2015-11-01 – I love having right wing friends. They are so wacky! And every once in a while they send me something interesting to read. This time it is an article by Jonah Goldberg that appeared Friday in the New York Post under the headline The Ben Carson ‘secret’ that Democrats can’t bear to face, and the same day in the National Review under the headline Ben Carson shows that being a minority and a conservative is not a contradiction. This article critiques the left for their views on the Ben Carson candidacy, namely that liberals cannot figure out how an African-American candidate could have the right wing views that Ben Carson has.
The Daily Kos responded to this article on the same day, castigating Goldberg for saying that Ben Carson is more “authentically African-American” than Barack Obama.
My reaction to the Goldberg piece is that he has a point to be made. The Daily Kos (and others, I’m sure) missed the point because Goldberg talks about race in a typically clueless (and offensive way). That made him an easy mark for the Daily Kos—if you are happy taking shots but missing the target.
The point of Goldberg’s article, to me, is a simple syllogism to counter charges from the left that Republicans oppose Barack Obama because they are racist. His response, boiled down is:
– Ben Carson is African-American,
– We support him,
– Ergo: we are not racist.
I have been writing for some time that liberals shouldn’t be calling all conservatives racist. Some are and some aren’t. There are many paths to conservatism. Racism is only one. Furthermore, plenty of liberals are racist, too. It just isn’t helpful to be calling names.
And so people are pissed off. They want to shove this one in your face. See, I’m not racist. I’m voting for Ben Carson and he’s black.
Some people might be so pissed off, that they are voting for Ben Carson, regardless of where he stands on the issues. Just to show you how racially open minded they are—whether they are or not. And, of course, some people are voting for Ben Carson because they agree with him (God forgive them).
The point is that everyone has their own reason for voting as they do. Calling them all racist is counterproductive. They should be mad. And there’s no talking to someone you’ve pissed off.
(This doesn’t mean, by the way, that we shouldn’t be talking about racism. That’s what we should be talking about, not just labeling whole groups of people as racist.)
Before I finish today, I’d like to take up the point in the Daily Kos article, that Goldberg, as a white guy, was comparing the relative “blackness” of Ben Carson versus Barack Obama. And, of course, Goldberg found Obama’s authenticity lacking because he didn’t have the ghetto upbringing that Carson did. Kos is right to point out the idiocy of this argument. You could say this view is racist, but I’m not going to go there. Obama had his version of the African-American experience and decided to go into community organizing. Carson had his version of the African-American experience and decided to try to escape it.
So, while Goldberg is protesting the authenticity of non-racist right-wing support for Ben Carson, he is making counter charges of his own against the authenticity of Barack Obama.
It’s all just name calling.
You can find plenty of reasons to think that Ben Carson would be a dreadful president. You don’t have to call names.
If the argument is: “You’re racist!” “No I’m not!” This is the kind of candidate that’s going to emerge. If you want to debate real issues, however, you get candidates more like . . . what’s-their-names? You know who I’m talking about.
* * *
PANGLOSS
Let us review
Lesson eleven!
STUDENTS:
Paragraph two
Axiom seven
PANGLOSS:
Once one dismisses
The rest of all possible worlds
One finds that this is
The best of all possible worlds!
STUDENTS:
Once one dismisses
The rest of all possible worlds
One finds that this is
The best of all possible worlds!
PANGLOSS:
Pray classify
Pigeons and camels
MAXIMILLIAN:
Pigeons can fly!
PAQUETTE:
Camels are mammals!
PANGLOSS:
There is a reason
For everything under the sun!
CANDIDE:
There is a reason
For everything under the sun!
MAXIMILLIAN:
Objection!
What about snakes?
PANGLOSS:
Snakes!
‘Twas snake that tempted mother Eve
Because of snake we now believe
That though depraved
We can be saved
From hellfire and damnation
(Because of snake’s temptation!)
If snake had not seduced our lot
And primed us for salvation
Jehova could not pardon all
The sins that we call cardinal
Involving bed and bottle!
ALL
Now onto Aristotle!
PANGLOSS
Mankind is one
All men are brothers!
STUDENTS:
As you’d have done
Do unto others!
PANGLOSS
It’s understood in
This best of all possible worlds–
MAXIMILLIAN
All’s for the good in
This best of all possible worlds!
CANDIDE:
Objection!
What about war?
PANGLOSS:
War!
Though war may seem a bloody curse
It is a blessing in reverse
When canon roar
Both rich and poor
By danger are united!
(Till every wrong is righted!)
Philosophers make evident
The point that I have cited
‘Tis war makes equal — as it were —
The noble and the commoner
Thus war improves relations!
ALL:
Now onto conjugations!
PANGLOSS:
Amo, amas,
Amat, amamus!
STUDENTS:
Amo, amas,
Amat, amamus!
PANGLOSS:
Proving that this is
The best of all possible worlds
With love and kisses [blows a kiss]
The best of all possible worlds!
STUDENTS:
Proving that this is
The best of all possible worlds
With love and kisses [blows a kiss]
The best of all possible worlds!
PANGLOSS
Quod erat demunstrandum!
QED!
Amo, amas,
Amat amamus!
MAXIMILLIAN: (overlapping)
Quod erat demunstrandum!
QED!
Amo, amas!
Quod erat demunstrandum!
PAQUETTE: (overlapping)
Quod erat demunstrandum!
QED!
Amo, amas!
CANDIDE: (overlapping)
Quod erat demunstrandum!
QED!
CUNEGONDE: (overlapping)
Quod erat demunstrandum!
ALL:
Quod erat demunstrandum
In this best of all
Possible, possible, possible worlds!
Quod erat demunstrandum!
Q!
E!
D!!!!!!!!!!!
Eightoh9 