Letters to the Editor
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@rtf100
Eliot Sptizer has a better chance of bouncing back than Obama does because the average person finds Sptizer's problems amusing while they view Wright as downright scary.
--rtf100
Sure...
...if you define "the average person" as "the average white person who still fears that the uppity blacks are gonna rise up and get even."
As has been pointed out many, many times before: Wright hasn't said anything more extremist than Rev's Robertson, Hagee, or Parsley, all of whom have a very dim view of America. Robertson said America deserved 9/11 for being too tolerant of gays and feminists. Wright linked 9/11 to some actual historical events. To my mind, Robertson's statement was more radical and hateful, but then he's white, so it's not scary. At least, not to "the average person." To an average gay person, or feminist, it might be VERY scary.
If you read the comments here, you'll find there's a significant number of people saying, "I don't agree with everything Wright said, but I didn't find it shocking or even that far off." I realize Salon is not a representative sample, but I have been wondering: what do most Americans really think of Wright's sentiments? In my (admittedly liberal) circles, most of what Wright said would be decidedly uncontroversial. I think there are more people who think like this that you realize, because we just don't get the media coverage, except when the 0.01% of us who have the time get a few seconds of TV time at a protest. Polls show that a majority of Americans oppose the war, but you'd never know it from reading the Times or watching CNN. What other silences are the media enforcing?