Typical White Person
Speaking as an atypical white person, I must say that I think entirely too much is being made of this, although I admit that it makes me chuckle.
Speaking as an atypical white person, I must say that I think entirely too much is being made of this, although I admit that it makes me chuckle.
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Maybe Dean. But the comment is inherently racist as is the double standard it purports - a stereotype. This coming from the “unifier” that professes there is only “one America”. It is racist as much as the “you don’t look like a PuertoRican” I get when I meet people for the first time.
He’s implying a typical white person is racist. If a white politician said he is a typical Black person all hell would break lose.
It reminds me of college - we had a Black student join our sorority. All of a sudden we were a racist sorority because we had the “token” Black member.
I’m not sure he’s implying that so much as you and others are inferring it; he clearly states in the same breath that she harbors no racial animosity but she has certain automatic reactions. I’d say that most people, of any race, tend to have visceral (i.e. automatic, non-intellectual) reactions to race that they can’t simply obliterate by saying “that’s not right,” and people of an earlier generation than Obama tend to have that more strongly.
I’m really not offended by the comment. But you Puerto Ricans are all alike, stubborn to the core…
pfft. you all look the same to me.
She is a “Typical White Person” in her discomfort with some black people in certain situations.
He is right about that.
He’s wrong that she - and the rest of us - should be ashamed of this.
The sort of “discomfort” being discussed here rarely afflicts “Typical White People” around Asians, Indians (from the country - of which there are suddenly quite a few around here), elderly or female black people.
Also most “Typical White People” are more likely to feel uneasy around young white males, than elderly black nursing home attendants, so, the Typical White Male is also a sexist and an agesit.
So is it OK to dismiss a black person who is racist by saying that they are a Typical Black Person?
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The people who tend to invoke this kind of reaction in me are those who look “thuggish” or “gangster”, which is really a matter of dress and attitude. In these parts, blacks and Hispanics are far more likely to have this dress and attitude, but I do sometimes encounter whites who do as well, and they get just as much negative reaction from me. Likewise, when I encounter a young black man who’s dressed in nice cloths who doesn’t have the “You Wanna Piece a’ This?!” swagger, I don’t feel any negative reaction at all.
So, I’m biased against a certain American sub-culture, not against a race. I’m alright with this, because unlike race, culture actually does have an intrinsic effect on one’s values, and unlike race, there is an element of choice in what culture you follow (even the circumstances of your childhood tend to bias you strongly in a particular direction).
Of course, I’m somewhat blessed to have this distinction made really clear to me, thanks to growing up in Santa Barbara, a rich, and yet still reasonably ethnically diverse town. There weren’t a lot of blacks around, but of the ones that were, only about half of them followed the ganster culture, and while we had our Hispanic gangs, we also had a number of fine, upstanding and very visible members of our community who were Hispanic. I actually volunteered on the campaign of a really cool Hispanic man, Das Williams, running for the city council, who had a lot of the same kind of charisma and energy which drives Barack Obama.
If I had grown up where I live now, in Fremont, CA, which is on the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area, between San Jose and Oakland, I’d have had a much harder time avoiding racism. I’ve hardly seen a single black person in this area who didn’t exude gangster. If this area had been my entire sample on the black population, I’d be much more tempted to think that blacks were INHERENTLY gangster. This gives me some insight into a lot of the actually racist, not just culturist, attitudes that I see around.
I’m not sure he’s implying that [the typical white person is racist] so much as you and others are inferring it; he clearly states in the same breath that she harbors no racial animosity but she has certain automatic reactions.
He does clearly state that.
Which means that, during his speech, he was drawing a moral equivalency between a “typical white person [who] harbors no racial animosity” and the vile racist rantings of his pastor, which Obama himself described as incendiary, racially divisive, denigrating, racially charged, offensive, condemnable, and simply inexcusable.
That, and several equally defective comparisons, was what Obama was selling in his speech as way to answer the question of why he actively fostered an intimate relationship with Wright over the last two decades. Is it any wonder that so many aren’t buying what he’s selling, and continue to ask that unanswered question?
Freeven’s last blog post..Conservatives underrepresented in the media
He does clearly state that? Okay, then can you quote the words where he clearly says that for me? Because I’ve listened a couple of times and I still don’t hear him “clearly” saying any such thing.
Dean: You said:
“he clearly states in the same breath that she harbors no racial animosity but she has certain automatic reactions.”
I was agreeing with you when I wrote, “He does clearly state that.” I then folded that clarification back into his original speech, where this is but one of a series of inept moral comparisons that he used to cloud the issue and avoid answering the central question.
Sorry about the confusion.
Freeven’s last blog post..Conservatives underrepresented in the media
OIC. Never mind.
There is nothing more painful for me at this stage in my life,” Jesse Jackson said several years ago, “than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery—and then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.
Does this mean Jesse Jackson is a typical white person?
I thought only Michael had made that transition.
LOL Dean, but my parents are Cuban - so we got the PuertoRicans beat!!!
Come on Dean you are far too forgiving in this case. Am I “offended” by this comment ? No, but nothing a huckster like Obama has to say is going to “offend” me.
But gosh, I though Obama was the “post-racial” candidate that would transcend race, bringing hope and change to the world and healing us all.
I don’t need to be offended to know he is digging his own political grave deeper and deeper every day. If you want to be a successful politician in this country you don’t do so by talking about “typical white people” that are afraid of black people. As someone else said in these comments, if you turn those comments around and McCain had something about “typical black people” and their propensity for hating whitey, this would be a national crisis.
Frak it. I hate all you bastards.
There’s really no reparing the damage to his campaign that would in any way make Senator Obama electable as President of the United States.
Because it is increasingly evident that the majority of Americans will never quite trust him again, anywhere close to the extent that they did before it was learned that he spent some 19 years sitting in the pews of a church of black hatred against the citizens, institutions and even the flag of country whose population is overwhelmingly anthing but black.
The closest counterpart to this would be for a white man or woman, running a similar candidacy for highest office, who had joined some nazi aryan identity church in the back woods, and who had spent one morning per week for 19 years listening to their race-hate sermons.
Sure, he will still get some endorsements. He may even keep his lead in Democratic Party delegates.
But from now until the Democratic Party National Convention in August 2008, Senator Obama will be on an endless defensive against the revelations of his connections with the black nazi church of Reverent Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright, and the senator will never, ever again be able to shake off that connection.
In addition, his comments about his own grandmother as “a typical white person” also shall never be forgotten.
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party primary on April 22 is still more than four weeks away. But I think most of the white american electorate will solidify against him as he digs himself into a deeper pit with the shovels he is now using in attempts to explain his otherwise-inexplicable action. Or failure to take action, which might be a better way of describing what he has done to himself. Almost certainly the Pennsylvani Democrats will come out against him and for Senator Clinton, and will likely do so by much stronger margins than she gained in the Ohio primary election.
I think this man’s chances at the US presidency are dissolving much the same way as Senator Gary Hart’s in 1988, who became both defensive and arrogant about his sexual scandal aboard the famous Monkey Business yacht. He too attempted to brush off the matter by saying it was “not important”. Only his New Ideas were important.
Similarly with Senator Obama. His pastor’s black racism apparently was not sufficiently important for Barack Hussein Obama to quit after hearing him spout off just once, 19 years ago or so. Now he shall be tarnished for that.
And what will he be remembered for? That he was the first african American who had a clear shot at the Presidency of the United States, but who blew it away in the arrogance of a man who thought he could simultaneously invoke and then ignore race identity in american politics.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Hate to say it, Arnold, but it sounds to me like you’re living in a bit of an echo chamber. Outside of the conservative blogs (with this roughly concluded, even if it’s a more moderate conservative blog then most), I’ve mostly heard praise for that speech. Yes, a lot of talking heads are jumping on the few aspects you’re mentioning, but they’re pretty much all conservative talking heads, and just as many people are defending his speech, or standing in awe of it.
Watching his candidacy, I knew it was only a matter of time till something came out that the right wing could jump on, and once that thing showed up, the right wing won’t let it drop (not that this is something unique to the right wing, mind you, it’s just more noticeable for Obama because he started the race so spotless). Of course, once the dirt pops up, it never completely goes away. That’s true of virtually all dirt for pretty much any politician. However, I think he did a remarkable job of diffusing the situation in the eyes of most people outside the right wing.
He didn’t diffuse diddly squat. Just watch what happens as this campaign continues. Revenend Jeremiah “God Damn America” Wright will be Obama’s Willie Horton.
And the funny part is this is all going down long before the Democrats even complete their nomination process.
Already, one in five of the Obama and Clinton supports say they will jump ship and swim over to the McCain boat if their own candidate fails to get the democratic nomination.
And the funny part is, the Republicans have not had one solitary damned thing to do with this epic struggle to the death between Obama and Clinton.
But McCain will be the man who reaps the reward. Especially if Obama were to get the nomination.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
He didn’t diffuse diddly squat from the perspective of a conservative who already disliked him.
I personally know a number of people who were on the fence about Obama who were won over specifically by this speech that you see as so incriminating.
Of course, the polls are still out. A couple polls have come post-speech, but only BARELY post-speech, which leaves me skeptical if they actually reflect the post-speech sentiment. In a week, we’ll be able to see what kind of bump he got. Until then, we’re all relying on anecdotal evidence. My anecdotal experience says this speech has helped a good deal.
The only way I could “chuckle” at such a statement is if a white (Republican) politician could use the term “typical black person” without being hounded from office and branded a racist.
We’ll see what the overall reaction to his comment turns out to be. I suspect a lot of white women will be somewhat offended by Obama’s casual assertion that they are all closet bigots. But since Hillary pretty much had those sewn up anyway in the primaries, the real question is how many of them will remember this attitude and hold it against Obama in the general election.
I suspect the number who do will be higher than those defending Obama here will expect.
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Heru, I personally know people who were on the Obama bandwagon who are now officially off, and have shifted to Hillary camp.
It may be an even situation, but he has alienated a lot of independents and conservatives that would’ve actually voted for him.
You want to talk about echo chambers? How do you reconcile your statement with the fact that “conservative blogs” represent politically about half of the country?
If you can’t pull people from that “echo chamber” then you can’t win the executive. Period.
Phelps’s last blog post..Citizen Journalist
First of all, I would contest that statement on the basis that it discounts moderates, which are a very significant percentage of the voting populace.
Secondly, there are very large echo chambers on both the liberal and conservative side, and if you pay attention to only one side, you will suffer from that mutual-reinforcing effect. That’s why I’m here, despite being essentially a Democrat.
(As a side note, I also choose this blog to take part in because it is a bit more moderate, and the level of discourse is much higher, then the vast majority of the blogs I’ve seen. While I may find myself in disagreement with other people more often then not, at least I feel like I can discuss it on a rational level.)
Heru:
Hmm… Since the revalations of his association with “Reverend” Wright came forth, he has lost his polling lead against both Hillary and McCain. His speech so far has not shown evidence of repairing that damage to his popularity.
I am quite certain that there has been great praise for his speech from the left, and even from some “moderates”. That’s the sort of speech they would praise.
But so far the actual voting public seems to be less impressed with it.
We’ll see how it goes in the next few weeks. McCain and Hillary have a pretty big opening to exploit. It will be interesting to see if they can manage to keep the bleeding going.
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From Rasmussen Reports today:
CosmicConservative’s last blog post..Australian scientist questions Global Warming Orthodoxy
It gets worse: 52% of people who heard the speech are less likely to vote for Obama, including 56% of independents and 48% of Democrats.
“Conservative” echo chambers, huh?
Phelps’s last blog post..Citizen Journalist
Freeeeeeefallin’…
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