His character, not his color, matters most to me.

It doesn’t get any realer than that.

Anyone who doesn’t acknowledge the struggle president elect Obama is facing within the black community is willfully deceptive. I, for one, am sick of “Real Blacks”. I voted for Obama because he appears to be thoughtful rather than an ideologue. He has kept my trust by keeping Gates to oversee our wars. Gates has been very successful and deserves to be left in that role, regardless of his political affiliation. This shows president elect Obama as a man who can be trusted to make good decisions. Black leaders can diminish him as “not a real black man”. I embrace him wholly as an American and my next president of the United States. His character, not his color, matters most to me.

In literary criticism, “magic negro” points out stories in which a black man (often with special powers or wisdom) helps a white protagonist with his problems. The use of “negro” in this context underscores the fact that such stories are inherently racist – if the black guy has such magical powers or wisdom, why isn’t he improving his own life instead of helping some white guy? Why aren’t we hearing the story from his perspective? For a great example of such stories, think about “the Legend of Bagger Vance” or most movies involving Morgan Freeman. The black guy isn’t the protagonist, although it’s his skills and knowledge that are critical. And that’s the problem. It would be better to hear his story than to hear someone else’s story that he made possible. It’s black guy as deus ex machina. And it’s far too widely used in American literature and film.

So the L.A. Times connected this literary style with the current political situation involving Obama (an interesting psychological observation), and that’s all the Republicans needed – “they said ‘negro,’ now we can do whatever we want!” Basically, they took the phrase out of context and ran with it, like kids with stolen scissors.

In the song as distributed, the issue isn’t so much that Obama resolves white guilt (although that’s mentioned) but it’s framed much more about being Obama vs. Al Sharpton / Jesse Jackson – style contrarian race relations. Which has nothing whatsoever to do with the original context of the term. Also note that in the song, it mentions over and over that the L.A. Times said it first, as if they’re trying to redirect the condemnation they know is coming.

By removing the term “negro” from its original, limited, more appropriate context and just running with it, the Republicans make it clear that their only intent was to get the chance to say “negro” a lot, without saying much else.

Then they turn around and try to claim that it’s parody, because apparently getting away with saying “negro” in public makes them giggle. That’s why it’s racist.

I expect this crap from Rush. Play away, you Oxy snorting freak. But if the leadership of the GOP is going to go there, then it’s pretty indicative of the fact that they intend to exile themselves for a long, long time.

And that’s OK by me.

Ann Coulter=(paraphrasing…all) The widows of 9/11 wanted it to happen
Larry Craig=I spread my legs real wide when I take a dump
Bill Orielly= Malmadey is where Americans butchered surrending german soldiers
GW=The foundations of the economy are strong
Mark Foley=none of the pages I soliticed were under 18
Sean Hannity=we have to save Teri Schivo

It’s time for a surge here in America, and purge ourselves of this dog vomit
that constantly comes from the right…and the left…

RaptureReady said:

Your words do not offend me. I have been called an Uncle Tom numerous times. I am an individual, but I would rather be an Uncle Tom then a pot smoking, hip-hop listening, bad hygiene, baby-making (with the koolaid stain around the child’s lip), ebonics speaking, chicken eating, low pants wearing person.

Your true self is revealed when you drag out the negative stereotypes. Tell us all again how ‘dark skinned’ you are again.

You’re dark-skinned as in: you’re normally porcelain white but after a little time in the sun your neck is bright red and glowing.

Even Clarence Thomas has enough self respect not to use those stereotypes in this forum in that context.

You cannot hide who you are … now get back to AOL or StormFront or Human Events or WND or whatever other internet trash receptacle you wingnuts swarm around.

BTW, the Whigs supported a the supremecy of Congress over the Executive branch, and also strongly favored economic protectionism. It also disintegrated because of intraparty disagreement over slavery. Do you still want to bring them back?

charliemac Says:
Dr, who ever said I was GOP. I didnt that is your assumption not mine. I vote for whom ever will do the best job. I have no party affiliation. In fact lets just do away with dem’s and rep’s and vote accordingly. Im sure a majority of america is middle road on their thought process. Bring back the WHIG party!

I’m hearing this a lot lately….from the republicans that I know who want to distance themselves from the losing gop.

Sexism includes attitudes that stereotype based on sex.

December 29th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
______________

He was totally crossing the line, but crossing the line that needed to be crossed then. We don’t need to cross that line anymore. A racist, sexist curmudgeon for a lead character wouldn’t be funny in the current climate. I don’t think it’s anything about political correctness or oversensitivity, it’s just a matter of changing tastes and sophistication.

Or not. Perhaps it would work today. All In The Family shouldn’t have worked in the 70s, in fact. It tested horribly in focus groups – they all wanted Archie Bunker replaced with a sweet, lovable old man. Shows what people know…

December 30th, 2008 at 9:58 am
_________

If we’re referring to the bit where she sang the national anthem at a baseball game and kept spitting imaginary tobacco and adjusting her imaginary cup to make fun of major-league baseball players, then I’d say it’s perhaps a baseballist gesture, but not a sexist one per se. True, all major-league baseball players are male, but it didn’t appear that she was targeting all men in that act.

If comedians had to limit their acts to material that didn’t talk about race or ethnicity or gender on some level, the world would be a very boring place. There’s a distinction, however, between an act that makes fun OF that other race, and an act that makes fun WITH that other race.

I don’t know exactly how to draw that line, but it’s somewhere in the approach – when the jokes are coming from a mentality of division and hate versus a mentality of love and acceptance. Or perhaps it’s the difference between poking fun at the people and poking fun at the stereotype itself. Either way, I see it as good.

“Chickenshit, the dirty, doo-doo colored, Whigger-wannabee”.