Man, with friends like Tim Noah, Obama doesn't need enemies. Noah, a Slate writer, accuses the Wall Street Journal of using racist code language because of its feather-light feature about how thin Obama is. Excerpt from the Noah craziness:
Chozick insists that she didn't intend her playful feature about Obama's physique as potential electoral liability to carry any racial subtext. "I can't even respond to that," she told me. "That's ridiculous." Bob Christie, Dow Jones' vice president of communications, phoned me in a flash to reaffirm that message. I believe Chozick and Christie when they say that the Journal never intended skinniness to serve as a proxy for race. (Full disclosure: I was a reporter in the Journal's Washington bureau a dozen years ago. I know neither Chozick nor Christie. Fuller disclosure: I phoned my former Journal colleague, Michel Martin, an African-American journalist who is now host of NPR's Tell Me More, which frequently addresses matters of race, to ask whether she was offended. She was not. )But I firmly disagree that a racial reading of Chozick's story is "ridiculous," and I would counter that any failure on Chozick's part to recognize such is just a wee bit clueless.
Got that? An actual black person didn't find it racist, but Tim Noah did. You will not be surprised to learn that "Being Offended" is on the Stuff White People Like list. Excerpt:
In fact there are few things white people love more than being offended.Naturally, white people do not get offended by statements directed at white people. In fact, they don't even have a problem making offensive statements about other white people (ask a white person about "flyover states"). As a rule, white people strongly prefer to get offended on behalf of other people.
It is also valuable to know that white people spend a significant portion of their time preparing for the moment when they will be offended. They read magazines, books, and watch documentaries all in hopes that one day they will encounter a person who will say something offensive. When this happens, they can leap into action with quotes, statistics, and historical examples. Once they have finished lecturing another white person about how it's wrong to use the term "black" instead of "African-American," they can sit back and relax in the knowledge that they have made a difference.
And if Obama had a big pot belly, and Chozick wrote a piece speculating on whether or not he's too fat to be president, Noah would have gotten all up in her face for exactly the same reason. It is not Obama's fault that Crazy White Liberals are assuming the burden of being offended on his behalf. But boy, are they going to be intolerable for the next few months -- and if he becomes president, forget it. There'll be no shutting these White People up.
Please remind me what a complete naif I was to have predicted once upon a time that a President Obama would lead us to a new and fruitful conversation on race.
UPDATE: Ross catches a Crazy Black Liberal on MSNBC making a similarly ridiculous observation about racist secret codes.
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Who said it was "offensive"? Who do you think you are, Larry Flynt?
I guess I was mistaken about your reaction. When you said "Lovely. Now move away from the computer and tell your parents what you did." I was left with the impression that you were offended by my statement.
What you are in fact doing is using general statistics to passive-aggressively impugn the mental faculties of Senator McCain.
Posted by: Francis Beckwith | August 6, 2008 12:59 PM
I made no statement about the current mental faculties of Senator McCain.
I raised the possibility of McCain dying of an age related illness or developing some sort of mental impairment over the next four years that he would be in office.
This is a valid concern given the man's advanced age.
John E. - Agn Stoic: "I raised the possibility of McCain dying of an age related illness or developing some sort of mental impairment over the next four years that he would be in office. This is a valid concern given the man's advanced age."
What would you suggest society do with everyone who reaches a certain "advanced age" ? Limit their options? Questions their choices? Warehouse them?
The "possibilities" you raise have as much validity as pondering whether a woman is fit for demanding jobs during "certain periods of the month." Or whether America is "ready" for a black President?
McCain has released exhaustive and literally voluminous data to the public on his health and medical history.
Why won't Obama do the same? What is Obama hiding about his health?
What would you suggest society do with everyone who reaches a certain "advanced age" ? Limit their options? Questions their choices? Warehouse them?
What a strange set of questions. I'm not sure what they have to do with my main point, which is that McCain's advanced age raises valid concerns about whether or not he will remain healthy and mentally capable of performing the duties of the Presidency over the next four years.
You may feel like there is no reason to be concerned. I do.
I'm not sure why you seem to be so worked up over this difference of opinion.
The "possibilities" you raise have as much validity as pondering whether a woman is fit for demanding jobs during "certain periods of the month." Or whether America is "ready" for a black President?
So you say, but some people feel that these are valid concerns.
As a side note, the women who have reached the position of leaders of their countries have generally gone through menopause, so the hormonal fluctuations aren't an issue for them.
McCain has released exhaustive and literally voluminous data to the public on his health and medical history.
Do you have a link to where I can find this information?
Why won't Obama do the same? What is Obama hiding about his health?
Posted by: Reaganite in NYC | August 6, 2008 2:06 PM
I don't have the slightest idea. Do you have a link to where I can verify this statement?
Again, I'm really not sure why you and Francis seem to be so worked up over my comments that McCain's age puts him at risk for dementia. It is a fact of life that as humans age, their mental processes generally decay.
Well, the most ridiculous comment comes later in. He says this:
> When white people are invited to think about Obama's physical appearance, the principal attribute they're likely to dwell on is his dark skin. Consequently, any reference to Obama's other physical attributes can't help coming off as a coy walk around the barn.
So his real point is white people are such bigots that when they talk about black people he knows that they are thinking about their blackness even if not talking about it. White people can never get around his being black, so talking about anything else is really talking about him being black. Got that?
I don't think its novel to say that when you burrow that deep into what he is saying, the real racist is probably Noah. He can't see beyond color, so we can't either--or so he assumes.
Btw, here is a bonus question. How does the Noah know that Chozick and Christie are white? One wonders if Tim made a little assumption about people which ultimately makes no sense.
As a conservative who is probably voting for Obama, I'm doing my best to maintain the possibility of voting for McCain. But so many times I watch him (McCain), he looks like a man who should have his driver's license taken away. While in general I don't think age should be an issue, McCain makes it an issue by his inability to speak rationally and clearly. I honestly am not sure he can handle the job.
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