A Forum for Vigorous Debate, Cornerstone of Democracy
*********************************************************************************************************************************** A FORUM FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND VIGOROUS DEBATE, CORNERSTONES OF DEMOCRACY [For the journal--guidelines, focus, etc.--go to www.theamericandissident.org. If you have questions, please contact me at todslone@hotmail.com. Comments are NOT moderated (i.e., CENSORED)!] Encouraged censorship and self-censorship seem to have become popular in America today. Those who censor others, not just self, tend to favor the term "moderate," as opposed to "censor" and "moderation" to "censorship." But that doesn't change what they do. They still act as Little Caesars or Big Brother protectors of the thin-skinned. Democracy, however, demands a tough populace, not so easily offended. On this blog, and to buck the trend of censorship, banning, and ostracizing, comments are NEVER "moderated." Rarely (almost NEVER) do the targets of these blog entries respond in an effort to defend themselves with cogent counter-argumentation. This blog is testimony to how little academics, poets, critics, newspaper editors, cartoonists, political hacks, cultural council apparatchiks, librarians et al appreciate VIGOROUS DEBATE, cornerstone of democracy. Clearly, far too many of them could likely prosper just fine in places like communist China and Cuba or Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Russia, not to mention Sweden, England, and Austria.
ISSUE #45 PUBLISHED MAY 2023. NOW SEEKING SUBMISSIONS FOR ISSUE #46.
I spent two years in Louisiana and vividly recall being hated because I was white when walking through black neighborhoods. Perhaps many African-Americans are racist. Perhaps even more than white Americans. Perhaps a similar percentage. Again, the prime problem with PC is that truth and logic often must sit in the back of the bus, while it occupies the front rows.
This is a pretty low point for what is otherwise a great blog. It's absurd to compare racial profiling by the police to your experience of discomfort as a minority in a black neighborhood. Not to mention Cornell West is an example of someone this blog should celebrate. He constantly speaks out about political issues in fact has taken heat from his school's administration because of the depth of his involvement in extracurricular issues. He even went on a tour to promote discussions about the prison industrial complex. A term I gather you're familiar with, given your coining of the hilarious phrase "literary industrial complex." Also his books include pointed criticisms of academia. Just a few weeks ago he was railing against Barack Obama, something we don't see many black leaders doing - not to mention liberals in general. Many news sites covered this, calling it "controversial." How is that "politically correct"?
Welcome Zoe! Thanks for taking the time to comment here and thanks for mentioning that you liked this blogsite… that is, until I brought Afro-American racism into question. Actually, as a professor at Grambling State, an all black university, I had some great students and really got along well with many of them. Because of that I’d eventually let my guard down while in Baton Rouge one morning and found myself in a friendly discussion with three black youths, who suddenly jumped me, kicked the shit out of me, and robbed me. That taught me a good lesson. So, my experience was more than one of “discomfort,” as you term it. I was lucky I didn’t end up dead. You don’t know the deep racial (black and white) hatred in the Deep South, unless you’ve spent time there. Yes, there, many blacks HATE whites… and that is called racism. Some of West’s remarks are clearly racist and evidently quite self-serving. Those are his words in my cartoon. I didn’t make them up. The absurdity of his statement provoked the satire. I’ll celebrate West when he starts criticizing Afro-American racists, Affirmative Action (as a form of institutional racism), etc.
Now, why would Academic/Literary Industrial Complex be “hilarious”? Is academe and literature not a big established-order money-making industrial complex adverse to freedom of expression and vigorous debate? That has certainly been my experience, as noted on this website.
Racism on part of fellow civilians, even to the point of fearing your physical welfare, is truly incomparable to racism on part of the government / police / legal system. One is something you have the ability to avoid (don't live in those neighborhoods, don't live in the Deep South) the other is not.
It's pretty absurd that you consider West's remark about today's "police state" racist.
Sorry Zoe. I thought “hilarious” was meant to be derogatory. Still, I'm not sure why you would find it hilarious. As for the racism issue, I personally find it tedious. As for racism in government, as you state, tell that to Obama, his attorney general, and whole load of other Afro-American politico cronies... in government. Tell that to Patrick Duval, our governor! I do not recall West’s remark. He is not someone I follow at all. He does not interest me. It was only that idiot statement he made in the NYTimes that got me on his case. The whole racism issue tends to be diversionary... away from free speech issues. It’s interesting how you skirted a number of my remarks including on AA and black racists. Great thought from you Tim on different manifestations of racism. “He, and other alleged anti racists like him, only seem to want to make race an issue when blacks are the victims.” Excellent! A most quotable statement on your part. At Grambling State, an all black public university, I felt the brunt of racist black men and women in academic power. And I did decry that out loud. It of course ended up in a non-renewed contract. I am also against the “my people” kind of thing. Many blacks do not feel as part of West’s people. Hell, I don’t feel any part of “my people” as in whites. Again, it is clear that Affirmative Action is a form of state-approved racism. Is my cartoon of West, a racist cartoon, Zoe? If so, why so?
You want West to speak for you ... but you are not "interested" enough in race / racism to see how state level "racism" which allows a police officer to walk free (a few days ago, incidentally) after shooting a man several times in the back while he is forcibly restrained on the ground (Oscar Grant), isn't the same racism you're talking about. You're right, if we could just drop the word "racism" and "racist" from many of these discussions things would be much clearer. . . That's honestly all I was interested in pointing out. Racism cuts both ways, sure. I never said anything about your cartoon.
I do not want West to speak for me at all. Besides, he is too high and mighty affluent to speak for someone like me. Racism tends to have supplanted truth today. It serves as a shield for corrupt minorities. If one criticizes a minority, one is automatically a racist in PC America... Canada and Europe. Fuck that! Call me a racist. Qu'importe! I will speak truth as I see it.
11 comments:
I spent two years in Louisiana and vividly recall being hated because I was white when walking through black neighborhoods. Perhaps many African-Americans are racist. Perhaps even more than white Americans. Perhaps a similar percentage. Again, the prime problem with PC is that truth and logic often must sit in the back of the bus, while it occupies the front rows.
West has made some pretty dumb statements. The 9/11 one is certainly one of them, as is the one depicted in the cartoon. Thanks much for the comment!
This is a pretty low point for what is otherwise a great blog. It's absurd to compare racial profiling by the police to your experience of discomfort as a minority in a black neighborhood. Not to mention Cornell West is an example of someone this blog should celebrate. He constantly speaks out about political issues in fact has taken heat from his school's administration because of the depth of his involvement in extracurricular issues. He even went on a tour to promote discussions about the prison industrial complex. A term I gather you're familiar with, given your coining of the hilarious phrase "literary industrial complex." Also his books include pointed criticisms of academia. Just a few weeks ago he was railing against Barack Obama, something we don't see many black leaders doing - not to mention liberals in general. Many news sites covered this, calling it "controversial." How is that "politically correct"?
Welcome Zoe! Thanks for taking the time to comment here and thanks for mentioning that you liked this blogsite… that is, until I brought Afro-American racism into question. Actually, as a professor at Grambling State, an all black university, I had some great students and really got along well with many of them. Because of that I’d eventually let my guard down while in Baton Rouge one morning and found myself in a friendly discussion with three black youths, who suddenly jumped me, kicked the shit out of me, and robbed me. That taught me a good lesson. So, my experience was more than one of “discomfort,” as you term it. I was lucky I didn’t end up dead. You don’t know the deep racial (black and white) hatred in the Deep South, unless you’ve spent time there. Yes, there, many blacks HATE whites… and that is called racism.
Some of West’s remarks are clearly racist and evidently quite self-serving. Those are his words in my cartoon. I didn’t make them up. The absurdity of his statement provoked the satire. I’ll celebrate West when he starts criticizing Afro-American racists, Affirmative Action (as a form of institutional racism), etc.
Now, why would Academic/Literary Industrial Complex be “hilarious”? Is academe and literature not a big established-order money-making industrial complex adverse to freedom of expression and vigorous debate? That has certainly been my experience, as noted on this website.
"Hilarious" was not meant in a mocking way.
Racism on part of fellow civilians, even to the point of fearing your physical welfare, is truly incomparable to racism on part of the government / police / legal system. One is something you have the ability to avoid (don't live in those neighborhoods, don't live in the Deep South) the other is not.
It's pretty absurd that you consider West's remark about today's "police state" racist.
Sorry Zoe. I thought “hilarious” was meant to be derogatory. Still, I'm not sure why you would find it hilarious. As for the racism issue, I personally find it tedious. As for racism in government, as you state, tell that to Obama, his attorney general, and whole load of other Afro-American politico cronies... in government. Tell that to Patrick Duval, our governor!
I do not recall West’s remark. He is not someone I follow at all. He does not interest me. It was only that idiot statement he made in the NYTimes that got me on his case. The whole racism issue tends to be diversionary... away from free speech issues.
It’s interesting how you skirted a number of my remarks including on AA and black racists.
Great thought from you Tim on different manifestations of racism. “He, and other alleged anti racists like him, only seem to want to make race an issue when blacks are the victims.” Excellent! A most quotable statement on your part. At Grambling State, an all black public university, I felt the brunt of racist black men and women in academic power. And I did decry that out loud. It of course ended up in a non-renewed contract.
I am also against the “my people” kind of thing. Many blacks do not feel as part of West’s people. Hell, I don’t feel any part of “my people” as in whites.
Again, it is clear that Affirmative Action is a form of state-approved racism.
Is my cartoon of West, a racist cartoon, Zoe? If so, why so?
You want West to speak for you ... but you are not "interested" enough in race / racism to see how state level "racism" which allows a police officer to walk free (a few days ago, incidentally) after shooting a man several times in the back while he is forcibly restrained on the ground (Oscar Grant), isn't the same racism you're talking about. You're right, if we could just drop the word "racism" and "racist" from many of these discussions things would be much clearer. . . That's honestly all I was interested in pointing out. Racism cuts both ways, sure. I never said anything about your cartoon.
I do not want West to speak for me at all. Besides, he is too high and mighty affluent to speak for someone like me. Racism tends to have supplanted truth today. It serves as a shield for corrupt minorities. If one criticizes a minority, one is automatically a racist in PC America... Canada and Europe. Fuck that! Call me a racist. Qu'importe! I will speak truth as I see it.
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