How Racism Works
From the Letters to the Editor, Fort Worth Star Telegram
How racism works
What if John McCain were a former president of the Harvard Law Review? What if Barack Obama finished fifth from the bottom of his graduating class? What if McCain were still married to the first woman he said “I do” to? What if Obama were the candidate who left his first wife after she no longer measured up to his standards?
What if Michelle Obama were a wife who not only became addicted to pain killers, but acquired them illegally through her charitable organization? What if Cindy McCain graduated from Harvard? What if Obama were a member of the “Keating 5”? What if McCain was a charismatic, eloquent speaker?
If these questions reflected reality, do you really believe the election numbers would be as close as they are?
This is what racism does. It covers up, rationalizes and minimizes positive qualities in one candidate and emphasizes negative qualities in another when there is a color difference.
— Kelvin LaFond, Fort Worth
Len- That is what I’m talking about. Not Spy vs Spy. Instead, Spy (with a trillion dollars) and a Howitzer trained at your head vs the Lamb of God.
Another powerful majority threatened by an oppressed minority. (The Land of the Brave.)
This is not about politics. This is about our culture. Our country. Who we are.
This letter makes me proud to be from Fort Worth.
Len- That is what I’m talking about. Not Spy vs Spy. Instead, Spy (with a trillion dollars) and a Howitzer trained at your head vs the Lamb of God.
Another powerful majority threatened by an oppressed minority. (The Land of the Brave.)
This is not about politics. This is about our culture. Our country. Who we are.
This letter makes me proud to be from Fort Worth.
Is it racism, or entirely racism?
Some people want to vote for John McCain precisely because he’s still computer-illiterate, and although he may have an intellect, he does a pretty good job these days of keeping it hidden. You won’t see him at a NASCAR event (not without looking like a fish out of water, anyway) but you won’t see him at a highbrow intellectual symposium either.
W could get away with degrees from both Harvard and Yale because it was understood that he went there as a favorite son, a legacy, and he didn’t have nothin’ to do with no book learnin’. Mediocrity became one of his stellar accomplishments in this upside down world.
Meanwhile McCain’s VP candidate walks the “YOU’RE not stupid, THEY are stupid, and let me tell you why in short words” walk.
A lot of people eat that stuff up. The original point might be that, if the characteristics of the candidates were swapped, Obama would never have had a chance to get where he is; but, being where he is, if he started saying that government is always the problem, and creationism is established science, and global warming is a myth designed by liberals to establish despotic rule, and tax cuts always raise revenue, and the world is better off without Saddam, and all unions are always bad, and somebody has to show these here Iranians/Russians/North Koreans/Afghans/ who’s boss, you’d see a whole lot of current McCain supporters behind him.
I posit that a majority of American voters are now fairly color-blind when it comes to presidential politics; also, a good number of them demand a president who is no better informed about the world than they are. Or who at least talks that way.
Is it racism, or entirely racism?
Some people want to vote for John McCain precisely because he’s still computer-illiterate, and although he may have an intellect, he does a pretty good job these days of keeping it hidden. You won’t see him at a NASCAR event (not without looking like a fish out of water, anyway) but you won’t see him at a highbrow intellectual symposium either.
W could get away with degrees from both Harvard and Yale because it was understood that he went there as a favorite son, a legacy, and he didn’t have nothin’ to do with no book learnin’. Mediocrity became one of his stellar accomplishments in this upside down world.
Meanwhile McCain’s VP candidate walks the “YOU’RE not stupid, THEY are stupid, and let me tell you why in short words” walk.
A lot of people eat that stuff up. The original point might be that, if the characteristics of the candidates were swapped, Obama would never have had a chance to get where he is; but, being where he is, if he started saying that government is always the problem, and creationism is established science, and global warming is a myth designed by liberals to establish despotic rule, and tax cuts always raise revenue, and the world is better off without Saddam, and all unions are always bad, and somebody has to show these here Iranians/Russians/North Koreans/Afghans/ who’s boss, you’d see a whole lot of current McCain supporters behind him.
I posit that a majority of American voters are now fairly color-blind when it comes to presidential politics; also, a good number of them demand a president who is no better informed about the world than they are. Or who at least talks that way.
Great work. That is entirely how racism works.
And in response to Dan, Of course we want a president who doesnt talk to us like he knows everything and we don’t but we do want someone who is informed I think
Great work. That is entirely how racism works.
And in response to Dan, Of course we want a president who doesnt talk to us like he knows everything and we don’t but we do want someone who is informed I think
@ Dan: While I am mostly optimistic about American attitudes toward race, I think there remains a significant portion of Americans who maintain a deep-seated racist attitude. Mostly boomers, if I had to slice it demographically. I know *educated* people who have said they can’t bring themselves to vote for a black president, even after enumerating several of the points from the quoted letter.
(As usual, full disclosure: I’ll be voting Nader.)
@ Dan: While I am mostly optimistic about American attitudes toward race, I think there remains a significant portion of Americans who maintain a deep-seated racist attitude. Mostly boomers, if I had to slice it demographically. I know *educated* people who have said they can’t bring themselves to vote for a black president, even after enumerating several of the points from the quoted letter.
(As usual, full disclosure: I’ll be voting Nader.)
@Dan: That’s the premise of Idiocracy. The dumb people have no natural predators and breed like rabbits, the smart people refuse to breed and the intelligence is devoted to combating erectile dysfunction and hair loss.
It’s Mike Judge at his funniest.
I’m not sure it’s that simple. The brightest and best got us into Vietnam, and served on the boards that precipitated the economic crisis. We aren’t in the situation because smart people aren’t in the job. We are because smart people with the wrong values have been doing the job.
The weight swings on what the culture currently values. I understand where you are going with that T-Bone, but it’s speculation. It may be the case that if Obama were a little less above the fray he would be more approachable. The averaging effect of information seems to indicate that people are only led by what they identify with, the so-called, identity politics.
There is a funny and improbably sad Onion piece.
http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/common/assets/videoplayer/flvplayer.swf
Are there racists who will not vote for him because he is black? Yes. How large a number? I don’t know. I suspect they are more than balanced by the bigots who vote for him because he is black.
Are there gender bigots who would not for Hillary because she is woman? Yes. I think they are balanced by the gender bigots who voted for her because she was a woman.
That’s what I mean by Spy vs Spy.
I don’t think the lack of higher polling numbers for Obama is racism. I think had the candidate been Colin Powell, there is a good chance he would be winning. If it had been Hillary Clinton, there is a good chance she would be winning. What this may be coming down to is not race, but the likability of the candidates. That is what Palin added. For a certain segment, women in particular, she is very likable. These same women, judging by The View, found Barack to be very sexy. They don’t find him likable. The charisma in his speeches doesn’t stick over time. His handlers way overplayed that in Denver. While his core supporters were smitten by the speech at the stadium, that and the Berlin speech actively repelled others because of the smug arrogance of it.
I realize some will find a reason to blame race, but this isn’t that simple. Otherwise he wouldn’t be neck and neck. What is holding him down in the polls is not the color of his skin; it is the tone, the tenor of his character, not his real character, but the way it comes off in the media.
As I said, by introducing Palin late in the election cycle, there isn’t enough time for personality fatigue and the full-court press of the left and the media against her is only reinforcing the perception of media bias and left-wing anger. It caused a structural shift and that might swing back, but I think this will come down to very small numbers such that issues such as race will continue to be played not because they are necessarily a cause, but because they can shift a significant enough demographic to get a win.
And that is sad for anyone who endured the changes this country has tried so hard to obtain. Barack has said it. Black commentators have said it. Voting for Hillary because she is a woman, or voting for Barack because he is bi-racial is simply the wrong thing to do. Vote for the candidate who best meets your values AND can get the job done.
It is the second half of that which gives me pause to wonder specifically because of his record and the means his campaigns have used since he entered politics. I don’t know how to be clearer than that.
In other words, at the end of this campaign, I think it the case that the hard core supporters of Obama will have to sit down and critically look at the mote in their own eye and ask if their views and tactics really do reflect the majority in America, not in terms of racism, but in terms of the qualities Americans look for in their leadership. If they continue to insist on the narrow topics of race and gender, they will have learned nothing for these are topics we are all familiar with and I believe the majority have found less than compelling. They are moving on.
Some will refuse to move on. They will become even more isolated unless someone gives them cause to proliferate. Obama’s election would be a very small impetus either way, but a raging minority with a lot of media influence pounding on the majority shrilly, that can do it.
Study Cinncinnati. It took years to build up to that and no human hand stopped it. Cold windy rain did.
@Dan: That’s the premise of Idiocracy. The dumb people have no natural predators and breed like rabbits, the smart people refuse to breed and the intelligence is devoted to combating erectile dysfunction and hair loss.
It’s Mike Judge at his funniest.
I’m not sure it’s that simple. The brightest and best got us into Vietnam, and served on the boards that precipitated the economic crisis. We aren’t in the situation because smart people aren’t in the job. We are because smart people with the wrong values have been doing the job.
The weight swings on what the culture currently values. I understand where you are going with that T-Bone, but it’s speculation. It may be the case that if Obama were a little less above the fray he would be more approachable. The averaging effect of information seems to indicate that people are only led by what they identify with, the so-called, identity politics.
There is a funny and improbably sad Onion piece.
http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/common/assets/videoplayer/flvplayer.swf
Are there racists who will not vote for him because he is black? Yes. How large a number? I don’t know. I suspect they are more than balanced by the bigots who vote for him because he is black.
Are there gender bigots who would not for Hillary because she is woman? Yes. I think they are balanced by the gender bigots who voted for her because she was a woman.
That’s what I mean by Spy vs Spy.
I don’t think the lack of higher polling numbers for Obama is racism. I think had the candidate been Colin Powell, there is a good chance he would be winning. If it had been Hillary Clinton, there is a good chance she would be winning. What this may be coming down to is not race, but the likability of the candidates. That is what Palin added. For a certain segment, women in particular, she is very likable. These same women, judging by The View, found Barack to be very sexy. They don’t find him likable. The charisma in his speeches doesn’t stick over time. His handlers way overplayed that in Denver. While his core supporters were smitten by the speech at the stadium, that and the Berlin speech actively repelled others because of the smug arrogance of it.
I realize some will find a reason to blame race, but this isn’t that simple. Otherwise he wouldn’t be neck and neck. What is holding him down in the polls is not the color of his skin; it is the tone, the tenor of his character, not his real character, but the way it comes off in the media.
As I said, by introducing Palin late in the election cycle, there isn’t enough time for personality fatigue and the full-court press of the left and the media against her is only reinforcing the perception of media bias and left-wing anger. It caused a structural shift and that might swing back, but I think this will come down to very small numbers such that issues such as race will continue to be played not because they are necessarily a cause, but because they can shift a significant enough demographic to get a win.
And that is sad for anyone who endured the changes this country has tried so hard to obtain. Barack has said it. Black commentators have said it. Voting for Hillary because she is a woman, or voting for Barack because he is bi-racial is simply the wrong thing to do. Vote for the candidate who best meets your values AND can get the job done.
It is the second half of that which gives me pause to wonder specifically because of his record and the means his campaigns have used since he entered politics. I don’t know how to be clearer than that.
In other words, at the end of this campaign, I think it the case that the hard core supporters of Obama will have to sit down and critically look at the mote in their own eye and ask if their views and tactics really do reflect the majority in America, not in terms of racism, but in terms of the qualities Americans look for in their leadership. If they continue to insist on the narrow topics of race and gender, they will have learned nothing for these are topics we are all familiar with and I believe the majority have found less than compelling. They are moving on.
Some will refuse to move on. They will become even more isolated unless someone gives them cause to proliferate. Obama’s election would be a very small impetus either way, but a raging minority with a lot of media influence pounding on the majority shrilly, that can do it.
Study Cinncinnati. It took years to build up to that and no human hand stopped it. Cold windy rain did.
To Daniel: “I think there remains a significant portion of Americans who maintain a deep-seated racist attitude.” No question about it. Personally I don’t believe there’s a human being alive who is free from prejudice. Just who is “really” racist, and how much, has been debated endlessly and it all comes down to a matter of perspective; as racism itself does.
Personally I can’t say that I can name a single educated person who says, “I can’t bring myself to vote for a black person.” That may be their internal attitude; November will tell; but I haven’t heard anyone say so.
To Daniel: “I think there remains a significant portion of Americans who maintain a deep-seated racist attitude.” No question about it. Personally I don’t believe there’s a human being alive who is free from prejudice. Just who is “really” racist, and how much, has been debated endlessly and it all comes down to a matter of perspective; as racism itself does.
Personally I can’t say that I can name a single educated person who says, “I can’t bring myself to vote for a black person.” That may be their internal attitude; November will tell; but I haven’t heard anyone say so.
“Of course we want a president who doesnt talk to us like he knows everything and we don’t but we do want someone who is informed I think”
Again, I’m talking not about people who don’t want to be talked down to so much as people who *imagine* or *fear* that they will be talked down to, mostly because Person X is educated and articulate and knowledgeable on a broad range of issues.
Fifty years ago, the American public was far more inclined to *admire* that kind of thing.
Witness the decline of William F. Buckley’s influence over the past 15 years as an indication of what I mean. Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that he could speak well and at length on a lot of issues.
Now contrast him to Bill O’Reilly.
“YOU’RE not stupid, THEY are stupid, and let me tell you why in short words.”
“Of course we want a president who doesnt talk to us like he knows everything and we don’t but we do want someone who is informed I think”
Again, I’m talking not about people who don’t want to be talked down to so much as people who *imagine* or *fear* that they will be talked down to, mostly because Person X is educated and articulate and knowledgeable on a broad range of issues.
Fifty years ago, the American public was far more inclined to *admire* that kind of thing.
Witness the decline of William F. Buckley’s influence over the past 15 years as an indication of what I mean. Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that he could speak well and at length on a lot of issues.
Now contrast him to Bill O’Reilly.
“YOU’RE not stupid, THEY are stupid, and let me tell you why in short words.”
Is it really just racism, or isn’t this a typical Republican political tactic? This is the party that creates ads blasting an opponent for voting for something that they also voted for. This is the party that derides teen pregnancy until one of their own gets pregnant. They bashed governors and mayors being elected to the highest offices until… well you get the idea. They are hypocrites well before they are racists. So I don’t believe this would be any different if it was Obama running against them, or Biden, or Clinton, or Lucky the Leprechaun.
Is it really just racism, or isn’t this a typical Republican political tactic? This is the party that creates ads blasting an opponent for voting for something that they also voted for. This is the party that derides teen pregnancy until one of their own gets pregnant. They bashed governors and mayors being elected to the highest offices until… well you get the idea. They are hypocrites well before they are racists. So I don’t believe this would be any different if it was Obama running against them, or Biden, or Clinton, or Lucky the Leprechaun.
I fully understand what you mean by Spy vs Spy- tit for tat, both sides lose- but, Len, I don’t want to play Spy vs Spy. I’m not playing it. I’m not interested in it in the least. In the way you have repeatedly pointed to it, it would seem you are, inadvertently perhaps, playing it. In fact, I would say you are somewhat skilled at it. Maybe I’m wrong about that, it’s happened before, but I don’t think so. I’m not sure that you see, as you say, where I am going with this, I hope you do, but I promise you where I’m going is not speculation. Unless sin, for instance, is speculation.
There is obviously too much here to unwind in these pages. If we had time to sit down together, perhaps we could do it. I trust we could. (I already see and respect your point of view.) But I will end this here. Forget Obama. Forget politics. (My intuition tells me this election is a fait accompli.) This is not about politics. Politics merely provides an illustration. This is about how racism works. The simple, clear words of Mr. LaFond from Fort Worth, Texas are true. I’ve heard your answers many times for many years. Where are your questions?
I am off the air and on the road for a while.
If you want to get in touch, Tap has my data.
Peace
I fully understand what you mean by Spy vs Spy- tit for tat, both sides lose- but, Len, I don’t want to play Spy vs Spy. I’m not playing it. I’m not interested in it in the least. In the way you have repeatedly pointed to it, it would seem you are, inadvertently perhaps, playing it. In fact, I would say you are somewhat skilled at it. Maybe I’m wrong about that, it’s happened before, but I don’t think so. I’m not sure that you see, as you say, where I am going with this, I hope you do, but I promise you where I’m going is not speculation. Unless sin, for instance, is speculation.
There is obviously too much here to unwind in these pages. If we had time to sit down together, perhaps we could do it. I trust we could. (I already see and respect your point of view.) But I will end this here. Forget Obama. Forget politics. (My intuition tells me this election is a fait accompli.) This is not about politics. Politics merely provides an illustration. This is about how racism works. The simple, clear words of Mr. LaFond from Fort Worth, Texas are true. I’ve heard your answers many times for many years. Where are your questions?
I am off the air and on the road for a while.
If you want to get in touch, Tap has my data.
Peace
One observational question:
Does anyone else find it ironic, that FOX portrayed most recently a charismatic, well-spoken black man as President in the series ’24′? Twice? Both the original and later in the series his brother.
My point here is that despite the ludicrous form of ‘journalism’ practiced by their news division, I think that it was kudos for them on their casting. Personally, I think that had that show not aired, fairly recently in our collective memory, then the average American would still not see that highest office being held by a black man. I know there are other cultural references for that, but this is an example I can point to in our Country’s recent memory.
Ironic that, because I think that such a display has helped smooth the path for Obama. Perhaps not in an empirically-verifiable way, but my hunch is that regardless of real-world impact, the show certainly did.
(No, I am not lauding the show, nor do I endorse it, nor do I endorse anything FOX does.)
Just my take,
- Zhirem
One observational question:
Does anyone else find it ironic, that FOX portrayed most recently a charismatic, well-spoken black man as President in the series ’24′? Twice? Both the original and later in the series his brother.
My point here is that despite the ludicrous form of ‘journalism’ practiced by their news division, I think that it was kudos for them on their casting. Personally, I think that had that show not aired, fairly recently in our collective memory, then the average American would still not see that highest office being held by a black man. I know there are other cultural references for that, but this is an example I can point to in our Country’s recent memory.
Ironic that, because I think that such a display has helped smooth the path for Obama. Perhaps not in an empirically-verifiable way, but my hunch is that regardless of real-world impact, the show certainly did.
(No, I am not lauding the show, nor do I endorse it, nor do I endorse anything FOX does.)
Just my take,
- Zhirem
@zhireem: Actually, yes, you can prepare a culture that way. Note also that about a year prior to the campaign, the History Channel put the movie of McCain’s biography back in rotation.
That is semiotics. One can use mass media to create the zeitgeist prior to needing it. Emotional vectoring done professionally relies on that. Cars and fashion are sold that way. This is why I talk about the Hebb effect and dual-trace mechanisms.
@T-Bone: yes, that is the way race works, but it can be worked both ways and I think we can agree here. Yes, I understand the games. That is the only way one quits being hooked by them. They can provide those examples about Harvard, the divorce and so on, the other side can quote directly from Michelle Obama’s thesis. We can spend all day saying how the policies of G.W. Bush led to the crises and then quietly note that the biggest recipients of donations from Fannie and Freddie were Democrats. Spy Vs Spy is a worthless game but so much of politics is about that. I’d like not to play but in a world where having to speak my truth to power is all I have, I guess I do.
That racism can change the weighting one gives to facts presented is undeniable. But here I have to say I’m seeing aspects of this on both sides and neither is helping themselves with it. It’s just more ugliness. It is stoking the fires of Hell, not extinguishing them. It took the Cinncinnati police thirty years to create that tinder box and only one incident to set it ablaze. It took a week of cold weather to put it out because the race war in Ohio became self-sustaining. It only took a little software and threats by the Department of Justice to begin the reform. Feedback applied judiciously at exactly the right place is very powerful stuff.
That is why I turn to the basic set of Obama’s proposals for reforming the system. That is exactly right. Understanding it as an information system gives us a way to talk about reforming it as engineers redesign and update an existing application.
To update and reform our culture is an artist’s job or a preacher’s job, in my opinion. This we can do. As Jon pointed out with The Night They Drove Old Dixie down, the Band chose to embrace and feel the pain. It was not an effort to explain away racism and the sin’s of our forefathers and ourselves, but to notice the humanity and stoke it. It was sad and wonderful all at the same time. It was the perfect center between Neil Young’s Alabama and Lynard Skynard’s Sweet Home Alabama. Unfortunately, Skynard got the biggest hit and maybe we have to give up commercial success to do the right thing.
As I recall, that is what you do and have done for years.
When asked to write songs or music for the church, I usually disturb my minister because I insist on writing about the humanity of the Christ because I cannot testify to divinity, that which I have not experienced. I can be awed by it, see it as light on darkness, as revelation, but ultimately to be honest, I have to talk about the humanity of it and trust the images to reveal the divinity to the individual personally and privately. When I wrote Epiphany, I insisted on not the miracle of the birth, but the absolute utter desolation of Mary when she first understands the baby in her arms is God yet human and will die, and that this is her purpose, to get him to Golgotha. It is devastating but it is the beginning of Christianity, the epiphany of the sin we share, all in a very young girl’s heart in that one moment of celebration.
As a gifted songwriter, I think you know just how hard that can be and why we pray for inspiration, for that one image or line to pop into our head and pull our heart along with it.
Back to Cranky With The Culture: I’ve read where you stood up to the music industry for your principles about music and the recording arts. In the Sixties, the artists did that and found themselves swallowed in the culture that embraced them for profit and then extinguished their messages in banality. I have to wonder what a united artists effort at this time to reform, rejuvenate and change our current culture would be like and what those messages would be. Who would lead that? How could it be sustained?
Elton John said after 9/11 when artists were afraid to get on airplanes that they were wussy, that this was precisely the time for the artists to go out and help people get over their fears, that we set a bad example by refusing to. Elton doesn’t take a dime for charity events. I realize he doesn’t have to but the point is, he doesn’t. Go Reg Dwight!
As I’ve said before, I think we suck as politicians. We aren’t playing to our strengths as artists. But yes, that is the way racism works, and that is the way our fears become the weight.
I’m just an amateur and as Emmett said about the Last Waltz sessions, no amateurs allowed. I get that. But you are a supremely gifted and well-recognized producer, songwriter and musician. Perhaps among all of your friends is the will, desire and need to create such a coalition to speak some truths in a way so compelling that they will not be ignored, in music that will last just as Rick’s guitars last, and every time a new artist picks one up, the expression will be both unique and the same.
Maybe as Jake says to Elwood, it’s “The BAND, Elwood! The BAND!”
Have a good road trip. Come back safe.
@zhireem: Actually, yes, you can prepare a culture that way. Note also that about a year prior to the campaign, the History Channel put the movie of McCain’s biography back in rotation.
That is semiotics. One can use mass media to create the zeitgeist prior to needing it. Emotional vectoring done professionally relies on that. Cars and fashion are sold that way. This is why I talk about the Hebb effect and dual-trace mechanisms.
@T-Bone: yes, that is the way race works, but it can be worked both ways and I think we can agree here. Yes, I understand the games. That is the only way one quits being hooked by them. They can provide those examples about Harvard, the divorce and so on, the other side can quote directly from Michelle Obama’s thesis. We can spend all day saying how the policies of G.W. Bush led to the crises and then quietly note that the biggest recipients of donations from Fannie and Freddie were Democrats. Spy Vs Spy is a worthless game but so much of politics is about that. I’d like not to play but in a world where having to speak my truth to power is all I have, I guess I do.
That racism can change the weighting one gives to facts presented is undeniable. But here I have to say I’m seeing aspects of this on both sides and neither is helping themselves with it. It’s just more ugliness. It is stoking the fires of Hell, not extinguishing them. It took the Cinncinnati police thirty years to create that tinder box and only one incident to set it ablaze. It took a week of cold weather to put it out because the race war in Ohio became self-sustaining. It only took a little software and threats by the Department of Justice to begin the reform. Feedback applied judiciously at exactly the right place is very powerful stuff.
That is why I turn to the basic set of Obama’s proposals for reforming the system. That is exactly right. Understanding it as an information system gives us a way to talk about reforming it as engineers redesign and update an existing application.
To update and reform our culture is an artist’s job or a preacher’s job, in my opinion. This we can do. As Jon pointed out with The Night They Drove Old Dixie down, the Band chose to embrace and feel the pain. It was not an effort to explain away racism and the sin’s of our forefathers and ourselves, but to notice the humanity and stoke it. It was sad and wonderful all at the same time. It was the perfect center between Neil Young’s Alabama and Lynard Skynard’s Sweet Home Alabama. Unfortunately, Skynard got the biggest hit and maybe we have to give up commercial success to do the right thing.
As I recall, that is what you do and have done for years.
When asked to write songs or music for the church, I usually disturb my minister because I insist on writing about the humanity of the Christ because I cannot testify to divinity, that which I have not experienced. I can be awed by it, see it as light on darkness, as revelation, but ultimately to be honest, I have to talk about the humanity of it and trust the images to reveal the divinity to the individual personally and privately. When I wrote Epiphany, I insisted on not the miracle of the birth, but the absolute utter desolation of Mary when she first understands the baby in her arms is God yet human and will die, and that this is her purpose, to get him to Golgotha. It is devastating but it is the beginning of Christianity, the epiphany of the sin we share, all in a very young girl’s heart in that one moment of celebration.
As a gifted songwriter, I think you know just how hard that can be and why we pray for inspiration, for that one image or line to pop into our head and pull our heart along with it.
Back to Cranky With The Culture: I’ve read where you stood up to the music industry for your principles about music and the recording arts. In the Sixties, the artists did that and found themselves swallowed in the culture that embraced them for profit and then extinguished their messages in banality. I have to wonder what a united artists effort at this time to reform, rejuvenate and change our current culture would be like and what those messages would be. Who would lead that? How could it be sustained?
Elton John said after 9/11 when artists were afraid to get on airplanes that they were wussy, that this was precisely the time for the artists to go out and help people get over their fears, that we set a bad example by refusing to. Elton doesn’t take a dime for charity events. I realize he doesn’t have to but the point is, he doesn’t. Go Reg Dwight!
As I’ve said before, I think we suck as politicians. We aren’t playing to our strengths as artists. But yes, that is the way racism works, and that is the way our fears become the weight.
I’m just an amateur and as Emmett said about the Last Waltz sessions, no amateurs allowed. I get that. But you are a supremely gifted and well-recognized producer, songwriter and musician. Perhaps among all of your friends is the will, desire and need to create such a coalition to speak some truths in a way so compelling that they will not be ignored, in music that will last just as Rick’s guitars last, and every time a new artist picks one up, the expression will be both unique and the same.
Maybe as Jake says to Elwood, it’s “The BAND, Elwood! The BAND!”
Have a good road trip. Come back safe.
I respectfully disagree about how racism works.
Yes, there are indeed people who are dyed in the wool racists and express themselves as such; there really aren’t very many of them.
By far, the largest number of racists exist secretly. Their racism exists in a deep pocket of their minds like a roadblock, forcing every action and thought to wend it’s way by any other path available. They will make a decision without even knowing why; they will act and later ask themselves, “I wonder why I said/did that?” These are the people who do not know they are racists and go to the polls with a truly hidden agenda, sometimes even changing their vote at the last moment.
Don’t believe me? Read the comments above.
I respectfully disagree about how racism works.
Yes, there are indeed people who are dyed in the wool racists and express themselves as such; there really aren’t very many of them.
By far, the largest number of racists exist secretly. Their racism exists in a deep pocket of their minds like a roadblock, forcing every action and thought to wend it’s way by any other path available. They will make a decision without even knowing why; they will act and later ask themselves, “I wonder why I said/did that?” These are the people who do not know they are racists and go to the polls with a truly hidden agenda, sometimes even changing their vote at the last moment.
Don’t believe me? Read the comments above.
“But even if one is uninclined to see Limbaugh’s quotes as having been taken unfairly out of context, linking them to McCain makes as much sense as running a quote from Bill Maher and linking it to Obama.”
Jake Tapper – ABC (discussing an ad Obama is running in Spanish)
As long as you tell them they are stupid racists, they will vote for McCain.
Or tell them
“I approved this message because bitter, partisan fights and outworn ideas of the left and the right won’t solve the problems we face today. But a new spirit of unity and shared responsibility will.” – Barack Obama
and you can win. Or keep speaking out of both sides and convince the electorate that hypocrisy has been elevated to a virtue.
Make up your mind if you want to win or if you want to feel morally superior and enraged. Racism can be controlled and unlearned but stupid can only keep secrets from itself.
“But even if one is uninclined to see Limbaugh’s quotes as having been taken unfairly out of context, linking them to McCain makes as much sense as running a quote from Bill Maher and linking it to Obama.”
Jake Tapper – ABC (discussing an ad Obama is running in Spanish)
As long as you tell them they are stupid racists, they will vote for McCain.
Or tell them
“I approved this message because bitter, partisan fights and outworn ideas of the left and the right won’t solve the problems we face today. But a new spirit of unity and shared responsibility will.” – Barack Obama
and you can win. Or keep speaking out of both sides and convince the electorate that hypocrisy has been elevated to a virtue.
Make up your mind if you want to win or if you want to feel morally superior and enraged. Racism can be controlled and unlearned but stupid can only keep secrets from itself.
Tim Wise posted a similar piece on white privilege a few days ago, that covers most of the smear issues that have come up for Obama over the past 18 months.
http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise/this-your-nation-white-privilege
Tim Wise posted a similar piece on white privilege a few days ago, that covers most of the smear issues that have come up for Obama over the past 18 months.
http://www.redroom.com/blog/tim-wise/this-your-nation-white-privilege
“South Pacific”…”You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught”…what more do you need to know about it? That musical premiered on April 7, 1949. We’re talking nearly 60 years ago, and we still are being carefully taught.
“South Pacific”…”You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught”…what more do you need to know about it? That musical premiered on April 7, 1949. We’re talking nearly 60 years ago, and we still are being carefully taught.
And just as carefully untaught.
Wiring takes time. We can unwire fast but then we have to get all new parts.
http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-obama-race
http://news.yahoo.com/page/election-2008-political-pulse-obama-race