Tuesday, November 29, 2016

Last night's post.

*The following is an updated version of the second part of my post from last night. 

Sorry about the glitches. 

This might be a good time for you to read the following essay from Roger Guffey. A man from Lexington, Kentucky no less. (There might be still hope for fly-over country.)


" Psychologists have long recognized rationalization as a defense mechanism that people use to excuse unacceptable or offensive behaviors by offering some pseudo-logical reasoning or self-serving explanations.


Perhaps we justify that sumptuous dessert because we have earned a reward for sticking to our diet. Or we tell our boss we are sick, when we really want to go to the last game of the season. Some of these excuses are harmless, but far too often they are not.

For the last eight years, people who have mounted despicable attacks on President Obama and his family have tried to rationalize their bigotries. Consider these examples:

A Republican candidate here in Kentucky won a legislative seat, even though he had posted images of the Obama family as a band of monkeys, but he says he is not a racist.


A public official in West Virginia said she will be glad to have a dignified white first lady, instead of seeing an ape in high heels. But she says she is not a racist.

Yes, you are.

In Sheridan, Ind., people made a parade float of President Obama in a toilet, but said they are not racists.


Yes, you are.

A mayor in Pennsylvania ran a picture of Michele Obama on a wagon of orangutans under the caption ‘Move-in day at the White House’, but denied being a racist.

Yes, you are.

The people who insist that President Obama is not a native-born American deny they are racists.


Yes, you are.

A candidate in Tennessee posted a billboard with the caption “MAKE AMERICA WHITE AGAIN,” but he denied that he is a racist.

Yes, you are.

A mayor in Washington State ran an image of Michelle Obama as a gorilla, saying she could be attractive only to another monkey like her husband. Of course, he says he is not a racist.

Yes, you are.

When a gorilla escaped from a zoo in South Carolina, a GOP politician in South Carolina posted a Facebook page telling people to be on the lookout for Michelle Obama’s ancestor, but he says he is not racist.

Yes, you are.

After the 2008 election, some right-wing extremists circulated bumper stickers, quoting Psalm 109, that pray for God to kill President Obama, leaving his wife a widow and his children orphans, but they denied they are racists.

Yes, you are.

One of my favorite Abraham Lincoln stories relates his encounter with an elitist lawyer who, during a trial, dismissed him as a rustic bumpkin. Lincoln posed him a simple riddle. “If we call a tail a leg, how many legs does a horse have?’ The smug lawyer replied, “Five.” Lincoln corrected him. “No, he still has four legs, because calling a tail a leg does not make it one.”

People are free to engage in self-delusion if they wish, but if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck, it is a duck, and these comments are racist. But perhaps these bigots should heed the poet Robert Burns’ advice in the poem “To A Louse. 'O would some power the gift give us to see ourselves as others see us.’'' [Source]

There is more. But I think we all get the point.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

They're not delusional at all. They are masters of deception. They know damn well they are racists. They get their kicks out of 1) NEVER ADMITTING IT and 2) KEEPING BLACK FOLKS SCRATCHING THEIR HEADS WONDERING IF WHITE FOLKS REALLY MEAN WHAT THEY SAY.

However, their racism is directly related to their jealousy and resentment. They secretly wish they were black so they constantly bash the "objects of their desire."

Yīshēng said...

.. And the normalization of racism continues............

The Ministry of Truth said...

Most of these examples don't remotely seem like rationalizations. A rationalization is a lie you tell yourself to justify why you did something, out of unwillingness to acknowledge your real motive, because it was ugly. (For example, I strongly suspect all the trivial "Hillary's emails" nonsense served this purpose to help many voters explain why they were "forced" to vote for Trump, rather than admit, say, the sexist reasons they don't like Hillary or the racist reasons they do like Trump. Among any number of other bad motives.)

However, if you're openly calling the First Family a bunch of apes, or making similar extremely offensive statements, I don't think there's really any rationalization that could cover that. Those people definitely know what they're doing. The after-the-fact claims of not being racist are meant for other people, and are just an attempt to dodge social or career repercussions from their offensive behavior.

Anonymous said...

Who cares? I mean, really?

dinthebeast said...

Maybe Trump's followers engage in a certain amount of rationalization to avoid being ostracized from polite company (where it still exists), but Trump himself would first have to admit to himself that he'd done something, if not actually wrong, at least somewhat questionable, before it could occur to him that he might need to rationalize it.

-Doug in Oakland

James Deplorable said...

I wish I'd saved the comment I posted to the first version of this.  It was good, but I'll take a swing at this one too.

"They're not delusional at all. They are masters of deception. They know damn well they are racists."

Don't you remember the TEA Party sign of a few years ago?  "It doesn't matter what this sign says, you'll call it racist!"  It was true then and it's true now.

Know what?  We. Don't. Care.  You cried wolf once too often.


"their racism is directly related to their jealousy and resentment. They secretly wish they were black so they constantly bash the "objects of their desire.""

OMG, this is so funny I literally laughed out loud when I read it.  You stupid googles straighten your kinky hair, buy weaves and lighten your skin wherever you are to look more attractive even to each other, and you think White people are jealous of you?!

I overestimated you.  You are actually dumber than you look.


"if you're openly calling the First Family a bunch of apes, or making similar extremely offensive statements, I don't think there's really any rationalization that could cover that."

It so happens that the First Fambly is provably anti-police, anti-order, anti-merit, anti-White and thus anti-American.  The prevalence of chimp-outs among their extended family is a tenuous, if provable, connection to apes.  You are just going to have to learn that claiming offense at something just isn't going to be moral, legal or social grounds for suppressing it any more.  Suck it up, buttercup.

dinthebeast said...

Racists like James sure are stupid.

-Doug in Oakland

James the math wiz said...

Racists like James sure are stupid.
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Oh no, James has an IQ of 150! Bwahahahahahaahahahhha!

James is definitely a weirdo said...

So James, when you rub all the asses of the cats around you bald do you just wait for the hair to grow back or do you rub dog and squirrel ass?

James Deplorable said...

Didn't you understand what I wrote?

I only have time to rub the butt and ears of one cat.  I have been trying to rub them bald for ten years now.

I have failed utterly.  They are as furry today as when I started.

At least the cat shuts up when I'm trying.  All that meowing gets on my nerves.

Anonymous said...

if blacks were superior to whites no racism would exist but they are not.

James smells like cat ass said...

No wonder your hands smell like cat ass.

James Deplorable said...

There are lots of jokes about Black people smelling bad.

There are no jokes about people who smell like they've just petted a cat.

You're too dumb to draw the obvious conclusion.  Rampant projection is part of what makes you funny.

James is definitely a weirdo said...

There are no jokes about people who smell like they've just petted a cat.
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Uh, that's because most normal human beings don't rub cat ass James. You have displayed you are one weird dude.