Jack & Jill Politics

i go surfing off Long Island – New York. The neighborhoods I know for sure not to walk thru on my way to the beach are, not coincidentally, the ones with an abundance of American flags flying out front.

(It's not America I'll ever have issue with, just these dang Americans who seem pretty irreparable.)

In this article Tim Wise calls on people to not be silent.

For context, I assume people know that Tim Wise is paid to speak and write. Specifically, he is a white man who makes a living speaking and writing about white supremacy/racism. He has done this for many years.

I always read the content of his work though this knowledge.

He is a good writer and very clever in how he does what he does.

His solution always seems to be — Talk. Words. In most of his work (though it is less clear here) he means white individuals talking/writing toward other white individuals.

If fascism comes it will come because those liberals thought voting for Barack Obama was all they needed to do …..

[snip]

….If it comes it will come because we allowed ourselves to believe the rosy and optimistic version of America spun by Obama, without tempering that optimism with a clear-headed appraisal of the way that (sadly) a still huge number of Americans actually think: because we allowed the vehicle of our hopes to outrun the headlights of truth; because we convinced ourselves that we actually lived in the country of our aspirations, rather than the nation we have at present.

And here I see something crucial. See, Wise can't really support Senator Obama's perspective because it does not contain some of the elements that Wise himself needs in order to continue to make a living and retain his status.

From what I see here, Wise doesn't actually engage with Senator Obama's actual perspective. Instead, he caricatures and mis-states it — to his own advantage.

There are certain ways of framing and approaching the struggle that Wise needs to promote and advocate in order to promote himself. So Tim Wise says that Barack Obama is spinning. This means he is saying he's lying. But not in too overt a way.

Look at the rhetorical positioning here. It's very clever. According to Tim Wise, who is telling the truth and who is lying? Senator Obama is spinning (lying) and in contrast Wise is telling the truth.

But back to the first part of his comment: If fascism comes it will come because those liberals thought voting for Barack Obama was all they needed to do …..

This is true. But who is advocating this as a solution? Certainly not the Obama campaign.

As Michelle Obama already said, a vote and then done is not the goal of the Obama campaign. Here is Michelle Obama on this point from her recent interview on Larry King:

her recent interview on Larry King

Because it's not just about winning. That's important. But it's about changing democracy. We want these numbers of voters to be high because people have to pay attention forever.

I tell people when I'm out on the campaign trail, we have to change the way we see politics forever. We can't go back to the way things were when we sort of voted and some people didn't and some people didn't pay attention. We have to be vigilant.

You know, it's not enough that Barack wins, he's got to have an engaged electorate to help him lead and make the changes that we need.

Well we are thinking alike.Earlier this afternoon I looked up the “Two Cow Philosophy of Government”. It Socialism,Capitalism, Facism, etc using a simple analogy with cows. Excerpt: “Communism=You have two cows. The government takes them both and provides you with milk.” Link http://famguardian.org/Subjects/Politics/Articl…

http://coonwatchcentral.blogspot.com/
Come check this new site our dedicated to the destruction of the coon minstrel culture we see in hip hop and in Black politics.Ex Juan Williams.

I'll be right there. I already like the name of your blog.

Nothing better than to go on coon watch – and it has to be done so they can be DEALT WITH. ***hard stare***

When my own AA sister-in-law came at me with this bull shyt, “We really shouldn't change Presidents in the middle of a war…this is Bush's mess–he [BUSH] should clean it up,” I SHOULD HAVE REALIZED KERRY WAS GONNA LOSE.

Even today, we have mofos running around saying, “This economic debacle is Bush's fault, we should let McCain suffer through cleaning this up…” I have news for these folks…THE POTUS NEVER SUFFERS…THE PEOPLE DO.

A President can suffer stresses, get ulcers, and lose a few years off their lives, but let's not get it twisted–THEY CHOOSE TO PURSUE THE OFFICE. People don't normally choose to pursue poverty, homelessness and self-destruction…UNLESS THEIR REPUBLICANS.

Yes, I fear they were right. Chris Floyd has been writing on this subject for years now. A voice in the wilderness.

http://www.chris-floyd.com/component/content/ar…

It's so easy to gloss over what has actually happened in this country in the last eight years. We are not what we once were, not even close. We are not a free people, we are held hostage by our government, hostage to our fears, manipulated and controlled to serve the purposes of power.

When I hear the supporters of the regime that has perpetrated this disaster upon this nation screaming and cheering about “our freedoms” and how great is America, I experience a disconnect that is stunning. Are we even living in the same place? Really? How can so many be so blind?

Webb, that's some strong knowledge you just dropped here on the blog.

I had my share of AA Christians talking that same nonsense, and when I asked would God be pleased, all I heard was “crickets chirping”.

Followed by mutterings of what a heathen I was. Oh, welll….

too true on the role play :”the great cosmopolitan centers put racists and jackassessin office regularly just like the small towns- look at NYC and NYState- Giuliani? Pataki?' “

Here in nyc, even after an uninterrupted history of Zongo, Louima, Sprouill, Diallo, Dorismund, and deep and clear color lines cast at 96th street (now crept up to 125th) and maintained by clearly racist real estate cohorts, I still hear people say, “but you're from texas. isn't the racism bad down there?”

this is not to pit one state against another. all 50 are backward when it comes to black folks.

and, it WILL be the so-called educated liberal greasing the path. I just wrote one such case here: http://hustleandfloe.com/2008/10/11/hf-0053-som…

it's unacceptable that too many of us (then and now) didn't even have those “few shreds” of awareness.

CPL, yes — as long as and to the extent that white people don't perceive Black people as real humans whose experiences and complaints are valid, Tim Wise will be able to have his job and advocate for its value and purpose.

Don't hate the messenger; hate the GAME.

It's just — how I see it, Wise is playing the game very very well while posing as only a messenger.

I know many people disagree with this perspective and many do feel strongly that what he is doing serves a good purpose. And, I do recognize that there are certain angles from which that seems undeniably true.

it's unacceptable that too many of us (then and now) didn't even have those “few shreds” of awareness.

CPL, yes — as long as and to the extent that white people don't perceive Black people as real humans whose experiences and complaints are valid, Tim Wise will be able to have his job and advocate for its value and purpose.

Don't hate the messenger; hate the GAME.

It's just — how I see it, Wise is playing the game very very well while posing as only a messenger.

I know many people disagree with this perspective and many do feel strongly that what he is doing serves a good purpose. And, I do recognize that there are certain angles from which that seems undeniably true.

The user deleted this comment.

Yes- The term Inverted Totalitarianism best describes the system of US fascism that we have now on both the Republican and Democratic sides. We need a new party(s) to get the needs of the people done.