Monday, April 14, 2008

We Shall Overcome Liberal Racism

The latest flap about Obama's bigotry is not telling us anything we don't already know about the left, which is that their elites hold the people they supposedly represent in total contempt. They don't believe you are responsible enough to handle your God-given liberty, or that you know how best to spend your money, or that you are decent enough to refrain from racism or sexism. So they are here save all you losers from yourselves. But they can't put it that way, because if they do, you would be repelled by their condescension. So they must always dissemble and wear a mask. But don't worry. It's for your own good.

The odd thing about liberals is that if they were to come out and just say how they really feel -- like, say, a dailykos diarist -- they could never get elected. So liberalism either breeds a kind of duplicitous soul pathology, or else it pre-selects individuals who are already divided against themselves and have no problem leading double lives, so long as they can gain political power. To put it another way, the great problem for Republicans is hypocrisy, that is, publicly embracing principles they are not prepared to defend. The great problem for Democrats is the opposite (hypercrisy?), covertly defending principles they are not prepared to publicly embrace, like surrender, appeasement, high taxes, a large and intrusive federal government, etc.

Often the debate between left and right is between what we actually believe and what they pretend to believe. Again, it has to be that way, because if the leftist takes off his mask and shows how he really feels, he will be too frightening or repulsive to the electorate. For example, Al Gore would now be unelectable, because in the past five years he has removed the mask and shown himself to be a delusional environmental fanatic. Likewise, a Jimmy Carter is an unapologetic anti-Semite and terror-enabler. If you want to know what liberals really think beneath the mask, you generally have to listen to the words of a congressman from a safe district, or to the left-wing media/blogosphere, or to academia.

Most mainstream Democrats are not even aware of this. The average American is just not as politically engaged as most people think. It's not so much that they are easily manipulated. It's just that they go about their lives, and only hear of the big political rumors and fracases in a distorted way, as they bubble up and filter through the MSM.

As George Will once commented, this indifference is actually a positive thing, as it demonstrates just how irrelevant politics is to the average American, which is as it should be. The American government was not intended to be an intrusive entity that constantly drew attention to itself and interfered with our lives, but more of a background phenomenon, a necessary evil. Or, to put it another way, if the majority of Americans ever embrace the leftist myth of political salvation, it is the end of America. That might very well happen, but that's human nature for you. Most humans prefer security over liberty.

Speaking of how liberals actually think, I came across a repulsive (but typical) book that will show you just how deep the disease runs -- and in particular, how the fascist left has not just infiltrated, but dominates, my own debased field of psychology. The book is called Overcoming Our Racism, by a prominent academic psychologist, and I'm guessing that it is used as a textbook in many graduate and undergraduate psychology programs. If you think Obama is a condescending bigot, just listen to how this book starts out:

"Overcoming Our Racism will not be an easy book to read or digest. It is written mainly for White folks, but people of color also may find it helpful." So right away you see that the title is misleading, for it is not about overcoming "our" racism, but your racism, you filthy white folker:

"I know how difficult it must be to entertain the notion that you harbor racist beliefs and need to overcome them.... [But] I implore you to not allow those feelings to interfere with your ultimate aim of overcoming personal racism. In reality, you see, racism is an ugly cancer in the heart of most White Americans. It threatens to tear us apart as a nation, unless you and your fellow White citizens face the issue with honesty and integrity."

But despite his disgusting caricature of White folk, Dr. Sue is not a racist. After all, he's Chinese-American, and as any Tibetan or Taiwanese can tell you, Chinese folk can't be racist or ethnocentric. And as any Chinese or Filipino person can testify, a Japanese person could never be racist either. No, the diverse world of People of Color is a sort of multicultural paradise. If it weren't for White folks, people of color wouldn't be slaughtering each other in Africa, and Muslims wouldn't be butchering and blowing up Jews and other sons of apes and pigs.

So, why are you so defensive? Don't you see that your denial just proves Dr. Sue's point about your racism? Yes, you're a vile racist, but Dr. Sue needs your help. He's extending his hand across the racial divide, meeting you halfway: "People of color need your help. Overcoming racism in our society cannot occur without the help of many well-intentioned White folks, such as you."

Now, this is an interestingly Orwellian way of putting it, since you are not permitted to transcend race. No. If you do that, you are a racist. Rather, you must first identify yourself as White folk. That's who and what you are. It's your essence. You are primarily a member of a group called White folks, so get that through your thick skull.

Note the fascist/totalitarian/authoritarian language: "You must begin to challenge your own racial reality." "You must begin to understand yourself as a racial/cultural being." "You must take action to combat your own personal racism." "You must... be guided by the principles of social justice."

In short, you must be reeducated into being a neo-Marxist automaton. It's for the good of your own soul, if you had one. But we all know that you just cling to that fanciful idea because of your economic bitterness.

As I have mentioned before -- and it is such a truism that I hesitate to bring it up again -- leftism is a religion, except that it is an upside down one that inverts the cosmic order and immamentizes the transcendent. In Dr. Sue's case, he even talks about "enlightenment" and "liberation."

However, it is not the elementary enlightenment of realizing the unity of man, but a multicultural and materialistic perversion of this attitude. As a White person, "Your journey to enlightenment is different than that of persons of color. It is likely to be filled with unpleasant insights about yourself as a racial being and the realization that you share responsibility for the pain and suffering caused to others." Nevertheless, "I hope the promise of liberation will motivate you to read this book."

You are White. Therefore you are unenlightened, unliberated, and bad.

You are also very stupid, since you are eager to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to have your children indoctrinated with this racist crap at elite universities:

"[R]acism in the United States must be viewed as a White problem because it is White Euro-Americans who are primarily responsible for the oppression of people of color, and consequently responsible for making changes." "In the United States, it is White-Europeans like you who own the history from which your racial identity is based." "To be White means to be socialized into a world of White supremacy,... to be oblivious to your own biases and prejudices,... to be an oppressor with the power to force your will on persons of color." "To live your day-to-day lives unfettered by guilt, you must deny, diminish, or avoid the full realization that you are responsible for the pain and suffering you have caused racial minorities." The important question "is not whether you engage in or benefit from racial oppression. The more important question is, Once you become aware of your role in the racial oppression of others, what do you do about it?"

So don't wonder where Obama picked up his casual bigotry. He attended that bastion of White privilege, Harvard.

15 comments:

walt said...

This "conversation about race" we're having has opened a Pandora's Box full of left wing attitudes. And while, as you say, it's not showing us anything we don't already know, it has been amazing to watch even the MSM jump into the fray, like they are reporting something new!

I tuned into left-wing KGO Radio out of SF the past couple of nights, only to hear their uber-left Host, Karel, hammering Bush for his enriching his buddies in Backwater and Halliburton! Still with Bush, eh? I suppose that perseverance is a virtue, but still .... No mention of Obama's assessment of the working class, at least while I was listening.

I thought Micky Kaus in Slate had very telling words:
"Obama never describes his own views as the products of anything except an accurate perception of reality. Come to think of it, has he ever expressed any doubt about--let alone apologized for--his views? He certainly didn't apologize in his "race" speech. He presents himself as near ominscient, the Archimedian point from which everyone else's beliefs and behavior can be assessed and explained, and to which almost everyone's beliefs will revert after the revolution. ... sorry, I mean after President Obama has restored hope!"

Anonymous said...

It's interesting how the word "liberal" has morphed into "progressive" once people began to discover what the modern meaning of the word represented. Now the New Bigots who are and will continue to be, race obsessed, have replaced the word "people" with the word "folk" in an attempt to sound more moderate. I guess it sounds more folksy that way.
Hopefully good people (folks) who see the true progress which has happened in this society, will have had enough of the race baiting and anger from the "folks" pointing the fingers.

QP said...

Found at Neo's - a splendid, puckish riff from

Vanderleun:


If this Demo has offended,

Think but this; and all is mended

That you have but slumbered here

While my blather did appear

And my changing hopeful theme

No more truthful than a dream.

Voters–do not reprehend


If you pardon, I will bend

Over and, as I am a lying schmuck,

I hope I can hold on to luck.

Now to twine my serpent’s tongue.

I will make amends ere long

Else Barack a liar call.

So — please blow me one and all.

Give me your votes if we be friends.

And Obama shall change all your ends.


[IF you read the post at Neo's, you will come away with an enriched appreciation for the composition.]

NoMo said...

So, let me see if I follow lefty thinking. While it is unfair and unbelievable that we all enter the world as fallen beings due to the transgression of one, it is entirely fair and believable that we are racist because we are white. Got it.

QP said...

Nomo wrote: ..."it is entirely fair and believable that we are racist because we are white. Got it."

More nutty stuff showing up in recent conversations.

Jim said...

Anyone who thinks Chinese-Americans or Japanese-Americans or Filipino-Americans can't be racists should try living as an enlisted man in Hawaii. I had to go to my daughter's school when her Filipina teacher started calling her the "Stupid Houlie" girl. The officers and rich whites are insulated somewhat from seeing the real attitudes there but I think my kids learned from the experience.

Anonymous said...

So what about McCain calling people investing in Wall Street to secure their financial future "greedy"?

Anonymous said...

I had an exuberant coffee-spewing moment while reading excerpts from "Overcoming Our Racism" (as Amazon has so kindly allowed me to browse a tome I shall *never* purchase). This one in particular turned me into a fountain for a second or two:

[After pointing out several well-publicized, brutal killings and beatings of nonwhite and gay persons in the last ten to fifteen years, Dr. Sue goes on to state that he considers well-intentioned White people to be the greatest threat to persons of color.]

"Even as I write these words, I can sense the incredulousness coming from you, dear reader: More harmful than overt expressions of racial hatred? Further, it may shock you to know that I am less concerned with the Klan, the skinheads, or the White supremacists than with the well-intentioned readers of this text. Would it surprise you, for example, to know that the greatest threat to racial minorities in the United States comes from good and decent White folks, lovers of justice and democracy, and moral church-going people? (p. 9)"

Damn straight he senses incredulousness. It is, of course, easy for the good Doctor to make this statement, as he knows it will cost him nothing. He knows full well that the audience he calls the "greatest threat" to nonwhites is *not* composed of brutal skinheads, racist thugs, or thoughtless supremacists. He knows he need never worry about his readers attempting to hunt him down and beat him up (or worse) because he dares to call them racists. They are, indeed, decent moral people who pick up his book precisely because they are concerned about racism in America, and many are prepared to hang their heads in shame as he preaches to them about their own evils.

In this sense, Sue is very like the members of PETA who splash red paint on the fur coats of elderly women attending the opera, but who would never dare attempt the same stunt against the spiked leather jackets of a biker gang. For a scrawny, protein-starved PETA member, pouring paint on a retiree must be both safe and self-righteously satisfying. At heart, Sue's tome is an exercise in bullying the choir, chiding only those who are decent and diffident enough not to fight back.

You see much the same thing with liberals who would rather focus their hatred and invective on President Bush than on Osama bin Laden or Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. It's a classic case of transference.

Anonymous said...

I think this "splains" it all:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BB7tClTaQbg

Anonymous said...

The Obama candidacy is revealing the unspoken truth about racism in America in a way he surely didn't intend: The truth is that the vast majority of racial animus in America is from people of color and directed at "white folk".
I was in a pretty solidly white high school in the mid 1960's. We cheered for Martin Luther King, and for "Black is Beautiful", and even "Black Power". We were the generation that was to overcome "racial prejudice" as it was called then. We were the ones who would heal the wound, close the gap, and make racism a thing of the past. Our teachers preached it, and we believed. Furthermore I have never encountered a social situation, workplace, or organized group of any sort where bigotry was met with anything but censure. Yes, I have encountered white racists. But in my 55 years of well traveled experience they are quite few, and very far between. Ironic that the most overtly hostile racial attitudes I've ever seen in the public square are coming from a black man and wife of education, wealth, and priveledge.
End of rant (A)
On to rant (B)
I'm still mulling over my flame war with my moonbat artist acquaintance. Actually hearing moonbat rhetoric live is quite different from reading on the computer screen.
What strikes me is the petty mean-spiritedness of so much of what he said. A brief summary: "It's American greed that went over there (the mid-east) and took away something (oil) that we had no right to have, that belonged to them, and we should have kept our greedy hands off of it. That's how we caused all the trouble, and why we deserve everything that we're getting. I pointed out that it was American ingenuity, industry, and effort that found, pumped, and shipped the oil, not to mention creating the uses for it. That the true greed just may be on the part of those who have contributed nothing to the process but setting the price for it escaped him. We were still the greedy party in the whole business. That, and people believing in their stupid superstitious nonsensical religions is the cause of all the wars and violence in the world. President Bush lied to us to start a war against people who meant us no harm in order to steal their oil for the greed of corporate America."
Overall, what he revealed is a deep seated bitterness over mankind in general. If only we didn't believe in the foolishness of God, faith, and religion then we'd all come to our senses and have peace. If only Businesses wouldn't be so avaricious as to seek a profit, then we'd all be prosperous. If only this, and if only that, then he wouldn't have to be so disappointed in America, and the human race in general. That's leftism. The unending war of the nonexistent perfect against the best efforts of the good.

JWM

Anonymous said...

JWM,
Did you ask him why he continually feeds the corporate greed that is Starbucks? It seems to me that Starbucks must be the lowest scum on the earth as it's THE prime target for the anarchists when the vandalism starts during the proptests in the name of social justice.

phil g said...

Starbucks is also terrible coffee. They've managed to convince people that mediocre quality beens over roasted to a burnt crisp is actually good coffee and demands a premium price. I say ppphew!!!

JWM
I too find it very difficult to be friends and friendly to such bitter committed leftists as your coffee acquaintance. I've stopped arguing with them unless I think there is a participant in the conversation that is not yet fully committed or that can be turned back to the light. Otherwise I simply scoff, ask questions that reveal the obsurdity of their positions or sit and stare at them with a smirk.

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

"So liberalism either breeds a kind of duplicitous soul pathology, or else it pre-selects individuals who are already divided against themselves and have no problem leading double lives, so long as they can gain political power."


"Excuse me while I whip this out(hey! Somebody had to say it)!"

Thomas Sowell weighs in along the same lines:
http://www.townhall.com/
columnists/ThomasSowell/
2008/04/15/a_living_lie?

Here's an excerpt:
"An e-mail from a reader said that, while Hillary Clinton tells lies, Barack Obama is himself a lie. That is becoming painfully apparent with each new revelation of how drastically his carefully crafted image this election year contrasts with what he has actually been saying and doing for many years."

"Like so many others on the left, Obama rejects "stereotypes" when they are stereotypes he doesn't like but blithely throws around his own stereotypes about "a typical white person" or "bitter" gun-toting, religious and racist working class people.

In politics, the clearer a statement is, the more certain it is to be followed by a "clarification," when people react adversely to what was plainly said.

Obama and his supporters were still busy "clarifying" Jeremiah Wright's very plain statements when it suddenly became necessary to "clarify" Senator Obama's own statements in San Francisco.

People who have been cheering whistle-blowers for years have suddenly denounced the person who blew the whistle on what Obama said in private that is so contradictory to what he has been saying in public."

The entire column goes well with Bob's outstanding post!

And as an added bonus, Professor Sowell touches on Van's latest post:

"Karl Marx said, "The working class is revolutionary or it is nothing." In other words, they mattered only in so far as they were willing to carry out the Marxist agenda.

Fabian socialist George Bernard Shaw included the working class among the "detestable" people who "have no right to live." He added: "I should despair if I did not know that they will all die presently, and that there is no need on earth why they should be replaced by people like themselves."

Similar statements on the left go back as far as Rousseau in the
18th century and come forward into our own times."

In the immortal words of the Dissident Frogman:
"Yep, Rousseau was a dickweed."

I'm pretty sure that although DF is a Frog, he also has Raccoon blood coursing through his veins. :^)

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

On a good note, the Ontario "human Rights" terrorist enablers, have dropped the mindcrime charges on Ezra Levant!

http://littlegreenfootballs.
com/article/29614_Ontario_Human_Rights_
Commission_Drops_Mindcrime
_Charges#headline

Not because they didn't think he was "guilty", but because they "lacked jurisdiction."

Like the radical islamists they represent, they hate to be laughed at. Ha ha ha! :^)

Van Harvey said...

Ben quoted "People who have been cheering whistle-blowers for years have suddenly denounced the person who blew the whistle on what Obama said in private that is so contradictory to what he has been saying in public."

Thomas Sowell... really like that guy!

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