On another forum I presented the idea that the Rev. Wright’s stance on 9/11 was a lot more prevalent among African Americans than many white people recognize. This has at least been my experience amongst young black politically active leftists.
What do people think here? How prevalent is the idea that the Rev. Wright presented that America had reaped what it has sown among African Americans? Not necessarily the ‘God Damn America’ part, but the general sentiment.
There MAY be some statistical concerns about the representativeness of your sample population.
Obviously, this is why I posed the question, so that I could hear the experiences of others.
This is the majority opinion in most Western and Latin American nations which I’ve seen public opinion polls published. Americans tend to have similar opinions in general, so I would speculate 40-50% of the general American population would say that American foreign policy is a root cause of 9/11 depending on how you worded it.
Blacks in particular? They tend to, understandably, be a little more wary of the establishment than others and they tend to be a little more subversive on these sort of polls, so I’d guess it’d be a couple tics higher.
Rev Wright’s views are completely irrelevant to Obama. There’s no connection. Some of what the Reverend said was true, so deal with it. But it still has nothing to do with Obama.
Obama said he never heard him say any of the stuff we’ve seen on tv recently…
And I’m wondering who is behind exposing the good Reverend. Could it be, oh lets, see… could it be…
HILLARY!!!
That’s funny - I don’t see the words “Obama” or “Hillary” anywhere in the OP. Must have snuck in while I wasn’t looking. I’m sure there are plenty of other threads in GD that you could post this comment in though. Why don’t you try this one.
I would say a decent amount of Black people believe such things. However, I think we need to think about why this is the case. First, I think White people tend to gloss over America’s flaws, tending to view criticism as unpatriotic. Even this whole denial of America’s actions being the impetus for a decent amount of terrorism is kind of troubling. It seems pretty obvious to me that this is the case. Doesn’t mean we deserved it, or that we shouldn’t fight back; but it does mean that actions have consequences. There is a reason the terrorists who attack us attack us, and terrorists who attack Russia attack them, etc. I think we should all admit it can be just as irrational and ignorant to be blind to our flaws as it is to magnify them.
Also, Blacks, having had a much harder time in this country, tend to be in a position where these flaws impact their lives in a more direct way. The other important thing to note is that is becomes far easier to believe in conspiracy theories (even the wacky ones) when people have actually conspired against you and people who look like you. It’s much easier to believe that the government created HIV when they do things like the Tuskegee expiriment. Is it really far more unreasonable to think the CIA/government facilitated drug use in the Black community (there is evidence that the CIA was aware of drug trafficking), than that they would sell arms to a sworn enemy and use the proceeds to fund Contra militants in Nicaragua? I’m not saying you should believe anything without some firm grasp of the available facts and the plausibility of the claims, but I think it’s unfair to denigrate people for being overly cynical about a government that has screwed all of us over and lied to the public on a regular basis.
I would have to agree that America’s actions overseas were the catalyst for 9/11… they didn’t attack us because they had nothing better to do… America’s actions instilled enough anger and hatred to cause people to want to strike back.
That is not to say we deserved it, but it is obvious there is a cause and and effect to our foreign adventures in the Middle East.
I would have to agree that America’s actions overseas were the catalyst for 9/11… they didn’t attack us because they had nothing better to do… America’s actions instilled enough anger and hatred to cause people to want to strike back.
That is not to say we deserved it, but it is obvious there is a cause and and effect to our foreign adventures in the Middle East. Thy attacked America for specific reasons… just the same as America attacked Iraq for specific reasons… it was not simply random.
I think that it’s the generally held opinion. I happen to agree for the most part.
The belief that the CIA developed the AIS virus seems ingrained in the black population. Is this because of the notorious “Tuskeegee Experiemnt” of the 1930’s? I’ve read about this horrible episode-but its a stretch to believe that the US Government deliberately developed a virus with which to murder its citzens.
Anybody know moe.
Statistics are only as meaningful as the care that went into targeting and gatherig the information you’re after. It may sound very precise and scientific to say that “Twenty seven per cent of demographic group X agrees with opinion Y,” but it could easily be meaningless flapdoodle. If you’re talking about racial issues, for example, I’m fairly sure that most people would be more honest with an interviewer of their own race than an interviewer of another race. Class issues can come into it as well. If a working class white with only a high school diploma perceives his interviewer as an upper class person with a college education, he may frame his responses so as to please the interviewer even if the interviewer is also white.
Statistics is a valuable tool, but it’s not a substitute for common sense.
I believe Wright is the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. Such attitudes are quite common among blacks, though it would probably be foolish to try to put a number on it.
So this guy has been Obama’s spiritual mentor for twenty years and Obama never had any idea he felt this way? Remarkably unobservant, don’t you think?
Sure, Hilary’s playing dirty pool here, but Obama thinks he can sweet talk his way into the White house. (And he may be right. Others have done it … )
(sigh) I’ve heard people use exactly the same kind of reasoning to explain Pearl Harbor. The Japanese were upset over oil and scrap metal embargoes, or Roosevelt deliberately provoked the attack so he could have an excuse to get into the war against Hitler. Why do some people insist on believing such things? Do they really have such a hard time believing America could be morally in the right?
I prefer to think of myself as a black man, but I 'spose you could call me African-American. Anythistle, Wright’s stance on 9-11 is nothing I’d espouse, but 2 of my 7 siblings might.
America’s Morality
Oil and Metal Embargos
Black vs white people’s beliefs
Black vs White
What is this thread about again?
Black racism as exemplified by Rev. Wright.
Ok, thanks.
I agree.
I keep having a reoccuring thought when reading about this, is the Rev. trying to swing people his way from the pulpit or is he trying to express his freedom of speech from the pulpit? Singing the praises of “Short circuiting the Devil Today” is something I have heard before from behind a pulpit. In my experience that type of preaching is getting people to stand up, shout, feel the energy of GOD. And when the preacher makes a personal point shouting out and saying “AAAMEN” or whatever.
Now I wonder how many people in the congregation who were singing the reverends praises during his diatribes went :dubious: when he shouted…“GOD DAMN AMERICA”
I’d think one or two…at least. 
I really liked brickbacon’s post.
I suspect that any poll of young politically active leftists … Black, White, or Nomadic … would find a sizable number who believe that America’s policies supporting the oppressors against the oppressed has been a root cause of attacks against America.
Are those positions more widely held in an urban Black culture than in the society at large? Well I’m guessing so as I think identification with those identified as oppressed people everywhere has been a popular talking point of those who would often claim to be Black leaders. Moreso than the general population at large. But no hard data.
(Phl I am reminded of the scene in Borat at the rodeo, and how far he could get people going with whoops before they realized what they were whooping to.)