Single What? Female...

Cuz, you know...Carter isn't wrong...

It became a whole lotta news when former President Jimmy "I don't care if it's unpopular I'm gonna say it" Carter claimed that the reason behind the extreme reactions to Barack Obama's first few months in office is racism. It is a blanket statement, but, while he may not be completely right, you know he's not wrong either.

The man has not been in office longer than the average pregnancy (I should know as two friends of mine conceived in January and one of them just gave birth last week - yay Kelly!) but he has already received, as previously mentioned, 400% more death threats than George W. did during his entire eight year reign. I doubt it's just because he's considered a little liberal. If anyone got that viral video that has been all over Facebook and YouTube about the 9/12 rally, there are a good number of folks out there who still believe he's a Muslim - something that shouldn't matter anyway as we are a pluralistic nation AND any rational person knows that not all Muslims are extremists or terrorists...just like not all Christians are fundamentalist wackjobs out to wipe out the Muslims.
Thing is, when these people think Muslim, they don't necessarily connect the word with the faith, they connect it with "Arab"; they connect it with a brown person (preferably with a turban or a burqa). (And one could note how there were virtually no people of color at the 9/12 rally in DC.) it brings us back to when the conservatives during the '08 campaign insisted on discussing the "foreigness" of Obama. He has the funny name, has a father from another country, but not just any other country. Oh no, his father came from a non-European country...a country full of black people and Muslims and therefore, unlike anyone else who has a funny foreign name - like my first generation Danish-American mother - he became listed as truly "foreign". And it gave the conservatives campaigning against him a better word to use than "negro".

I would like to believe that somewhere, there may be some conservative person out there who might actually want to dispell the ignorance abounding with some other argument other than "It's not about race! It's about how the president bailing out the banks! and trying to socialize our medicine! and allowing the gays to get married!" etc etc etc. Those arguments don't work because, a) they make you look bad, b) the banks failed because of various and sundry folks -primarily Republican - taking advantage of deregulation arranged by the Republicans, and c) oh don't get me started on health care and how gay marriage does not mess with the institution of marriage.
But sadly, the GOP does not have an adult leader at this time. They are a bunch of discombobulated lambs - wait, how about young wolves - being led, not by a responsible elder statesman, but by crazy pundits like Glenn Beck, Mike Savage, Laura Ingraham and Rush Limbaugh; and many others, but these folks shout the loudest. The GOP should be embarrassed by their behavior and by how they have allowed themselves to go along with the slinging of misinformation and to become the mouthpieces of over-the-top media personalities rather than actually thinking for themselves. God forbid they stand up, tell these crazy people to shut up and actually try to have some rational discourse across the aisle.

Yes...I actually just felt bad for the GOP. But, you gotta admit, it appears that somehow the election of the first black president seems to have completely thrown them over the edge. Rather than taking in the historic moment, accepting the fact that the people voted this man into office, and taking the opportunity to work properly with the new president, they started screaming like tantrum riddled children. I mean come on, there was a choice between a woman and a black man....I really believe now that this threw the old schoolers into such a tizzy that their present reaction would be shocking if it were LESS extreme, thus it is sadly not entirely unexpected. It is just thoroughly disappointing that rather than to rise above the shock that America is indeed evolving and decided to vote in someone other than a conservative older white man, they would instead prefer to divide the country with ignorance and hate.

And speaking of America evolving, one thing the census is working on improving is how they count multiracial folk. There is also a group out of Arizona State that is actually trying to study the multiracial experience. I've never seen a survey like this before and don't know of many studies, so if you are bi- or multiracial and would interested in taking this survey, I have linked it below. Thank you Jen Chau, head of SwirlNY for posting it on Facebook.


"Under the direction of Professors Brandon Yoo, Kelly Jackson, and Rudy Guevarra at Arizona State University, we are conducting a research study to examine the multiracial experiences of ad...Read More

www.surveymonkey.com

In the meantime, KEEP PAYING ATTENTION! And go hug a conservative as obviously they have not had enough love in their lives.

Peace --Alex

posted by funkweee @ 4:35 PM