Your Daily Preening (II) - Updated

In the previous post I had a few extra paragraphs and then I deleted them. Race is a touchy subject and I'd said my bit. The paragraphs I deleted were about noticing that a lot of people are bringing up racism vis-a-vis the president, but that I haven't seen any overt examples of racism to back up the claims. I went on for a bit and then stopped. Racism is stupid, and I know it when I see it. I'd said enough. [I caught some email flack over this, of the "Chicken," variety. The deleted paragraphs were wiped out during the draft, not in response to criticism. My point was that writing about phony racism is boring if you spend too long on it. There's nothing you can say to make someone change their mind if they see a bigot around every corner].

In this clip below, NBC finds a couple of lame swastika signs which I suppose could be about race. If you've read this blog then you'll know my feelings on the Nazis and their symbol. Idiots use the swastika these days for all kinds of things, some of them race, but mostly because they think someone's an overbearing jerk. Their boss is a Nazi. Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi." Bush is a Nazi. Everybody they don't like - Right or Left - is a Nazi. The Nazi name and its symbol have become jest. Is that good or bad? You tell me. Anyway, in this case I think the boneheads with Nazi signs are just that: boneheads with Nazi signs. I don't figure race has anything to do with it. It seems every mass rally for any event on Earth comes with a few token Nazi signs.

New York governor Paterson has said that the word "socialist" is racist. Kurtz wrote today that "communist" and "like Russia" are racist. The Obama "Socialism" sign is supposedly racist, and Maureen Dowd claims that Rep. Wilson is racist for calling Mr. Obama a liar.

I guess this is going to be the way it is from here on out, and it's shameful for the media to push it this hard with such a lack of evidence. It's self perpetuating: if you call something racist, people will avoid using it, therefore why not start calling everything racist? If "socialism" is racist and "liar" is racist, what's next? But that's probably the point.

Six months ago a great many people celebrated the first black president in US history. 6 months later, politicians and network newsies are claiming the country is overrun by the Klan.

Jimmy Carter has weighed in. He adds more fuel to the fire by claiming that yes, the furor over Mr. Obama from his opponents is simply racism.

This is irresponsible stuff from writers and politicians alike. Before the Iraq invasion, I remember millions of people around the world marching against Bush's war. People were mad as hell. They called him every name in the book. I was in Italy at the time, and the stuff they were writing on the walls about Bush (Italians love their graffiti) was mean and dirty. But that's life: when people are mad, they say so. Now, though, it's all being summed up as simply 'racism.' This doesn't bode well.

If someone is a racist, they deserve scorn and ridicule. But if someone has a real beef about something and wants to speak his mind, nothing could anger or alienate them more than being told their words aren't worth listening to because it's just bigotry. This kind of stuff can only divide people further. I don't like where it's heading.

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