Why I am a racist.

Several times in the past, I have referred to President-elect Obama by his first, middle, and last name?a legal title that he bears.

And as a result, liberals have labeled me and others like me, a racist.

I believe that President-elect Obama is a socialist-Marxist who will take my hard-earned money away from me and give it to someone else, all in the name of "patriotism" and "fairness".

And because I refer to him as a socialist and/or Marxist, liberals have labeled me and others like me, a racist.

I do not agree one single bit on President-elect Obama's desire for unlimited abortion, up to and including the horrific and barbaric murder that is partial-birth abortion, and stand in opposition to such.

And as a result, liberals have labeled me and others like me, a racist.

I stand in direct opposition to paying higher taxes to fund government-run welfare projects which the Obama administration will put in to place.

As a result, according to Vice President-elect Joe Biden, I am considered 'unpatriotic' because I don't want to pay higher taxes, and according to Senator Charles Schumer, D - New York, I am being "selfish" to want to keep more of my money.

I believe that President-elect Obama will work very hard and very diligently to abolish the First Amendment right of freedom of speech as he puts into place allies within his administration who will push for, and shove down our throats, the so-called "fairness doctrine". I am opposed to this completely and believe that this fundamental Constitutional right must and should be protected.

And as a result, liberals have labeled me and others like me, a racist.

In other words, in order to keep from being labeled and perceived as a racist by the liberal elite, I must not question or stand in opposition to anything that President-elect says, does, or puts forth into legislation. I must pledge blind, unquestioning loyalty to him.

And I won't do it.

And I will be called 'racist' as a result.

So be it.

 

I support Obama in many of the above-listed issues. But to oppose him is to exercise one's right to think, feel and express one's own thoughts, feelings and opinions. You are not a racist simply because you disagree with a man who happens to be black. That's ridiculous. Rest easy in the knowledge that those who label you "racist" for your rightful opinions are themselves unable to see past the color of the man's skin.

 

It's mildly amusing that you denounce supposed liberal generalizations while making generalizations about liberals. The rest of the post was less amusing.

 

I haven't been word for word called a racist, but I've had people tell me they think I don't like Obama simply because he is black. That is as far from the truth as it can be. I agree 100% with every point you make in your post, Darkwolff.



and according to Senator Charles Schumer, D - New York, I am being "selfish" to want to keep more of my money.

It is your money. You earned it. The people who would be getting it didn't. There's certainly nothing selfish about wanting to keep the money you work hard for. You should be able to spend your money how you choose, not how the government chooses. Obviously, I agree with you that some of his economic ideals, such as "spreading the wealth," are very socialist/Marxist.

Anyone who accuses you of being a racist for disagreeing with someone of a different color is the one fixated on race and the one who needs to drop the race issue. It is sad that the people who accuse everyone else of racism are in fact the ones who bring it up to begin with.

 

First, you've started a thread by setting up a straw man argument, which in my view is not a terribly smart way to start a thread. Second, you've generalized I think unfairly about the beliefs of "liberals" and the "liberal elite." And finally, you've grossly misrepresented President Elect Obama's policy platform.

Are you worried that you'll pay more taxes under Obama than you did under Bush? So, I assume you're earning more than $250,000/year. That makes you, if anything, an elitist yourself, with a family income greater than that of 95% of the population.

If you're upset that you're paying any taxes *whatsoever* that go to social services, then McCain is a "socialist-marxist" too under your definition of the term, and so were George Bushes Jr and Sr and Ronald Reagan to boot.

This is one of the silliest exercises in self-pity I've ever read in the Senate, but I'll leave it open for a bit in case someone really wants to debate whether Obama is a socialist, or whether he is any way unique in wanting to take your hard-earned money away and give it to someone else.

 

You're being disingenuous and you know it. I haven't labeled you a racist, but you know full well that the only reason you're using his full name is to emphasize that he shares a name with a hated person. When you can demonstrate that you've also referred to George Walker Bush and William Jefferson Clinton by their full "legal titles," that this is not a tactic you use solely to emphasize a ridiculous implication-by-association, then I'll revise my estimation of you.

Obama is maybe 5% more socialist than McCain. He's not exactly Canada or Europe (incidentally those being places the outraged anti-Socialist conservatives keep threatening to go).

He doesn't desire unlimited abortion. He does not approve of late-term abortion. He wants to encourage contraceptives to decrease the number of people seeking abortions, though.

Funny how, for the most part, those deep red states that are so opposed to redistributing money, the states who scream loudest about wasteful spending and pork and big government, are the same states getting the biggest government handouts, the states taking more from the fed than they contribute. They can't have it both ways.

And I'm considered anti-American because I'm not good small-town folk, apparently. It flows both ways.

I haven't labeled you a racist. I have been labeled many more painful terms than racist for being a liberal. It flows both ways, sir.

 

Another "Confessions of a racist speech" for comparison

 

Mastadge: He's not exactly Canada or Europe (incidentally those being places the outraged anti-Socialist conservatives keep threatening to go).

I definitely agree with you here - I've heard a lot of people around campus say "I'm moving to Canada!" or "let's move to Europe!" I don't think they understand they'd be heading to towards more liberal nations than this one will be for a long time.

 

How often, if ever, have you referred to John Sidney McCain III by HIS full legal name?

There is no reason outside the most formal of circumstances to refer to Obama by his full name, and doing so is nothing but a transparent effort to highlight his middle name in an effort to point out its similarity to the last name of a recently-executed dictator.

One of my best friends in grade school had the last name Hussein and he got enough teasing about it while Saddam was just a guy in Iraq that Americans didn't like. I haven't been in touch with him since grade school, but I can't imagine the last five-and-a-half years have been much fun. Now that Obama has been elected President, I tend to hope that his middle name IS accentuated in the RIGHT way, to normalize it so that no one else will have to have the problems my friend had.

But I'm sorry, anyone who opposed his election and accentuated his middle name was guilty of mild race-baiting AT BEST. You simply had no other reason to refer to him by his full name (which is actually Barack Hussein Obama II, by the way).



I agree that it's wrong to call you racist for the other things, but if this was from people who'd heard you emphasize Hussein, they may have been thinking back to that.

 

If we're going to talk about socialism or Marxism, we can't ignore the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend. Palin raised taxes on oil in order to increase the dividend amount by $1200 this year (for a total of $3269 for every resident, working or not, without a felony conviction). I can't think of any current US program that's much more Marxist than redistributing oil profits to Alaska residents just because they happen to live in a state and be part of a community that has rich natural resources.

 

Conservatives often refuse to accept that Bill Clinton did more to dismantle the welfare state than any Republican president of the past 50 years. Every Republican president in our lifetime is a socialist-marxist relative to Bill Clinton.

 

Jabbadabbado, I must say your causing me to have vivid flashbacks to multiple Ender_Sai smackdowns.

 

Nothing he lists would qualify him as a racist in my book. A poorly-informed jackass, maybe. Of course, his friends might have reasons other than his non-support of Obama to call him a racist, I dunno.

Edit:WHOA I DON'T KNOW HOW I MISSED THE FIRST BULLET POINT.

Racist.

 

Well, that essay implied a connection in the first bullet point between "He's black." and "Because of this I will not vote for him." Which I would say is pretty racist.

 

In the link, I think the point is that because Obama's black, therefore it follows from all the other points that anything the essayist disagrees with about Obama's policies makes it possible for people to claim he's a racist.

It's similar to the idea that anyone who disagrees with Israel's actions vis a vis the Palestinians is labeled anti-Semitic.

There may be a topic in this: the extent to which individuals/organizations may or may not use their ethnic/racial/whatever identity to deflect criticism of things relating to the individual/organization that have nothing to do with their ethnic/racial/whatever identity.

I would add that intentional fear mongering around Obama's muslim roots or Kenyan heritage or "funny" name is flat out racism. Calling out Obama's ethnicity in any way to differentiate him from "real Americans" is racist.

On the other hand, I've never once heard of anyone calling an Obama critic racist for criticizing Obama's tax or energy or environmental or foreign policy platform. That's the straw man argument I'm referring to. It simply is not an issue. No one is being labeled a racist for voting for John McCain per se.

Let's not forget however that the McCain campaign insisted it had a shot of winning on Tuesday based in part on the idea that the voting public was secretly more racist than it was letting on. Who isn't glad that they were proved wrong about that?

But some of the people at McCain's political rallies: clearly racist. If you were one of the people at a Palin rally screaming about not wanting a muslim president, you're racist.

 

This.

Darrkwolff, of the things that you mention above, the first is the only one that shows racism. If you can find a place where someone on the JC called or hinted at you for being a racist for any of the other bullet points, I'm curious to see it. However, fear mongering about his name, IS.

 

That's what I thought, too. But it says:

Barack Obama is running for President. He is black. He will do irreparable harm to this country. Because of this I will not vote for him, so that makes me a racist.

Now, it's possible that the guy just structured things poorly, but as written it states that Obama's blackness is a direct cause of the author's not voting for him.

 

This. And I wouldn't call you a racist, I'd call you misinformed and willfully ignorant.

 

I agree, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt so as to make sense out of his essay. Otherwise the point of his essay is "I'm a racist, but people also claim I'm a racist for unrelated reasons," rather than, "People claim I'm racist because Obama's black and I don't support him."

 

Yeah, but then again Darrkwolff led with "Barack HUSSEIN Obama" in his list of 'not' racist stuff...

 

I believe that President-elect Obama is a socialist-Marxist who will take my hard-earned money away from me and give it to someone else, all in the name of "patriotism" and "fairness".

I love you and all hilarious comedians.

 

Several times in the past, I have referred to President Bush by his first, middle initial and last name?a legal title he bears.

As a result some people smirked while others shook their heads ruefully.

I believe that President Bush is a right-wing evangelical Imperialist who will take my hard-earned money away from me and spend it on invading other countries in the name of freedom, in the name of patriotism, democracy and fairness.

And because I refer to him as right-wing evangelical, conservatives have labelled me and others like me ?unpatriotic?.

I do not agree one single bit on President Bush?s desire for unilateral military invasions of other sovereign nations, the illegal transportation and torture of ?enemy combatants? and ?terrorists? without a fair and open trial under the rule of law, and stand in opposition to such.

As a result, conservatives have labelled me and others like me, ?un-American?.

I stand in direct opposition to paying taxes to fund tax cuts for the wealthy which the Bush administration has put in place.

As a result, according to many right wing commentators I should not expect a fair society and should be happy with my lot in life but at least I can hope that the next Vice President will not hide from the laws that govern my office and Constitutional position.

I believe that President Bush has worked hard and very diligently to erode and abolish the 5th, 8th and 9th Amendment rights of Due Process of Law, Cruel and Unusual Punishment and Unenumerated Rights etc? as he placed allies within his administration who have pushed for and shoved down our throats, the so called ?War against Terror? and ?If you?re not with us you?re against us? Doctrine. I am opposed to this completely and believe that these fundamental HUMAN rights must and should be protected.

And, as a result, neo-conservatives have labelled me and others like me ?unpatriotic?.

In other words, in order to keep from being labelled and perceived as someone who hates America by the neo-con right evangelicals, I must not question or stand in opposition to anything that President Bush says, does or puts forth into legislation. I must pledge blind, unquestioning loyalty to him.

And, I haven?t done it.

And I have been called unpatriotic.

So be it.

 

For the record, I do know of some people (and not just Jabba-Wocky) who call him Barack Hussein Obama as a sign of respect, or just plain to show that they aren't bothered by some people doing it with an ulterior motive. At this point, I'm used to it, and unless it's someone like J Rod calling him "B. Hussein Obama" which is clearly meant to indicate something else about his middle name, I don't pay any mind anymore.

 

He will create and jobs and give tax relief on the middle class, while letting the Bush tax cuts on the rich expire.

How is that socialist/Marxist/communist? That's how taxes work, that's why we have taxes.

 

(Not that I am opposed to middle-class tax relief, but. . .)