# \*sigh\* Obama is not a "racist" (and neither is Rev. Wright, really) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 1, 2008, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547 "2008-04-01T16:38:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/261 "2008-04-29T03:35:06Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] And black people ARE better at music than white people. That’s just a fact. If it wasn’t for Black Americans, white Americans would still have nothing but their imbecillic jug music. [/QUOTE] :rolleyes: Yeah… I’m guessing at this point that you’re right brained. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/262 "2008-04-29T03:42:23Z")
Yeah, because you know _those people_ can’t sit still and have no respect for authority. And don’t even get me started on how they just have no idea how to deal with the White Man’s logic, their brains just can’t handle it. Heck, they can’t even learn from objects, like books, they need storytime. Probably with drums. And all that’s when they’re not crawling all over their desks! And what’s with all the shucking and jiving? What… racist? Why? P.S. **RachelW** : you seem neat. Stick around please. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/263 "2008-04-29T03:51:29Z")
[QUOTE=pantom] It’s so obviously racist it’s not even funny. As in literally, not funny. And, if you can’t see that, as well as see DTC’s hilarious statement that it might explain why blacks are better at music as so thoroughly to-the-bone racist it’s also not funny, at all, well, there’s no hope. I knew that before I rejoined this place, but I’m pretty shocked at just how bad it’s gotten around here. Yeesh. [/QUOTE] Well argued. I’m convinced. Love the Yeesh. ---
**Author:** ![Ocean\_Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8797f3/32.png) [@Ocean\_Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ocean_Annie)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/264 "2008-04-29T03:54:20Z")
[QUOTE=RachelW] Wright also explains the difference between “White brains” and “Black brains.” Here’s the exact quote. This is last nights speech by Pastor Wright. The link goes to the transcript. This is only the stuff about brain differences. > **[Transcript of Jeremiah Wright's speech to NAACP - CNN.com](https://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/28/wright.transcript/index.html)** > > The NAACP has an incomparable record. It has the longest list of achievements in the history of this country as being the undisputed champion in the fight against discrimination, racial prejudice, and unjust public policies, which have caused people... [/QUOTE] I am not up on recent research concerning learning styles, but it is well established that children do have different learning styles: oral, visual, kinetic, right brain, left brain. Some of these differences are associated with cultural. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/265 "2008-04-29T03:55:43Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] And black people ARE better at music than white people. That’s just a fact. If it wasn’t for Black Americans, white Americans would still have nothing but their imbecillic jug music. [/QUOTE] Really? So If start a thread in GD titled: why are Black people better at music than White people, I’ll get a factual answer and a mod won’t kick it out of that forum? Why don’t you save us all the trouble and just give us a cite for that in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/266 "2008-04-29T03:56:19Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] Wright is saying that white people are superior at logical thinking and that blacks are superior at creative thinking. He is making claims about the superiority of people on the basis of racial classification. [/QUOTE] I wonder which he thinks would be better in The White House: logic or creativity. I think Obama should run on this: Vote for me, Barack Obama!!! Less rational thinking. More…more…well, you know, all that other really cool stuff. (He whispers angrily off camera: "Where’s the music. You said there’d be music!!!) ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/267 "2008-04-29T04:01:06Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Really? So If start a thread in GD titled: why are Black people better at music than White people, I’ll get a factual answer and a mod won’t kick it out of that forum? Why don’t you save us all the trouble and just give us a cite for that in this thread. [/QUOTE] I think you mean GQ, not GD. My post is my cite. I am a musician. I have an expert opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/268 "2008-04-29T04:01:08Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Why don’t you save us all the trouble and just give us a cite for that in this thread. [/QUOTE] And come over to this thread: > **[Black are better at music—Or fuck you Diogenes the Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=465939)** > > I guess I could have started a new thread in Great Debate to see if you could back up your racist crap, but I would rather just tell you to fuck off you racist piece of shit. So, fuck off you racist piece of shit. ... ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/269 "2008-04-29T04:11:31Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] Wright is saying that white people are superior at logical thinking and that blacks are superior at creative thinking. He is making claims about the superiority of people on the basis of racial classification. [/QUOTE] What he said does not fit the the definition you provided. Wright is saying the two races learn differently for whatever reason. True or not he is not saying that difference makes the one race superior. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/270 "2008-04-29T04:13:03Z")
[QUOTE=magellan01] I wonder which he thinks would be better in The White House: logic or creativity. I think Obama should run on this: Vote for me, Barack Obama!!! Less rational thinking. More…more…well, you know, all that other really cool stuff. (He whispers angrily off camera: "Where’s the music. You said there’d be music!!!) [/QUOTE] But… wait… Obama’s both black and white. He’s what I like to call, Whack! Whack attack, baby! He’s got the logic, he’s got the groove. Obama '08… WHACK! As an aside, what are asians good at again? ---
**Author:** ![magellan01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@magellan01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magellan01)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/271 "2008-04-29T04:20:03Z")
[QUOTE=cmyk] But… wait… Obama’s both black and white. He’s what I like to call, Whack! Whack attack, baby! He’s got the logic, he’s got the groove. Obama '08… WHACK! [/QUOTE] Wait, that means he’s only got half the logic and half the creativity. Probably not near as logical as any white guy or near as creative as any black guy. Hey, what’s this loser doing running for President anyway? [QUOTE=cmyk] As an aside, what are asians good at again? [/QUOTE] Keeping body shops profitable. In fact, just hit me yesterday. Argghhh. At least he had a brand new car. Not even plates yet. Nice kid, though and minimal damage. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/272 "2008-04-29T04:26:05Z")
[QUOTE=magellan01] Wait, that means he’s only got half the logic and half the creativity. Probably not near as logical as any white guy or near as creative as any black guy. Hey, what’s this loser doing running for President anyway? [/QUOTE] You know, you’re right. In fact, he might very literally be half-assed himself. One white cheek, and one black. Dear Og, imagine the consequences! A half-assed leader would bring this country into the toilet… or at least half-way. ---
**Author:** ![cmyk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmyk/32/3353_2.png) [@cmyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmyk)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/273 "2008-04-29T04:29:20Z")
[QUOTE=magellan01] Keeping body shops profitable. In fact, just hit me yesterday. Argghhh. At least he had a brand new car. Not even plates yet. Nice kid, though and minimal damage. [/QUOTE] See, _this_ is why he needs to land an asian veep for running mate… the middle-class, blue-collar body shops across the rust belt will rejoice. The ticket will be clenched. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/274 "2008-04-29T04:37:12Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] I think you mean GQ, not GD. My post is my cite. I am a musician. I have an expert opinion. [/QUOTE] HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa HaHaHaHa. OH MY GOD. There isn’t a scale short of infinity that could measure the hubris of that statement. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/275 "2008-04-29T05:42:55Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] There is apparently scientific evidence backing it up. Neither one of us is a neurologist or an expert on brain physiology, so neither one of us is in a position to say the study is “bullshit.” It actually makes a lot of sense to me. It explains why black people are better at music, for instance. [/QUOTE] A cite, a cite, my kingdom for a cite. Generally, reports in the media that “studies have found” that group A’s brain works differently than group B must be taken with _large chunks of salt._ The studies cited almost never say what the reports say they say. -FrL- ---
**Author:** ![Ocean\_Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8797f3/32.png) [@Ocean\_Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ocean_Annie)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/276 "2008-04-29T06:35:21Z")
I need to correct a mistake in an earlier post up thread. Learning styles: auditory, visual, kinetic. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/277 "2008-04-29T06:39:27Z")
[nitpick] kinesthetic [/nitpick] ---
**Author:** ![Ocean\_Annie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8797f3/32.png) [@Ocean\_Annie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ocean_Annie)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/278 "2008-04-29T06:50:28Z")
[QUOTE=FinnAgain] [nitpick] kinesthetic [/nitpick] [/QUOTE] Thanks - It’s been a while. I posted on memory. A method that doesn’t always work for me. ---
**Author:** ![FinnAgain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finnagain/32/12500_2.png) [@FinnAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinnAgain)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/279 "2008-04-29T07:03:54Z")
Glad to be of service. Speaking of which, I’m not on the bleeding edge of research, but as of 2005 when I was earning my M.Ed, I certainly saw no evidence that learning styles were anything other than neurological (with the caveat that experiences can indeed shape neurological specifics) . And that yes, while cultures help set the norms (many American students would feel quite stressed in a typical Japanese school), there’s no evidence that various students within even a homogeneous cultural group don’t, also, have individual learning styles. To elaborate, even when I was teaching in a very small community, at a private school made up of students who all had very similar SES levels and such… there were a variety of learning styles. I routinely differentiated my instruction because, otherwise, there would always be a few students who were missing out. Now, if I could have students who had every learning style in the book, as well as having varying degrees of any of Gardner’s multiple intelligences… and they were all white upper-middle class children who had been born and spent their entire lives in a smallish New England town, I really can’t credit culture or race as being a driving, let alone defining, factor in individuals’ learning styles. I know the plural of anecdote isn’t evidence. But what I have seen and experienced is, I would argue, enough to invalidate overly-broad hypotheses of cultural differences in learning. YMMV and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547/280 "2008-04-29T14:48:37Z")
My thoughts? Who cares!? Reverend Wright means nothing to me. I am voting for Barack Obama, not his Reverend. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-obama-is-not-a-racist-and-neither-is-rev-wright-really/443547.md?page=15)