# Is Al Sharpton as bad and as powerful as the right makes him out to be? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 29, 2014, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442 "2014-12-29T15:28:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/61 "2014-12-30T13:05:16Z")
I like Reverend Al. I just choose to overlook his mistake in the Tawana case- he was wrong but it isn’t like the center point of his being. If you watch his show, you can see that advocates for the oppressed of all colors and he’s a strong supporter of the middle class. Sure, he has his share of bigotry. But in general, his heart is in the right place. Given a choice between President Sharpton and President Palin, it’s a no-brainer. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/62 "2014-12-30T13:13:58Z")
Then he should pay his taxes and go after the power, not poor middle class cops and people accused of rape just because they happened to be white and the victim black. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/63 "2014-12-30T13:15:47Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > . . . Sure, he has his share of bigotry. But in general, his heart is in the right place. . . I ask in all sincerity. Is this a woosh? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/64 "2014-12-30T16:46:17Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > I never heard of anyone who would admit this. Sharpton is a vile, dispicable, racist con artist. Your laid-back, worry-not attitude is perhaps enviable, even if your judgment is not. My judgment is sound. Sharpton has made mistakes, like that Tawana Brawley thing, but everything in his actions speaks to a man who is camera-hungry but works to help black people achieve equality. One can be both attracted to the spotlight and use it for good > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > You don’t have any problem with him talking about “Greek Homos” or telling his congregation they had to decide if they were going to “be a man or be a faggot”? I do, but not that much. Depends on the context and when he said it. If he said it yesterday, definitely very bad. If he said it decades ago when gay rights were but a blip in everyone’s eye, then it doesn’t matter to me that much. If this happens years ago, I think his work with the downtrodden has redeemed himself even if he never expressly said he was sorry > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > You don’t have any problem with him saying “Tell them Jews to pin back their yarmulkas and come down here”? Not really, especially if this was in line at a roller coaster > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > If you don’t have any problems with homophobic and anti-Semitic slurs, how would you feel about him making anti-Hispanic or anti-Asian slurs? Depends on when he said it and the context. Gimme some links and I’ll give you my outrage meter > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > No offense, but respectfully unless I’ve very, very dramatically misread you I think you have massive problems with Al Sharpton’s actions, you’re just not very familiar with his actions. I haven’t followed Sharpton much, he’s been more of a sideshow to me: not a serious candidate for elected office, not an especially introspective pundit, but can mobilize people’s opinions and respected and liked in certain groups. To me, he’s just a guy who pops up every now and then when blacks are mistreated. Unless you’re going to provide some more links of egregious stuff he’s done, all those things above are kinda forgivable ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/65 "2014-12-30T16:52:03Z")
What makes him not what you describe is that he’s not fighting the power. He’s a celebrity who comes down and punches the little guy accused of wrongdoing in the mouth. That’s bullying, not standing up against the power. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/66 "2014-12-30T16:59:41Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Depends on when he said it and the context. Gimme some links and I’ll give you my outrage meter I am pretty sure you wouldn’t extend the benefit of this much doubt - or any, in fact - to a conservative. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/67 "2014-12-30T17:52:43Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I am pretty sure you wouldn’t extend the benefit of this much doubt - or any, in fact - to a conservative. Why would I? Conservatives have proven to be terrible people in many many ways. There is no problem with me treating Sharpton and conservatives differently if conservatives have a history of being not deserving of the benefit of the doubt. Sharpton has, in my eyes, and so I’m not going to demonize him because of a few out of context statements on a message board. As we’ve seen in the SPIOTD thread in the Pit, whenever you think a conservative has done something bad, it turns out to be worse. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/68 "2014-12-30T18:12:07Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Why would I? Conservatives have proven to be terrible people in many many ways. There is no problem with me treating Sharpton and conservatives differently if conservatives have a history of being not deserving of the benefit of the doubt. Sharpton has, in my eyes, and so I’m not going to demonize him because of a few out of context statements on a message board. As we’ve seen in the SPIOTD thread in the Pit, whenever you think a conservative has done something bad, it turns out to be worse. Well, once you admit being a bigot, there just isn’t much more to debate, is there? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/69 "2014-12-30T18:56:25Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > Well, once you admit being a bigot, there just isn’t much more to debate, is there? Its only bigoted if I’m mistaken despite the evidence. If I call a murderer a scumbag asshole who deserves to die, that’s just reality. If I say that to a random black person, that’s bigotry. Conservatives have done terrible things. There is proof of that, and proof that those in power don’t give a shit and their constituents keep re-electing them. At some point, you just have to drop the pretense that “both sides do it” (most people figured this out years ago). No, both sides do not do it, not to the same degree, not in the same numbers. You’re right about one thing, there is no debate. Conservatives don’t deserve it ---
**Author:** ![Orwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/dfb087/32.png) [@Orwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orwell)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/70 "2014-12-30T18:57:49Z")
That’s what all bigots say. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/71 "2014-12-30T19:03:50Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > My judgment is sound. Sharpton has made mistakes, like that Tawana Brawley thing, but everything in his actions speaks to a man who is camera-hungry but works to help black people achieve equality. Only if they agree with him - not if they are “[yellow niggers](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/nyregion/questions-about-al-sharptons-finances-accompany-his-rise-in-influence.html?_r=0)”. > [@](#): > > My judgment is sound. No, it isn’t, and the notion is ridiculous. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/72 "2014-12-30T19:05:09Z")
> [@YogSosoth](#): > > Why would I? Conservatives have proven to be terrible people in many many ways. There is no problem with me treating Sharpton and conservatives differently if conservatives have a history of being not deserving of the benefit of the doubt. Sharpton has, in my eyes, and so I’m not going to demonize him because of a few out of context statements on a message board. As we’ve seen in the SPIOTD thread in the Pit, whenever you think a conservative has done something bad, it turns out to be worse. Well, at least you admit your views are wholly based on your partisan outlook and save everyone the trouble of engaging with you further. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/73 "2014-12-30T19:13:46Z")
> [@Orwell](#): > > That’s what all bigots say. The great thing about this kind of response is that I can always just ask you to prove to me that the GOP in general are not filled with the cesspool of American political muck. Because I can certainly prove it the other way. Shall we start with rape, where several GOP candidates openly theorized about the validity of rape, some even praising rape babies as a gift from god? How about birth control, where GOP laws have been passed over and over again, despite pushback from the judiciary, restricting, eliminating, and punishing women for using it? Or we can do hypocrisy, where its well known that they claim to be the party of morals and family, yet so many of them are caught wide-stanced with mistresses both male and female, and instead of condemning them their colleagues say nary a word in objection? While openly attacking politicians of the other side for lesser sins? Would you like to talk about how to the GOP, helping the poor means taxing them more and given breaks to the rich? Would you like to wax poetic about their unflinching support for tax cuts for the rich while increasingly trying to criminalize being poor? Speaking of being beholden to business, how about someone in the GOP apologizing to an oil company for the (Democratic) administration trying to hold them accountable? Or we can go through the lists of descriptors that the GOP doesn’t seem to know the meaning of, like socialist, fascist, nazi, that they accuse liberals of being. For every instance I mentioned above, there is likely several names of prominent GOPers attached to the story. Sure, you’ll find your stray John Edwards on the Dem side, but notice we don’t claim we’re all morally infallible angels out to save the masses from themselves. We clean house when its necessary, miss some occasionally, but don’t hold ourselves up as the absolute moral truth. I don’t personally think I’m the absolute moral of anything except when facts and reality are so one-sided its simply silly to claim otherwise. So yeah, bigots say that. But the difference is, bigots are wrong. I am right. That’s what makes me not a bigot. > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Well, at least you admit your views are wholly based on your partisan outlook and save everyone the trouble of engaging with you further. Based on fact. Or are you calling Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” comment something that didn’t really happen and made up? ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/74 "2014-12-30T19:24:10Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > Only if they agree with him - not if they are “[yellow niggers](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/nyregion/questions-about-al-sharptons-finances-accompany-his-rise-in-influence.html?_r=0)”. I wish he didn’t insult other black people that way. He was wrong to do that. But he’s more careful about it now and I feel he’s not the same person. If he said that yesterday, I’d have a much harsher view of his him Unlike Romney, who bullied gay kids in school. I consider him the same person because he doesn’t have the history of public service and devotion to causes of injustice like Sharpton, in case you were going to ask. Yes, I also consider Bush to be similar to the person who dodged active duty and bankrupted companies. > [@Shodan](#): > > No, it isn’t, and the notion is ridiculous. Lol, coming from you, that’s a compliment. Woe be the day that you praise me, that’s when I know I’ve really gone off the deep end ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/75 "2014-12-30T20:03:37Z")
Next person who refers to any other poster - even obliquely - as a bigot eats a warning. Play nice. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/76 "2014-12-30T21:22:43Z")
Not worth it. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/77 "2014-12-30T21:26:41Z")
> [@spifflog](#): > > I ask in all sincerity. Is this a woosh? Not at all. Is he without prejudice? No way. Does he in general support causes that I support? Absolutely. Sure, he’s rather quick to take a side based on racial politics, but most of the time that turns out to be the side with the moral high ground anyway. ---
**Author:** ![spifflog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/78 "2014-12-30T22:13:06Z")
> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#): > > Next person who refers to any other poster - even obliquely - as a bigot eats a warning. > > Play nice. If I make the following statement- “Women aren’t all that bright, and the only place they should be in our society is barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen. The day we gave them sperm banks a vote is the day the country went to hell.” -and someone calls me a sexists, should they get a warning? How does this type of statement: "Conservatives have done terrible things. There is proof of that, and proof that those in power don’t give a shit and their constituents keep re-electing them. At some point, you just have to drop the pretense that “both sides do it” (most people figured this out years ago). No, both sides do not do it, not to the same degree, not in the same numbers. " -not fit this definition: “stubborn and complete intolerance of any creed, belief, or opinion that differs from one’s own” I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic or mean spirited. This is called “great debates” and if someone is so intrenched in their own one-sided belief that there is no possibility of accepting any argument to the contrary, than how do we have a debate? Hence my comment. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/79 "2014-12-30T22:24:08Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Not at all. Is he without prejudice? No way. Does he in general support causes that I support? Absolutely. Sure, he’s rather quick to take a side based on racial politics, but most of the time that turns out to be the side with the moral high ground anyway. So when he encourages the boycotting of Korean-American businesses in front of crowds of his followers holding aloft signs proclaiming “don’t shop with people who don’t look like you” you support him in kicking Asian-American merchants out of predominantly black neighborhoods? Would you mind explaining why either you support it or find it something that’s unimportant? I ask because I’ve often found it curious how many white liberals who ostensibly hate racism have little problem with anti-Asian racism. Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442/80 "2014-12-30T22:47:41Z")
As an unapologetic liberal progressive myself – I find him pretty embarrassing most of the time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-al-sharpton-as-bad-and-as-powerful-as-the-right-makes-him-out-to-be/708442.md?page=5)