Racism, lies, and videotape

ABC News has developed a fetish for staging examples of “Islamaphobia” across the United States. Supposedly, fake examples of racial collisions help audiences digest the reality of them (try to work that out). According to the official website (HT: Malkin)

The Sept. 11 attacks, the Iraq war and suicide bombings worldwide have changed not only the way we live but the way we look at those around us, especially Muslims. “Islamophobia” has entered the American vernacular, and the anti-Muslim attitudes and prejudice it describes remain common.

But what if you witnessed “Islamophobia” in action and saw someone being victimized because of someone else’s prejudices? What would you do?

ABC’s production crew outfitted The Czech Stop, a bustling roadside bakery north of Waco, Texas, with hidden cameras and two actors. One played a female customer wearing a traditional Muslim head scarf, or hijab. The other acted as a sales clerk who refused to serve her and spouted common anti-Muslim and anti-Arab slurs.

The polarity of reactions was shocking, from support to seething disapproval. Never did we expect customers to be so passionate or candid.

I’ve heard of candid camera stunts before, and some have merit, but this is nothing less than immoral journalism. ABC is trying to manufacture racism so people will get the impression that its all over the place. But how do we know? Wouldn’t this kind of thing be grounds of dismissal if it were in print, if straw-man “racists” were interviewed in a story about Islam in America? Hello, maybe we owe Jayson Blair an apology.

Does Muslim matter?

A blogger at Beliefnet asking a fair question: Why does it matter if Obama’s a Muslim?

Frankly, the whole thing’s pathetic. First he responded to a false email about him being Muslim by calling the rumors “scurrilous.” The email was false. Fine. But why “scurrilous?” And now this photo is a “fear-mongering” tactic. Is it such an insult to have any link with Muslims? For a man who’s all about change and hope, he’s slowly squashing any hope Muslims have for a fair shake by the government in this country, should he become president.

Go back and read that last sentence one more time. A “fair shake”? By the government?

As far as I know, Muslim votes are not discounted, neither are Muslims kept from the polls. So what does this mean?  Well, I’m not completely sure, and therein lies part of the answer to the question. We are honestly not sure what a Muslim president would try to do with the direction of this country; this is probably because American Muslims seem to be an island surrounded by depths of theocratic extremists. An objective view of our world leaves one thinking that for every peaceful, law-abiding Muslim, there are five who aren’t opposed to Sharia law or enforcing it.

I don’t know what the blogger meant by “fair shake by the government,” but I can only respond that America has been enthusiastically fair, given the deep (but not wide?) ideological disparity between American Muslims and others.

Theo-idiocy

Please, please folks: Get over yourselves. American theocracy is not going to happen. Ever.  It’s a term of no content and mostly political implication. And it’s used by everyone, not just the fear-mongering Left.  Please, an Obama theocracy?

I implore you: Let this word fall into exclusively seminarian usage. It’s not going to be Barack Obama’s secret agenda, and it’s not going to be the final accomplishment of a militant religious right. Theocracy never has and never will happen.

A good point

Say Anything on Obama’s church:

Here’s the “value system” posted on the website of a church attended by one of our Presidential candidates.

Trinity United Church of Christ adopted the White Value System, written by the Manford Byrd Recognition Committee, chaired by the late Vallmer Jordan in 1981.

Dr. Manford Byrd, our brother in Christ, withstood the ravage of being denied his earned ascension to the number one position in the Chicago School System. His dedication to the pursuit of excellence, despite systematic denials, has inspired the congregation of Trinity United Church of Christ. Prayerfully, we have called upon the wisdom of all past generations of suffering Whites for guidance in fashioning an instrument of White self-determination, the White Value System.

These White Ethics must be taught and exemplified in homes, churches, nurseries and schools, wherever Whites are gathered. They consist of the following concepts:

1.Commitment to God. “The God of our weary years” will give us the strength to give up prayerful passivism and become White Christian Activists, soldiers for White freedom and the dignity of all humankind.

2.Commitment to the White Community. The highest level of achievement for any White person must be a contribution of strength and continuity of the White Community.

3.Commitment to the White Family. The White family circle must generate strength, stability and love, despite the uncertainty of externals, because these characteristics are required if the developing person is to withstand warping by our racist competitive society…

Which candidate believes this nonsense? Why, Barack Obama. Except the version he adheres to is about the “Black Value System” instead of the “White Value System.” So I guess for most liberals that’ll make it ok. Because it’s alright to have a “Black Value System,” but a “White Value System” would be racist.

“No Country for Old Men”

Takes it.

Girls like jerks

Or, at least, they seem to. Why?

Here’s how the jerk spell works: we meet the jerk and in some twisted way are seduced by his confidence, charm, and passion…

As much as I hate to say it, girls love jerks…Speaking from the guy’s perspective, I’ve never quite understood what draws sane, attractive, bright women to guys who act like jerks. Maybe it is the thrill of the unexpected. Maybe it is trying to outplay him in his own game. Maybe it is hoping that deep down he is a nice guy and you are going to prove it to your naysayer friends.

My theory: Females are weary of the metro-sexualized pansies that are being produced by mass media and feminist parenting theory. So, when a jerk shows up, he rather easily passes as masculine, assertive, and powerful, simply by virtue of contrast with the aforementioned fellows. His character is egotistical but his personality is sexy.

Seems like the market is pretty ripe for real men who have real values. Sign me up.

EDIT: A surprisingly thoughtful article on real manhood from WikiHow (minus the inborn homosexuality line). More thoughtful (but not surprisingly so) words on manhood from Al Mohler: Part 1, Part 2.

Great Black Throne?

A new blog detailing the mostly incidental, but sometimes disturbing, “saviorization” of Barack Obama. Some excerpts:

Mary Tyszko, a white, 50-year-old health worker, clutched her hands. He has given me hope. I really believe in him. And I just trust him.” Then Mr Obama took to the stage. The noise was deafening, a long, exultant roar with all the force and overwhelming power of a jet engine before take-off. Obama! Obama! Obama! Obamaaaaaaaaa!” they chanted From four giant screens hanging from the ceiling, Mr Obama’s image could be seen from the farthest reaches of the stadium, waving, clapping at this adoring crowd, as they stared up at him with an almost mesmeric fervour. At one point in his speech, delivered in the religious cadence of Dr King, Mr Obama had to blow his nose. “Obama!” they chanted and clapped again, as their idol wiped his face…

…………..

I felt the crowd down front tighten as many of us stood on our toes, stretched our bodies forward while reaching out to Barack. I noticed that a six foot tall guy who was standing in front of me had stretched far enough above the crowd and shook hands with Barack. As the guy drew back his hand I asked him, “You shook his hand didn’t you?” Happily the guy said “Yes.” I then said, “give me some of that” and the guy shook my hand with the same hand he had just clasped with Barack’s. A woman friend of mine who was standing next to me saw me shake hands with the guy. I turned to her and said “He [the guy] just shook hands with Barack,” to which she responded…”Hey, give it up.” We then shook hands. She then turned to the person next to her and shook hands. This chain of hand shakes went on for about five or six more persons.
I did not know the tall guy in front of me; he is white, I am black. But at the moment we shook hands, I felt some solidarity with this stranger, consummated by a handshake and signifying some unspoken agreement presumably about Barack Obama and his core message of UNITY!

(HT: Lance)

What the government does with your Constitution

Courtesy The Linden Row

How not to prevent college shootings

This just misses the point:

After the Virginia Tech murders a year ago, Yale University banned the use of stage weapons in a student theatrical production — infuriating actors and educators who believed audience members could distinguish drama from real life. After a few days of ridicule, Yale backed down.

A year later, after another gun tragedy, college officials are still trying to figure out how to make their campuses safe — and theater still is a target. A student production of Assassins, the award-winning musical, was to have premiered Thursday night at Arkansas Tech University, but the administration banned it — and permitted a final dress rehearsal Wednesday night (so the cast could experience the play on which students have worked long hours) only on the condition that wooden stage guns were cut in half prior to the event and not used. Assassins is a musical in which the characters are the historic figures who have tried to kill a U.S. president.

Robert C. Brown, Arkansas Tech’s president, issued a statement explaining the decision as follows: “All of us have a healthy respect for the freedom of artistic expression that college theater represents, and all of us agree that out of respect for the families of those victims of the tragedies at Northern Illinois University and Virginia Tech, and from an abundance of caution, it is best at this time not to undertake a campus production that contains the portrayal of graphically violent scenes.”

A total missing of the real issue. Three key components go into every university (or high school) shooting: The desire of the student(s) to kill his peers, the inability of said peers to defend themselves, and the media’s insensitive infatuation with culprit face-time. I’ve written that there are real solutions to the first and third problems. The answer to the second has been suggested, and I think concealed carry is worth at least an experiment.

Here comes the feminist

Modern feminism has, in general, two stated goals: To throw off patriarchal oppression of women, and to help women “self-actualize.” What this means in specific terms is hard to say, simply because most feminist organization’s websites read like a daily current events blog. Apparently, in order for a woman to be truly liberated, she has to be able to make a coherent case for abortion on demand, same-sex marriage, and the illegality of the Iraq war. What this has to do with a woman’s right for opportunity in the workforce (the mission of the original feminists of the fifties) is beyond me, but hey, I’m not a feminist (at least not in American sense), so I don’t count.

What might concern me, at least one day, is my wedding. Actually, that does concern me, seeing as how I will presumably be making up half the marriage, and consequently, half the ceremony. And so I am becoming interested in a new trend visible among the feminist movement involving disparaging attitudes towards marriage and weddings.