and yet you keep giving me this mind reading psychobabble. Fool.

What argument? You’re just an asshole who insults people and then claims that if they get mad, they must be the thing you used to insult them with. Argument? You’re a toddler trying to paint the wall with his own feces.

Yeah, I have a personal problem which causes me to pick on you, you poor little martyr. Poor poor innocent martyr.

:rolleyes:

Go take your superior ‘enlightened’ ‘argument’ and shove it up your ass sideways.

262

Okay, Mr. Loblaw, your little “joke” has gone on long enough. A great experiment, pretending to call people racists just because they dislike this dude. It was funny at first, but now you must confess to all these long suffering posters here.

263

Well, but I’m serious. I think that people are taking it either too much to heart, or not enough. But for heaven’s sake people, what I think of you is, as they say in 12 step programs, none of your business. Think for yourselves, damnit. Racism is a real problem in this country, and the only person other than Cosby who is speaking with any personal convictions and getting press are guys like Sharpton and Jackson (and Farrakhan, who is pretty much unreptentent). And Cosby isn’t speaking to a white crowd. He’s speaking internally, and boy, some people really hate it, and they resent that the closet coded racists are using it against black people. But it is probably necessary. (I truly feel for Cosby. He was always on some level angry, but how do you get over your son being murdered? I don’t think you do.)

But Clarence Paige and Andy Young don’t get the press necessary, only Sharpton and Jackson do. Thomas Sowell is the biggest sellout ever seen.

If you’ve tuned out Sharpton because he has been irresponsible in the past, he’s changed, and he wants justice for non-white people.

264

No, we tune out Sharpton because he has no credibility. There’s a difference.

265

You do realize you’re posting on a public message board, and accusing people of being racists? I’d say that then becomes people’s business. If you don’t want people to care about what you say, talk to a wall. That goddamn racist wall, what’s it ever done for Al Sharpton?

Yeah, those are the only people, in the entire country, nay, the entire world, who are concerned and/or speaking out about racism.

266

I mean, seriously, have you not spent a day in a liberal arts college? Are you unaware of just how many writers/thinkers/speakers there are on the subject of race, and how much ‘press’ they get? Are you aware that Black History Month is a big deal in many k-12 schools?

Etc, etc, etc…

And I’m curious, the people you mentioned speak, generally, about issues of racism which affect blacks. Surely you’re aware that’s not the only flavor of racism at work in this country, and that there are many other people who ‘get press’ but don’t necessary focus on that sub-set of racist actions?

It is rather elucidative that when you discuss racism in this country, the only examples of people trying to fight it that you provide us with, are blacks.

267

Arg, ya know, whatever. This is the stupidest waste of space thread I’ve ever seen since I’ve been posting here. I think I’m going to ignore it from now on.

268

OK, so let me get this straight. I’ve actively worked to end racial prejudice, more than I suspect Bob Loblaw has done, and yet I’m a racist because I do not have a high opinion of Mr. Sharpton because of the racist remarks he’s made about Jews. Well, I have come across stranger beliefs. :rolleyes:

CJ

269

Indeed. My monkey is better informed and politer.

Go read some bell hooks, some Manning Marable. Go read The Wages of Whiteness, Racial Formation in the United States. Go educate yourself on DuBois’s formulation of white privilege. Once you know what you’re talking about, you may be able to enter into a conversation intelligently.

But for now, you’re spouting screeds, and if you open your eyes, you’ll see that they’re not persuading anyone. Belief in some sort of magical metapersuasion is just as stupid as the street-preachers on the corner who think that I’m gonna go home and accept Jesus because they called me a Satanist.

All I ask, please, is that you stop hurting the leftist cause. Stop for a bit, retreat, and really pay attention to how folks respond to the sort of tactics you’re using; then decide whether those tactics are building the world you want, or just stroking your ego.

Daniel

270

If you think Rev Al wanted a riot to occur, than I fully understand why you would hate him. I don’t think he expected a riot, but I cannot prove this and I cannot condemn people for hating him that believe otherwise.
…Can you understand that if I don’t think he knew he was setting such an event in motion, that I can credit him for the good he tries to accomplish? There are still so many racial issues in this country that even a flawed person like Rev Al does help by keeping attention on racial issues. I know he was a careless speaker in the past and I know he was involved in a wrongful cry of rape by Police officers.
…I also recall an incident where the NYPD was trying to write off the killing of a young black man as another drug related incident. The young “Black Man” in question was an Honor student and preparing for college. They got the wrong kid because he didn’t know who was threatening him and he ran. They shot even though they were not endangered. Al championed this one and the Police involved were proved wrong. Wrong to shoot and wrong to cover up the reasons for the shooting.

…I know I still have many racist attitudes to overcome. I do think in terms of Jewish and Asian people in general care more about education than Blacks and Hispanics. I don’t really understand why more immigrants don’t seem to stress speaking American English well and I dislike having a poor English speaker on Cash Registers. I get a fear reaction when I come in contact with young black men that are dressed like Gangsta rappers.
…I still take extra pride in the accomplishments of Italian Americans. These are things I grew up with and I have to use my rational side to overcome my knee jerk side.
…I am not sure is this is racism of some other –ism, I loathe the collective French attitudes and consider them the worst allies any nation could ever have. I do think they should not have spent 55 years showing disdain for the USA and I think it is strange that the Italians received the Allied forces coming through their country as heroes and rescuers and the French were much more mixed in reaction.
…So I definitely have racist attitudes and I work to overcome them and not pass them on to my kids. My mother was far less racist than my Grandfather. My great Uncle Frank was an embarrassment to the entire family to such a degree that he even made my grandfather mellow. …At my Father’s knee I heard crap like, Martin Luther spoke well, but the minute he moved on the Blacks just rioted and destroyed everything. There is a lot of residual racism to overcome. I am as guilty as anyone else.
… I also think it is a 2 way street. I am an Italian from NJ. Here’s a question I have actually gotten from a black man in the Navy and similar questions from both an Indian and some White southerners. So is your family in the Mafia? He just assumed that if I am of Italian descent and from NY/NJ I probably had some mob ties. People also assume I must be Catholic; I couldn’t possibly be rational enough to question the Church and be agnostic or Atheist. There is a lot of racism out there.

271

So why will you all listen to me, even though I’ve called those who won’t listen to Sharpton racists? (Which according to some leads to my being a racist.) But Sharpton, who has called others racists, not SDMB posters, won’t get the time of day? Is it because I am perceived as white? (Yes, I’m white.)

272

You have about as much credibility as Sharpton, from what I can see. Make of that what you will.

273

Who’s listening to you? I don’t see a single person you’ve actually convinced of anything.

The only people I see here engaged in conversation are the ones trying to prove to you that you’re an idiot.

If Sharpton came in here and spouted his anti-Semitism, he’d be treated in the same way.

274

Isn’t responding to Bob a form of listening?

275

White???

Racist!

I’m with Good Egg this is all a joke. Denial that it is looks like an Andy Kaufman/Tony Clifton routine to me.

276

Are ya goofin’ on Elvis
Hey baby,
Are you havin’ fun?

Would you believe
They put a man on the moon
Man on the moon…

277

I wish I had that much credibility. Or half his speaking talent.

278

You are responding to me, and that implies listening. So I haven’t convinced you, but you have considered what I have to say. Please give Sharpton that same consideration, after you’ve called him an anti-Semitic idiot. And why would anybody bother to try to prove I’m an idiot? If that suits you, I certainly don’t deny it. I may have my pride, but thinking of myself as Wile E. Coyote, super-genius, isn’t my sin.

279

Well, yes, but only in so far as it provides more ammunition for the mocking.

280

Can you please explain why you think this is a true statement?