Sunday, September 30, 2007

Ron Paul, Bill O'Reilly, Politics, Blacks and Racism



This video spawned from the reactions I got from my first two videos on the subject of Ron Paul, Bill O'Reilly, Blacks and politics, as well as the "window" that was opened to another part of how society thinks.

Overall, I think it's very good to have a dialog on race as many of the improvements in American society and racial and sexual relations have come within the last 70 years, but many young adults active in politics now were born after the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment and the Civil Rights Act before it. Thus, they lack a real tangible understanding of how America was and why these laws are on the books.

Congressman Ron Paul's presidential run has drawn many young people – many of whom lack an understanding that laws are in place to protect us from ourselves – or more to the point, each other. Thus, one person wrote to advocate dropping hate crime laws because they bought in to Ron Paul's expressed idea that to point out racism is racist – forgetting that Congressman Paul himself was recently recorded as pointing to an act that's racist.

But many Paul supporters got after me about asking a question about Paul's 1996 campaign newsletter and its racist statements for the CNN/ YouTube Republican Debates . I've not seen Congressman Paul address this question in the Presidential Race or in the debate of last week. As I state in both videos, I think it's time he did, and to denounce the support he gets from White Supremacist groups.

Some wrote comments that Paul's participation in the "African American hosted" debate moderated by Tavis Smiley was evidence of his lack of any racist thought. I disagree with this because Pau's a free marketier who seems to enjoy arguing with people (thus his appearance), but came away convinced that Paul could handle answering the question I posted for the CNN/ YouTube Debates. Indeed, a question that still remains unanswered.

I was also upset with that debate, as it placed the African American inferiority complex on display for a public audience. We see a debate where the Presidential candidates are thanked for attending and much time is spent chastising those who did not. In other words, thanks for remembering us Black Americans. Who cares if Giuliani, Thompson, Romney, and McCain didn't come? And why thanks the candidates who did come? Heck, they're supposed to be there in my view.

The other video that received a lot of views and controversy was my innocent video essay blasting Bill O'Reilly for his weird comments upon visiting Silvia's, an upscale Harlem soul food restaurant. O'Reilly said essentially that he was surprised to find the Black owners and patrons created a nice restaurant that was "like any other New York restaurant."

For Bill to make that statement in 2007, with the CEO of American Express being Black, and with other examples of Blacks who are running companies and cities, and restaurants, I was totally upset with Bill, and don't know what drove him to make statements like this.

Bill spent the entire week hammering CNN and other news outlets for hammering him on his statement. He enlisted the help of Fox News Contributor Juan Williams who was the voice on the other end of Bill in the now famous clip. Williams, who's Black, explained that O'Reilly had done nothing wrong at all and that they disagree all the time.

But Williams is a friend of O'Reilly and thus not really eligible to make comments as he's got a bias toward his friend. O'Reilly is not my friend or yours – we don't know him well enough to be comfortable with the "friendly racism" he expresses, nor should we. Williams is certainly a good friend, but he didn't get Bill off the hook in this case.

In closing, I'm happy we have an active dialog about race and racism, but I'm most displeased with the debate's display of African America's inferiority complex – it's something that must be eliminated and soon. We need to remove these mental chains and grow.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous5:58 AM

    I am a strong Ron Paul supporter and I am thoroughly pleased after watching your video. I find myself agreeing with much of what you said, especially with the notion that one doesn't get racial-sensitivity brownie points just because they attend a debate.

    I appreciate you calling Ron a "free market advocate," as it doesn't contain the vagueness and emotional taint associated with being called an "extreme right-winger" (which currently includes being pro-war amongst other things).

    The only things of substance with which I can possibly disagree are those which any reasonable people can disagree, namely economics and the role of government. Certainly no need to delve into those waters now.

    I wonder if you could evaluate some of Paul's writings on race and civil rights. I would not be surprised if you disagreed on some points, but I am genuinely interested in your opinon.

    Here are two that I found:
    http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul68.html
    http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul381.html

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  2. Anonymous5:12 PM

    Zennie62,
    Even though I understand what you said about Tavis Smiley's shortcomings in the debate, I believe he did a better job moderating this debate than any of his peers during this year's debate cycle. He was fair and impartial. The questions were not biased or loaded against any single candidate, and except for the final question where time prohibited answers from all of the candidates, he gave the candidates equal time to respond to the issues and questions raised.

    I am a Ron Paul supporter. I didn't catch your earlier video, but I did enjoy your thoughts on this one. You talked some about how Ron's message has at times found audience with despicable racist groups, and you call for his condemnation of such groups.

    I guarantee that Ron Paul personally condemns the absurdity and inherent evil of racism. However, I doubt he would use government intervention to silence them, as this would only build upon their hatred. Rather, he would bring and expose their thoughts on the free market of ideas, where anti-racism reason, logic, and truth would eventually prevail.

    I agree that Racism is a sickness, and it will die off, if the rest of us stand firmly against it and speak sense to the elements in our culture that continue to encourage it.

    Thanks again for your commentary and thoughts.

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  3. I first would like to say I am a Ron Paul supporter I do not agree with Ron on every subject but he is the most compatible candidate with me that I have seen in my entire life. I did not see your question about Ron Paul's news letter but I think that any well thought out question should be asked and answered by the candidates.

    I do agree with you on the Tavis Smiley points you made and actually I have seen some of Tavis's shows and enjoy the questions he asks.

    As for the Bill O'Reilly subject I have not seen it, I try and not watch Bill because I just don't like his show and think he is normally a fool.

    I really liked your video it was eloquent and kept my attention the full 9 minutes. You made some great statement and I do believe we need to keep discussing the race issue.

    The only thing I would critiques I would make would be saying Ron Paul is a extreme right winger. The reason I say that is because I do not think that the ideology people have can be plotted on a line. You might want to look at the World's Smallest Political Quiz at http://www.theadvocates.org/quiz.html

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