I have pulled this e-mail, which I actually wrote to Trinity United Church, out of a comments thread, in case any of the presidential campaigns finds this blog.
Dear Trinity United Church,
I would not know about you or Pastor Wright were it not for the Obama candidacy, and I am not African-American or Christian myself. I am writing to say that I, for one, hardly found the comments of Pastor Wright, from which Mr. Obama felt it necessary to distance himself, “inflammatory.” They are in fact right on point. I find it sad that in the twenty-first century a Presidential candidate still has to distance themself from so lucid an analysis of the present situation. This must have been painful for both Mr. Obama and you, so I thought I would write to send greetings. I have been pleased to support a candidate whose spiritual practice espoused the kind of social responsibility your organization does. I am hopeful that despite the unfortunate necessity of public distancing now, Mr. Obama will still have your principles at heart when he is elected.
Yours very truly,
PROFESSOR ZERO
I have also had an illumination. The reason it has been so frustrating, especially in the last four years but also earlier, to work in one of my departments is that everyone is entirely focused on spin and not at all on the real issues at hand. It is exactly like the current presidential campaign. Cynthia McKinney explains, via the Anxious Black Woman.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 
The reason it has been so frustrating, especially in the last four years but also earlier, to work in one of my departments is that everyone is entirely focused on spin and not at all on the real issues at hand.
I think that it’s a real shock for some people to think that they even have the option to focus on the real issues at hand. Their grip on life has been steadily whittled down to the point that they feel there is nothing to grasp anymore in life, but spin. Pity these poor people for they are individuals without sustenance.
Pity these poor people for they are individuals without sustenance.
…and sometimes this devolution can be quite pitiable. Like in the case of one person who I knew, who totally lost the sense of the actual (shall we say concrete?) impact that his whole behaviour had on another. Whilst he prided himself on being the master of spin, his fingers were slowly being unpeeled from their grip on reality. Unable to answer any of the charges about his actual behaviour directly, he finally resorted to shrill posturing within a closed rhetorical bubble — a victim of his own devices.
“I have also had an illumination. The reason it has been so frustrating, especially in the last four years but also earlier, to work in one of my departments is that everyone is entirely focused on spin and not at all on the real issues at hand.”
That’s an illumination for me, too, thanks to your entry. A constant focus on spin in a profession that is supposed to be about critical thinking–a truth that I’ve been willing at many times to sacrifice my own self-esteem (and probably sanity) to avoid reckoning with though it’s so painfully clear. And it’s so disappointing when those doing the spinning truly don’t seem to understand what they’re doing.
Oh, absolutely. In the Corporation, the focus on spin to the exclusion of reality was called “being realistic.”
Yes – the spectacle – yes.
Spin is making me dizzy and running me out of the energy I need to successfully channel my inner whiteman enough to express my outrage.
Amen and Amen. Thanks for this post.
With the exception of the statement about HIV/AIDs, I also found myself nodding in agreement when I saw the video. My nephew and I bought the book Overthrow my Stephen Kinzer yesterday; it’s a history of U.S. “regime change” since the seizure of Hawaii, and puts Iraq in that historical context. We’ve all been focusing on the domestic context of race and racism, but Obama also spent several years of his youth living in Indonesia. I’d be very interested in hearing a similar speech where he was really candid about his views of international affairs and colonialism, because you know he has thought about it.
Like you, I’ve mostly agreed with what Wright said. It’s really sad that a presidential candidate can’t admit to finding some of these arguments quite compelling.
In the Corporation, the focus on spin to the exclusion of reality was called “being realistic.”
Yes – isn’t it ironic/silly/immature/something?!
Channeling the inner whiteman 😉 – I’ve actually channeled my inner Black man, so I can have dignity and gravitas in the face of adversity.
Rumor has it Obama’s lead is fading away. Can this really be true? *I* think this will blow over but am I in la-la land?