Letters to the Editor
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To Weeping for Brunn...
Weeping, my reaction to the Rev. Wright may not be an in-depth look at the man, but I do have a history with religious bigots and I don't like them. This comes from living in a very churchy and hypocritical town as a child. Out of that past comes my dislike of fire and brimstone being spewed from the pulpit...I associate that with bigotry whether this is true of the Rev. Wright or not. I am not a religious person and I resent preachers preaching at me. Some of Rev. Wright's comments may have been taken out of context by the media but Obama did himself no favors by trying to minimize his relationship with the pastor. It seemed false to me. After all he had been attending his church for twenty years.
As for America needing to look at itself and its foreign policy, I have to agree with Wright but I still do not like the language he used. It was pompous, offensive, and thunderous! Perhaps this is the way black preachers talk, but I doubt it. I don't recall that kind of language from Martin Luther King or Obama for that matter. It was a political blunder to have Wright in the campaign and it was a political necessity to run him off.
Patriotism is used by many hypocrites to hammer away at opposing views. That is an unkind fact and I suspect it is true in most countries. I do believe in having a world view that is inclusive and one which seeks understanding with other nations. Moreover, I like Obama's call for more dialog with other countries. This has been the one of the major failures of the Bush Administration and one of the principal reasons I want the Republicans out of office.
I am a political creature and don't feel the need at all to explore Rev. Wright except for his role in the political arena. I may even agree with Rev. Wright about many things, but his language needs tempering if he is going to be part of a political campaign where enemies can capitalize on it to whip up the right-wing base.