I Now Understand Why That Mormon Guy Told Me To Call Him (If Anybody Ever Tried To Make Me A Slave)

If I had done that last post, and had a black readership, I would've been high-fived.

I didn't used to write about the paradox of being black in America. I insisted the topic was pointless, useless, a waste of my time and my country's.

But you know what happened? I got shouted down - by white people. How many times did I stomp away from Althouse, because race was a never-ending topic, with me as it's subtext whether anybody else realized it or not? 

I stopped counting.

But now I say O.K., you want to talk? Let's talk. My blog. I speak up and (as most blacks would tell me, and many did, offline) my one black voice is vile - because I don't agree about some white folks' take on the truth of my black existence amongst them. Among other things. I mean, there's been a controversy over how I talk, and now it's gotten to what I say. I've even been told how to interpret my past. Easy to do, if you're Althouse and German, but not if you're of somewhere-in-African descent.

Basically, it's Native Son all over again (now online!) while we pretend it's all-so-very over, for your own convenience and/or peace of mind. I told you I wanted it over. But no - everybody had to choose up sides over Trayvon! (The musical) And before that it was something else. And before that it was something else. Whites choose their battles. I didn't want it and had nothing to do with it.

But, thanks to y'all, I've since had to choose.

And on race, I choose, conservatives are as fucking weird, confusing, and clueless - and confining - as liberals, any day,...

The Easiest Thing To Understand Is Why Feminists Kill

TOTALLY WORTH IT

I Could Be Mistaken About How This Country Operates But I Really Don't Think So (I've Lived Here A Long Time)

It says a lot, that I had to brutalize a Paul Krugman quote to agree with it, but it had to happen:

“The widening “wonk gap” — the G.O.P.’s near-complete lack of expertise on anything substantive,...the dumbing down extends across the spectrum, from budget issues to national security to poll analysis. Remember, Mitt Romney and much of his party went into Election Day expecting victory…. 

But that was then. Modern conservatism has become a sort of cult, very much given to conspiracy theorizing when confronted with inconvenient facts,...Mitt Romney would have won if only he had been a real conservative. 

It’s all kind of funny, in a way. Unfortunately, however, this runaway cult controls the House, which gives it immense destructive power,...and it’s disturbing to realize that this power rests in the hands of men who, thanks to the wonk gap, quite literally have no idea what they’re doing.”

The immediate talk of our, or Obama's, international prestige - when faced with kids being gassed as canaries in the coal mine to gauge our tolerance of crimes against humanity - is a fine example of missing the substance by a mile. The problem is not that our people aren't smart, it's that they think they're clever - and inevitably put their smarts to arguing the wrong issues. Ask Bernie Madoff. Even better, ask my online friend, Harry Markopolos.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook

Now that's an angry patriot. And a guy who should be put in charge of something. You know why? Because he actually catches the bad guys red-handed, not hoping something falls in his lap he could capitalize on, like the Right and these imaginary "scandals" that have still come to nothing what-so-ever while they crow - over obvious bad guys, large and small, operating openly.

Or do I just imagine there are "psychics" working throughout this country?

Sure, and almost-president Mitt Romney's homeopathy franchise has always been totally on the up-and-up,...

 

Remember "You Dropped A Bomb On Me"? - Like That

Do you ever get the impression some conservatives can write but not read, think, but not reason? 

"Even as the vote is swinging the wrong way, there seems to be no urgency on the part of the White House, which should be in a near panic."

Hmmm. 

They should be in a panic - but they're not. "No urgency." 

"President Obama has confirmed the suspicion that his decision to ask Congress for authorization before using force in Syria was a political ploy."

Come again:

PLOY

1. 
a cunning plan or action designed to turn a situation to one's own advantage.

As far as I can tell, faddishly full of themselves again after the Trayvon loss, few behind the Right's current "Obama is weak" narrative seem to be considering what potential set-up they're walking into. But I've been reading and to hear them tell it:

It sounds mighty familiar,...

 

Rummaging Around In The Bag (On A Red Letter Day)

Fox News blames feminism for Miley Cyrus’ VMA performance

Hitler Was Beta

So i was checking a German Astronomy book...

GOP Rep: It’s “arrogant” to think humans caused climate change

The surprising story of how religion-based alternative medicine gained mainstream acceptance

Alternative Treatments Could See Wide Acceptance Thanks to Obamacare

Alternative Medicine Providers Show Their Greedy Side

Fewer students at Utah universities after Mormon mission change

Confessions of an ex-Mormon

Living History: A sugar high never lasts — just ask the Mormon church

It’s too easy to be a happiness guru these days

Buddhists burn Muslim homes and shops in Burma

Monique Rathbun: wife of former Scientology executive, Marty Rathbun, accuses church of filming her

Book review: ‘Manson: The Life and Times of Charles Manson’ by Jeff Guinn 

 

Looking At Things Side-Ways (To Avoid Choosing One)

Yea! THE INTERNET STAYS ON! And I've finally got company in the G.O.P.:

“I’m sorry to be the skunk at the garden party, but I think if Dr. King were alive today, he would step on some of these sacred issues.”

Republicans love to scream MLK was one of ours. Not cool to think like him nowadays - TMR is definitely "the skunk at the garden party" - but still the appropriate place to be. So what's the beef? Try this one on for size - a point I've made many times, before, to crickets:

“Everybody has come in front of [blacks] on the bus — gays, immigrants, women, environmentalists. You never hear any talk about the conditions confronting poor blacks and poor people in general.”

He got a standing O for show. I get push-back.

Let's see - he said gays. More important than poor blacks. That's been made clear. The coverage is overwhelming. Blacks have been struggling to keep food on the table for as long as I've been alive, but that obviously doesn't compare to gay marriage. Nobody's ever called anybody a loser for not resolving conditions in the ghettos. We should've thrown glitter in church for attention.

Immigrants. Hear about them all-the-time now. Will they be able to stay? Won't they? Not as important as how Americans can keep a roof over our heads. That's not very important at all. Never has been. Never hear about it. It's not a priority. Weird.

Women? Women. Ann Althouse makes $177,000 a year, for God knows what, and still bitches like she's raped daily. The average black household makes around $20,000. You do the math on "oppression".

And environmentalists? Why bother with blacks when they're determined to "save the planet" - which has only been around for, oh, what? 4 and a half billion years without their assistance? I can feel the love. But it makes total sense.

I've got two things that don't make sense, though:

A) Why it takes an idiot conservative like me to notice this is how it's been working, and B) why it took another one to mention it,...