The Knish gives us a good history of the historic racism of the Democratic Party. Up until the 1950′s the Democrats pandered to white racists and segregationists (Lester Maddox, George Wallace, Orval Faubus, Robert Byrd). However, starting in the late 1960′s, seeing the potential to win over a huge bloc of voters (90-98% in every national election) the Democrats (doing a Charles Johnson circa January 2009) decided to ditch their old allies and to enable several unsavory black racists (Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton) and to favor black preferences over working class whites. Also recall the special vitriol directed against Blacks such as Clarence Thomas, Thomas Sowell and yes even Mr. 9 9 9 (Herman Cain) – folks who dare to think for themselves. However, the inherent cynicism of Democratic liberals is still something to marvel at.
by Daniel Greenfield
Racism is about many things, but it isn’t about race. To understand the uses of race in American liberalism requires understanding its place in the political culture. When American liberals speak of race, they aren’t speaking in the genetic sense; what they are doing is clumsily piggybacking class onto race and adding one dubious construct to another.
The placement of racial politics at the center of liberal advocacy coincided with a growing national prosperity that seemed to be on the way to making class warfare of the old kind irrelevant. Previous liberal civil rights activity had been a subset of class, but class now became a subset of race. And both were a means of liberal self-definition as the people concerned with the plight of the downtrodden.
Class warfare was not really about the poor, it was about using a permanent social problem as a means of recreating the social order and gaining permanent political power. Race is just class dressed up in the same old class warfare clothes so that there is nearly no distinction between the two. Reformers gain power by attacking the failures of the system and positioning a social problem as an open sore that must be healed. But it isn’t healing that they have in mind.
When your power is a product of social problems, then the failure to locate social problems that are an open sore on society, a cry of conscience and a grievous crime that must be faced, leaves you powerless and irrelevant. Once you start running out of legitimate social problems to tackle, then you have no choice but to start creating them or exaggerating them. Whether the problems you are dealing with are real or unreal, your challenge is to find ways to make them worse in order to retain your power and the social relevance of your movement.
Race has very little to do with racial politics which rely on the older methodologies of radicalizing slums and using subsidies to elevate community leaders who will support the reformers, all tactics that date back centuries, and long predate the politicization of race.
When the Democratic Party had its change of heart on race, all it did was take the same methods it used on German, Irish, Jewish and Italian immigrants and shift them to urban African-Americans who had come north and were living in the same neighborhoods formerly occupied by the immigrants. And so the party that during the Civil War orchestrated urban anti-draft riots by white immigrants targeting African-Americans was using the same methods to orchestrate African-American riots aimed at the second and third generation of working class immigrants that it had once fostered. What most people thought of as racial politics was just the Democratic Party doing what it had been doing all along.
[......]
Muslims are not a race, but they have been classified as an oppressed group. Socialism is not a race, but they are the official representatives of all oppressed peoples. To insult either one is to be “racist” because racism refers to majority oppression, and nothing else. To be a racist is to oppose or denigrate the moral worldview of the reformers without reference to the skin color of any of the parties. Therefore, African-American opponents of President Clinton were racists because the terminology of race had nothing to do with the preexisting racial construct. The idea of race, as it had existed in the United States, no longer applied. Words like racism were part of the Newspeak grammar which insisted on appropriating the moral force of the old meanings, but without actually employing those meanings.
Their new definitions are those that serve the purposes of the ideology that commands them.
This liberal lexicon is the Newspeak that is all around us. It relies on the moral power of words while first subtly and then grossly changing their definitions until they no longer have anything to do with the old meaning. The process begins with politicized terminology and ends when the core terminology of a free country like “rights”, “freedom” and “democracy” no longer have anything in common with their formal definitions. Their new definitions are those that serve the purposes of the ideology that commands them.
Regardless of what they are supposed to mean, progressivism, racial tolerance and social justice all mean the same thing. And so in the inverse, racism, conservatism and small government also add up to variations of the same idea in the liberal lexicon. Which might not be so much of a problem if it were not also the lexicon being used by the media, academics, politicians, judges and the entertainment industry to name a few groups who are invested in the altered meanings because they are also invested in the ideology that those meanings support.
Ideologies define a worldview where for compelling moral reasons the ideologues are the only ones who can be safely allowed to rule. Imposing this worldview on the people as often as possible and through every possible venue, from news reporting to novels, and from music to the educational system as allows for the perpetual power of the ideologues. So long as the cause is just, then no possible overreach of power or abuse can ever justify removing the ideologues from their petty thrones.
Their first goal, once in power, is to worsen whatever crisis brought them to power without appearing to do so.
The purpose of any ideology is power. To gain power, the ideology must impose its notion of a crisis and its view of a solution as the right and natural one. Once the proponents of the ideology are empowered to impose a solution, then they gain factional and personal power that allows them to remake the system in ways that will prevent them from being dislodged. Their first goal, once in power, is to worsen whatever crisis brought them to power without appearing to do so. Their solutions deepen the crisis while appearing to devote every resource to resolving it.
The growing prosperity of working classes in the West weakened the crisis of class warfare that had led the left to trumpet that the only alternative to their political reforms was a bloody civil war between the workers and the owners. That was when the left turned to race as their central crisis. Over time, the left has broadened race back to cover the immigration exploitation that they had been engaged in during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As most of the new immigrants were now non-white, the left rolled their old new crisis into their new old crisis and continued to call the whole thing racism, even when, as with Muslims, they were conflating religion with race.
Crisis is king. Crisis justifies a war on poverty and a war on racism which are actually wars on anything that is an obstacle to the absolute power of the ideology that exploits the crisis. That is why we are now forced to show photo ID’s in order to buy cough medicine when we come down with the flu, but any talk of showing photo ID’s at the voting booth is shouted down as racism. Why is it racism? Because the working definition of racism is anything that interferes with the progressive power structure. Questioning the existence of the crisis is the worst form of racism of them all.
Well over a century after the Civil War and Reconstruction, and half a century after the civil rights movement, do we really need the Federal government looking over the shoulder of states to stop them from controlling their own electoral systems? Is it really in the name of equality that the Federal government steps in and ban non-partisan elections in the city of Kinston for fear that African-Americans won’t know whom to vote for?
Racial justice is the tail of the dog, and the dog is a Democratic Party hound
Protecting African-American voting rights has become code for protecting the Election Day turnout for the Democratic Party. Preventing the wrong kind of redistricting is about maintaining the gerrymandered minority districts which are code for safe Democratic Party seats. Racial justice is the tail of the dog, and the dog is a Democratic Party hound, and it has nothing to do with the old fashioned kind of racism.
The Democratic Party has switched from suppressing minority voters to giving added weight to minority votes, both in violation of the law. The common denominator in both cases is that it does what serves its own interests and calls it defending the rights of the people. The distance between the Red Shirts and the New Black Panther Party, or the Redeemers and the Diversifiers is shorter than most Democrats would like to admit. The bottom line goal in all case was the power of the party.
Ideology is a vehicle for political power, and all the Machiavellian outfits draped around the naked emperor of power do not change that. Western political parties in America, Europe and around the world have traded in the “Labor” ideology that banked on the dissatisfaction of the native working class for a “Diversity” ideology banking on the dissatisfaction of minorities. Such a transition would not have occurred, no matter how much the changing ideas of the left pushed it, if it did not serve the interests of the political machines driving them.
[......]
Read the rest – The Liberal Uses of Race
Tags: Daniel Greenfield, Sultan Knish
The day when the Democratic Party can no longer count on the automatic support of 90-95% of the black voters, is the day it is no longer a major political party.
@ Speranza:
But isn’t the Latino population more important because of its size and growth potential?
@ Speranza:
That day won’t come until the blacks shake off the chains of the race-hustlers, though, and I don’t see that happening any time soon. Racism isn’t dead, but if by “racist” you mean someone who believes that all a man is, that the whole of his being, his worth, and value, can be summed up in what color his skin is, then I have to say that the vast majority of the racists in this country are on the Left side of the aisle, and not a few of them are of the darker skin tones.
Moe Katz wrote:
I don’t know and I hate the Balkanization of the American electorate.
Percentage wise -- more Republican Senators voted for the Civil Rights Act then Democrats.
Iron Fist wrote:
Sadly I think you’re right.
Did she die in battle????
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46400166/ns/local_news-delaware_valley_pa_nj/
It is Balkanized alright. The number of Jews who vote Democrat, against their own interests, is ridiculous.
@ Lily:
That is sickening. A hero from WW II or even the current wars in Iraq or Afghanistan can die but who cares. A drugged out singer who happened to have a good voice, lets all cry and sit in sack cloth for 3 days. Give me a break.
From what I can tell this country is very much divided. The term racist is being thrown around like rain in a thunder storm. Not only is race being bandied around also the war on the rich….class warfare.
@ Moe Katz:
That won’t change despite Obama’s overt hostility to Israel and borderline anti-Semitism over the issue. That is a sad fact.
@ Iron Fist:
indeed
@ Lily:
It isn’t war on the real rich, though. The Obama’s are going to be exempt, as will Nancy Pelosie. It is a war on the upper middle class and small businesses, disguised as class warfare against the wealthy.
@ Speranza:
Its always been that way. Its just the Democrats are experts at that game. The GOP does it as well, but they do it sloppily.
Moe Katz wrote:
Tell that to the Republican Party. They don’t seem to grasp it nor do they care.
Moe Katz wrote:
Their religion is liberalism more then it is Judaism.
@ Speranza:
@ Iron Fist:
Blacks are part of the Democratic Party’s power structure. They have too much invested in them as a Party. So the GOP needs to forget about them. They need to focus on getting 40-45% of the Hispanic vote. Bush for all his faults got it. Perry, Huntsman and Newt did as well. Santorum and Romney, not so much.
Oh well!
MikeA wrote:
It is sickening. I thought there were rules concerning how the flag is flown. Apparently there aren’t. I don’t remember flags being flown at half-staff when Patrick Swayze died…or any other entertainer who has died.
I also think this is about race too. If she were white would this be happening?
Not to mention all the moaning and groaning over her death…which is tragic by all means. But no mention of it possibly being a suicide…which in this case sounds like it was in my opinion. Her voice was gone, she was out of money there she was at the Grammy’s which just seemed to be rubbing her face into what she used to be.
Iron Fist wrote:
Actually I believe it will shift some votes to the GOP. The precedent is there in 1980 with Jimmy Carter.
@ Iron Fist:
Well said. Its a Rich on the Upper Middle Class and Businessmen. Thats why I said the GOP should turn the tables and propose raising taxes on people making more than a Million Dollars. That would hurt the Democrats. But the GOP doesn’t think outside the box.
Rodan wrote:
The yahoos don’t.
@ Speranza:
The Yahoos run the Party now. Hopefully after this election, they will be put in their place.
@ Rodan:
I think if we can peel away enough Black votes so the Democrats get 80% instead of 95%, that would be a huge help. I do not expect us to get a majority of the Black vote even if Lincoln were to come back and be our candidate.
@ Speranza:
It would help a bit.
Lily wrote:
They flew at half-staff in California when John Wayne died. I remember that from when I was a kid. That is about the only entertainer I can think of that honor being given to, though. And Whitney Houston isn’t in John Wayne’s class. She just isn’t.
Rodan wrote:
They have been pandered to for way too long.
Iron Fist wrote:
Oh indeed I know. Which is truly ironic..the obama’s run around the world spending large swathes of money on toney vacations, Pelosi is very rich but these people are complaining about the rich. Why don’t they give up some of the money they have???? I am sick of these type of people shoveling their ‘concept’ of what is just and unjust down our throats.
@ Iron Fist:
Actually I do not get too upset if the fly the flag at half staff for her.
Iron Fist wrote:
No she wasn’t. John Wayne was seen as patriotic.
@ Speranza:
Oh, I’m not pissed off about it, but it does seem a little much. I don’t have much use for the entertainment industry as a whole, though. Used to be actors were considered to be about the same social class as prostitutes. The class of the actors didn’t change, just society’s views of them. I don’t really know why.
Speranza wrote:
I’m not upset. Just wondering if this is normal. Seems a bit overboard.
@ Lily:
I wonder if they fly the flag at half staff whenever a soldier dies from NJ?? That is the sickening part.
/a person dies for our country and it will not get flown half staff.
A troubled singer dies and it is.
There is a bit of disconnect here.
Lily wrote:
I liked the Duke but when the Big Show (WWII) happened, he did not serve.
@ Speranza:
I wonder why? Health?
Addressing racial issues is like grabbing the third rail.
Holder calls us all “cowards” on the issue of race.
That is beause he is just one more guy pimping race.
He will tell what to think and how to express it.
We can never have an honest national discussiion, because
you are expected to first admit your guilt and repent.
Iron Fist wrote:
In Shakespeare’s time they certainly were considered to be one step above prostitutes and criminals.
Lily wrote:
According to wikipedia (not sure how accurate this is).
Speranza wrote:
What have you got against people from Yugoslavia?
/
More about John Wayne that I find interesting
Moe Katz wrote:
You mean The Former Yugoslavia -- which actually sounds like the name of a real country.
Lily wrote:
If she died in battle, she’d be portrayed correctly on a statue. But if she didn’t, well then, they’d have to put her on all fours wouldn’t they…this is getting RIDICULOUS!
RIX wrote:
Guilt for what? Something that happened a long time ago that I didn’t have anything to do with? As far as I am concerned I don’t care what your color of skin is or a matter of fact what color hair you have. I equate the two on the same scale. We are all humans and bleed red blood. What about the white endentured slaves oh they were called servants but in reality they were nothing more than slaves too. Personally like I said I don’t care what a persons skin color is this really shouldn’t matter. It is who the person is inside that matters.
Our country is very divided.
http://www.ushistory.org/us/5b.asp
@ Macker:
Hey, it’s politics. She was popular in NJ and they were proud of her, plus she was African American. Politics as usual.
@ Speranza:
Sounds like he was between a rock and hard place concerning joining the service to fight in WW2.
Idi Obama strikes again…
Obama Wrecks the Mars Program
If something is good for America Idi Obama will find a way to stop it.
Da_Beerfreak wrote:
News Flash, this is old news being repackaged as new news. I’ve been unemployed for 2 and a half years because of this.
Rodan wrote:
What? I say! If we allow THAT to happen, well, then ‘they’ will demand membership at the CC or something horrendous like that!
It’s bad enough we have to hire them for greens-keeping.
Best Regards,
-Coldwarrior
President, BGGCC
Chair, Awards Committee
Speranza wrote:
I was always a fan. I liked John Wayne.
My father, wounded 3 times in WWII, and losing his left leg, not so much for that reason.
@ Iron Fist:
@ Speranza:
I wonder what they called the Film Actors’ Guild in Shakespeare’s time?
@ Macker:
You got this obsession with folks who bat from a different side of the plate.
@ Da_Beerfreak:
@ doriangrey:
أوباما must be decreeing that nothing and no one can be above Allah.
@ coldwarrior:
Bah, I wouldn’t belong to any club that would have the likes of me as a member.
@ Lily:
I agree with you, but Obama beleives in collective guilt.
A lot of people wallow in the guilt.
@ Speranza:
Bullshit Speranza! Have you already forgotten Team America? You must have! Republic’s interference in a National Security matter is another reason why Hollywood is out of control, just like the Federal Government.
doriangrey wrote:
If that story is a bit too old for your liking let’s try this on on for size.
US regulators pull plug on LightSquared
The Funny Cookie Company spanks one of Idi Obama’s campaign contributors.
Speranza wrote:
You’ve noticed that too.
Interesting article. Maybe BigBrietbart will take it on.
The Gop needs to stop the left from defining racism. They could do it with some well placed personal stories and anedoctes.
They should poll the American public for racial intent.
1. Would you have a white friend?
2. Would you adopt a white baby?
3. Would you marry a white person?
poll all the races and see how they stand. Then the coward Eric Holder can have the conversation he wants but doesn’t want.
Maybe Ann Coulter phrased it best. There are Americans and there are cowards.
RIX wrote:
Isn’t he half-white?
@ Da_Beerfreak:
The entire point of my citing the Film Actors’ Guild is that it was a vehicle by Parker and Stone to highlight the liberal lunacy of Hollywood….not discussion of ghey matters.
I’m sorry that you too have that myopic issue.
Moe Katz wrote:
a classic line! one of groucho’s best.
@ citizen_q:
He is…a Mulatto.
@ 5 Speranza: Left handed people are a big problem for this country. They are always bumping into me at the dinner table. Or reaching wrongly for the same slice of bread.
@ coldwarrior:
Thought you’d recognize it
@ 58 citizen_q: Obama is considered a white person in Brazil
darkwords wrote:
I’ll bet that does not make him happy. Or does it?
darkwords wrote:
Too bad he didn’t stay in Brazil.
Da_Beerfreak wrote:
Well, I didn’t work for Lightsquared, I worked for a company that held contracts for the Mar’s mission. When I tell people that my name is on Mar’s, I am not joking. When I tell them that my name is in orbit around Mar’s and the Earth, I still am not joking. My name is written in Sharpie in-between the layers of carbon fiber composite on the landing platform’s that took the Spirit and Sojourner exploratory vehicles to Mar’s, and show’s up very nicely under X-ray. My name can likewise be found on half a dozen satellites and in several components on the ISS.
@ Da_Beerfreak:
With all the Brazil nuts.
Macker wrote:
On no! Just thought of another demeaning nickname for obama, Mulatt_O!
citizen_q wrote:
He renounced his White blood, “just like Malcolm”
Sounds to me like he is a racist.
RIX wrote:
That really was my point. That and people who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
If you are a hammer, all of your problems are nails.
Moe Katz wrote:
Funny you should bring those up. I heard a more colorful name for those type of nuts.
@ doriangrey:
Back in the ’70′s I worked at a division of the company that built the solar wings for the space lab. The ones that didn’t unfold after launch.
The division I worked for built all the crt monitors for the Huston control center.
darkwords wrote:
And they are quite dangerous on a golf course.
Best Regards,
-Coldwarrior
President, BGGCC
Chair, Awards Committee
citizen_q wrote:
Ra-a-a-acist!!!
Moe Katz wrote:
loves me some marx brothers
words to live by.
@ Moe Katz:
guilty
Da_Beerfreak wrote:
Meh, that’s nothing………. My brothers FiL’s company ground the mirrors for the Hubble……………
@ citizen_q:
That’s what everybody called them back when I was a kid.
Da_Beerfreak wrote:
oops!
doriangrey wrote:
OOOOOOPPPPSSSSS!!!!
coldwarrior wrote:
Yea, a OOOOOPPPPPSSSS made all the worse by the fact that the companies name had the word OPTICS in it.
@ coldwarrior:
Brilliant. And somewhat inspired by Gilbert and Sullivan, I’d say.
doriangrey wrote:
At least those were problems that could be fixed. The latest Russian Mars probe on the other hand…
Are we talking space?
@ coldwarrior:
Lost wrote:
Sure.
Outer space and/or the empty space between a liberal’s ears.
@ Lost:
Yes.
doriangrey wrote:
well, the fix made for great television!
@ Da_Beerfreak:
So did they ever determine why Skylab’s solar panels deployed prematurely?
darkwords wrote:
Actually no. He would be considered Mulatto.
citizen_q wrote:
I’m glad you came up with that, and not me. 8)
@ Rodan:
GMTA!
@ Da_Beerfreak:
@ Moe Katz:
Sigh, was thinking of combining my #69 and #72, but thought the better of it.
@ citizen_q:
Oh-h-h…. clever
Macker wrote:
The vibrations during launch was a lot higher than expected. A lot of things got shook loose during that launch.
citizen_q wrote:
Umm, would that only be half as ra-a-a-cist?
citizen_q wrote:
I’m going to use that line.
@ Da_Beerfreak:
Would it be safe to say, then, that since they redesigned the Saturn V’s third stage into Skylab, the structural integrity was compromised enough to cause it to be unable to withstand the vibrations which it otherwise would have survived, i.e. for another Apollo moon mission?
@ Moe Katz:
[Sends the Spelling Police to Moe Katz's Residence]
Macker wrote:
Don’t know. Only heard about the current problems at the time with the solar wings and the Honeywell heat resistant coating that flaked off. Remember the tarp they had to rig over part of the space lab to shade it from the sun??
Just a little food for thought. On page 171 of Patients
Protection & Affordable Care Act there is a religious.
conscience exmption. It is regarding the individual
mandate to purchase health insurance.
Hmmm, is there some religion that might benefit?
Could it be Islam?
@ RIX:
Is there any other religion that considers insurance to be a form of gambling and therefore Haram?
Back in the old days before galloping Democratic race-pimping, it was common to greet people by saying, “It’s a great day for the race!” Usually, the person so greeted would say confusedly, “What race?”, thinking they were unaware of a sporting event.
“The human race!” the first person would usually reply, with a guffaw and a back-slap.
We need to return to that era of simple, innocent vulgarity.
@ RIX:
And are you trying to imply that Obama is more eager to accommodate Muslim religious consciences than Catholic ones?
Macker wrote:
he did say half r-a-a-a-a-a-cist, and 2.5 rounds up to 3, so no spelling nazis.
Moe Katz wrote:
Can’t think of any. Hey, you don’t think that Obama
has a soft spot for Muslims?/
Moe Katz wrote:
You know it does look that way, but I must just be
missing something./
More primary shenanigans.
@ Bumr50:
what a coinkidink!
not
Bumr50 wrote:
hold on there buddy. did you just call shenanigans?
@ coldwarrior:
I most certainly did!
Bumr50 wrote:
well then
@ coldwarrior:
At least the voters are fighting back this year.
Bumr50 wrote:
censure? why not tar a feathering?
Lily wrote:
Why? Because she could sing? Lots of people can sing.
@ Bumr50:
That’s in Maine.
Wait til the Texas Republicans figure out they’re getting screwed…
father_of_10 wrote:
yep. that’s all it takes in the garden state i guess.
Bumr50 wrote:
should be pretty funny
@ father_of_10:
they did lower the flags in NJ for frank when he passed, but that makes sense, i would have ordered them lowered as well.
@ Moe Katz:
Sorry I think more. I like to joke and mock, but that one just might be crossing a line.
@ RIX:
Feel free, I did not make that one up however.
Well, maybe the hispanics on the left will start to figure out they’re on the Taken For Granted Plantation
@ coldwarrior:
They also flew flags at half staff for Basie, and justly so.
coldwarrior wrote:
Moe actually wrote:
So by your own standards, half of 3 is 1.5. Sorry, the Spelling Police go. 8)
@ citizen_q:
Maybe I didn’t guess correctly what you had in mind. Maybe we’d better leave it at that.
Macker wrote:
Ya…. Everybody knows that Raaaaacist has five a’s in it….
@ Moe Katz:
agreed.
doriangrey wrote:
And what about hyphens? Isn’t there an official location for those, too?
Moe Katz wrote:
Nope… Raaaaacist definitely does not have any hyphens in it…
father_of_10 wrote:
Don’t mean to pile on the dead, but she didn’t exactly die in some noble, self-sacrificing way, or in some terrible airline crash either.
doriangrey wrote:
alternative canadian spelling, for nafta markets
Moe Katz wrote:
yeah, i would have gone for that too.
@ doriangrey:
@ coldwarrior:
I’ve been Googling it and it does seem that there’s a standard blogosphere spelling, 5 a’s and no hyphens. I expect it will be in DSM-V as a new personality disorder, under that spelling.
new thread
@ Moe Katz:
what is the primary axis?
@ coldwarrior:
Axis II
coldwarrior wrote:
Nope… As we have all been told over and overt and over again, African-Americans cannot be raaaaacist’s as it is physically impossible, and since African-American has a hyphen in it, therefore it is physically impossible to spell raaaaacist with a hyphen.
Tacos: RAAAAACIST
Chimichangas: NOT RAAAAACIST
h/t Weasel Zip.
http://bcove.me/mvjfzvza
waldensianspirit wrote:
Nice.
The Osprey wrote:
Double standard. As a Non Mexican Hispanic I am offended! Why no Empanada jokes!
Rodan wrote:
Mmmmm… Empanadas. Now you are making me hungry. Years ago when I lived in Palo Alto there was a downtown food court that had a number of different restaurant stalls in it. A Chinese place, a Japanese place, a black woman who did Kansas city style BBQ. But the best place there was run by a Chilean guy from Valparaiso who made these awesome empanadas. They had ground beef or chicken, shredded carrots, potatoes, onions and raisins in them.
@ The Osprey:
You are making me do an Empanda run! My preference is the Cuban/Dominican style. I notice South American Empandas have potatoes and veggies.
Rodan wrote:
There’s a Cuban restaurant here in PHX that does pretty good empanadas. Havana Cafe. They have a peppers, onions and ground beef filling.
@ The Osprey:
Yup, that’s Caribbean style.
New Thread.