If we have made any progress in dealing with this society’s 800-pound gorilla%uFFFDrace%uFFFDit certainly isn’t evident on some of the blogs I’ve been reading lately. I’m not normally a blog (a Web site on which an individual or group of users produces an
But while you don’t gain a lot of factual information, you can gain quite a bit of insight into what people are feeling, and the feelings out there%uFFFDespecially in reference to the Democratic presidential race%uFFFDare raw! What comes across clearly is the vicious level of racism that oozes out of these blogs.
Most of the bloggers use fictitious names so they can spout their venom with a degree of anonymity. But the blogs also confirm some of the data coming from exit polls in the last few elections%uFFFD that a sizable portion of the white electorate will never vote for Barack Obama%uFFFDor any other Black man%uFFFDbecause of race.
When 30 percent of the Sen. Hillary Clinton voters in West Virginia (mostly Democrats) say they would never vote for a Black candidate, and would opt instead for Republican John McCain, we’re seeing the open wound of racism laid bare, and it isn’t pretty.
When Sen. Hillary Clinton boasts to USA Today that she is getting the votes of “working, hard-working Americans, white Americans” as a reason why she is more elect able, race has not only entered the discussion, it now “is” the discussion. Surely, there are a bunch of Black folks who will cast their vote for Obama simply because he is Black. It is racism, of course, but people normally opt for someone who is like them, or looks like them, or talks like them. This is not just a problem for Democrats.
If race is going to be a factor, it will be a factor across party lines. While some try to put it in terms of geography, and class (and it is) race is still the overriding factor. It is also readily apparent is that folks who support Sen. Hillary Clinton are steadfast in their support, and are not above demonization of her opponent, Sen. Barack Obama. That cuts both ways, of course, and some of the names Hillary has been called on the blogosphere would turn a sailor’s face red. I’ve read similar epithets being leveled at Michelle Obama.
But this “us vs. them” mentality has started to grow, and the slime is infecting not just this campaign, but also the rest of the country. Instead of prompting an honest talk about race, as Sen. Obama suggested in his masterful speech in March, we now have dishonest talk, full of racism and misogynism and jingoism and all them other “- isms.” Instead of progress on resolving those differences, they are being highlighted, and exploited, and, sadly, the gulf is getting wider.
The blogs (along with their companions, the radio talk shows), have ripped off the veneer of civility and now anything, any comment, any vile insult, is fair game. Now it is the blogs that are driving the news rather than actual events.
There is no doubt that the consistent and repetitive bleating in the blogs about Obama’s lack of a flag lapel has mightily contributed to the notion that the Illinois senator is “unpatriotic.” The blogs continue to spout the nonsense that Obama is Muslim and perpetuate the lie that he was sworn into office on a Koran. He is not Muslim and was not sworn in on a Koran, but in these instances, the truth matters little.
Once the untruth is out there on the blogosphere, ignorance feeds it until it often overtakes the truth. If this is the new shape of American discourse, it does not bode well for this nation. If we are left to scream at each other from behind cyber fences, not listening at all, then we are not having a discussion, we are simply having a screaming match. Nothing gets heard, nothing gets resolved and we only reinforce the hate.
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