I’m getting the show ready, and there’s someone on Imus disagreeing with Maureen Dowd’s assertion that Joe Wilson’s “you lie!” was really “you lie, boy!”
This disagreement is exactly why I wish she hadn’t written that column in that way. Ultimately, it produced nothing but misguided chirping from both sides.
Right now, there’s a public discussion of whether the fervor of many anti-Obama folks is based on race. The answer to that, of course, is duh. Since it’s duh, the best move is to stop posing this as if it’s a question and state it as fact.
(If you wanna test for racism, btw, here’s a great way — how much of the rhetoric Obama is facing makes absolutely no sense at all? I mean ZERO. I’d argue that quite a bit is totally preposterous. Racism’s defining characteristic is that, on a micro level, it doesn’t make any sense and is largely irrational. See a black man, see that much irrational hatred, and you probably see racism.)
Here’s the thing — whether or not it’s fact has nothing to do with Joe Wilson, Angie Harmon or anyone else. South Carolina’s racial legacy is somewhat inconsequential. It has to do with the one fact that I’ve never heard denied by anyone credible — that racism exists in America.
Now, if you think racism exists in America, then why do you even need to ask the question of whether or not race has something to do with the national dialogue on Obama? I mean, he is black and has power, right?
Duh.
There’s a danger in writing columns that attempt to itemize every example of racism. It’s missing the forest for the trees.
When you write something like Dowd did, all you do is open the door for rationalization of each individual action. It can be done in just about every situation, save for those where someone overtly claims his or her racism. And, until Wilson says, “I just get so tired of seeing a black man sassin’ us,” he’s got plausible deniability. And since saying someone’s racist is seen as damning, people are reluctant to say it about someone. Never mind how quick many of those same people felt free to call Michael Jackson a child molester, even though a racist is much easier to spot and less dangerous on a micro level. People are remiss to say something or someone is racist.
Sorry, but I’ve been tired of the stories and excuses for a long time. I’m tired of people that know racism is there but never, ever seem to know it when they see it. And I’m not really in the business of giving those people a reason to rattle off that same ol’ nonsense. I’m too busy for that.
Don’t talk about the racism Obama faces in the form of a question. State it as fact. Then talk about that fact, one that is not open for debate.
Instead of talking about this act of racism and that one, we need to continue having a larger discussion of just what racism is and how it manifests itself. The truth is that most people have no idea what racism truly is, which partially explains why those people explain its symptoms away.
But that’s a lot harder to do than point a finger at Joe Wilson, and the results of that discussion, if it is productive, would be more chilling and jarring.
Oh well. We gotta do it.
September 16, 2009
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