All -
I'm not singling out John for this comment, but just using it as a
trigger . . .
On Oct 31, 2008, at 11:45 AM, John Sadd wrote:
it is totally effing amazing that a black man
which raises the question, "Why isn't Obama white?"
If that question sounds silly to you, think a little about how
deeply you and I and everyone seem to have internalized the "Jim Crow
one drop rule" (i.e., one drop of "black" blood makes you black . . .).
Part of the trouble is that we're all "willfully ignorant" in our
own ways, it's just hard to notice our own . . .
But back to Owen's question . . . I'd say that the Republicans
have really gotten on board with the idea that it's OK to say and do
*anything* to get elected. In my experience, Democrats tend to have
at least a little trouble flat out lying . . .
I often play the "projection" game when I listen to political
rhetoric -- i.e., if they accuse their opponents of something, it's
probably because they know that's what they'd do (or are doing). A
few examples: McCain says "Obama will say anything to get
elected" (charge doesn't really apply to Obama, but certainly does to
McCain). McCain/Palin say "Obama is a socialist" (Palin is popular
in Alaska because she increased taxes on the rich (corporations) and
gave the money directly to ordinary people, no strings attached).
McCain says "Obama wants to `spread the wealth around'" -- meaning, he
wants you to believe, take money from some people and give it to
others (he, and rich Republicans, are all for it, as long as what you
mean is, take $700 billion from ordinary people and give it to
financial institutions . . .)
Oh, well . . .
tom
p.s. On the "Why isn't Obama white?" question:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/27/EDQI13NPIT.DTL&hw=why+isn%27t+obama+white&sn=003&sc=242
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
