Turnabout Is Fair Play
Recently the NAACP passed a resolution condemning Tea Party activism by equating it with racism, a false but all to common attack form from the Leftists and their minority tenants like the increasingly irrelevant NAACP.
One blogger, Andrew Breitbart, responded to this attack upon Americans by posting a video of the USDA’s Georgia State Director for the USDA Rural Development, Shirley Sherrod, recounting her racist attack upon a White farmer to a NAACP gathering and the applause and approval the tale got from the Blacks there.
Andrew Breitbart’s Video of Shirley Sherrod Recounting Her Racism
President Obama’s administration responded by having their Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack force her to resign. The NAACP responded by issuing a statement saying that they condemn behavior such as that shown by the now unemployed Shirley Sherrod. This was all done openly and within a matter of hours in order to minimize the damage that such statements as Sherrod’s could do to the Obama Regime and the NAACP.
One problem – the video, while not fake, was so heavily edited that it largely misportrayed Shirley Sherrod statements. She was, in point of fact, recounting her past racist behavior and how she overcame those prejudices and her bigotry.
Watching this debacle unfold reminded me of an old adage, “Turnabout is fair play.”
President Obama, the USDA and Agricultural Secretary Tom Vilsack, the NAACP, and – very sadly – Mrs. Sherrod were faced with the exact same sort of attack that Whites and organizations perceived as being White-dominated have been faced with on a nearly daily basis for years – and they responded to the attack in exactly the same manner as America’s society, rife with political correctness and ethno-guiltism, has demanded that Whites do.
All that happened was that the roles of race-baiting grievance-monger and reactionary victim trying to minimize the damage were reversed and I, for one, am smiling at the reversal of positions but the consistency – dare I say equality? – of the responses.
Yet, all schadenfreude aside, I’m not unaware or unmindful of another old adage, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
Mendacity and race-baiting of this sort is vile and pernicious irregardless of the respective ethnicities of the attacker and victim. Mr. Breitbart certainly shouldn’t be lauded for his actions any more than Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson should ever be lauded for theirs.
Cowardice, cynicism, and lack of judgment are also severe ethical failings irrespective of the race of those who exhibit them. President Obama, the USDA, and the NAACP should certainly be taken to task for the nature of their response to Breitbart’s attack just as too many other people and groups to name should be for responding to race-baiting attacks in the same general manner.
Perhaps though, this old adage might be wrong in this case; perhaps these wrongs can make a right. Now that America has a this very public role reversal in the racialist attacks it might just be the case that, in the wake of the damage done to both President Obama and the NAACP, that there will be a reduction in the race-baiting rhetoric and attacks that have become so ubiquitous since Obama’s election.
I’m neither ignorant of history nor insane, so I don’t hold much hope of this. I do, however, hold a little bit of it though; having your favorite weapon used upon you is often quite educational – a teaching moment, if you will.
Tags: America | Blacks | Breitbart | Georgia | Glenn Beck | NAACP | Obama | Politics | Racial Activism | Racism | Sherrod | Tea Parties | USDA | Vilsack
July 23rd, 2010 at 1:34 pm
The race card, gender card, religion card, or any other card that segregates A from B will always be in play within all forms of politics. The problem here is that this game is so poorly understood by the vast majority of the ignorant masses (by this I am not calling the masses ignorant, but merely trying to differentiate those of the masses who are in fact ignorant). Politicians long ago discovered that the majority of people are ignorant, and it is easy to control the opinions of the ignorant by subtle manipulations like pitting A against B. Drawing a dividing line in the sands, and making it seem absolute, gives politicians an easy landing field for the ignorant masses. Since the ignorant have no care for the truth, and are so easily led, this game will only stop being played when the ignorant decide to take their intelligence up a notch.
… Unfortunately, that will not happen any time soon (and by soon I am talking countless centuries). The system will be changed long before the ignorant decide to become educated, this I guarantee.
July 24th, 2010 at 9:54 am
You speak a sad truth, zhann – yet the specifics may change.
Now that the race card has been effectively used against Blacks, something that they always thought was impossible after their pernicious, self-serving, and cynical attempts at redefining “racism,” there’s some hope that it will be played less often and more cautiously in the future.
It’s a slim hope, mind you, but slim is still better than none.