I’m not going to name any names or anything but I’ve seen quite a few suggestions in the media and on this board that white liberals are supporting Barack Obama because it makes them feel good to vote for a black guy, because it assuages “white guilt,” etc.
Well, I resent that. It amounts to a suggestion that I am incapable of evaluating a candidate based on substance alone. That I’m just a superficial, yuppie tool who wants to brag that I voted for an "African-American."How does one defend one’s self against an accusation of “white guilt?” I feel like I’m put in a position of being called a liar and belittled as shallow and posturing.
I support Barack Obama not because of his skin color and not because I feel “guilty” about anything (I’ve never felt the slightest bit of “white guilt” in my life) but because I’m knocked out by his words. I don’t just mean the dynamics of his live performances either (as electrifying as they are), but his actual words. I read transcripts of his speeches. I’ve read his books. I am struck his depth of thought, his ethos, his sense of fairness, his intelligence, his honesty, even his confessions of faith. I would like those words no matter what color he was.
I will also say that my liberal soul thinks it would probably be more significant and more personally gratifying to see a woman become president than a black man (I think sexism is more prevalent than racism anymore and that sexism crosses across racial lines), but this is case where I think the black man is a better candidate than the woman, not because of any consideration at all of “identity politics” and certainly not because I “feel guilty,” but because one person’s words and presentation impress me more than any other politico I can remember in my lifetime and the other leaves me flat.
So please, I don’t feel guilty about shit. Be careful with that. It delegitimizes support for a man who has earned it honestly, not through superficial identity or pandering.
Here’s an (edited) selection from an exchange I had with Diogenes in the Jena 6 thread:
Diogenes: In my opinion, it was no big deal and I think the little redneck scumbag deserved what he got . . . If he got his ass kicked, that’s just Darwin in action.
Me: I remember a certain stripper throwing a racist taunt at a bunch of lacrosse players. I wonder what you would be saying if she’d gotten her ass kicked.
Diogenes: Yeah, right, that’s exactly the same thing. :rolleyes:
Me: Haha. I imagine it’s different for a lot of people.
Diogenes: As a matter of fact it is. Every case is different. I’m not talking about the law, here, I’m talking about my personal sympathies . . . Who’s saying they should be let off the hook? The debate is about whether they should be charged with attempted murder or assault. No one is saying they shouldn’t be charged with anything.
Me: [provides link to petition calling for charges to be dropped against Jena 6]
Diogenes: Strange. I guess you can find crackpots who wuill agitate for anything. I signed the petition myself just for giggles.
I don’t know if it’s “white guilt,” but it looks to me like the guy has some black/white issue issues.
I haven’t read the other thread, but I’m way to the right of Diogenes on most sociopolitical matters, and while I’m sure you could perhaps point to arguable individual instances of either from my past I don’t account myself or think others would account me a racist or a white-liberal-guilt-tripper, but I couldn’t agree more with the above. Redneck and cracker simply are not equivalent to nigger in the mind of any reasonable person with a halfway decent understanding of modern American culture. Period. Anybody who thinks they are is either not-reasonable or does not understand American culture.
I don’t know about “cracker” - does anyone actually use that? - but to me, “redneck” is a classist word rather than a racist one. I think the non-rural equivilent would be “homeboy” or “homie.”
Sure, I once had an extremely irate black customer refer to me as a “cracker.”
Anyway, I don’t have a problem conceding that “nigger” is more offensive than “cracker.” If that’s all that Diogenes had said, I wouldn’t be under the impression that he has race issue issues.
Why does one word have to be as bad as another to be bad? It’s a typical **Diogenes **dodge, along with calling white people who object to racial slurs “douchebags.” Next will come his sarcastically imagined white guy monologue “Ohh. Look a me. I’m the poor oppressed white guy. Waa waa waa.”
He absolutely hates the fact that he is white, so much so that there is no room for guilt.
Before this thread goes too far astray I’ll second our cynical friend’s diatribe. Support for Obama is not generally predicated on some ethereal notion of white guilt. I suspect that most people support Obama for the reasons Diogenes outlines, namely the energetic campaign he’s running, his message, and his other attributes. Obama does seem like a breath of fresh air compared to Hillary and McCain but I think little of that has to do with his skin color.
Um… what? Or was that a whoosh? I’m not trying to be sarcastic or anything, I just don’t get that from this thread or anything else I’ve read by Dio. Not that I’ve read everything s/he’s written that’s relevant, just that I haven’t seen it.
What a staggering load of crap. What I hate is white people trying to claim victimhood status for being white. It shows an ignorance of what racism really means.
I think it’s great that you want to vote for Obama and I will take what you say at face value that it is not about “white guilt”. I just hope that people will have the same kind of consideration when someone says they won’t be voting for Obama. Will they be called racists just because they won’t be voting for the black candidate? (No, ** Diogenes**, I am not saying that you would do that.) Some Dems won’t vote for Obama, not because he is black, but because they don’t feel he has the experience necessary to make him a strong enough candidate or President. Are they racist?
I’ve said in previous threads that while I respect Obama as a person and a politician, I would not vote for him because of his political beliefs. It has nothing to do with his race. A few years ago there was a movement to “draft” Colin Powell for a Republican run for President and I was all for it. It wasn’t because he was black but because he was smarter, more articulate and more savvy than the other numbnuts in the running.
Obama has one white parent and one black parent. Am I the only one that finds it interesting that across the political spectrum, that makes him black? It would be just as fair to call him white. But the best thing to call him is “Senator Obama.”
In April, 1992, 15 white people and Asians were killed in retaliation for the acquital of the cops involved in the Rodney King case. Are you honestly saying that they and their families have no claims to victimhood on account of their race? If so, you’re more ignorant about racism than the day is long.
With Obama’s recent CA results - polling even or ahead of Clinton but losing by 9% - white guilt (euphemistically referred to as the “Bradley effect”) might be playing a role.