September 26, 2008 marked the first in a series of three Presidential Debates between Senator John McCain and Senator Barack Obama. It was truly an interesting exchange, and America is now focused on how each fared in their first televised face to face encounter.
There was obvious tension in the air between both candidates, tension that was evident in the fact that neither chose to address the other directly until we were approximately 10 minutes into the debate, and even then the direct engagements were sparse. In fact, the first direct encounter came in the form of a comment with a biting tone directed at Senator McCain from Senator Obama who'd addressed the veteran Senator by his first name. McCain, in turn, responded with congressional professionalism, but maintained the courtesy of addressing Senator Obama by his title.
The questions appeared to be primarily centered around the economy and its impact on our nation. So the question is, how did the candidates do with the questions?
When asked if the present state of the economy will have an impact of things each candidate wants to achieve, the responses were fairly evasive of both sides. Senator McCain suggested a spending freeze on everything except for defense, veterans, and entitlements. Of course this response begs the question of what is considered to be an entitlement. Still, McCain's response was typically conservative and expected. Senator Obama, on the other hand appeared to be caught off guard by the question. His, Obama's, response was more in tune with the economy driving the what could be with regards to components of his purposed programs. Obama's response gave the impression that he was not certain of how he would adjust his plan. In honestly, the question was ambiguous, and based in conjecture. One really does not know how our nation's volatile economy will impact anyone or anything until the bridge is approached. Still, from the aspect of points, Senator McCain appeared better prepared to answer this question, and as a result, out scored Senator Obama.
The question of the economy turned to taxes. Traditionally, Republicans have used taxes as the ace in the hole in any game of political poker played against highly formable Democratic opponents. McCain was no exception to this rule. Senator McCain attacked Senator Obama as one who would tax the rich, but in doing so, Senator McCain attacked Senator Obama's definition of "Rich". The implication being that Senator Obama plans to raise taxes on the middle class as well as the overly wealthy. Senator Obama responded by siting the voting record of the veteran senator, identifying Senator McCain's support for numerous tax loop holes which created fiscal safe havens for the upper one percent of the American population. In this exchange, both candidates were fairly even. America, allow me to say something. Every four years we hear the same song and dance about the tax and spend liberals, and the love the wealthy conservatives. For me, personally, taxes are not what drive my voting decision simply because I do not feel any of our politicians have a clue about how to fix the tax code. This is just my personal opinion, but I feel that the argument about taxes is nothing more than empty rhetoric on both sides of the isles. Let us move on.
The war in Iraq too center stage, and proved to be an extremely contentious topic of discussion. Senator McCain waged the argument about the troop surge and how Senator Obama was wrong in his assessment of the probability of success. In the same light, Senator Obama pointed to the fact that Senator McCain himself under estimated the amount of US involvement, and the reception of our forces in the eyes of the world. America, my time to chime in. Both men are right on this one. We know that our nation was lied to in an effort to provide justification for the invasion of Iraq. There were no Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Saddam Hussein was little more than hot air blowing in the Santa Ana winds. We realize that George Bush fabricated a story to justify going after than man who threatened to kill his father. We know that George Bush lied about American occupation in Iraq. we realize that it was the failed policies of George Bush that caused an escalation of violence in Iraq, thus creating the requirement to send extra troops in the first place. The fact of the matter is, we now have a big mess to clean up. Regardless of which said you cling to in this election, Iraq is not going to be a quick fix. The argument of who is right and who is wrong is irrelevant.
So what is the bottom line America? The bottom line is this:
We witnessed an incredible exchange between two opposing, yet unique individuals. We observed the experienced veteran maverick against the young, idealistic visionary. Be it not for the election, I humbly feel that both men can come together, merge ideals, and set our nation on the right track to success. In order to do so, both must overcome those demons standing in their paths. Senator McCain's experience is a blessing, but it can also be a curse. Remember, G.W. Bush had years of Washington experience and look at the mess he has us in now. Senator Obama needs to get beyond his posture of self righteousness, and focus on what is right for the people as a whole. Remember, we have had inexperienced Presidents before in Bill Clinton, John F Kennedy, Gerald Ford and others. What each of those individuals had in common was a willingness to listen and adapt, and they were humble.
Senator McCain made a remark about his not having his seal yet. That one statement said more than most students do in a 6000 word essay. Remember, this is an election, and both men have yet to achieve the votes required to earn the seal.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
America, The Media, and Race
It has been a while since my last entry, and to be extremely honest, I was sitting in the background and observing the events of this election year as they unfold. I will say that I am less than pleased with the amount of media driven rhetoric. I am also disappointed in America as a whole. Not so much for the fiscal state of our nation, but more so for the state of social relations in America.
This election - for most - is not unlike any election in the past. The Republicans typically like their nominee, and the Democrats typically like theirs. I, personally, have the privilege of stating that I actually like both candidates. Believe it or not, that is the absolute inverse of my feelings for the candidates in the 2000 election cycle. Regardless, the truth of the present day matter is in the fact that I honestly like both John McCain and Barack Obama. Each have their positives as well as negatives. Perhaps John McCain's greatest negative is his affiliation with the party that produced two failed presidents from the same family within the last two decades. Still, I look beyond party affiliations, and focus on the perception of what each candidate can or will do for the overall benefit of our nation. With that, I do not have an issue with either candidate during the final months of this election year. I do, however, have an issue with the media and the fanning of the flames of racial divide in our nation.
I read the reports of the recent Stanford survey. Taking a controlled sampling of slightly less than 2300 Caucasian people and presenting them with questions such as "So, what don't you like about black people?". Is it possible to be more racially insensitive than that? OK, in fairness to Stanford, that study was most likely a grade for some enterprising undergrad, so I can not bring the hammer on the survey; however, I can jump on the overly zealous media for pouring lighter fluid onto the coals of the American Racial Divide.
America can exist for thousands of years, and the scourge of racism may never die. Somewhere, in the heart of some people, there will always exist negative feelings of race. Face it, America was founded by descendants of early Western Civilization. The nature of the west has always been that of conquering those whom were seen as inferior. The Europeans forcefully acquired land from the tribal Indian populations who inhabited this land for millions of years. They, those bloody Europeans, called he native population "savages", "redskins" and other derogatory terms. In short, anything that was not like them (white) was inferior in their eyes. That ugly mind set continued to flourish, and indeed still exists in lesser forms in our present day. The problem with that is now it is not just the white people who are harboring racist views. Seems as if everybody in America harbors racially motivated views towards Americans of other racial diverse backgrounds. Whites hate blacks, blacks hate whites, and so on, and so on, and so on. Personally, I am sick and damn tired of the crap!!
Our country is falling behind other developed nations in the area of education, research and development, health care, and fiscal security simply because our forward vision is obstructed by racism. We do not pay everyone the same, we do not ensure that everyone has the same access to the same social clubs, we still identify our people through an antiquated class system. Seems as if the media has become the unofficial gatekeeper of that out modded class system.
Our news stations selectively report stories, highlighting the negative qualities of one race, while accentuating the positive qualities of another. OK, let's call it as it is. The news highlights the crime in the black communities, regardless of how petty. In the same light, the news highlights stories about Hermes the smiling dog, and the soccer mom who hung a sign in her community. Movies often portray the hero as some finely chiseled, dashingly rugged, albeit scruffy faced white man, while portraying the black person as a loud, often under educated drug dealer, addict, or other form of criminal. No one given so much of a thought to the fact that many of our prisons are filled with white CEO's who embezzled millions of dollars from some corporation. No one takes into account that more murders are ordered from the halls of Congress than those from some second rate drug dealer.
Bottom line is this America, the media is now,and has always been a tool used to control the thoughts of a given population. Not every black person is a violent, bitching, underachiever. Truth be known, those qualities apply to less than 10% of the entire African American population. The same is true of the Caucasian population, a little less than 10% of that population are violent, bitching underachievers. So the big questions is this; why does the media take so much pleasure in highlighting the 10% or one population and the 90% of the other? Is that fair and balanced unbiased journalism?
America, we are all human, created by God and blessed with free will. We are going to have our feelings about people, events, things, and no two sets of feelings will be alike. That is what makes us unique. We are all entitle to how we feel or think. Where is it written that it is the right of the media to take advantage of how we think to control the outcome of anything that happens here in America?
Allow me to say one thing in closing. I am sure that by now most of my readers of determined that I am African American, even though my view point is not slanted. I have been incredibly critical of the Klu Klux Klan, and I make no apologies for that in the least. As a young adult, I befriended a young man whom we will just identify as Chris C. Chris C and I worked together, and we were part of a large group. Both of us had something in common, we were both ostracised by the larger body of the group, so Chris and I became good friends. As our working relationship grew, Chris invited me to meet his father. I agreed, and I will be honest, Chris's dad, although he did not agree with my perspective on certain issues, nor I with his, still he respected me, and I respected him. I felt blessed to have met Chris's dad. I realize that you may not consider that to be unique, but it was because of who Chris's dad was. See, Chris C is the son of a Klu Klux Klan Imperial Wizard. That's right, I actually broke bread with a Klansman. Is he still a Klansman? Yes, and an active one. Did that change my opinion of Chirs C? Yes, for the better. See, we have different views, but we allowed ourselves to understand each other's point of view. Why did I mention this story? The answer is quite simple. We will not be able to completely rid America of the scourge of racism, but we can seek to understand each other. One does not need to like a person to understand that person. Through understanding comes respect, through respect come tolerance, through tolerance come acceptance, and through acceptance comes growth (spiritual, emotional and collective). Our media would go a long way towards providing an excellent service if the focus would be on the middle ground of understanding. It does not matter if the skin is white, black, yellow, blue or green. If you cut an American we all bleed the same color, and that color is red.
This election - for most - is not unlike any election in the past. The Republicans typically like their nominee, and the Democrats typically like theirs. I, personally, have the privilege of stating that I actually like both candidates. Believe it or not, that is the absolute inverse of my feelings for the candidates in the 2000 election cycle. Regardless, the truth of the present day matter is in the fact that I honestly like both John McCain and Barack Obama. Each have their positives as well as negatives. Perhaps John McCain's greatest negative is his affiliation with the party that produced two failed presidents from the same family within the last two decades. Still, I look beyond party affiliations, and focus on the perception of what each candidate can or will do for the overall benefit of our nation. With that, I do not have an issue with either candidate during the final months of this election year. I do, however, have an issue with the media and the fanning of the flames of racial divide in our nation.
I read the reports of the recent Stanford survey. Taking a controlled sampling of slightly less than 2300 Caucasian people and presenting them with questions such as "So, what don't you like about black people?". Is it possible to be more racially insensitive than that? OK, in fairness to Stanford, that study was most likely a grade for some enterprising undergrad, so I can not bring the hammer on the survey; however, I can jump on the overly zealous media for pouring lighter fluid onto the coals of the American Racial Divide.
America can exist for thousands of years, and the scourge of racism may never die. Somewhere, in the heart of some people, there will always exist negative feelings of race. Face it, America was founded by descendants of early Western Civilization. The nature of the west has always been that of conquering those whom were seen as inferior. The Europeans forcefully acquired land from the tribal Indian populations who inhabited this land for millions of years. They, those bloody Europeans, called he native population "savages", "redskins" and other derogatory terms. In short, anything that was not like them (white) was inferior in their eyes. That ugly mind set continued to flourish, and indeed still exists in lesser forms in our present day. The problem with that is now it is not just the white people who are harboring racist views. Seems as if everybody in America harbors racially motivated views towards Americans of other racial diverse backgrounds. Whites hate blacks, blacks hate whites, and so on, and so on, and so on. Personally, I am sick and damn tired of the crap!!
Our country is falling behind other developed nations in the area of education, research and development, health care, and fiscal security simply because our forward vision is obstructed by racism. We do not pay everyone the same, we do not ensure that everyone has the same access to the same social clubs, we still identify our people through an antiquated class system. Seems as if the media has become the unofficial gatekeeper of that out modded class system.
Our news stations selectively report stories, highlighting the negative qualities of one race, while accentuating the positive qualities of another. OK, let's call it as it is. The news highlights the crime in the black communities, regardless of how petty. In the same light, the news highlights stories about Hermes the smiling dog, and the soccer mom who hung a sign in her community. Movies often portray the hero as some finely chiseled, dashingly rugged, albeit scruffy faced white man, while portraying the black person as a loud, often under educated drug dealer, addict, or other form of criminal. No one given so much of a thought to the fact that many of our prisons are filled with white CEO's who embezzled millions of dollars from some corporation. No one takes into account that more murders are ordered from the halls of Congress than those from some second rate drug dealer.
Bottom line is this America, the media is now,and has always been a tool used to control the thoughts of a given population. Not every black person is a violent, bitching, underachiever. Truth be known, those qualities apply to less than 10% of the entire African American population. The same is true of the Caucasian population, a little less than 10% of that population are violent, bitching underachievers. So the big questions is this; why does the media take so much pleasure in highlighting the 10% or one population and the 90% of the other? Is that fair and balanced unbiased journalism?
America, we are all human, created by God and blessed with free will. We are going to have our feelings about people, events, things, and no two sets of feelings will be alike. That is what makes us unique. We are all entitle to how we feel or think. Where is it written that it is the right of the media to take advantage of how we think to control the outcome of anything that happens here in America?
Allow me to say one thing in closing. I am sure that by now most of my readers of determined that I am African American, even though my view point is not slanted. I have been incredibly critical of the Klu Klux Klan, and I make no apologies for that in the least. As a young adult, I befriended a young man whom we will just identify as Chris C. Chris C and I worked together, and we were part of a large group. Both of us had something in common, we were both ostracised by the larger body of the group, so Chris and I became good friends. As our working relationship grew, Chris invited me to meet his father. I agreed, and I will be honest, Chris's dad, although he did not agree with my perspective on certain issues, nor I with his, still he respected me, and I respected him. I felt blessed to have met Chris's dad. I realize that you may not consider that to be unique, but it was because of who Chris's dad was. See, Chris C is the son of a Klu Klux Klan Imperial Wizard. That's right, I actually broke bread with a Klansman. Is he still a Klansman? Yes, and an active one. Did that change my opinion of Chirs C? Yes, for the better. See, we have different views, but we allowed ourselves to understand each other's point of view. Why did I mention this story? The answer is quite simple. We will not be able to completely rid America of the scourge of racism, but we can seek to understand each other. One does not need to like a person to understand that person. Through understanding comes respect, through respect come tolerance, through tolerance come acceptance, and through acceptance comes growth (spiritual, emotional and collective). Our media would go a long way towards providing an excellent service if the focus would be on the middle ground of understanding. It does not matter if the skin is white, black, yellow, blue or green. If you cut an American we all bleed the same color, and that color is red.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)