I left this uncut because I think this is too important, esp. for Americans to cut. Read away folks, read away . . .
Okay, so I hear on the news today (CNN) that Reverend Jeremiah Wright spoke at the NAACP Monday and the National Press Conference today. I also heard that Obama made a statement condemning Wright's comments at the NPC today, but I didn't see any clips of any of his "offensive comments". Well, they did show the comment he made about Cheney's "non-service". I actually enjoyed that quip. X^DDD All they kept showing were clips from the NAACP dinner, clips where he was dancing, singing and doing impressions all of which made him look like an idiot. Jeannie Moos even had a Moost Unusual segment about his antics there. John brought up the whole "black god/white god, black god kill white god=kill white people" comment Wright supposedly made somewhere at some time which John couldn't tell me. Then he shows me where he got this from: a forum which quoted the book of author James Cone from his book A Black Theology of Liberation where this paragraph was. I read it and out of context of the entire book, it looks possibly insidious (again taken out of context from the page it was on) but no where did I get the sense that he believed the "black god" had to "kill the white god" and therefore white people . . . I don't have the link as it's on John's PC. I think you can find the same paragraph if you look at his Wiki-entry here.
Looking into matters further, I decided to look up a transcript of what exactly Rev. Wright said at the National Press Conf. And after reading it (found it on Fox news's website no less .. . ah, the irony of that) I found myself seriously confused. Not only did I agree with everything the Reverend had to say more or less (well, not the biblical stuff . . . Atheist here, remember? X^D Well, a spiritual atheist if such an animal exists . . . ), but I was wondering why the hell Obama condemned his "offensive statements"??? What the hell was offensive??? Okay, okay. I don't know if I buy the idea that the US Gov. created AIDS to destroy people of African decent, but I also wouldn't put it past them. Not to mention it also kills gays, other minorities, the poor, drug users, and promiscuous people (all people the far right love to hate) yeah, I definitely wouldn't put it past them!!! The gov. doesn't exactly have a great track record: African slavery, Native American subjugation, Japanese internment, lack of women's rights, subjugation of gay people's basic human rights . . . we are seriously behind most supposedly "first world" countries as far as human rights go. Seriously.
So that being said . . .
Here is the transcript in full for those wanting the full story.
Here's the transcript for the NAACP function, too.
I haven't read the NAACP transcript yet, but plan to right after this post. I'm sure again, taken in context the clips of him acting like a moron will make more sense. :^\
Also? I have vowed NEVER FUCKING EVER TO BELIEVE THE MEDIA ON ANYTHING SOMEONE IS PURPORTED TO HAVE "SAID". I don't care. This is bullshit. Now I wonder who else did they take out of context? Makes you really wonder about the media and it's obvious bias. I'll guess reading the transcripts of the majority of Republicans and right wing lunatics will just make them look more like assholes than they already are. X^DDDD But hell, I might learn something . . . maybe they're not all as bad as I think, too! X^D Who knows. I intend to find out . . .
I'm also the same person who saw the original full-length clip (which yes, it's still a clip) of Rev. Wright's speech from the pulpit and agreed with everything he said X^DDD. I think sometimes people don't like to hear the truth no matter who they are: white, black, gay, straight, male, female. Granted, yeah there are better ways to put things but whatever. So does that mean I'm biased the other way? Possibly. I still would prefer to read a transcript of WHAT WAS ACTUALLY SAID AND DONE rather than just listen to clips and sound bites that can easily be misconstrued into anything the media wants them to be.
Now, I'm wondering what Obama saw of Wright's speech? And what he didn't . . . ? Did he read the full transcript or watch the entire video? I'm curious . . . I seriously doubt he read/viewed the speech in its entirety because it doesn't make any sense for him to condemn this but not condemn the pulpit speech which out of context seemed more inflammatory . . . Just my two cents. I'm seriously not sure what to think anymore other than the MEDIA SUCKS. :^P And people why I look to the BBC for my news. They're biased too, I'm sure, however. :^\ X^D YOU CAN'T WIN!
*sighs . . . * Okay, rant over.
EDIT: After reading his NAACP dinner speech, I can only say that I disagree with his comments on education and differing learning styles and language . . . The phrase that stuck out there was: We owe her a debt of gratitude. Dr. Hale showed us that in comparing African-American children and European-American children in the field of education, we were comparing apples and rocks.
X^DDD Um, no? Maybe apples and oranges. Apples and rocks??? What is he saying we're two different species, no better yet a living thing and a non-living thing??? That just sounds bad. Anyways, I digress: there are plenty of white children who have a "right-brain" frame of mind, as I'm sure there are plenty of black children who are "left-brained" and then there's everything in between; most people white, black or what have you are a little of both, not specifically one or the other. :^\ Hell, my brother is mostly right-brained; he's not one to learn from a book: he learns by doing or listening or seeing. I kinda of vary between the two: some times I'm more hands on (need to see it or feel it), other times I need to just read it. So I dunno what the hell he's talking about there . . . Seemed to make no sense to me. Anyone can be left-brained or right-brained. That has nothing to do with ethnicity as far as I'm concerned. :^\ Whatever. Also the thing about language: yeah, everyone talks with a differing accent, doesn't make how they speak wrong, but everyone has a common way of spelling the American-English language and if you don't spell correctly than like it or not, you're grammatically incorrect. :^P Well, spelling-wise and grammarwise. Both or one or the other. Most people anywhere in this country don't speak or write grammatically correct unless they're doing stuff for school anyways. X^D Or something professional or in the public eye . . . Whatever, again.
I was kinda annoyed by the right-brain, left-brain thing . . . I just don't understand how he can say that. Maybe if he said something like the majority of children of African decent are right-brained and the majority of children of European decent are left-brained, sure I could by that. I still doubt it, though. X^D It's probably more like 50/30 for any given ethnic population. I'd have to see the evidence here.
Also, wait a minute: isn't left-brained creative and right-brained logical??? Shit, I am really confused. X^DDD Because he said white kids were logical, and black kids were creative. Maybe he's confused too? Or either CNN didn't transcribe it right . . . ugh, can't trust transcriptions either??? X^D
Time to do more research. Yay. :^P
(Not tonight, though) X^D BEDTIME!
So now I'm wondering: which comments was Obama offended by again? X^D I can understand him being offended by the things about education and language. That makes more sense than what he said at the National Press Conference. :^\ It's kinda offensive to say that black kids and white kids have differing learning styles that don't overlap . . . Not only that, but highly unlikely too. More deep thoughts to ponder . . .
Okay, I have to look up the damn left-brain, right-brain thing!!! X^D
confused and disheartened