Sober - if Politically Incorrect: The Age of Obama
A picture paints a thousand words...
and they STILL voted for the Antichrist.
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**The old Manichean, neo-Platonic, pseudo-Christian narrative of "Evil White Oppressors" and "Virtuous Black Victims" is now officially exhausted.
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Barack Hussein Obama is now the 44th president of the United States of America. His election and inauguration have been widely hailed as earth-shattering moments, events that have elicited rapturous reactions from millions of all races, religions, and political persuasions, both here at home and abroad.
The "historic" character of his ascension to the presidency derives, of course, from the fact that Obama is the first black person to ever occupy this office. As we set sail into "the Age of Obama," I urge that we bear in mind the following considerations.
(1) Contrary to the virtually axiomatic manner in which these expressions have been bandied about in connection to Obama's election, the latter did not "break" any "barriers" or "shatter" any "glass ceilings." For all of my lifetime, and most of Obama's, we have been living in an "affirmative action" era. Obama didn't win this election in spite of his race, but because of it. This, obviously, is not to assert that his race was the only thing Obama had going for him; rather, it is to say only that his racial identity was not the liability that the foregoing phrases imply it was. Far from it: his race was an asset.
(2) This last brings us to the next point: Obama did not win the election in spite of whites, but because of them. Although nearly all blacks eligible to vote did indeed vote for Obama, he stood not a chance of winning the race against his opponent (regardless of how horrible a candidate the latter undeniably was) had it not been for his white supporters. Furthermore, even had the eligible voters of every other racial minority group endorsed Obama along with blacks, he still would have lost had whites not backed him.
I've noticed that as of late some left-leaning publications like Newsweek and The Atlantic Monthly have attempted to suggest that Obama's victory both reflects and portends the demise of "White America." This is simply untrue. It is correct that whites compose a smaller — significantly smaller — percentage of the overall American population than they did some decades ago, but the fact remains that they continue to constitute the vast majority of this country's citizens.
(3) I was born in 1972 — one year after the advent of "affirmative action. During my lifetime this country has witnessed an explosion of countless programs of various sorts that are aimed at benefiting blacks (and other racial minorities), policies of racial preference that, inevitably, place whites at a disadvantage. Yet throughout this same period of time white Americans have been tirelessly, and mercilessly, castigated by the self-appointed guardians of "Racial Justice" — black, white, and other — for their persistent "racism." The denial of culpability on the part of the accused, as well as his denial that "racism" is as nearly as pervasive and formidable a force as it was being made out to be, were taken as further evidence of guilt.
Whites who had been subjected to these interrogations — the "silent majority" of us — deserve an apology. We were right and our accusers were wrong.
That some "anti-Racist" can point to some isolated case or other of white-on-black injustice is irrelevant: had "racism" been remotely like the epidemic that it was depicted as being, had it been representative of "White America" as it was alleged, then Obama wouldn't have been elected to the Illinois state senate, let alone the presidency of the United States of America.
(4) The old Manichean, neo-Platonic, pseudo-Christian narrative of "Evil White Oppressors" and "Virtuous Black Victims" is now officially exhausted. The office of the American presidency is the most visible and potent sign of power as any that exists in the world today — and it is now occupied by a black man. Moreover, it is held by a black man of the Islamic-sounding name, Barack Hussein Obama, and this just seven years after 9-11! The usual suspects will stop at nothing to impress ever further into the popular consciousness the notion that America remains a "racist" country. Yet their cries of "racism" will now readily reveal themselves for the pieces of self-opportunistic demagoguery that they are.
(5) Though they bitterly opposed him throughout the presidential race, reminding us at every turn of his "pacifism," "radicalism," and "socialism," Obama's victory many self-declared "conservatives" now hail as a glorious moment for America. Although they have explained that it is not his victory per se over which they rejoice but, rather, the fact that the United States has its first black president, and while this distinction between the man himself and that which he represents is indeed a meaningful one, it is nevertheless deserving of further comment.
Symbols are not self-interpreting. This is true whether the symbols are people or inanimate objects. The Confederate Flag, for instance, has generated as much controversy as it has precisely because it lends itself to a multiplicity of mutually incompatible readings. Apparently, up until Obama's election, the United States flag has symbolized very different things for those of different political persuasions and racial backgrounds. For most Americans, especially white Americans, the flag signifies sacrifice, courage, fortitude, and justice, and it invokes feelings of pride. For other Americans, to say nothing of non-Americans, the flag is a symbol of "racism," "jingoism," "imperialism," and "oppression."
Obama is a symbol of "Hope" and "Change" for many. Yet he is also arguably a symbol of some things that, for just as many if not more Americans, warrant repudiation.
The "conservatives" to whom I refer believe that Obama's success symbolizes the triumph of so-called "color blindness." However, it can just as plausibly, if not more so, be seen as richly symbolic of the triumph of "color consciousness," specifically, "affirmative action": there can be no question that Obama would not have gotten remotely as far as he did, and we wouldn't be experiencing any of the euphoria currently engulfing large portions of the country, had he been just another European-American elected to the presidency.
These are just some thoughts that I believe it would serve us well to entertain as we embark upon the Age of Obama.
Barack Hussein Obama is now the 44th president of the United States of America. His election and inauguration have been widely hailed as earth-shattering moments, events that have elicited rapturous reactions from millions of all races, religions, and political persuasions, both here at home and abroad.
The "historic" character of his ascension to the presidency derives, of course, from the fact that Obama is the first black person to ever occupy this office. As we set sail into "the Age of Obama," I urge that we bear in mind the following considerations.
(1) Contrary to the virtually axiomatic manner in which these expressions have been bandied about in connection to Obama's election, the latter did not "break" any "barriers" or "shatter" any "glass ceilings." For all of my lifetime, and most of Obama's, we have been living in an "affirmative action" era. Obama didn't win this election in spite of his race, but because of it. This, obviously, is not to assert that his race was the only thing Obama had going for him; rather, it is to say only that his racial identity was not the liability that the foregoing phrases imply it was. Far from it: his race was an asset.
(2) This last brings us to the next point: Obama did not win the election in spite of whites, but because of them. Although nearly all blacks eligible to vote did indeed vote for Obama, he stood not a chance of winning the race against his opponent (regardless of how horrible a candidate the latter undeniably was) had it not been for his white supporters. Furthermore, even had the eligible voters of every other racial minority group endorsed Obama along with blacks, he still would have lost had whites not backed him.
I've noticed that as of late some left-leaning publications like Newsweek and The Atlantic Monthly have attempted to suggest that Obama's victory both reflects and portends the demise of "White America." This is simply untrue. It is correct that whites compose a smaller — significantly smaller — percentage of the overall American population than they did some decades ago, but the fact remains that they continue to constitute the vast majority of this country's citizens.
(3) I was born in 1972 — one year after the advent of "affirmative action. During my lifetime this country has witnessed an explosion of countless programs of various sorts that are aimed at benefiting blacks (and other racial minorities), policies of racial preference that, inevitably, place whites at a disadvantage. Yet throughout this same period of time white Americans have been tirelessly, and mercilessly, castigated by the self-appointed guardians of "Racial Justice" — black, white, and other — for their persistent "racism." The denial of culpability on the part of the accused, as well as his denial that "racism" is as nearly as pervasive and formidable a force as it was being made out to be, were taken as further evidence of guilt.
Whites who had been subjected to these interrogations — the "silent majority" of us — deserve an apology. We were right and our accusers were wrong.
That some "anti-Racist" can point to some isolated case or other of white-on-black injustice is irrelevant: had "racism" been remotely like the epidemic that it was depicted as being, had it been representative of "White America" as it was alleged, then Obama wouldn't have been elected to the Illinois state senate, let alone the presidency of the United States of America.
(4) The old Manichean, neo-Platonic, pseudo-Christian narrative of "Evil White Oppressors" and "Virtuous Black Victims" is now officially exhausted. The office of the American presidency is the most visible and potent sign of power as any that exists in the world today — and it is now occupied by a black man. Moreover, it is held by a black man of the Islamic-sounding name, Barack Hussein Obama, and this just seven years after 9-11! The usual suspects will stop at nothing to impress ever further into the popular consciousness the notion that America remains a "racist" country. Yet their cries of "racism" will now readily reveal themselves for the pieces of self-opportunistic demagoguery that they are.
(5) Though they bitterly opposed him throughout the presidential race, reminding us at every turn of his "pacifism," "radicalism," and "socialism," Obama's victory many self-declared "conservatives" now hail as a glorious moment for America. Although they have explained that it is not his victory per se over which they rejoice but, rather, the fact that the United States has its first black president, and while this distinction between the man himself and that which he represents is indeed a meaningful one, it is nevertheless deserving of further comment.
Symbols are not self-interpreting. This is true whether the symbols are people or inanimate objects. The Confederate Flag, for instance, has generated as much controversy as it has precisely because it lends itself to a multiplicity of mutually incompatible readings. Apparently, up until Obama's election, the United States flag has symbolized very different things for those of different political persuasions and racial backgrounds. For most Americans, especially white Americans, the flag signifies sacrifice, courage, fortitude, and justice, and it invokes feelings of pride. For other Americans, to say nothing of non-Americans, the flag is a symbol of "racism," "jingoism," "imperialism," and "oppression."
Obama is a symbol of "Hope" and "Change" for many. Yet he is also arguably a symbol of some things that, for just as many if not more Americans, warrant repudiation.
The "conservatives" to whom I refer believe that Obama's success symbolizes the triumph of so-called "color blindness." However, it can just as plausibly, if not more so, be seen as richly symbolic of the triumph of "color consciousness," specifically, "affirmative action": there can be no question that Obama would not have gotten remotely as far as he did, and we wouldn't be experiencing any of the euphoria currently engulfing large portions of the country, had he been just another European-American elected to the presidency.
These are just some thoughts that I believe it would serve us well to entertain as we embark upon the Age of Obama.
posted by jillosophy at 2/04/2009 02:21:00 PM
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