I don't know what this guy thinks of gays, but his dear friend Minister Farrakhan with whom he traveled to Libya and awarded a lifetime achievement award from his Church, is famous for reviling gays.
Wright also appears to be an antisemite - he calls Israel "the dirty word" on one of his "promotional videos" which he sells for cash, i.e., filthy lucre.
Claiming the US created and disseminated AIDS and then selling that in a promotional video - you don't think that's making money from stoking the flames of fear-based hatred through gutter conspiracy talk? This from a guy with a Ph.D.
In which case, he has pretty much the inverse prejudices of Falwell. It's the opposite extreme spectrum. And Obama has been sitting in his pews, absorbing this rhetoric, for 20 years. If he wants to be a peacemaker, heal divisions, etc., as he claims, what need was he satisfying by absorbing this vein of hatred and reverse prejudice all those years. Because, (from his book, pp. 88-91 - which gives an alternate version than the speech of this incident) his grandmother once hurt him to the core by being afraid to wait for a bus at a stop where she had actually been threatened the day before by a black guy who she was afraid would have mugged her if the bus hadn't pulled up?
I have a book called The Gift of Fear by a security expert which points out that listening to your instincts in situations like this is the best way to avoid danger. The author developed his own extreme gift by growing up in a serially abusive family where he had to rely on his instincts to keep himself safe and alive. And he advises everyone to cultivate this gift.
So maybe Obama should have volunteered to go wait with his grandmother, instead of merely being hurt by her attitude. That way he could have learned for himself if her fear was rational or not, or if it was prejudice on her part or justified. Or does he think his grandmother should have shut up about it to spare him and put herself, perhaps, in peril? Either way, it seems a very narcissistic response - to be hurt that his grandmother would actually make an issue of not wanting to wait around at a bus stop where she felt threatened the day before. And he's hurt because the person who threatened her is black, not worried because his grandmother felt herself in danger.
The problem with Obama that I've been seeing for quite a while is that he has beautiful rhetoric, but his actions and his speech are not on the same page. Maybe they will be in time, maybe this is the goal he is aspiring too, but they're not in sync yet. His rhetoric is attractive, but his actions tell a different tale. Going to this church for 20 years doesn't heal divisions; hatemongering tends to keep anger alive and at the boiling point, not heal it or resolve it.
BTW, from the article that you quoted, I don't see that Falwell hates Muslims - he certainly dislikes Mohammed as a spiritual progenitor of a religion, but that is a different thing than hating Muslims.
Other than that, in that article, he says, "I've said often and many places that most Muslims are people of peace and want peace and tranquility for their families and abhor terrorism," Falwell said. "Islam, like most faiths, has a fringe of radicals who carry on bloodshed wherever they are. They do not represent Islam."
I don't see how anybody could read that as hating Muslims.
If there had been a juicier quote than that, I'm sure it would have been quoted.
Anyway, trying to make this about Falwell instead of Wright is just a way to sideline the conversation and not think about this issue. And blame the other side.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2008-03-19 08:46 pm (UTC)Wright also appears to be an antisemite - he calls Israel "the dirty word" on one of his "promotional videos" which he sells for cash, i.e., filthy lucre.
Claiming the US created and disseminated AIDS and then selling that in a promotional video - you don't think that's making money from stoking the flames of fear-based hatred through gutter conspiracy talk? This from a guy with a Ph.D.
In which case, he has pretty much the inverse prejudices of Falwell. It's the opposite extreme spectrum. And Obama has been sitting in his pews, absorbing this rhetoric, for 20 years. If he wants to be a peacemaker, heal divisions, etc., as he claims, what need was he satisfying by absorbing this vein of hatred and reverse prejudice all those years. Because, (from his book, pp. 88-91 - which gives an alternate version than the speech of this incident) his grandmother once hurt him to the core by being afraid to wait for a bus at a stop where she had actually been threatened the day before by a black guy who she was afraid would have mugged her if the bus hadn't pulled up?
I have a book called The Gift of Fear by a security expert which points out that listening to your instincts in situations like this is the best way to avoid danger. The author developed his own extreme gift by growing up in a serially abusive family where he had to rely on his instincts to keep himself safe and alive. And he advises everyone to cultivate this gift.
So maybe Obama should have volunteered to go wait with his grandmother, instead of merely being hurt by her attitude. That way he could have learned for himself if her fear was rational or not, or if it was prejudice on her part or justified. Or does he think his grandmother should have shut up about it to spare him and put herself, perhaps, in peril? Either way, it seems a very narcissistic response - to be hurt that his grandmother would actually make an issue of not wanting to wait around at a bus stop where she felt threatened the day before. And he's hurt because the person who threatened her is black, not worried because his grandmother felt herself in danger.
The problem with Obama that I've been seeing for quite a while is that he has beautiful rhetoric, but his actions and his speech are not on the same page. Maybe they will be in time, maybe this is the goal he is aspiring too, but they're not in sync yet. His rhetoric is attractive, but his actions tell a different tale. Going to this church for 20 years doesn't heal divisions; hatemongering tends to keep anger alive and at the boiling point, not heal it or resolve it.
BTW, from the article that you quoted, I don't see that Falwell hates Muslims - he certainly dislikes Mohammed as a spiritual progenitor of a religion, but that is a different thing than hating Muslims.
Other than that, in that article, he says, "I've said often and many places that most Muslims are people of peace and want peace and tranquility for their families and abhor terrorism," Falwell said. "Islam, like most faiths, has a fringe of radicals who carry on bloodshed wherever they are. They do not represent Islam."
I don't see how anybody could read that as hating Muslims.
If there had been a juicier quote than that, I'm sure it would have been quoted.
Anyway, trying to make this about Falwell instead of Wright is just a way to sideline the conversation and not think about this issue. And blame the other side.