"Hypocrisy is the compliment vice pays to virtue" ~La Rochefoucauld~
With this post I would like to talk about some serious hypocrites occupying center stage in America these days. The other night I caught a glimpse of the republican presidential debates (so male and so white) and while watching these frauds, I couldn't' help but think about what a bunch of hypocrites the Republicans are.
Let's take a look shall we. We will start with the poster boy for flip flopping, Mr. Mitt Romney. Now here is a guy who is now opposed to a woman's right to choose, yet at one point not too long ago, he was all for it. He also opposes Gay unions; yet, at one point in his career, he was all for that as well. Not to mention the second amendment thing, he was all for gun control before he decided to run for President and became a life long member of the NRA. Hypocrite!
But my good Mormon friend is not alone. Up there on the stage with his republican colleagues, was the former mayor of New York, Rudy Gauliani, who has some interesting skeletons in his closet his own damn self. Now to be fair to Rudy, I have not really seen or heard him openly point fingers at Bill Clinton. But those whose votes he is eagerly pursuing certainly have. Poor Bill still can't live down Monica; and let's make no mistake, Bill loves the ladies, but apparently so does Rudy. Talk about f****d up personal life. Here is a guy who married his second cousin and had the wedding annulled. Then he has an open affair while he is Mayor of New York, dumps his wife for his mistress, and holds a press conference to announce it for crying out loud! And of course there is John McCain, who was for the state of South Carolina displaying the confederate flag before he was against it. And was against drilling for oil in the ANWAR before he was for it. All of these men personify the new American hypocritical spirit. Oh yes, America the beautiful, a country whose founding fathers epitomized hypocrisy, (Think Thomas Jefferson and all those slaves) was built on the backs of slaves, and the massacre of millions of natives who were here first.
Hypocrisy rules the day in our religion, our personal lives, and our foreign policy as a country. For instance, we invade a country and overthrow its leader, because he stifled individual freedoms and liberties. Yet, our own leader suspends our individual freedoms and circumvents our Constitution because he felt like it. Talk about hubris. We chastise countries for not treating all their citizens equally, yet we have a history of treating our own citizens differently based on their race and their class in our own country. (Think Katrina. "George Bush doesn't care about black people" I know Kanye it sure doesn't look like it). I think of that hypocrite Bill Bennett (a Republican of course) who was preaching virtues to us, while he was dropping thousands of dollars on the crap table. Not to mention, that chicken hawk, Paul Wolfowitz, (one of the people responsible for our country being at war) who hooked his little, ahem, friend up with a serious pay raise just because she is his, ahem, friend. I won't even get into our favorite Attorney General, gonzo, who in my humble opinion, is one of the poster boys for hypocrisy in Washington. But then, he wouldn't have gotten to his position (the frat boy's right hand man and one of his chief confidants) if he wasn't.
But I will give the republicans credit, they sure know how to play the game, and while they are doing it, they have an entire country fooled. To the average Joe in America, the Republican party is the party of virtues, moral consistency, and family values. Boy are they wrong.
Hypocrite: A person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings~~Merrian Webster~
Hypocrite: The Republican Party.
9 comments:
One of friends on EbonyFriends.com told me that this article is very interesting, so I read it and I agree with you that do as you say not as you do.
That's a funny graphic that captures quite precisely what's going on right now, not just because of bipartisanship but because the Republicans have a coup d'etat going on and the Democrats are only realizing it now, through these Congressional hearings.
This following has little if "anything to do with your topic, but it's on my heart and I want to share it with you:
The Washington Post says,
The contest for black support in South Carolina mirrors the national struggle Democratic candidates are waging to win black elected officials' support. Many have long-standing ties to the Clintons or Edwardses or others but are nonetheless tugged by racial solidarity with Obama and the excitement they see his campaign generating among their constituents. Moreover, Obama's early fundraising prowess has convinced observers that his campaign will be formidable to the end.
I'm not going to address Hillary v. Obama, because that's something everyone will decide for themselves. Here's my biggest gripe with that paragraph and with the whole article from which it's excerpted: the word "racial." The word race is a synonym for "species" and the Washington Post is saying that we will vote for Obama because he is the same species as us, just like dogs hang out in packs with other dogs because they are from the same species.
I'm not buying that. I'm not going to let anyone say that I am from any species other than the human species. Let's face it: There's no way we will ever win equality in America for so long as we concede that we are not even from the same species as whites. I don't think "separate but equal species" is our best argument for equality.
Let's face it: What we have in common with Barack Obama but that separates us from whites is not our "racial" species, but simply our skin color. Is that so hard to say and accept?
Of course whites like to exaggerate our difference so they can rationalize the exaggerated differences in the way we are treated. That's why the word "race," that appears no where else in the biological sciences, is applied to the difference in SKIN COLOR between Blacks and whites.
Now, someone will insist that the word "race" is essential to our efforts to gain equality and fight racism. That's like saying that the "N" word is essential to our efforts to fight against epithets! The word "race" is itself a badge and mark of inferiority and the word "racism" unless you accept that concept of "race."
I am never going to use the word "race" again without referring to it as "the disproved pseudo-scientific theory of race." Any argument about Marxism implicity accepts the fact that there was a man named "Marx," which is true. Any argument about "capitalism" is based on the premise that capital exists, which is true. But any argument about racism is based on the premise that "race" exists, which is false. NO ONE anywhere can offer me even a half-baked argument that there is more than one species of human beings!
Just as black cats and spotted cats from the same family are all from one species - "cats," likewise, Black people and white people who all came from Africa originally, who interbreed, who have transfuseable blood, who organs can be transplanted one to the other, we are all from the same species. If the word race is superfluous in discussing differences between animal species, it is also superfluous in discussing differences between humans.
The word "race" serves only one purpose: to gloss over the fact that there is no evidence that we and whites are from different species and to gloss over the fact that we and whites MUST, by all evidence, be of the SAME species, that our only difference is skin-color.
So, what term will we use instead of "race"? How about simply "skin-color"? And what term will we use instead of "racism"? How about "skin-color aroused antagonistic behaviors of individuals, groups, organizations and societies." Yeah, it's a little longer than "racism" but has the advantage that it doesn't concede that we are, like dogs, being from a different species from whites.
If there is inherently, innately something more to the difference between Blacks and whites than skin-color, then what is that "something more"? "Inherently inferior intelligence?" "Inherently inferior values?" "Innately superior bongo playing?" "Genetically superior sexual drive and potency, but with less impulse control?" All of the possibilities are both unproven, improvable and absurd as a matter of science but also profoundly insulting to us as a people, and intentionally so. The word "race" (and every word derived from it)is inherently and irremediably an insult wherever and whenever it is used. Unless you can tell me what innate characteristics make us inherently different from whites, you have to admit that the concept of "race" adds nothing that the phrase "skin-color" of "phenotype" doesn't. All "race" add is baggage and highly negatively charged linguistic discrimination.
For so long as we agree that we are from a separate species from whites, we will never, ever convince them that we are from an equal species. As the Supreme Court said in 1954, "separate but equal" is an unconstitutional fallacy that simply never, ever works.
If someone asks me, "Are you equal to whites?" it does require more letters for me to write "yes," (3 letters) than it requires to write the word "no," (2 letters) but I think it's worth the extra effort, considering how important it is. Likewise, I think it's worth taking the extra time to write "skin-color" instead of "race," because "skin color" preserves our humanness and equality while using the words "race" (and logically therefore also "racism") negates our humanness and equality.
I have always found it funny how folks on the right jumped up and down about clinton fup with monica citing honor and responsibility but then turn and around have ethical violations in thier own party now where is the outrage by the right against all of the shenanigans of the bush administrations and repubs in general.
You are right field
'Now, someone will insist that the word "race" is essential to our efforts to gain equality and fight racism. That's like saying that the "N" word is essential to our efforts to fight against epithets! The word "race" is itself a badge and mark of inferiority and the word "racism" unless you accept that concept of "race."'
Francis, this is an intereting subject. (A bit off topic for this post but interesting never the less :)I saw the discussion about it over at "freeslave", and I thought the comments were fascinating.
Honestly, I think I disagree with you on this one, but I respect your position and I will think about it some more and get back to you with a more detailed post.
Peace.
Back on topic.
The apparent violations of the Hatch Act and the "GOP-fication" of the Department of Justice and its investigative powers represent an attempt to overturn the most fundamental of "American" Ideals.
Google "Hatch Act Rove" and read the conservative Washington Post article first, then the govexec report, then try thinkprogress.
Monica Goodling, Consigliere Gonzales' White House Liaison has reportedly engaged in "prohibited personnel practices" at the Department of Justice, which reportedly include illegal (treasonous?) loyalty oaths. Google goodling loyalty oaths. She's been granted limitted immunity from prosecution by the House Judiciary Committee and a U.S. District Court. The only crime she can be prosecuted for is perjury.
Don't expect the mainstream media to tell you about it when she does testify. James Comey's incredible testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee was ignored by CBS and ABC News.
Hypocritcal isn't strong enough for me, somehow. Once upon a time it would have sufficed but the NeoCons are crypto-fascist. Wikipedia says - Crypto-fascism is when a party or group secretly adheres to the doctrines of fascism while attempting to disguise it as another political movement. The term is in a similar vein to crypto-Judaism or crypto-Christianity, referring to the secret practice of one faith while adhering to another religion publicly.
I have a word for the good o'le US of A, and I wish it would catch on.
Instead of calling this a democracy, ( is isn't ) or a Republic ( I don't care for Vodka ) I would rather it be called what it is, a demagogue hypocrisy.
Watch the thinking about "race" though. Those that discard it are playing into the hands of the white people that "don't see color".
They disparage the use of the term "race". Therefor there must be some value to it. Because these people believe in a far in the future utopia where race doesn't matter. But they want none of the responsibility to make it happen.
They really think that stating "I don't see color" is enough. That they have done enough. I look at it this way. They haven't bothered to look.
Race is a description. It in no way defines the person.
Black is a description. White as well, Asian etcetera.
Anyway, don't let these white people win an argument that you haven't even had with them.
I'll leave the group with this, don't help tighty whitey with their racial issues. They perpetrated racism against blacks and other minorities, and in that I think deserve all the responsibility there is in that to fix it. Regardless if they want to or not.
-=t=-
I got called for jury duty today and I'm in the LA courthouse waiting to be assigned to a trial. It's a weird feeling to be in our so-called halls of justice and know about all the dishonesty, hypocrisy, criminal acts and immorality that our nation's leadership engages in, all without consequence. We really are a land of "Do as I say,not as I do."
What kind of a name is MITT anyway? I could understand it if his Daddy had been a baseball player, but his Dad is famous for claiming that he had been brainwashed back during the 1968 presidential race.
The dumb remarks of the senior Romney hurt his 1968 campaign so badly he dropped out quickly and was basically never heard from again.
Quote of the Day: "Daddy, what is that elephant doing to that horse?"
- my 5 year old daughter who wandered into my office while i was reading this post
Post a Comment