The Audacity of Being Short-Sighted w/ Intro

[Steven Van Patten]

As my first blog posting here within this esteemed online community, I thought I'd bring something that I have already posted regarding the Reverend Wright controversy on my website. I happen to be an avid supporter of Barrack Obama and find myself getting into arguments with Clinton Lady In Red and McCrazy supporters, who for all intents and purposes, don't appear to be living in the same reality as I am. If you visit my MySpace page, you will notice that whenever I mention something political in a blog posting, a conservative tries to get at me. Why? I don't know. These people aren't my friends in real life or in the Internet sense. My real friends are starting to wonder how is it these individuals even know to come challenge me? It's a legitimate concern. Yes, I'm writing vampire novels, but I am not famous by any far stretch of the imagination. How do you not know I posted a political blog if you're not watching me?

OK, let's forget my paranoia for a minute and get into something else that has me heated.

Could someone please find the backwards Uncle Tom, who started the whole, 'Is Obama black enough?' argument and please slap them. Why are we the only ethnic group that would treat being worldly and educated as a character flaw!! I could understand if we were talking about Alan Keyes, Armstrong Williams, Clarence Thomas or some other black man that was seemingly built in a lab by Ronald Reagan.

Anyway, I'm ranting... so I'll let you all read my piece on Reverend Wright. Critique as you will...

SVP



I know I’d be angry. Imagine being an ex-Marine who served six years in the military being ordered to do God knows what, then became a respected religious leader serving a vast congregation and a community for 36 years. You retire a respected, celebrated, pillar of the community.

Then, because an old friend just happens to be on the brink of making history, and completely changing the world for the better after the country has slipped into some of the darkest times in its history, some old remarks you made several years ago during an impassioned speech surface. Suddenly, enemies of this friend start using your past remarks to derail a miracle in the making.

Now, I have to ask myself, would I be so angry that I couldn’t admit to myself that I should have seen this coming? Would it shock me that the press would only air a segment of my speech which, when standing on its own, could be twisted into something seditious? And here is the bonus round question: Would I be so upset that I would help my friend’s opposition by coming out swinging, thereby adding fuel to a fire that could easily have blown over?

I have a hard time answering all but the last question, to which I give a resounding no. There is no way that I would be in the position Reverend Wright is in and screw my friend the way the Reverend’s recent public appearances have undoubtedly hurt Senator Obama.

I don’t pretend to know what is going on in the mind of Reverend Jeremiah Wright. I do know that he is giving a very typical response in the midst of a not-so-very typical circumstance. His pride has overtaken his ability to reason. He’s playing ‘the dozens’, while everyone else is playing chess.

Citizens of this country are supposed to be able to criticize our government—that’s one of this country’s bigger selling points, if memory serves. So when Reverend Wright was first criticized for his remarks, my reaction was to see this for what it is—a chance for those in power to finally derail Barack Obama.

Once I listened to the entire speech, I did what I do with most speeches—I nodded at the stuff that made sense and puzzled quietly over the stuff that seemed a little over the top. Overall, the sentiment behind the speech was very close to remarks made by Malcolm X, which left me feeling as though I hadn’t really heard anything new. Even more importantly, all Wright did in this speech was remind us that the country was built on the backs of dead Native Americans and African slaves. As much as there seems to be this new movement to make bringing up such issues 'unfashionable' - (apparently, conforming is in more ways than one, the new black), there is nothing wrong or untruthful about any of that.

This reinforced my feelings that the right-wingers and supporters of Senator Clinton were being opportunistic and the press was doing what the do best—going after ratings and selling newspapers with the same sensationalism over substance mentality that they always have.

Now, I will say that calling for God to damn America is a poor choice of words, but in terms of being inflammatory, no more awful than several things I’ve heard Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly and other Fox News sycophants say. The point I’m making is if handled in the right manner, this so-called scandal would already be over.

So I don’t understand why, at this critical time in our history would Wright come out with more remarks? Why is your need to save face more important than not harpooning your friend when he is not only running for President, but when he is clearly the best choice the country—the entire country-- has to heal itself after eight years of corporatism disguised as the United States Government.

A real friend of Barack Obama’s would have simply said, “My words were taken out of context, and regardless, were my words—not Senator Obama’s,” and disappeared faster than Houdini. Someone with a grasp of the grand scheme of things, someone who should be able to see the peril that the working class people in this country are facing would help diffuse this matter, not make it worse.

It’s called taking one for the team. It’s called a little public humiliation for the sake of the public good. When Barack wins, come back to public life triumphantly and say, “Hey, I knew you people were trying to use me to hurt my man. Now here’s what I really have to say about the history of this government that my friend is going to fix.”

I have always said that it is hard for a famous black men to have real friends. The Reverend is proving me right.

[Steven Van Patten]

Thank you so much for that Mystybrown! You bring up a very valid point-- as an older Black man in this country, Reverend Wright has seen hell on Earth. I completely understand his rage. The problem is that the media and the right-wingers are are trying to make it 'unfashionable' to express Black rage. Conformity-- it seems-- is the new black, (pun intended).

Right now, Hill is trying every trick in the book, and seemingly will stop just short of joining the NRA in order to disenfranchise Obama. The main purpose of my post was simply to point out that as a Black Man running for president, Senator Obama has enough problems without ANY ONE OF US helping his opposition with our selfish actions and deeds.

Again, thanks for your words, Mysty! They were very insightful!

SVP

[Anabela]

I am delighted you decided to join this Forum! Your words and thoughts are well worth being shared and I know they will truthfully be appreciated in here.
I too notice the presence of members of the conservative party in your posts, who apparently are not related. I find even more curious the fact you do not post that frequently, so, yeah, I believe some people are watching you. That only means that they feel threaten by what you have to say and the way you express it. I guess having a black Vampire strangulating a Klansman as a book cover doesn’t really helped you keep a low profile either…haha

Could someone please find the backwards Uncle Tom, who started the whole, 'Is Obama black enough?' argument and please slap them.
LOL


I know what you mean about the nodding at some of Wright’s arguments and I personally didn’t feel much offense in some of his remarks (probably because I am not American), but as always, whenever there’s a Media frantic the real message (or it’s meaning) gets twisted, lost and forgotten. That is the moment when we should stop and ponder in the results of our actions. All roads lead to Rome, why pick the longest one?