This is my advice to anyone with a keyboard. If you’re going to be stupid be your own kind of stupid. Be first. Jump in. Make people step back and say, “Wow. That was really stupid.” At least you’ll be a cautionary tale.
Believe it or not I’ve said many many stupid things (I know!) but at least they were original acts that had my own particular brand of stupidity all over it. What I find harder to respect is the second guy to do the same stupid thing.
Look about 100 years ago the guy who pasted feathers to his shirt and jumped off the bridge was stupid. But awe inspiring. And now we know for a fact that pasting feathers to your shirt doesn’t help you fly. He proved it. Now, the second guy who pasted feathers to his shirt and jumped off the bridge was just pathetic. Pathetic and stupid.
Look, I understood Maureen Dowd coming out last week saying that anyone who opposes Obama is racist. It was amazingly stupid but I’m sure that’s how Maureen Dowd’s brand of stupid sees the world.
But then you get Jimmy Carter saying the same thing, you get congressman Hank Johnson’s who say that Joe Wilson leads to “white hoods,” you get CNN, and you get Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, former president of Chicago Theological Seminary, following right behind. She writes on the On Faith blog:
The vitriol is coming from the still deeply held race-prejudices in some that are being are pulled out into the open and exposed. The good news, and there is good news, is the fact that the ugliness of still smoldering racial prejudice is there on display for everyone to see–if they will have eyes to see.
And then you have Michael Sean Winters of America Magazine. I can give a little credit to Winters because he’s been writing stupid things for a while now. He’s found his place nestled comfortably in the herd. But this particular point about Obama’s opponents being racist, even he makes a point of saying that even though Maureen Dowd wrote it first, he actually thought of it before her but just didn’t get pen to paper before her. I’m not kidding:
When I sat down to my computer Monday morning to write about the racial overtones in some of the anti-Obama protesters, I had not read Maureen Dowd’s column in the New York Times. All weekend, I had been wrestling with the question of whether or not to raise the issue of racism and tried to communicate my ambivalence about it in my blog post.
Give me a break.
So here’s my point. If you’re going to be stupid. Don’t be stupid the CMR way or the Dowd way. Invent your own stupidity. Step out of the herd. Become a cautionary tale. It’s better than being the second guy.
September 18, 2009 at 5:10 am
You are a hard taskmaster! Think, for example, of simply all of the thousands of Leftist university administrators and faculty who have never had single inspired creative thought of their own, but who rely upon the collective stupidity of others to reinforce their own banality, and to hand that down to yet another generation of notetakers. What's a matter with you? Have you something against these hallowed liberal traditions? Do you actually expect these folks to think…for themselves!?
September 18, 2009 at 5:37 am
I don't even understand where this line of thought comes from, outside of bogeymanism.
"Like hell if I'm going to get wonderful, free healthcare from a Black politician!"
I mean, is that it? Cause that's beyond dumb.
September 18, 2009 at 6:38 am
"Like hell if I'm going to get wonderful, free healthcare from a Black politician!"
LOL! Yeah, if that's the head-exploding logic they're using, then how about this:
"GRRRR!!! I was dead-set against abortion, but that swarthy Hindoooo Jindal is pro-life! Now I gotta go pro-choice!"
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!?!?!
September 18, 2009 at 8:31 am
Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite said very clearly, "The vitriol is coming from the still deeply held race-prejudices in some". All you need to do is go onto youtube and look at what people in the "Teaparty" were saying to know this is true. To ignore that yes, there are some extremist racists out there who do not want a black president is to bury your head in the sand and be dishonest with the situation. The better thing to do is to difuse the situation by saying, "yes, there are some extremists and racists on both sides here undermining any attempts at rational discourse."
I for one hope the Republican party runs Jindal in 2012. It's the only way to really difuse the racist slant the Democrats are milking to death here.
September 18, 2009 at 2:17 pm
Great post.
September 18, 2009 at 2:24 pm
I found this gem from ABC News: "People without health insurance are 40 percent more likely to die than those with private insurance, according to a new study whose authors say the finding underscores the need to expand coverage to the 46 million who lack it."
Umm… not to be picky, ABC, but isn't everyone 100% likely to die? It seems to me that the likelihood of one dying has less to do with whether or not one has health insurance, and more (read: everything) to do with whether or not one is alive.
That is epically stupid.
September 18, 2009 at 2:42 pm
I dunno, it seems that stupidity of the sort cited always comes from the supposedly "highly educated".
While correlation doesn't necessarily entail causation it makes me wonder if their brains were fried from academic overload.
September 18, 2009 at 3:28 pm
What, exactly, is vitriol?
September 18, 2009 at 4:19 pm
I am very interested in Anonymous posting the racist Youtubes from teaparty demonstrations. I have been following this topic and have not seen any racism…or is it that, if you are white, and the human being you lampoon is black, then it must be "racism"?
Kate
September 18, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Mack,
Vitriolic acid, when thrown at a person, causes massive burns and disfigurement. It was used as a weapon in the Victorian times (even referenced in a Sherlock Holmes story), but vitriol attacks are still happening today, alas
September 18, 2009 at 6:36 pm
Great post. Even the tasteless sign of Obama as a witchdoctor is arguable in terms of racism. I think it was imprudent because racial accusations from the left would be inevitable, but it is the visual equivalent of "voodoo healthcare." Remember the accusations against Reagan of "voodoo economics?"
And before some goofy liberal accuses me of being a racist for saying that, my husband and I have been a foster home for a black kindergartener and a shelter home for two black unwed moms. We never asked what color those in need were before we welcomed them into our home.
On the other hand we experienced racism at the mall when a black male hostiley asked, "What are you doing with that black boy!"
September 18, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Good for you Mary Ann being so generous with your home!
I would have asked that young gentleman what he was doing away from his black children, but that would have escalated the arguement:). (Not to mention have played on some other ugly sterotypes…)
September 18, 2009 at 7:00 pm
Whenever the words "stupid or idiot" come to mind, the name Jimmy Carter pops into my head. Was he a president or something?
Doesn't he creep up once in awhile to condemn his country so he can get attention? What a nasty old buzzard and a weak, inept president too.
September 19, 2009 at 8:54 am
Of course SOME PEOPLE are racist. But the argument here is that it is essentially a racist protest, which paints a lot of people with that brush and is illogical and ridiculous. Yes, I imagine racists don't like Obama, but not all people who dislike Obama are racist- you can't imply a general causality and still be logical.
I wish those racists would shut up, a. because racism is evil and b. because they keep those of us who actually want our country to be a better place from being able to have an actual discussion. Instead we get to defend ourselves against spurious accusations. Can I send out a bulletin: "I WOULD STILL DISLIKE OBAMA IF HE WERE A RELATIVE OF MINE," or "THERE ARE *ACTUAL* REASONS TO DISLIKE OBAMA AND HIS POLICIES," or "OBAMA'S OKAY BY ME AS LONG AS HE'S NOT RUNNING MY COUNTRY."
September 20, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite said very clearly, "The vitriol is coming from the still deeply held race-prejudices in some". All you need to do is go onto youtube and look at what people in the "Teaparty" were saying to know this is true. To ignore that yes, there are some extremist racists out there who do not want a black president is to bury your head in the sand and be dishonest with the situation. The better thing to do is to difuse the situation by saying, "yes, there are some extremists and racists on both sides here undermining any attempts at rational discourse."
I respectfully disagree. Any grown adult knows that in any group there are going to be people that he'd just assume wasn't arguing for his side. To add all these disclaimers and weasel words is to render discussion infantile and worse, get distracted by a red herring. Obama is an advocate of government confiscation of people's money and property and an rigorous cheerleader for abortion. Dem's the facts, and no amount of playing the race card can obscure that.
September 21, 2009 at 8:01 pm
Don't you guys know this is the only reason they chose a black male as their candidate. That's why he's the "anointed one." White liberal elitists really got everyone suckered on the PC talk to replace genuine Christian humility and mercy and pounced on the perfect moment to pick a black man with no real leadership experience as their righteous leader who believes the same insane contempt for the US. Hello! "I sought out Marxist professors." He didn't have to do much seeking it was all established.
If these liberals had any respect for any "person of color" they would recognize the brilliance of other firsts and fews like Condeleeza Rice, SCJ Clarence Thomas, and others they bash.