Letters to the Editor
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Fox Tries Viral Marketing
Has anyone noticed the preponderance of innocent sounding peans for Fox? 'Fox had the only fair coverage' etc.,. Its really quite funny, but they're doing so poorly these days because of allying themselves to the Bush Shipwreck, that they're even trolling Salon for viewers. If there's one thing that this election does that is positive, is bury the infuriating senseless conservative rhetoric that has passed for political analysis from the right wing.
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@ncawley
"This is a very serious decision and no one should be just voting because they are the same color or gender. But I will say; women need to rise up."
Hmmmm... so let me see if I understand this correctly:
Black women and Black men shouldn't vote along racial lines... but women *should* vote along gender lines?
Yes, that really does better that gender vs color, ncawley.
Thanks for clearing that up!
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@ davedavis
You don't think Obama played the victim card? That's hillarious! You have been playing the victim card for him in this thread.
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Ncawley
Congrats to you for participating in the process, and making my point about the appropriateness of Zoetropes fundraising references at the same time. I genuinely support individuals making contributions like yours, even if I'm not crazy about the place.
As to the women rising up thing, I suppose it makes a some wierd kind of sense, but isn't an especially useful distinction in this campaign. Women got to vote (without poll taxes) 20 years after Blacks were given the right to vote (with poll taxes). I kind of think the fact that poll taxes, Jim Crow, and other forms of political oppression of Blacks that continued into the 1960s (and to a certain extent today), have a bearing as well. And I really don't see many black men at the top, running the world... certainly wrt leaders and elected officials there are many more women in power than black males. I see it as a wash, with the edge clearly going to black women! ;)
I find the whole victimization meme tiring and divisive. It's sad that it's devolved to two groups of historically oppressed people duking it out for whose had it worse. But clearly, whatever it takes to get Hill elected is gonna be done, America be damned.
Moving below the surface there's a more interesting question to be answered. Do either of these candidates actually represent their respective victim-groups? Interestingly, on the record Hillary is much more of a feminist than Obama is a black activist, which is a major reason his support in the black community was lukewarm prior to Bill Clinton's outbursts in SC. Apparently his record is irrelevant, as Bill proved once and for all Obama really is a black man, subject to the same treatment other uppity black men who challenged the establishment have faced for 400 years. To his credit, Obama left the shots at Bill to others, and moved on (though many black voters clearly didn't).
We have 2 great candidates, and for once a clear choice. This is the first time in my life I felt there was a real decision to be made (I'm 47), as opposed to defining the lesser of 2 or more evils. This campaign boils down to your world view, not your race or gender: If you believe we're in for a Battle Royale with the Republicans, China, or men, you would be delusional not to vote for Hillary at this point. If you think there's an opportunity for actually changing the status quo and the mode of operation in D.C., or believe the human condition has changed in the past 30 years, Hillary is the wrong candidate for obvious reasons, but Barack is ideal. We can't know what the future holds, but we have a unique opportunity to vote for the best candidate to operate in the kind of future we each desire or believe in.
There really is no wrong vote this year for Democrats. There is however danger in losing sight of the actual differences and qualities of the remaining candidates. We're all emotionally engaged, so it's worth remembering the policy differences are a matter of degrees, while the style/approach of each candidate is where radical differences lie. With that in mind, vote for the candidate whose approach you think is best for the post-Bush era, and we'll all come out ahead in the end (even if it's Hillary).
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Wrong.
"This is a very serious decision and no one should be just voting because they are the same color or gender.
But I will say; women need to rise up. We have been walked on for too long. We were the last people in this country to be allowed to vote. It was always the white man who controlled us and then it was the white and black man.
Wake up Women!!!"
Uh, your last two paragraphs contradict the first one there.
Also, the victimhood sweepstakes is a really lousy way to make a point. Still, since this seems to be a common misconception held by Steinem, Jong, Pappas, and other feminist leaders of the Second Wave: (white) women were voting in this country well before black men. Yes, the fifteenth amendment (1865) passed before the nineteenth amendment (1920). But Jim Crow ensured that the vast majority of african-americans couldn't vote in this country until very, very recently (1965).
Ever heard of Chaney, Schwerner, and Goodman? They were killed in Mississippi in 1964 for daring to believe that african-americans should be able to vote. Forty-four years earlier, white women were happily casting votes for Warren Harding and James Cox, and there was no backlash whatsoever.
Of course, this sort of argument ignores the awful double-bind in which women of color were trapped. But that's why this sort of calculus of despair (who has it worse) is such an unproductive road. It draws divisions between people who should be natural allies.
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"Black women and Black men shouldn't vote along racial lines"
Actually they should. Of course they should. Just like if women want to vote for the woman candidate that they should. Just like white men went for Edwards and now Obama gets some of the white male vote. Are you suggesting that white men shouldn't vote for John McCain? Of course they will vote for John McCain. Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Latinos will continue to vote for Hillary. Why? Because of all the people voting, they are actually voting based on the issues.