Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Barack Obama vs. Huey P. Newton
Good morning all MZ’ers...I am snow-in, drifted-in, and done-in. I will be shoveling for days.
If Valentine’s Day had lived up to its promise, I would have been greeted by a man with a plow and chain saw.
Good front page today. Obama is certainly no Huey, Eldridge, Martin, or Malcolm. If there is such a thing as “race”, and I’m not sure there is, Obama’s handsome skin tone has been wasted on him.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/15 at 11:18 AMMalcom X was the only well known political and social leader of true fame that I respect. I know that you can’t believe everything in an autobiography, but that book changed my life. All of the changes he went through throughout his life, his honesty, his integrity, his ability to admit mistakes in previous beliefs...these things amazed me.
Obama is no Malcom X.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 02/15 at 11:44 AMRMJ, I was wondering how you were doing! It took me an hour to get my truck unstuck from the frozen cradle it was parked in, and the help of 2 men. People sometimes aren’t jerks.
Race seems more cultural than genetic. Obama was raised in a middle class white family, so it seems pretty normal that he has middle class white values and outlooks.
Question on numbers: why, when talking about race (from an ancestry position, which I don’t think is really what race is about), do you need exactly one recent (maybe in the last 3 generations) ancestor that is not white to be considered “non-white” but you need a vast majority of white anscestors (say, 7 out of 8 or 15 out of 16) to be considered “white”?
These quotes brought up a side issue to me - if someone has a message you agree with on a topic you feel is important, but has done some horrible things in their personal life that go against other things you feel are important, how does that weigh on the message they are delivering about the original issue? (hopefully this is not too convoluted) This has come up a few times for me, and I tend to get stuck on the parts I don’t agree with, even if they aren’t directly related to what I’m reading.
Hope everyone is doing well today. It is cold and I want this snow to melt.
Posted by Deb on from NoVa 02/15 at 11:58 AMHello Expendables. Astoria is cold, slushy, and no fun at all...but still sounds better than Vermont or Virginia.
As for “race,” the word has no biological meaning.
Speaking of having no biological meaning, I couldn’t resist posting something else at Daily Kos and now, the liberals are opting to focus solely on personal attacks:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/2/15/111617/046Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/15 at 12:09 PMKos doesn’t let you post comments for 24 hours after sign up? That’s annoying.
Posted by JOS on from Chicago 02/15 at 12:47 PMHi JOS...Yes, that is a legitimate complaint about Kos. I just tried to post a comment but I forgot my password. I think I have one. I just wanted to post that Mickey is one of the most cool people I know, and I know a lot of really cool people. In fact, everyone here is really cool.
Deb...I just got back inside. I wanted to check my mail box which is about 100 feet up my driveway. It took a half hour. I could not open the back door because of a big drift. When I finally got it opened a lot of snow fell inside and I could not close the door. I had to shovel snow from inside to the outside. Then it took a half hour to walk up the drive way. Some of the drifts are 6 feet high. The wind chill is so bad that I can’t stay out very long........About the “side issue” that you bring up, it seems to me that that is not a problem. Even evil men sometimes say good things. I think that every statement should be judged on its own merit.
Mickey...it is good to hear you say that “race” has no biological meaning. I am usually alone with that view.Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/15 at 01:07 PM“It doesn’t mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time, I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don’t call it violence when it’s self-defense, I call it intelligence.” Malcolm X
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/15 at 01:13 PMUh-oh, it looks like Daily Kos is about to face Daily JOS.
As for race, I just found something I wrote a while back: Human beings fit into a species called Homo sapiens and we have no objective subspecies or races. Biologist Ruth Hubbard has explained quite eloquently that Homo sapiens are a relatively homogeneous species (genetically speaking): “About 75 percent of known genes are the same in all humans. The other 25 percent are known to exist in more than one form, but all the forms can be found in all groups, though sometimes in different proportions.” In addition, the head of Human Genome Sciences, Inc., Dr. William Haseltine, has stated: “Only one-quarter of one percent of our basic genetic information can be ascribed to what we call ‘racial’ differences.” Anthropologist and geneticist Jonathan Marks adds, “You may group humans into a small number of races if you want to, but you are denied biology as a support for it.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/15 at 01:17 PMBtw, it seems Counterpunch has linked to today’s Obama/Huey post.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/15 at 01:20 PMDeb, this is what Malcolm X says about your side issue. “I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.”
Mickey...it impresses me how much genetic material we share with fruit flies. I think I read about that once? Maybe, I’m mistaken. Now I’ll check Counterpunch.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/15 at 01:26 PMYou know it, Mick. Love the Malcom X quotes, RMJ.
You are right to point out the insignificance biologically of the ‘races.’ We are the ones who have invented the significance.
As far as ‘cool’ goes…
For me, Cool Observer, means someone who observes calmly, tries to eliminate personal bias from the act of observing. Of course, any vegan, anarchist, martial arts expert, author from New York City is pretty fucking cool (as in dope, def, etc) in my book.
Posted by Daliy JOS on from Chicago 02/15 at 02:13 PMmake that Daily JOS in my posted by…
Posted by Daily JOS on from Chicago 02/15 at 02:18 PMThanks, JOS…
I’ve used the title “Cool Observer” to name columns I’ve had in print publications and, in reality, it’s a sarcastic/ironic reference to something I read from Chomsky. This explains it:
Noam Chomsky points out that, in a democracy, elite groups use media and other outlets of myth-making and propaganda to protect their interests, to make sure that the actual extent of democracy does not infringe on their power. Referring to Reinhold Niebuhr, an American that is representative of a long line of western intellectuals who share elitist views about the nature of democracy, Chomsky states: “His [Niebuhr’s] view was that rationality belongs to the cool observer. But because of the stupidity of the average man, he follows not reason, but faith. And this naive faith requires necessary illusion, and emotionally potent oversimplifications, which are provided by the myth-maker to keep the ordinary person on course. It’s not the case, as the naive might think, that indoctrination is inconsistent with democracy. Rather, as this whole line of thinkers observes, it is the essence of democracy.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/15 at 02:24 PMthat’s right...I remember you pointing this out back in the early days of the Cool Observer.
Posted by Daily JOS on from Chicago 02/15 at 02:39 PMThat’s not to say I’m not “cool.”
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/15 at 02:42 PMBarack O Bomb Irana. He’s black and white but he aint “alabama” black.
Posted by jesus reyes on from 02/15 at 02:43 PMI added a quick comment of my own, recycled from my humble blog. Figured something sort of on-topic might be a novelty over at Daily Kos.
ps. noticed that the “capcha word” I had to type for this reply was “read” - from what I saw of the comments over at DKos, I get the distinct impression those folks might want to try doing a bit more of that. Just sayin’.
Posted by Dr. B. on from U$A 02/15 at 02:51 PMDr. B...your site is very interesting. What do you think of Erroll Garner? I share your appreciation for Ward Churchill and the authors you list. I bet that some of your articles are fascinating. One topic that has not been given enough attention is how does the military take the boy or girl next door and turn them into killers. It is easier to do that now because of the increased violence in the culture but the military was successful in doing that even before video games. I have some theories and I believe that if mothers and fathers knew more about military training they would not allow their sons and daughters to enlist.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/15 at 04:32 PMHello everyone.
Deb said: “Question on numbers: why, when talking about race (from an ancestry position, which I don’t think is really what race is about), do you need exactly one recent (maybe in the last 3 generations) ancestor that is not white to be considered “non-white” but you need a vast majority of white anscestors (say, 7 out of 8 or 15 out of 16) to be considered “white”?”
I think the answer to that is pretty obvious. Civilization is horribly racist.
Here’s a question I have… does anyone really think that Obama would win in a fair election? I mean, if the Democrats were really honest with themselves (hahahaha! HAHA!) I think that they’d realize that this country is far too racist to support a black President (I don’t care if he’s 1/20 of the way black, he looks black enough and frankly, and sadly, that’s all that matters). And I also don’t think that the country is ready for a woman President either. Which is the reason I think that inevitably neither Hillary or Obama will end up receiving the nomination, although those reasons certainly won’t be presented by the media when that time comes. I mean, we live in a nearly perfect utopia!
Of course, if either of them win the nomination, there’s nothing to stop the powers that be from manipulating the polls…
The reason I point this out is that I definitely get the vibe from… well, just about everywhere, that racism and sexism ended decades ago in this country and that the only people who complain about such matters are way over the top. Just look at the way we dealt with how the black voters in Florida were disenfranchised during the 2000 election. If you bring that up to your average white person nowadays, I almost guarantee that you won’t get a pleasant response.
Posted by Banta on from Florida 02/15 at 04:49 PMrmj, i’ve a friend who was in the navy. she’s absolutely not the type you’d think would be military material, and in fact, that she remained a questioning intelligent person had her cycled through psychiatrists while in the military. she would say that they work hard to completely break you, and at that point you are going to simply obey orders with no thought to the morality or consequences behind it. As long as The Authority is telling you to, it is okay.
She says that she knew her first day of boot camp that she made a horrible mistake, but it was simply impossible to do anything but serve her 4 years at that point, and then get out. She could go into more detail about this, but I imagine your ideas are really close to reality anyway.
Thanks for the malcolm x quote on my side issue. I am still not sure I’m capable of this, and I don’t know if it is a problem or not. I can’t seem to help seeing someone’s statements in the overall context of who they are and what they’ve done. I’ll have to think about this more, I guess.
Posted by Deb on from NoVa 02/15 at 04:53 PMBanta, I agree that my question does have the obvious answer that you pointed out, it is just that most people don’t recognize that. (I forgot where I was for a second!)
You were talking about the vibe in this country. I read a book recently that did a lot to open my eyes to the issue you bring up - “Talking the Walk: a communications guide to racial justice”, and I guess my answer would be spin and mainstream media. Most people don’t want to think beyond what is spoonfed them, so if they’re told by the media that racism and sexism is a thing of the past, they’ll believe it, even as the statements are framed in racists and sexist terms.
I have a coworker who insists that her lack of knowledge on the issues is the media’s fault...if only they were more entertaining and had even shorter clips, she’d perhaps be willing to watch the news. Reading about issues is absolutely out for her, by her own decision/declaration. I asked her how war should be made entertaining, and she had the grace to look slightly abashed, but remained firm in her belief that it wasn’t up to her to educate herself about what is going on in the world…
Posted by Deb on from NoVa 02/15 at 04:59 PMAt least your coworker admits she has a lack of knowledge, Deb. Better than having another know-it-all running around, reciting their scripts from CNN and Fox News, feeling good and informed.
“Most people don’t want to think beyond what is spoonfed them, so if they’re told by the media that racism and sexism is a thing of the past, they’ll believe it, even as the statements are framed in racists and sexist terms.”
Yup and this was in big display during the leadup to the Super Bowl. Two black head coaches in the Super Bowl! What an accomplishment, we’re told. Meanwhile, I’m sitting here feeling like it’ll only be an accomplishment when we don’t have to point out that both head coaches are black…
All of us have grown up (no matter how old at this point) in the age of no mystery (I could probably use a snappier title there). All of life’s problems have been solved and there’s no question that there isn’t an answer to! If you think otherwise, you must be completely insane.
Posted by Banta on from Florida 02/15 at 05:53 PMJust heard on the news...barn roofs are collapsing under the weight of the snow and there is the possibility of avalanche in the Green Mts and also the Adirondacks.
Deb, one of the things that I remember from my training was that the ONLY formation that could be called by anyone without regard to their military rank was a “Hate Formation”. That meant that anyone could get out of bed in the middle of the night, open their window, and start shouting, “HATE”. Anyone in the other barracks who heard that was supposed to get up and join the shouting. I still remember how ugly and spooky that experience was. Imagine a thousand voices shouting “HATE” in the darkness of the Texas night. We also were taught to hate civilians. I was in my early twenties when I was experiencing these things. It wasn’t till much later, when I was out of that environment that I finally understood the subtle effects of those training tactics.
Banta...I agree that this is a very racist and also sexist society but I think that Hillary and Obama stand a chance of being elected (unfortunately). They both support the war and are very mainstream and I think that those issues are more important to the voters. I think that the test for winning an election is a willingness to bomb and kill and also the “the beer test”, how desirable a beer drinking partner the candidate would be. The average voter does not seem to care about the platforms of the candidates. If voters could vote on “platforms” and issues instead of personalities things would be better. Since that is not likely to happen, I still favor a lottery system. That way we would at least have the possibility of a normal person, who lived in the real world becoming president.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/15 at 06:41 PMRMJ said: “Banta...I agree that this is a very racist and also sexist society but I think that Hillary and Obama stand a chance of being elected (unfortunately). They both support the war and are very mainstream and I think that those issues are more important to the voters.”
Of course, the Republican candidate is gonna have those same qualities and not have the “problem” of being black or a woman. I just honestly believe that if you accept that the Presidential voting results of the past two elections reflect reality at all (which I don’t know if I do, but let’s put that aside for the moment), that in a country that is seemingly sharply divided between Republican and Democrats, the “edge” of being a white male would be enough to swing the election into the Republicans favor. I know enough people who would never vote for Obama or Hillary just because of their background. Sad, but true.
Of course, these people that I’m talking about are mostly backwoods conservatives who wouldn’t vote for a Democrat ANYWAY, so maybe my point is moot.
That lottery system would be great, by the way.
Posted by Banta on from Florida 02/15 at 07:10 PMHello again, everyone. Line of the day for me: I know enough people who would never vote for Obama or Hillary just because of their background. Same here. While I may personally view all of these candidates as criminals owned by corporate donors, the majority of Americans think they are discrete entities and thus, skin color and gender matter greatly.
My presidential haiku:
you once seemed very
important but now you are
another four yearsPosted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/15 at 08:22 PM“Uh-oh, it looks like Daily Kos is about to face Daily JOS.”
LOL!!!
I keep hearing about this Obama guy. I must confess, I don’t know the first thing about him.
Ron Paul put a bid in for President. He’s about the only cat in government I trust beyond the distance I could throw him.
Posted by Jeremy on from Taipei, Taiwan 02/15 at 09:24 PMAn article with a different twist: http://tinyurl.com/26y8k3
And don’t get me started on the Duke rape Case.
I think it was the Black Panthers who came to the “Young Lady’s” aid and spoke about justice and how they would do whatever it took to see justice done.It turns out now that there are so many holes in her story that it’s almost laughable except for the fact that some white people will have their lives ruined over it all. But, What the hell, We white people deserve it for all that shit that went down before we were born.
Martin Luther King accomplished more for justice and civil rights than these militant assholes ever will.
I’m not attacking you for your opinion. I’m just stating mine.
Peace!
Posted by David on from Louisville KY 02/15 at 09:29 PMHey Jeremy. It’s good to have you back here again.
David: Your opinion is always welcome here. As for today’s version of the Panthers, I don’t know a whole lot about ‘em.
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/15 at 09:50 PMMickey, I didn’t mean to come across as angry at anybody here. I just hate the “Race” game. I can’t really see what purpose it serves. I think there’s work to be done on all sides. I wish we didn’t have sides.
Posted by David on from Louisville KY 02/15 at 10:00 PMI think there’s work to be done on all sides. I wish we didn’t have sides.
Hard to argue with that one, David (or should I call you Birthday Boy?).
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/15 at 10:02 PMGreat to hear some other people point out that there is only one ‘race’ and that’s the human race.
I was just writing something similar about language on my blog.
Warning: My blog was created mainly for my best buddy and I to update each other on writing projects we are doing. There are not so many general posts there as not so many other people read it.
That KOS site. It’s worth you posting there, Mickey, if it annoys people who read it.
Posted by Andy on from Shanghai 02/15 at 10:03 PMOh, I included my blog’s URL in the form for the previous comment but I don’t see it in the post. http://www.andy.twoboysandtheiregos.com
Posted by andy on from Shanghai 02/15 at 10:06 PMThanks, Andy...I’ll check you blog in a minute or two. In the meantime, more about “race”:
http://tinyurl.com/yoqtpvPosted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/15 at 10:08 PMThanks for putting a bright spotlight on Barack Obama - can’t say I can make much sense of his utterances or writings. Then I read a rather hagiographical piece in the ‘New York Review’ which was not enlightening either. Thanks for this heads-up, Mickey!
And it is very warm today: about 95F. Tomorrow and on Sunday 100F are expected. IOW: I find it hard to be a very articulate expendable today, so here are greetings for Rosemarie, JOS, Deb, Jesus Reyes, Dr B., Banta, Jeremy, David and Andy.
Peace - and keep warm while I try to keep cool.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 02/15 at 10:28 PMMickey, I didn’t mean to come across as angry at anybody here. I just hate the “Race” game. I can’t really see what purpose it serves. I think there’s work to be done on all sides. I wish we didn’t have sides.
I agree 100%.
There’s no reason why we should count American lives lost in Iraq and not Iraqi lives. There’s no reason 3000 dead Americans (as horrible as that is) should get more news than 600,000 dead Iraqis.
Let’s have one side, one standard, one value for all humans.
Posted by Skeptic on from 02/15 at 10:29 PMHey RMJ. Don’t know Erroll Garner’s work. Did a quick google search - looks like he’d be worth my checking into. Any recommendations?
Posted by Dr. B on from U$A 02/15 at 11:28 PMWow, 36 comments today… this is like the CO glory days. Now about that ‘beer test’ mentioned awhile back… does Ralph Nader even drink anything? Would we have the wheatgrass test with him?
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 02/15 at 11:55 PMHey Mickey Z,
congradulations for having Counterpunch link to your web site. Good company you’re in!Banta, The US will not elect a Black man or a woman to be pres, not in 2008, possibly not ever, due to entrenched racism and genderism.
They just like to flirt with the idea to show how “progrssive” and “open-minded” they are.
Hilary ‘does not rule out war with Iran’.
Obama - for a really radical brilliant analysis of this ‘darling of the left’, see anything by Glen Ford (in Black Agenda Report) and in today’s Counterpunch.ellen
Posted by ellen on from 02/16 at 12:47 PMMZ, you got a much better reception at Booman Tribune with people dissing the kossacks’ comments. there was also an invite for you to post it on My Left Wing.
Posted by xtinA on from li'l beruit 02/16 at 03:28 PMThanks, all…
Posted by Mickey Z. on from Astoria 02/16 at 03:58 PM
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