CNN.com readers blasted the news outlet over their moronic story about black women and their tough choice between voting their race or voting their gender, in the Democratic presidential primary.
Here are a couple of choice quotes:
“Duh, I’m a black woman and here I am at the voting booth. Duh, since I’m illiterate I’ll pull down the lever for someone. Hm… Well, he black so I may vote for him… oh wait she a woman I may vote for her… What Ise gon’ do? Oh lordy!”
“Since Edwards no longer officially exists, as a white male I face the same choice – either I vote my race (Clinton) or my gender (Obama). Or I could just pick the candidate based on who I think would be best.”
The difference there being, of course, that CNN does not expect any white Democrat to have pride for his own race.
The real question, I think, is which group – women or people of color – needs the affirmative action more, all other things being equal.
Decisions, decisions.
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:10 pm
It’s a stiff race to see which outlet, CNN or MSNBC, will be pushing the race issue and other, supposed “gotcha” questions in these debates. I only saw half of the recent CNN debate (I guess I missed the fireworks) & a small part of the hour-long “Race” report afterwards…and it was a pretty sad display for the media in general. It does make Edwards look that much more irrelevant, which you could see baffled him on more than one occasion. It’s kind of funny in a perverse way to see the “white guy” get little to no attention in a major political race IMO.
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:47 pm
I agree in that CNN has become increasingly stupid since Ted Turner sold it (although nowhere near the level of FOX News.. yet)… But “white pride”, Charity? C’mon.
I’m not exactly “proud” to be white, considering how we’ve screwed just about every other race since the dawn of time.
January 22nd, 2008 at 8:51 pm
See, JD, my point exactly. Having pride about your heritage has negative connotations if you’re white. We are supposed to have white guilt. White Pride is code for racist.
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:25 pm
“I’m not exactly “proud” to be white, considering how we’ve screwed just about every other race since the dawn of time.”
Liberals are such wieners.
White people have done some wonderful things, not the least of which is ending slavery in most of the world.
So get over your guilt. It’s one of the things that keeps you from thinking straight.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:26 am
Wow, they ended something they were responsible for propagating in the first place.
I don’t have a problem with “black pride”, Charity. It is completely different when you’ve been on the receiving end of things for so long. There is certainly pride to be had in enduring. It’s not something one can truly understand when they’re in a position of privilege.
I’m not saying we’re “supposed” to have white guilt. Most white people are completely oblivious to the brutality of their history. Heck, our own nation was in part founded on genocide.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:50 am
I usually associate being proud of something that I actually had something to do with in the first place. My race, gender, etc. I had no say in, so I can’t wrap my mind around being proud of that kind of stuff. I’m proud that I graduated college, I’m proud of things that my family members have done, etc.. I think pride and self-esteem are at least slightly different IMO.
“White people have done some wonderful things, not the least of which is ending slavery in most of the world.”
Oh, thank yous white man…now I be free cuz of you!
We’ll forget that they were put into slavery by some of the same white men…oh well…
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:54 am
Wow, they ended something they were responsible for propagating in the first place.
Um, check your history. White people did not go to Africa and capture people into slavery. Africans did that.
For most of history, slavery was a fact of life. And civilization began in the Middle East and North Africa.
Whites didn’t start slavery, but they sure did end it.
Well, except for in Africa where it still occurs….
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:11 am
“White people did not go to Africa and capture people into slavery.”
You’re joking right? Sure, white people aren’t the only people to have ever enslaved anyone. Who owned almost all the slaves (if not all the slaves) in *this* country? I can’t believe that we need to debate this issue…come on…
January 23rd, 2008 at 10:28 am
You’re joking right?
Don’t be silly. White people bought black slaves from blacks. Doesn’t let whites off the hook, but there’s enough blame to go around.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:39 am
“Most white people are completely oblivious to the brutality of their history. ”
That’s because the brutality of their history usually isn’t relevant to their present.
Being guilt ridden over things other people did over a century before you were born is absurd.
Most white countries have moved far away from the brutality of their ancestors.
When groups of people hold on to past grievances and refuse to let them go, you get atrocities like the Bosnians and Serbs killing each other.
What about the historical brutality of non-white peoples? Should they feel guilty too? Should they tolerate behavior from those they brutalized in the past that they wouldn’t currently tolerate from their own?
Bottom Line: You should have no guilt or shame for anything you weren’t directly involved with.
Pride is another matter. You should take great pride in the accomplishments of western civilization.
I just want you to feel good about yourself, JD.
January 23rd, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Bite me. Seriously.
January 24th, 2008 at 8:46 am
Okay, this discussion was unexpected.
People do bad things and it is not limited to whites. There is no reason to think that you are responsible for atonement for what your ancestors did.
And black Africans did sell other black Africans into the slave trade. I believe that is the historical fact being alluded to here.
I don’t buy the white privilege thing, but that probably comes from being born to a mom on welfare and a heroin addicted father.
I am so not feeling the white privilege thing.
The whole race thing gets my goat. I think our problems in this society are more about class than race. The race-baiting only serves to keep the racial problems simmering, when many of them should be in the healing stage by now.
There are still some race problems, don’t get me wrong. I am just saying that the majority of the problems – such as opportunities – are class issues.
I remember when I was in college, we were watching some black comedian on TV. He was talking about growing up poor. There was a black guy there with us, who was raised by adoptive, affluent white parents. He was all, Oh yeah. You tell it. I was thinking, man, I know more about those experiences than he does. He has never experienced those things. (I knew this for a fact) But I had. I was not black, but I could totally relate to the experiences the comedian was retelling of growing up poor.
It’s a class thing.
We do not owe anything to an entire race because some of our ancestors might have owned slaves, who were of that same race. That is ridiculous.
And if we do need to do something to level the playing field, it is not as easy as declaring one race the privileged and one race the underdog.
January 25th, 2008 at 12:28 am
I can’t speak from expereince on this, but I would think a black woman born to a “mom on welfare and a heroin addicted father” probably has some extra hurdles to get over unfortunately. I feel lucky to have been born at this time in American/world history to some parents that weren’t the richest certainly, but who drove me and expected me to suceed in life. Expectations are important too IMO.
“I think our problems in this society are more about class than race.”
I agree. It just seems that a lot of minority groups (not all of them, and there are plenty of whites there too) in this country tend to end up in a lower class for some reason.
January 26th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
“I would think a black woman born to a “mom on welfare and a heroin addicted father” probably has some extra hurdles to get over unfortunately”
Like what? Are those reasons enough to keep her down?
“Expectations are important too IMO.”
Really? Why not expect more from blacks then instead of making excuses for them?
“It just seems that a lot of minority groups (not all of them, and there are plenty of whites there too) in this country tend to end up in a lower class for some reason.”
Why not look more closely at the minority groups that don’t tend to end up in the lower class? What are they doing right? Why aren’t other groups emulating them?
January 26th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
You’ve got to be kidding me right? We’re not going to acknowledge that racism still exists in this country & that that racism negatively impacts people of color all the time? Whether or not someone is “kept down” has a lot to do with the individual I would bet, but still…give me a break.
Who’s making excuses for anyone?? Stating the truth isn’t a threat to anyone I don’t think.
I think all minorities have trouble in this society and probably every other society. Which “minority groups don’t tend to end up in the lower class”?? It’s kind of hard to say “pull yourselves up by your bootstraps” if you’ve never had to do that with 2 or 3 or more strikes against you right out of the gate.
I’ll give you an intentionally silly example of how people treat others that are “different” in this country. When I used to go to college, I had long hair…all one length that eventually went all the way down to my butt. People assumed then that I was a pothead, a slacker, or someone to be feared. I’ve actually never done a drug in my life and never would, since I’ve seen first-hand how drugs negatively affect one’s life. I studied hard and got good grades. People would see me coming up the street and cross over to the other side just to avoid the long-haired guy. I laughed whenever I saw this kind of stuff happen, but after I cut my hair senior year…it all went away. You can’t change your skin color, your accent, your gender, etc. so easily…if at all. We obviously still have a long way to go on these issues…
January 27th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
“I would think a black woman born to a “mom on welfare and a heroin addicted father” probably has some extra hurdles to get over unfortunately.”
When I look at everything I have been through in my life, the farthest thing from my mind is, “gee, at least I’m not black.”
I was not talking about all things being equal, is it easier to be black or white. I was saying that most problems people have with getting ahead come from class, not race.
In other words, would a poor white girl have a better or worse chance at getting ahead than a rich black girl?
We need to look beyond race to the real problems.
I see far too many successful blacks to say that race is an insurmountable obstacle.
Maybe I am just being optimistic. Maybe I just don’t want to raise my sons with a victim mentality just because their father happened to be black.
January 28th, 2008 at 5:06 am
“would a poor white girl have a better or worse chance at getting ahead than a rich black girl?”
I think better unfortunately. Race cuts across class. We are in agreement that class is very important too though. I don’t think that many people are saying these days that race is an insurmoutable issue, but it is still a serious issue…even here in lilly-white VT IMO.
I’m not going to tell you how to raise your kids Charity. My parents taught me that I needed to get a good education & that that would open many more doors to me in the future. They expected me to behave and to excel. They loved me, and they spoke to me like I was intelligent. I can’t say that they did that bad of a job either, but I’m biased.
January 29th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Tough choice, huh? Vote your race or vote your gender?
What the fuck? So typical of liberalism to turn the race for executive leader of our nation into a contest of identity politics.
Me? I’m voting neither my race nor my gender, I’m voting my issues.
The issues DO still matter in this country, right?
Well, they should.
Yup. You guessed it. I’m a Paultard!
Vote Ron Paul… because there’s more to being POTUS than mere pandering.