God Damn America!
An extended clip from Wright's controversial "chickens coming home to roost" sermon.
I hate to go to bed angry. I'm usually a laid back guy, but tonight the media really pissed me off.
For over two hours I've tried to reach an understanding about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Senator Obama's pastor and the source of much recent news. Other than a few clips of Wright saying inflammatory statements, Obama's race speech, and the mainstream media harping about what a nutjob Wright is and how he could doom Obama, I've been ignorant of the entire affair, until tonight. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything thoughtful on the matter outside of what I have just listed--bombastic video clips and verbal condemnation, so I started digging.
I've listened to an entire interview with Bill Moyers, watched one of Wright's sermons (in context, not what you see on cable news), read commentaries from two conservatives (one being Bill O'Reilly), watched two talking head shows on MSNBC, read a report in Time magazine online, listened to Wright's speech at the National Press Club and the "divisive" Q&A session that took place after, and I'm just scratching the surface of the real issues as they relate to racial perspective, the context of the black church tradition, and Wright's many statements. Mostly, this is because the news is filtered through media opinion and sensationalism that obscures any real information.
There are things that Wright has said that I find absurd, and from what I've seen he has made missteps, but Surprise, surprise, Wright isn't the America-hating nutjob that people make him out to be, and from the coverage he has received by the media, I would not be surprised if the eyebrow raising statements are taken out of context as well. I could go deeper in my research, but at this point I'm too tired to continue and I'm running out of vodka.
My main purpose for this post is this: Why must I be a fucking investigative reporter to get an unbiased, reasoned understanding of this matter on the level of say, my college newspaper? The media is ridiculous. I want a journalist to explore the matter in depth, provide me with context, and help me understand it from various perspectives, not assault me with a litany of chatter about presidential political ramifications. Why aren't any of these "experts" engaging their audience about the black church and trying to help people understand their perspective? Why did I have to watch an entire sermon to find out what he was actually saying, as opposed to seeing only clips taken out of context? Why aren't we talking about the U.S. foreign policy and military interventions that he rightly or wrongly referenced in his remarks, instead of regurgitating this "he hates america" crap?
I'm trying to be an informed, fair, and thoughtful citizen, but the news media doesn't seem to share my goals.
On another note, why is that no media outlet is willing to talk about the possibility that America not only does great things, but does really evil things as well? I'm not saying that Wright doesn't have flaws or is justified in all of his statements, but as the video above attests, he is willing to speak truth to power, just like Martin Luther King did. We conveniently forget that the black establishment, the Johnson White House, and much of the U.S. population vilified MLK in his time for doing so. We conveniently forget that fact in favor of a myth. People who rock the boat quickly become public enemies, and the propaganda machine is always ready to play enforcer. Keep that in mind the next time you're told to fear an enemy you really don't know much about.
6 Comments:
I respect your opinion and yes the media is taking an individual who is obviously inflammatory and incendiary in his comments and blowing his importance out of proportion. He wouldn't be reaching half the audience he is without this coverage. Anyways, to make the situation mildly more interesting....check out this commentary...
http://www.redstateupdate.com/navigation?id=55144
Good post.
I find it unintentionally hilarious when Condi gave some lukewarm props to the Obama race speech (reminding people that she is, in fact, an African American), and people in her party became unhinged, because she dared to mention the U.S.'s racist past. For some reason, that is verboten to mention. Blacks were slaves and Native Americans were murdered--that's a fact. But you mention it to the flag waving crowd, and they start chanting "American--love it or leave it!" And Condi mentioned this fact, and went from favored token to Angela Davis.
Wright has some crazy ideas about AIDS being a government created disease; but when you look at the Tuskegee experiment it doesn't seem too crazy. Tim Wise has some interesting commentary about this--don't have the link, but it's the latest essay on timwise.org
Ben, thanks for a great blog. I have become very disenchanted with American mass media. It is in short awful. I take it all in with a grain of salt. I have now begun a search for other sources for my news outside of CNN, other cable news, and network news programs. Instead, I turn to NPR, PBS (including my main man Bill Moyers!), BBC World News, and Democracy Now!. Any other recommendations, anyone? With less than stellar schools systems and “infotainment” news it is no wonder that American Democracy is what it is today. I guess they all feed into the other.
Like Rev Wright, I feel that people, including myself, have every right (no pun intended) to feel angry at America. Just because you are angry at something, does not mean that you cannot love it at the same time. It is called “ambivalence.” However, when something smacks you down time after time, I think that the anger can override any love you may feel. It is time that we as a society begin to address that anger and ultimately the pain that many Black Americans feel. Rather than simply ask, “Why are you so angry?” (look into American History and the current reality of Black Americans), it’s time we begin to ask, “How do we as a nation work through (not around) the anger and pain?”
question: does wright and the things he says and does help us work through the anger and pain? i think not. i think what he and those like him do is capitalize on the anger and pain and make people more angry and . . . pained. discuss . . .
What we have to keep in mind is that first and foremost a goal of Wright's is to garner more attention for himself and the backlash he receives may be masking an increase in support he is getting from individuals that agree with the things he says. In addition, it is important to not forget the cultural context in which Wright and many other evangelical (which are yes in many cases African-American and I know that in some ways this is a stereotype but if Wright's ready to dish out stereotypes he needs to be ready to receive them) preachers speak. They speak in ways that show their passion and commitment and those in the audience are expected to know that the exaggerations and hyperbole ineherent in their speech is part of the way they show their beliefs and connect with the congregation. A preacher in such settings who never raised his voice or made grandiose statements would hind himself without a job soon.
I think we should also recognize the threat that Obama actually poses to men like Wright. If Obama were to achieve his goal of transcending race, and a black man were to sit in the White House, Wright and those of his ilk would have a much more difficult time being angry at The Man. What would he talk about, and what purpose would he serve if we were to actually achieve racial progress?
I am not outraged by Wright because I think it is somehow fair to attribute his ludicrous conspiracy theories onto Obama. In fact, I'm an Obama supporter and have volunteered on his campaign. Instead, I am outraged by Wright because I see him as an unfortunate relic of a more racially polarized past. A new generation of black leaders (Deval Patrick, Cory Booker, Harold Ford, Obama) are trying to move past the wounds of the past. Sadly, I don't think Wright can comprehend such generational progress. He is too scarred by the life experience of his formative years, in which Tuskegee experiments were not beyond belief.
To his credit, Obama tried to explain this to Americans in his race speech in Philadelphia. He tried to portray Wright in a sympathetic light. But Wright is such an unhinged ego-maniac, he cannot graciously accept Obama's attempt to inspire sympathy for him, and instead, has decided to pour fuel all over the fire. To my mind, he was unfairly attacked when this all broke a few weeks ago, but now, he's getting legitimate criticism. That this should not be as big of a story as it is does nothing to change the fact that Wright's publicity tour of the last few days has exacerbated an already unfortunate situation.
So, I see where Wright is coming from, but it's now difficult for me to feel much sympathy for the man.
And the media sucks, but we didn't need this Wright story to teach us that.
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