is it racist?
I was going to post this rant in someone's journal, then thought better of it. Why rant there, when I can do it here FORE FREEEEE!
But before we go there, let me link you to thisficklemob's excellent post about how the media is short-changing Edwards (even though I have a healthy - imho - fear of Edwards being the Ralph Nader of this primary.)
Now, rant time. CAPS and SWEARING ahead!
Whenever I turn on the TV to hear news on the election and dutifully listen to the commentators, it seems like what they're saying has NO BASIS IN REALITY. Not that this is so different from the usual, but it seems like there used to be some stretched, tenuous thread.
THAT THREAD IS GONE.
Take for example Obama's speech after the New Hampshire primary. Not ONCE in the ENTIRE speech does he say he has lost. He never even mentions it! And what does the first pundit say afterwards? Oh, he "sounded defeated." WHAT? WHERE? He led a fucking chant of "YES, WE CAN."
Also how is it such a surprise that Clinton won New Hampshire when the polls had been predicting exactly that for NINE MONTHS leading up to the last week when the polls started predicting a TEN PERCENT (i.e. about the same amount that most spammers promise to increase your penis size by) lead for Obama. Someone explain this to me.
Seriously, the pundits did a disservice to both Clinton AND Obama with their feeding frenzy on that one. And teary moment, blah blah blah. Right. You know what I'd like to know? How many people voted absentee in New Hampshire? How many ballots came in over a week before the primary date? Hmm?
NEXT. Clinton "pulling the race card" - WHAT? WHEN?
She said, "Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
Wow. I feel somehow... cheated. (And yes, Stephen Colbert is the man. Check out his footage on this point. I'm sure it's on youtube. Also the footage about "the gloves come off" - I lmaoed.)
BACK TO THE POINT: Yes, that speech was pretty patronizing. And yes, some people in her camp have circulated rumors and comments about Obama's teenage drug use. (Which, wow, I actually didn't know about until just now - which is kind of interesting in and of itself. Obama apparently mentions it in his autobiography... But. Given that George Bush supposedly did cocaine when he was well out of his teens, that seems pretty irrelevant. Wow, Obama was honest about using drugs as a teenager? And he talked about recovery and change? Damn, that there's some bad press. Sorry but I'm calling this one as "not that bad." The guy - owner of BET, I forget his name - makes a dig about something that you would only get if you'd read the book and/or caught the media stories. That is not a slam.)
I do think her calling Obama "kid" is absolutely offensive - it has racist undertones and also HELLO, AGEIST! (NOT THAT ANYONE CARES. BECAUSE AGEISM DOESN'T REALLY MATTER RIGHT? Side note, I'd really like to see Obama answer "yeah, old lady?" sometime when Clinton calls him "kid." For the pwnage factor.)
Come on. WHO IS REALLY "PULLING THE RACE CARD" OH MY GOD I AM SO SICK OF THAT PHASE? WHO HAS BEEN PULLING IT OUT OF THEIR ASS SINCE, HM, LET'S SEE. SINCE THIS RACE *BEGAN*?
Our friends. Our good pals. Who help us out by telling us what to think. Their names are mostly three letters long (good for cursing!) Here's some gems:
Q: "Was Bill Clinton the first Black president?"
You think it's what, FUNNY? CUTE? to ask the first African-American candidate (that I know of, anyway) who has a chance of winning a U.S. presidential election if he thinks this is true? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!
And also.
NO.
For the record: NO, BILL CLINTON WAS NOT THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Also. UNDERSTAND METAPHOR, PEOPLE!
Q: "Is it racist that Hispanics are being ignored as a voting block?" (Anderson Cooper)
GEE YOU THINK?
"We'll answer that after the commercial break."
OH GOODY! CUZ I NEED ALL THAT TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT!
What the fuck is this? The question game? The REALLY, REALLY STUPID question game?
If that is, in fact, what the media pundits are trying to play...
THEY STILL FAIL BECAUSE THEY KEEP ASKING THE SAME ONE OVER AND OVER AGAIN!
NEGATIVE ONE MILLION POINTS.
Oh and this cracks me up:
The New York Times carried yet another article about the dispute today, and the same paper, at the top of the front page of its Week in Review section, carried huge side-by-side photos of iconic 19th century women's rights and black rights leaders.
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON VS. FREDERICK DOUGLASS DEATH MATCH!!!
Oh man. Seriously. NYTimes you're on crack. Not the good kind. Whatever the good kind is. I don't know.
Disclaimer: the two questions are paraphrased not direct quotes because (1) I'm lazy and (2) is probably not yet available on the interwebs.
I WOULD HAVE MORE EXAMPLES OF THE STUPID BUT I CAN'T MAKE MYSELF WATCH! HELP, HELP! THE ONLY PUNDITS I DON'T WANT TO KILL ARE JON STEWART AND STEPHEN COLBERT AND I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING THEM BECAUSE THEIR WRITERS ARE ON STRIKE!
ETA: I registered and voted in California today! Go me! Have you registered yet? I'm actually thinking about a rewards system for people I know who vote. I don't know what it would be. Cake? Is that a good enough incentive? How bout cake and/or porn?
But before we go there, let me link you to thisficklemob's excellent post about how the media is short-changing Edwards (even though I have a healthy - imho - fear of Edwards being the Ralph Nader of this primary.)
Now, rant time. CAPS and SWEARING ahead!
Whenever I turn on the TV to hear news on the election and dutifully listen to the commentators, it seems like what they're saying has NO BASIS IN REALITY. Not that this is so different from the usual, but it seems like there used to be some stretched, tenuous thread.
THAT THREAD IS GONE.
Take for example Obama's speech after the New Hampshire primary. Not ONCE in the ENTIRE speech does he say he has lost. He never even mentions it! And what does the first pundit say afterwards? Oh, he "sounded defeated." WHAT? WHERE? He led a fucking chant of "YES, WE CAN."
Also how is it such a surprise that Clinton won New Hampshire when the polls had been predicting exactly that for NINE MONTHS leading up to the last week when the polls started predicting a TEN PERCENT (i.e. about the same amount that most spammers promise to increase your penis size by) lead for Obama. Someone explain this to me.
Seriously, the pundits did a disservice to both Clinton AND Obama with their feeding frenzy on that one. And teary moment, blah blah blah. Right. You know what I'd like to know? How many people voted absentee in New Hampshire? How many ballots came in over a week before the primary date? Hmm?
NEXT. Clinton "pulling the race card" - WHAT? WHEN?
She said, "Dr. King's dream began to be realized when President Lyndon Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964."
Wow. I feel somehow... cheated. (And yes, Stephen Colbert is the man. Check out his footage on this point. I'm sure it's on youtube. Also the footage about "the gloves come off" - I lmaoed.)
BACK TO THE POINT: Yes, that speech was pretty patronizing. And yes, some people in her camp have circulated rumors and comments about Obama's teenage drug use. (Which, wow, I actually didn't know about until just now - which is kind of interesting in and of itself. Obama apparently mentions it in his autobiography... But. Given that George Bush supposedly did cocaine when he was well out of his teens, that seems pretty irrelevant. Wow, Obama was honest about using drugs as a teenager? And he talked about recovery and change? Damn, that there's some bad press. Sorry but I'm calling this one as "not that bad." The guy - owner of BET, I forget his name - makes a dig about something that you would only get if you'd read the book and/or caught the media stories. That is not a slam.)
I do think her calling Obama "kid" is absolutely offensive - it has racist undertones and also HELLO, AGEIST! (NOT THAT ANYONE CARES. BECAUSE AGEISM DOESN'T REALLY MATTER RIGHT? Side note, I'd really like to see Obama answer "yeah, old lady?" sometime when Clinton calls him "kid." For the pwnage factor.)
Come on. WHO IS REALLY "PULLING THE RACE CARD" OH MY GOD I AM SO SICK OF THAT PHASE? WHO HAS BEEN PULLING IT OUT OF THEIR ASS SINCE, HM, LET'S SEE. SINCE THIS RACE *BEGAN*?
Our friends. Our good pals. Who help us out by telling us what to think. Their names are mostly three letters long (good for cursing!) Here's some gems:
Q: "Was Bill Clinton the first Black president?"
You think it's what, FUNNY? CUTE? to ask the first African-American candidate (that I know of, anyway) who has a chance of winning a U.S. presidential election if he thinks this is true? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?!
And also.
NO.
For the record: NO, BILL CLINTON WAS NOT THE FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Also. UNDERSTAND METAPHOR, PEOPLE!
Q: "Is it racist that Hispanics are being ignored as a voting block?" (Anderson Cooper)
GEE YOU THINK?
"We'll answer that after the commercial break."
OH GOODY! CUZ I NEED ALL THAT TIME TO THINK ABOUT IT!
What the fuck is this? The question game? The REALLY, REALLY STUPID question game?
If that is, in fact, what the media pundits are trying to play...
THEY STILL FAIL BECAUSE THEY KEEP ASKING THE SAME ONE OVER AND OVER AGAIN!
NEGATIVE ONE MILLION POINTS.
Oh and this cracks me up:
The New York Times carried yet another article about the dispute today, and the same paper, at the top of the front page of its Week in Review section, carried huge side-by-side photos of iconic 19th century women's rights and black rights leaders.
ELIZABETH CADY STANTON VS. FREDERICK DOUGLASS DEATH MATCH!!!
Oh man. Seriously. NYTimes you're on crack. Not the good kind. Whatever the good kind is. I don't know.
Disclaimer: the two questions are paraphrased not direct quotes because (1) I'm lazy and (2) is probably not yet available on the interwebs.
I WOULD HAVE MORE EXAMPLES OF THE STUPID BUT I CAN'T MAKE MYSELF WATCH! HELP, HELP! THE ONLY PUNDITS I DON'T WANT TO KILL ARE JON STEWART AND STEPHEN COLBERT AND I'M NOT SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING THEM BECAUSE THEIR WRITERS ARE ON STRIKE!
ETA: I registered and voted in California today! Go me! Have you registered yet? I'm actually thinking about a rewards system for people I know who vote. I don't know what it would be. Cake? Is that a good enough incentive? How bout cake and/or porn?