April 12, 2007

THE DEATH OF LIBERALISM: IMUS AND SHARPTON

        Horsefeathers' combined 80+ years of clinical observation make us aware of how difficult, how really difficult it is to believe in the actual reality of other people, that they have their own unique individuality and don’t exist only in relation to oneself and one’s own needs. Childhood narcissism takes years to overcome. It’s quite a blow to realize that the world exists and has existed comfortably for quite a while without you in it. Most of us find some benefit in relinquishing that childhood stance, even if only partially. Doing so, however can lead to a respect for other individuals, their needs and rights and to actual, real relationships. Some cannot; for them Liberalism is the perfect ideology.
        Horsefeathers remembers when Liberalism was a philosophy that protected freedom of thought, defended individual rights and stood for the uniqueness of each individual. Contemporary Liberalism, however, views the individual not in his or her uniqueness, but rather as a member of a group---race, class, ethnicity, religion. The absurd hypocrisies in the Imus flap make sense if the man is regarded as representative of a particular group-- white, patriarchal, racist, males. Who cares if the actual man has done more for young black children, their health and well being than Al Sharpton has ever done? Who cares that he’s raised large sums of money for autism research, that he and his wife personally run a ranch for kids with cancer where they can have fun and find some relief from their disease? Who cares if he raised money for medical care for war wounded? Who cares if he apologized for offending the Rutgers women?
        Personally, Horsefeathers switched Imus off a few years ago when he began acting like a mouthpiece for the Democratic party, calling Dick Cheney a murderer and constantly bashing the President in a time of war. It was all permeated by condescension, and it wasn’t funny. When his producer Bernard McGuirk weighed in with repeated assertions that the neo-Con Jews had taken us to war for the benefit of Israel, Horsefeathers permanently switched to his i-Pod. Yet the current spectacle of Al Sharpton as judge and jury, the same Al Sharpton who is responsible for actual deaths of people at the hands of his Jew hating followers, is too rich. When did he and Jesse Jackson get themselves anointed arbiters of racial justice? Was it after Jackson’s multiple anti-semitic remarks, like his description of New York as ‘hymietown’? We’re not shedding any tears for Imus, who has, in our opinion done far too much groveling before these race baiting shakedown artists. One apology to the Rutgers girls would have been enough. Especially irksome is Imus’s attempts to insist that he’s a good liberal, not a crazy right winger. Strange, the most blatant racists are liberals who view everything under the aspect of black victimhood and white racism.
        Meanwhile, as Imus falls all over himself apologizing over and over for his insulting words, who will apologize to the Duke Lacrosse players for the far worse trauma they endured than the Rutgers’ basketball players? Will Jackson and Sharpton apologize for endorsing the lying accusations of a black woman? Will Selena Roberts, the New York Times sports writer, cum sociologist, apologize for hurling around charges of racism, sexism, and white privilege, while suggesting that actual innocence would not purge the deep sickness of white racism made manifest by the Duke scandal? And how about the courageous Duke administration and faculty, who eagerly leapt—not to the defense of their own customers, the students—but to the defense of a lying accuser who proclaimed her black female victimhood? Will they apologize to the lacrosse coach they eagerly dumped overboard? Will the craven, politically correct President of Duke resign? Don’t hold your breath, because, you see, Liberals are not interested in the lives of actual real individuals—the young student athletes and their families, nor even the real life of the accuser. Instead these politically correct race hustlers and self-flatterers choose to lump individual human beings into pre-formed templates. They employ a “narrative” in place of factual truth, thanks to their ‘education’ as good PoMos. The narrative is about Amerika, a country poisoned by racism, sexism and capitalism. As the evidence against the lacrosse team emerged and collapsed in all its flimsiness, Roberts deplored the temptation to view the athletes as innocent; they were, after all, part of a larger system, college sports, sexist values, white racism, capitalism, etc. so even if the evidence supported the athletes’ story, that mattered less than that they were part of a racist, sexist culture. The accuser was also not seen as an individual, but rather a member of a victim class. That worked for Tawana Brawley and we expect the Reverends Sharpton and Jackson to continue working the strategy even after the case has been dismissed. Watch to see the various Liberal politicians condemn Don Imus while empathizing with the poor black woman who tried to destroy the lives of ‘white men of privilege’. Liberalism means never having to admit you're wrong because you're heart is with the oppressed.