Saturday, August 8, 2009

Projections, Thuggery & Racism Of The Left

One of the keys to understanding the left is how they invariably resort to 'projection.' By projection, I mean they foist their own shortcomings and failings onto others, then criticize them for acting with such base motivations. Projection is psychiatric term that Dr. Sanity explains in detail here.
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The above was the opening line of a post I had decided to craft in light of statements by Pelosi and others on the left to the effect that those people who show up at town hall meeting and embarrass Dems with tough questions are mere thugs, controlled by evil Republicans and an insurance industry motivated purely by . . . dare I say it . . . "profit" [shudder]. Knowing that Dr. Sanity has explained the concept of projection on multiple occasions in her previous posts, I went to her site to run down a link. And what should I find but . . . . a posting she did on Thursday that hits many of the key points on which I intended to expound. I won't repeat them. Do read her post.

The only things that I would add are in regards to Paul Krugman and Cynthia Tucker of the AJC, both of whom play casually play the race card on the protesters of Obama's economic and health care programs. Krugman opined in the NYT that the people who are protesting are being manipulated by disingenuous special interests following "a strategy that has played a central role in American politics ever since Richard Nixon realized that he could advance Republican fortunes by appealing to the racial fears of working-class whites." Tucker, a black opinion columnist for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, opined on Hardball that "45 to 65% of the people who appear at these [protests] are people who will never be comfortable with the idea of a black president."

It is more than a bit ironic that they should make their statements the day after the beating of a black conservative, Kenneth Gladney, who was protesting the Obama socialized health care plan outside of a Democratic townhall meeting in Missouri. Gladney was beaten by Obama-supporting SEIU thugs. Gateway Pundit has the videos and story on that incident here, here, here, here and here. But I digress.

I know of nothing that would support either Krugman's or Tucker's statement. Indeed, I know of no racially motivated backlash to the election of Obama occurring anywhere in the U.S. Perhaps I missed the reporting on such events in the NYT or the Washington Post, two notoriously conservative news organizations who might well repress such facts if they existed. In many respects what Krugman and Tucker say is nothing more than the classic 'blood libel' of labeling any opposition that somehow involves a black person, in this case Obama, as being racially motivated, wholly irrespective of the facts. But the more I think about it, the more seems also a form of projection.

As I wrote here, you will find racism nowhere more ensconced today - and historically - than on the left. That could be the loud and horrific reverse racism of Jerimiah Wright and his ilk of race baiters, the equally vile but far more nuanced reverse racism of academia and exponents of "critical race theory," the casual reverse racism of a Justice Sotomayor, or the many adherents of whatever ethnicity to the left's identity politics - an inherently racist philosophy that holds that blacks - and every other victim group - are victims of white (male) wrongdoing and are incapable of competing with white males on a level playing field. Nowhere was this more apparent than in reaction to the Supreme Court's Ricci decision.

Krugman is a deeply committed member of the far left - and thus it is not surprising to see Krugman view the world through an identity politics lens. While no one I know in conservative circles entertains even the tiniest iota of animus towards Obama because of his skin color - it is utterly meaningless - I have no doubt that many on the far left, for whom race and other indicators of victim class are paramount, should project their beliefs onto conservatives and other protesters. As to Tucker, it is much the same. I dare say she could not give a single instance of a person at a single protest who is motivated by race. But in her world - and I read her columns regularly - it is safe to say that she views race as a paramount issue. The fact that Obama was elected President has not ameliorated her racial paradigm - nor Krugman's - but rather just shifted it a little. As Tucker sees it - if you do not support Obama in each and every one of his radical proposals, then race must be at the heart of it - because that is how she views the world. For such people as her - and Henry Louis Gates of recent "beer summit" fame - if something happens that they do not like and a white person is involved, then racism must be involved.

I lived 32 years in a distinctly uncloistered and racially mixed world, working with, for, under, and over blacks and minorities of all stripes until I saw my first example of true eye-popping racism. I remember it vividly. It was watching perhaps one of the most vile speeches I have ever heard. The speaker was Louis Farrakhan. His targets were whites and Jews. It was utterly despicable and so alien to all that I had seen and known, that I actually started asking my black friends about him. Of the probably ten that I asked, only one even said that he knew who Farrakhan was - and that Farrakhan was an evil nutter of the first order.

In my world, which was the military up til then and awhile afterwards, neither racism nor reverse racism existed in any form that I had ever observed. When I match my personal observations up to that point against what I see in the political world of today, it is apparent that there is a huge disconnect between reality in working class America, where racism is far more the anomaly than the norm, and the political class, where race is a means of stoking passion and obtaining power. Obama promised to end all of that. To the contrary, he seems only to have thrown fuel onto the fire.






5 comments:

OBloodyHell said...

Readers may find this of interest:

Democratic Debacle

Dinah Lord said...

Hey GW - I read your post on Moonbat Projection, thuggery and racism with great interest because I got wacked by a Moonbat at a Nancy Pelosi event in Denver this week.

I still can't quite believe it.

A Denver Post photog saw the whole thing so it ended up on the front page of the Metro Section. (Facepalm)

There's an account on my blog if you're interested.

However, I HIGHLY recommend this excellent photo essay by El Marco over at Looking at the Left. He documents the astroturfing that was going on at the Denver event chapter and verse. I think you will find it to be of great interest.

http://tinyurl.com/n2n8y4

As always, a fantastic post, my friend. Hope all is well. I've been offline for a couple of months (family health issues)and just before I left, I discovered that Dr. Sanity was taking a break - so glad to know she's back.

Cheers - Dinah

suek said...

>>...if you do not support Obama in each and every one of his radical proposals, then race must be at the heart of it>.

Racism in the US today is the ultimate form of responsibility avoidance. "You can't blame me - I'm black and you're not allowed to blame me or you're racist"

Also...

I've only checked into Dr Sanity's blog a few times since she announced that she intended to quit blogging. I know she intended to move her household from the mid-west to California...and can understand the frame of mind that doesn't include anything else - at least for the duration. And she has to leave her beloved roses behind - wrong time of year to move them. At least she has patented roses and can replant with the same!

I hope she rejuvenates her blogging mentality after she settles in - heavens knows she'll have plenty of raw material!

suek said...

Good article, Dinah.

That next to last pictorial has it right about the community organizer having a problem with citizen organizing.

I'm not sure why the Repubs don't push this more - "What's wrong with community organizing?" "We're just following Obama's example"...that kind of stuff.

I _know_ it isn't the same - they're saying it's all funded by the insurance companies and it isn't. But even if it were, what's wrong with that? ACORN, SEIU - they're being funded by the damn _government_ - same same.

OBloodyHell said...

> I'm not sure why the Repubs don't push this more - "What's wrong with community organizing?" "We're just following Obama's example"...that kind of stuff.

suek, I think even a casual examination of the actions, over the last 4-6 years, of the GOP leadership has shown that they have totally, utterly lost their way.

The party needs, at the least, a total and complete overhaul, with just about everyone in an advanced position removed.

This, I hope, is something that Rush and Sarah Palin may accomplish. God knows I think Rush is, in many ways, a self-serving demagogue, but he's far closer to the conservative ideal than anyone currently leading the GOP appears to be. If we could get some real conservatives back in charge, and stop supporting RINOs for office as the GOP's official noms, the country might actually slow this casual slide into empire.

.