Letters to the Editor
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The irony
of the Wright saga is that the radical transformation the democratic party, and is now experiencing, is of a sort of which Reverend Wright has preached.
The party's transformation is being led by those who were most marginalized within the party and society- Americans of African descent, who for generations showed party loyalty and fealty to a fault with no commensurate return on their investment, ever. So, this is homecoming time, in a manner of speaking, and it creates an interesting symmetry with any number of religious parables about hard work and rewards and prodigal sons and daughters, I'm sure. Having been raised Episcopalian I am no scholar of the Bible, but I know the contours of this current situation are of epic proportions sufficient to warrant biblical comparisons. After all, so much is at stake.
There are tribal conflicts, intramural, internecine, and international.
There are the traditional biblical juxtapositions of poverty and wealth, and there is the David and Goliath-like aspect of a candidate who has run against the leviathan/behemoth person/party - and - is winning.
Breathtaking. The scope of this radical transformation, and what is at stake, takes my breath away.
My only regret is that my father did not live long enough to experience this moment.
ciao papa, I promise to cast one vote- for you.
more chapters to come.
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@ chimpygo
"I'm awfully proud of American ideals, of the fact that the Great Experiment was the first government of laws--not individual rulers--in the history of the world."
I'm not sure this is true. Is it? Couldn't republican Rome arguably be called a government of laws?
And what about non-western or "tribal" governments?
I say this not to be pedantic, but just to point out that you're falling into the same trap, albeit in a benign way, as those who reflexively castigate those they deem unpatriotic.
Namely, the myth of American exceptionalism.
In fact, this was one of the few panders of Obama's speech: he said that only in America would his story (i.e., his multi-culturalism) be possible.
That's an absurd statement, but it's the lie we all require.
I understand that politicians can't dare to suggest that actually, we're not quite so special as we like to think, but special nonetheless.
Still, in the interests of globalization and peaceful coexistence, I think we should start moving in the direction of at least recognizing that the idea of American Exceptionalism is a myth, however noble, however necessary it may be.
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@ saintzak
"Organized religion is one of the biggest problems this country is saddled with now. Plus the fact that America has become an extention of an organized religion to many people is a huge problem."
That may be, but again, I think it's a non-sequitur.
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re: Wright is not the problem
What the writer isn't understanding is that white shock at the Reverend's vitriol isn't that blacks are mad at whites. Among the top fears of white bigots is fear of black fury against whites. Of course whites have known for a long time the plight of racism.
The writer is stalling for time, searching for excuses for Wright's embarrassing crazy talk, and has convinced himself he can read the minds of whites. What nauseates whites i think is the black church's fantastic paranoia born of centuries of oppression. but american human rights has been evolving rapidly in a positive direction for last few decades.
Whites have been hungry for blacks to let non-blacks hear their own blinkered discussions -- beyond racial equality -- born of ignorance, fear, and lack of will to educate themselves and their children out of their bigoted muck.
the funny thing is, the more we can see blacks openly and intelligently discuss their own failings among themselves actually makes blacks show themselves to be more human, closer to the rest of us-- as humanly flawed as blacks accuse non-blacks of being. and that takes courage but the result will be confidence. blanket excuses, apologism, and paranoia come off as robotic, defensive, insecure, and mired in the nineteenth century.
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Why odog11 can't have his wish...
The CIA isn't about "to cook something up for 14th generation Americans" because comprising 45 million of our citizens, they have long since infiltrated the CIA.
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My Country, Right or Retarded
Well the phrase actually went "My country, right or wrong", and Mark Twain wrote an entire tirade against it in an excerpt from his suppressed "Glances at History." It was a long time ago, and of course everyone respects and loves Mark Twain -- except that no one ever reads any of his once-suppressed works,like "Glances at History" or "The War Prayer." Highly recommended for the "Last refuge" pseudo-patriots who have brought the chickens home to roost and will continue to keep us covered with chicken shit for decades to come if they possibly can.
Kamiya, this is perhaps the most brave, clear-minded and important thing you have ever written for Salon. It will no doubt result in something like throwing water on a grease fire, but that doesn't matter. If you can take it, there are those of us who will stand alongside you -- quite literally if necessary -- and who will continue to criticize our country because that's precisely what it was designed for.
I have found myself in agreement with most of what the Rev. Wright said in his blasphemous, anti-American sermon. I feel that way most every day. Much of it comes from having been exposed far too long and too often to mindless American "patriots" who guage us all by their own self-ignorance. While I might not have put things in quite the same words as Rev. Wright, since I am not the same person I most certainly have preached many of the same "shocking" and unpalatable truths to anyone who would listen and I will continue to do so.
That being said, I am neither perfect nor running for President. I have maintained many less-than-savory associations over my life time, most especially those related to me who are nearer the Ku Klux Klan than to God when it comes down to it -- because they are my blood and they are, like all people, a combination of good and bad traits. On balance I would say they are good people. On balance I would say Rev. Wright is a very good man. But this isn't about them or him or me. It isn't about Barack Obama, but it is about people who would make it about Barack Obama, who would put him in the impossible position of one who is asked "Are you still beating your wife?" It is manipulation of the uncritical by the hyper-cynical. It is the stupid being played by the intellectually evil and morally challenged among us. And it proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that on balance Rev. Wright is Right and our country, given what it imagines itself to be, is wrong.
Until the day arrives when we can live up to our own ideals and stop lying about our feelings and look our own ignorance in the face, the Right is beyond wrong; it is irredeemably wrong, and will continue to have to pay, along with innocents standing too near the "X."
From Twain's "Glances at History", a snippet to make Rev. Wright look like a choirboy:
"This Republic's life is not in peril. The nation has sold its honor for a phrase. It has swung itself loose from its safe anchorage and is drifting, its helm in pirate hands."
...But it was impossible to save The Great Republic. She was rotten to the heart. Lust of conquest had long ago done its work; trampling upon the helpless abroad had brought her, by a natural process, to endure with apathy the like at home; multitudes who had applauded the crushing of other peoples' liberties, lived to suffer for their mistake in their own persons."
The failure to live up to our own standards and values is the most damning error of our ways. Gary Kamiya, by offering up this sterling piece of wordcraft, has demonstrated the finest sort of patriotism. Let the stoning begin.