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Beer is Nice But It’s the Economy, um, Stupid?
July 31, 2009 by David Feldman · 1 Comment
James Carville, helping run Bill Clinton’s campaign for President in 1992, hung a now famous sign in the campaign headquarters that read, “It’s the economy, stupid.” It does remain Pres. Obama’s top domestic priority (healthcare sort of being part of that, I think), but he was sidetracked the last week by saying the Cambridge, MA police acted “stupidly” in an incident with a famous African American Harvard professor, although he admitted he didn’t know the facts when he said that. Kind of different uses of the word stupid which is a bit unfortunately ironic.
The President had a beer with the cop and the professor last night. How much press on this crazy thing? Arguments over what beer, why not American beer, why even suggest a beer, is that saying something about police, maybe he likes wine (actually the cop suggested beer). Did they sit at the wooden picnic table by the swing set, no they were at a nicer round table outside, what does that mean? And very little was accomplished (they “agreed to disagree” and talked about moving forward), except that maybe we can move off of this and yes, continue the discussion about race and the challenges that minorities still face in this country, but not over this issue. It appears, as the President said, that they might have both overreacted a bit. So let this one go, Rev. Sharpton please save your vitriol for other stuff. We should be learning, but not from this incident.
Now, let’s get back to the economy, which, by the way, is showing real signs of maybe, possibly, having almost kind of a little bit sorta hit bottom.
About the Beer –
What is true? and what is allowed to be true? If a ten year old television viewer innocently asks you – are all racists white guys? would you sense you knew why he was asking but feel a familiar whiplash form your internal editor before answering? What is that whiplash all about? is it a good thing? Has America become a place of qualified free speech and truth qualification? Is America really a land of cowards on race issues.? Is the reader beginning to squirm? If I am obligated to stop and ask myself what is allowed to be true before speaking, then almost forgotten terms like McCarthyism will soon rightfully serve as well meaning metaphors.
The question – are all racists white guys? invites the same sort of pious lie that follows – is Santa Clause real”
For 50 years both gender and race issues have had us old white guys (and just about everyone else) fretting over truth – that is – a new generation of civility that demands that anyone with an answer after searching for truth to first check to make sure the answer is ‘ allowed to be true’. It isn’t right that any well meaning American ought to edit what he means to say or edit what he knows is true.
If a black officer turned up at Gates home and swapped the same dialogged without incident – does that mean that all racists are white? or does that mean, the question is not allowed to be asked and if asked requires a sanctioned answer. If all these years later any well meaning American is still passing ‘what he thinks is true’ through any kind of ‘what is allowed to be true’ filter, we are living in a state of benevolent fascism.
The President’s campaign sounded like we were going to get a break from having to include appreciation for Jesse Jackson’s “Foe hunnet yeezo Oppresion” before a cop knocks on a door. Race is no longer just an issue but has become an industry. It is riddled with debt that can’t be paid. If Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton were asked – OK what do you want? Which terms will you accept in order to being this cursed thing to an end, there would be no answer because no one wants there to be an answer. It’s debt with a vig no mobser would dare.
So I want to ask the reader who disagrees or agrees to consider these questions. Are these questions OK to ask? or should I have first checked to find out if they are allowed to be asked? Do you feel any sense that your urge to answer is being edited internally by the need to check first if such questions are allowed to be answered? Is there a sort of Holiness to your kind of stress?