Herman Cain and Juan Williams (and beyond)

[Peremensoe]

Inspired by dbx820 in the Elections thread on Bachmann, where there was some discussion of the Republican debate last night and Herman Cain, including

@Dostoyevsky

@BobLibDem

Cain showed himself to be a racist buffoon.

I missed the debate… how’d he do this?

@Jas09

He pretty much flubbed his response when asked to clarify why he said he would have an issue hiring a Muslim to his administration.

Some quotes here: Herman Cain Pressed on Muslim Loyalty Test in GOP Debate | Politics

@BobLibDem

Cain clearly has some disturbing anti-Muslim prejudice. A decent summary is here. I found him to come off very creepy indeed.

@Jas09

It’s pretty clear to me from that that Mr. Cain views Muslims with a much higher level of scrutiny with respect to their loyalty to their country than non-Muslims. Whether that is warranted or not is up to the viewer (obviously the crowd agreed with him - he received much applause).

@dbx820

I so do not want to hijack this thread, but:

I really have to wonder what people like Herman Cain and Juan Williams are thinking when they openly and clearly state that they are prejudiced toward people because of their appearance, having themselves no doubt been heavily subject to that very same prejudice.

There are two ways to respond to prejudice directed toward you: 1) reject such prejudice and appreciate that people have different backgrounds, upbringings and views of the world or 2) redirect that prejudice toward a weaker group.

We know which course they chose.

Is that it? What’s going on here? Is the response to minority-group members who say such things unfair in any way?

(Here’s a past Pit thread on Juan Williams.)

[John_Mace]

Why does prejudice have to be “redirected” if you’re a minority? Aren’t they allowed to be prejudiced for the same reasons as anyone else?

IOW, most everyone is prejudiced. Being the victim of prejudice should make you sensitive to that in your own thoughts about other people, but it’s no guarantee.

In Juan William’s case, though, I think he was just explaining his own irrational fears, and saying that he knew they were irrational. He got a lot of flack for just admitting what a lot of people feel. He wasn’t saying he was right, just acknowledging what is common in our society.

Cane, OTOH, was claiming he was right to be prejudiced. That is, if I understand enough about what he said.

[DSeid]

Well the concept that a group that is pushed down looks for someone lower than them to push down, is a longstanding one. It is often brought up as a major part of the reason that White sharecroppers in the 1890’s South were so virulently racist, for example. That said I don’t think it applies to Cain. I think he is either just Islamophobic for the same reason many others of the Far Right base are, or playing to that base, or both.