August 25, 2013

Jindal's stupidity about race

Conservatives are still saying stupid things about race in America. Here are two idiotic claims from Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal:

Jindal: Racism persists because minorities cling to their heritage

By David EdwardsJindal accused minorities of placing “far too much emphasis on our ‘separateness,’ our heritage, ethnic background, skin color, etc. We live in the age of hyphenated Americans: Asian-Americans, Italian-Americans, African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Cuban-Americans, Indian-Americans, and Native Americans, to name just a few.”

“Here’s an idea: How about just ‘Americans?’ That has a nice ring to it, if you ask me. Placing undue emphasis on our ‘separateness’ is a step backward. Bring back the melting pot,” the governor opined.
Yeah, that's an "idea" if you missed the last several centuries of American history.

Here's another idea. How about if we forcibly convert the world's "savages" into civilized Christian people? If I'm a conservative, no doubt this strikes me as an original and noteworthy idea.

Racism happened for several centuries during and because of forced assimilation. But now multiculturalism is the problem and forced assimilation is the solution? Okay, if you say so, Bobby!

Sounds like Jindal is still a cheerleader for the Party of Stupid. Is this his plan to recruit minority voters: telling them they're responsible for the racism against them?

Wow, that's brilliant. Such deep thinkers in today's GOP!

Assimilation means "be white"

How stupid is it that Southerners, who seceded and still want to secede from the Union, are the biggest proponents of the "one America" myth? They want everyone to be the same, but if other Americans don't agree, they'll leave the country in a snit? Yeah, they're committed to America--as long as it remains white.

Imagine if our Anglo ancestors had said, "Here's an idea: How about just 'Brits'? Let's stop thinking of ourselves as separate groups: British Americans, British Africans, British Indians, etc. Let's start thinking of ourselves as one big British Empire."

That would be ridiculous. Members of the British Empire rejected forced assimilation because they had profound political, economic, and cultural differences with the "mother country." Remaining in the Empire meant remaining second-class citizens under the heel of their British masters.

Nobody would say the "one size fits all" solution is ideal anymore. Nobody, that is, except conservatives like Bobby Jindal. These people are trying to perpetuate a racist system with whites at the top and minorities at the bottom.

Bobby Jindal Claims that GOP Obama Racism is Ok because Democrats Did It To Bush

By Jason EasleyDavid Gregory asked Gov. Jindal about Colin Powell’s opinion that there is a dark vein of intolerance within the Republican Party. Jindal answered by comparing the Republicans’ Obama racism to Democratic treatment of George W. Bush.

Jindal said, “Well, I have a lot of respect for General Powell. I think our party at its best, its core principles looks at people and treats them as individuals, not as members of special interest groups. Talk about specific examples, impeachment, for example. Look, I reject that kind of talk. The reality is I didn’t like it when the left spent eight years trying to delegitimize President Bush. I don’t think we should be doing that to President Obama. The reality is one of the great things about this country is we have a peaceful transfer of policy. I disagree this president’s policies, but instead of talking act impeachment, let’s have a legitimate debate, try to repeal his policies, repeal Obamacare, fight for school choice, fight against war and debt spending.”
Easley continues:Barack Obama has been elected to the presidency twice by large majorities, but some Republicans spend every waking moment trying to delegitimize the Obama presidency. George W. Bush was twice elected to the presidency by the margin of what many would call two questionable outcomes in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.

Bush lost the popular vote in 2000, and won the 2004 popular vote by 3 million in 2004. Obama won the popular vote by more than 5.5 million votes in 2008, and 5.5 million votes in 2012.

Republicans have no grounds on which to question President Obama’s legitimacy, but they continue to do so.

Bobby Jindal can’t admit that the Republican delegitimization of Obama is based on race, because they would be forced to deal with reality that he is dreaming of running for the presidential nomination of a racist party that will never nominate him.

This is why Jindal had to hide behind the flawed and worn Republican talking point that Democrats did the same thing to Bush that they are doing to Obama.
Jindal might have a point, except the attacks on Bush weren't based on his race, his country of birth, or whether he was a "real American" who "shares our values." The delegitimization of Obama is qualitatively different and worse than anything liberals did to Bush. The question is why.

Why did conservatives suddenly start protesting federal deficit spending, which soared under Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush? Or the insurance mandate, a conservative idea successfully implemented by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts? Not to mention all the talk about Obama's being a Kenyan Muslim socialist. All the insults directed at Michelle Obama and their children. Etc., etc., etc.

A: Conservatism racism. Hatred of a black man occupying the office supposedly reserved for white men. No other explanation fits the facts.

For more on conservative racism, see Anti-Government Extremism = White Supremacy and Conservatives Deny "Black Jesus," Genocide.

4 comments:

dmarks said...

"Jindal might have a point, except the attacks on Bush weren't based on his race, his country of birth, or whether he was a "real American" who "shares our values." The delegitimization of Obama is qualitatively different and worse than anything liberals did to Bush. The question is why."

99% of the attacks on Obama are not qualitatively different, and are just the same sort of partisan mean-ness that has been levelled against Presidents for ages.

As for Jindal's attack on hyphenated Americans, he did attack a white group there too...

Anonymous said...

Interestingly, John McCain was born in Panama, and Mitt Romney's father was born in Mexico. Nobody cared.

Anonymous said...

Addendum: We can't even get people to care about Calgary Cruz.

Rob said...

Your opinion about "99% of the attacks" is worthless, D. Luthor aka DMarks. Since you haven't provided a shred of evidence for it, I'll simply repeat my claim:

The attacks on Bush weren't based on his race, his country of birth, or whether he was a "real American" who "shares our values."

Those attacks are qualitatively different than the attacks on Obama. They make up a significant percent of the whole--a percent much larger than 1%.

In contrast, Bush faced no criticism of that sort. If you disagree, quote the criticism of his race, his country of birth, or whether he was a "real American" who "shares our values."

In short, put up or shut up. Stop telling us what you believe and start proving it.