Letters to the Editor
deering
Published Letters: 1071 Editor's Choice: 19
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@JW Walker...
[Read the article: Imus offends]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]>No. Those people still harbor racist sentiments. It's just no longer socially acceptable to voice them in "polite" company. The PC onslaught did nothing to end racism, and it isn't comparable in any way to the earthquaking efforts of the civil rights movement. What I specifically referred to was personal, honest re-evaluation of classifying and judging people based on the color of their skin. It happens.<
Um, the "PC onslaught" is a whiny conservative fantasy made up to denigrate white people not being able to freely insult anyone not like them. Those who complain how it threatens their "free speech" are really whining that it's a shame they can't call black folks the n-word without people calling them out.
>That depends. If I say yes will I expose myself to snotty insinuations of closet racism or ignorance of a "methinks thou protest too much" variety?<
There's no insinuation about that. Whenever one deals with racists (or folks who like to play patronizing and disingenuous about race), invariably said folks don't know any black folks...or know them superficially at best.
>The original poster suggested that gangsta rap is something composed for and consumed by white suburban kids to the exclusion of blacks, which is absolute horseshit.<
But you want to ignore that whites buy most of it and let white folks totally off the hook for attitudes like this getting spread. Nice try, but....
>Yea, and guys like Aaron McGruder have been railing against the likes of BET for just as long. I never claimed otherwise. Props to them. The point is that rap music is popular. Rap music is a conduit for some particulars of black culture. I don't define the essence of black culture by these particulars, but they're common enough that they can't easily be denied, for right or wrong.<
Which still does _not_ excuse what Imus said or the real reason he said it.
>Yea. I've made it my business to "know the deal," but thanks for the recap.<
Funny, you sounded as if you thought black folks didn't have any other major voices except Sharpton and Jackson. That's a common mistake with folks who prefer to see black folks as easily-led and undereducated.
>I have a lot of respect for many of the names you (and I) mentioned. Sharpton isn't one of those, and I can't seriously believe you just compared him to MLK.<
I was pointing out why Sharpton has the respect he does. For you who have trouble reading, he is an activist who helps people without power navigate the system and helps get publicity about injustices that would normally get swept under the rug. Relatedly, it's amazing that there are similar white fixers and power-brokers out there who consistently commit unethical deeds, but they are praised solely in terms of the "good" they do. Sharpton makes one mistake, and people like you want to use that to marginalize and discredit him forever. It must be scary as hell to see someone who knows how to work the game as well as those power-brokers you regard as such great men, eh?
>I guess I'm just a closet racist who likes his historical black heroes safely dead.<
Given your patronizing, disrespectful tone and general "it's every black person's fault but Imus'" attitude, you've got _some_ kind of problem, for sure...
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Ivaneen...
[Read the article: The dark legacy of Carlos Castaneda]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Have you ever asked your parents why they pursued the beliefs they did? Have you ever asked what kind of society they were trying to escape from? There are reasons people dropped out and tuned in back then, and it's not because they all just wanted to get high/sleep around or evilly wanted to screw up the heads of their kids. The society and mores they were escaping from weren't exactly a paradise, so as a rationalist, you might try to figure out the "whys" of what they did instead of being smug that you "know better."
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Bwahahahah...
[Read the article: No more whining excuses]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]>...this whole episode is pathetic on so many levels, not least of all, the encouragement of victimhood in the Black community.<
Oh, that's rich. Those girls responded to Imus' bigotry and they are playing the "victims?!?" Please. If they had been white girls whose reputation he slammed, you'd be calling Imus all sorts of names and declaring those white girls were heriones for speaking back. I guess you figure that since the Rutgers team were "just" black girls, they 1) don't have reps. to lose; 2) should have just shut up and taken this mess.
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For cryin' out loud...
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]King, what is _with_ you and the folks trying to trivialize this? If Imus had said that about white girls, bet you guys would have wanted his head on a pike. And because Imus has gotten a pass up to this point, do you think he should have continued to get one? See, this is why black folks as a rule are cynical about some whites being able to get past their racism. You and others like you are still making excuses for Imus and bewailing his fate--which means you are showing more concern for the perp here than the victims. It's the same old "circle the wagons and protect our own" crap that black folks are all too accustomed to whites pulling in these circumstances.