Thursday, August 28, 2008

The Most Controversial Post You Will Read Here (so far)

My mother has been complaining that I haven’t contributed anything in a while, which I suspect is one of her last resorts of guilt (or what I like to call “Jewish therapy”) besides me having no immediate plans to get married.

The truth is, I haven’t really felt inspired by anything in particular recently, and I’ve been writing quite a bit for work, so my creative powers have been sapped by crafting catchy sound bytes for expert declarations and various rebuttals.

In any case, I’ve been watching a bunch of DNC and political coverage this week, and I’ve just got to get something off my chest about that. This might not make my mother too happy, but Jewish therapy is an interactive process.

I kind of feel like everyone is tip-toeing around the issue of racism in this country, out of the fear that they might offend the offenders. It’s not the juicy, network news racism you baby-boomers had in the 60s that involved fire hoses, sit-ins and German shepherds, but the kind of racism that sits just below the surface.

To state it in the most blunt terms, every time I hear “blue collar,” “lunch-box Democrats,” or “working class” to describe people who voted for Hilary Clinton, I think it’s safe to assume that we’re talking about racists.

Does anyone truly believe that a whole bunch of classically misogynistic teamsters threw their support behind Hilary because they really believed in her as the best possible candidate for President? Puh-leeeeez! I can just imagine all the miners out there in coal country talking about how it was “high time to put a strong, independent-minded woman in charge of our nation’s security.”

Can we just stop deluding ourselves? True, she would have made as good a candidate as Barack, but I question how many of those 18,000,000 cracks in the glass ceiling came from people who just couldn’t stomach the idea of a black man running our country. I can hardly understand why a white, suburban woman who’s been living in various positions of political privilege since the 70s became such a “working class hero” all of the sudden.

That being said, I'm not a hater. Her contribution is truly historic (or "herstoric" as the case may be). But to paraphrase something her husband said last night, this time she just wasn't "on the right side of history."

Discuss…. ☺

4 comments:

baenigma said...

Hi Ari -
I have to agree with you.
I am having a really hard time listening to all of the former Hillary supporters who are saying they won't vote for Obama because of what he and the democratic party did to Hillary. I have to admit I liked Hillary as a candidate but recently I've been changing my mind. There shouldn't be any kind of talks about whether or not Hillary (and Bill) will support Obama. If Hillary was the woman/candidate she professed herself to be this wouldn't be an issue. Same with all the Hillary supporters. This election is about what is best for the country, not about what is best for the Clintons.

Marilyn said...

I was not trying to apply guilt and pressure because you haven't written. It was my OCD that made me want to see at least a Part II when you wrote a Part I. I am waiting for the other shoe to drop. :-p

Good blog! I see so much wrong-headed rhetoric on the news these days that I scarcely know where to start pointing out how ridiculous some of it sounds. It's a good thing Jon Stewart makes a living that way!

jmedancer said...

Aunt Mar - I believe the other shoe is dropping.

Beth - Agreed on all accounts. The Clintons have had their 15 minutes. Over. Done. Bye bye.

Ari - You and I have a much more to discuss. In recent years, I have become a very different person than I think you know me to be. If the unions/teamsters want to vote NO BLACK... that is their choice. Who is stopping them? This is America. Let them be racist. Let them be anything they want! As you said, it's a just-below-the-surface issue. Let's bring the REAL issues to the surface! In fact, let's bring the issues so far out of the water that they burst up like an oil rig that is about to blow and pollute the entire Atlantic Ocean!! I am talking about the basics... environment (what we need to survive as a human race, not just a black, white, asian, etc. race, but a human race - How is the U.S. going to play a part in this?), education (let's get to the next level of intelligence, instead of just f-in around), healthcare (self-explanatory - everyone needs it, so everyone should have it), and ecomony (the U.S. is in the toilet right now... and don't tell me that sustaining or creating war makes this better. it only perpetuates the problem, making the rich richer and the poor poorer - oh, and deader!).

Ok... I know I said I wasn't going to blog about this now, but I read the comments and I wanted to be a part of the action! I need to get some rest. Our Little Angel is flapping her wings inside my tummy. It is time to go to sleep...

Jen said...

such humorous writing.