When People Lie, People Die: A Frank Lesson from 9/11
September 11, 2008
7 years ago today the world stood still in the face of tragedy as Americans, Black, white, and everyone else stared in pure horror as we saw real planes crash into real buildings with living, breathing people inside them in real time. Then, few saw it as a teaching moment: a moment that we could learn from. Since then, the majority of us have activated our analytical minds and searched for understanding regarding the events that took place on that day and the series of happenings that led to that disaster.
As we remember that day, those who were injured and killed, those who demonstrated the apex of human bravery, and those who have since perished in events related to 9/11, I ask that we contemplate a basic truth exemplified on that day:
When People Lie, People Die
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in one of his many non-”I Have A Dream”-speeches, said this about what I’ll call the Continuum of Lying:
Jesus realized something basic: that if a man will lie, he will steal. And if a man will steal, he will kill. So instead of just getting bogged down on one thing, Jesus looked at him and said, “Nicodemus, you must be born again.” In other words, “Your whole structure must be changed.”
In other words, many big, huge, terrible, evil things start off itty bitty lies. Lies that went unchallenged. Fallacies that were presented and accepted. Falsehoods that are seen then ignored.
Enough!
Barack Obama said this plainly during his Acceptance Speech at the DNC in Denver. It bears repeating and applying here when talking about how we need to stop accepting the lies that politicians tell. (…cough…John McCain…cough…Sarah Palin…cough…)
I don’t like being lied to, and frankly, you shouldn’t either. It’s insulting and disrespectful, and it leads to people getting harmed, hurt, and killed.
So in rememberance of 9/11, its victims, and its survivors, let’s reject lying in our homes, lying in our workplaces, and lying in our politics. Who knows how many lives we can save by just doing that.
One Love. One II.
To Attack Community Organizers is to Attack Black Political Thought
September 8, 2008
This piece is part of Day of Blogging for Community Organizing Justice: “I Am a Community Organizer”.
Republicans don’t like Community Organizers. Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin ridiculed them specifically in their speeches last Wednesday at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN. This modern crop of Republicans has demonstrated how much they hate grassroots organizing in many ways with their hatred or unionization, their damnation of dissenters inside and outside of the government, and their willingness to ignore the rights, thoughts, and actions of the people of foreign nations that they decide to invade destroy occupy “help”.
While these positions on their own are outrageous and not in line with the ideals of the America that Republicans claim to love so much, it is consistent with another thread of modern-day Republican rhetoric and practice: racism.
For every generation leading up to [and including] the current one, the only foray for Black people to better their lives collectively has been through community organizing. When I say community organizing, I don’t just mean the highly visible ones like Malcolm & Martin, I mean the invisible ones that most of us will never hear or speak of that sacrifice their time, treasure, and talents so that people’s day-to-day lives are better and that their voices are heard. This is the path that nearly all Black politicians have taken to attain the capital needed to even run for office, let alone win. For one to minimize the work of organizers is to minimize the thoughts, actions, and efforts of all minorities and underrepresented groups who wish to uplift themselves individually and as a whole.
Palin…The Conservative Trojan Horse
September 4, 2008
Governor Sarah Palin. I am speechless really. I have been following the coverage since she she was announced as McSame’s VP candidate. Later on I will outline the outright lies she spewed in her speech last night. But first, let me say that I am scared with this Palin nomination because I fear that Democrats will underestimate her ability to sway people toward McCain. Someone once told me that people never remember what you say, they only remember how you make them feel. And if that logic holds true, Palin’s life story is very compelling and will go a long way towards her becoming the Trojan Horse that gets McSame in the White House. Now mind you I have said nothing about issues (of which I disagree with her on so many levels) but in the end issues really don’t matter. And if you don’t believe me, check out this excerpt from George Lakoff,
But the Palin nomination changes the game. The initial response has been to try to keep the focus on external realities, the “issues,” and differences on the issues. But the Palin nomination is not basically about external realities and what Democrats call “issues,” but about the symbolic mechanisms of the political mind — the worldviews, frames, metaphors, cultural narratives, and stereotypes. The Republicans can’t win on realities. Her job is to speak the language of conservatism, activate the conservative view of the world, and use the advantages that conservatives have in dominating political discourse.
Democrats, if you want to win, realize that for as much as issues matter, you can’t do anything about the issues until you win so I beg that anyone supporting Obama imagine that you are the perpetual underdog until the polls close November 4th. Below is a clip from the Daily Show that debunks this whole gender card foolishness followed by an abbreviated breakdown of how Palin lied to America last night.
If that wasn’t enough, here is a more detailed fact-based analysis of how she lied in her unusually cynical speech, (Thanks Laurin!)
Fact Check of Governor Palin’s Speech Read more
Reactions to Sarah Palin
September 4, 2008
It’s taking me much longer than I anticipated to wrap my head around the DNC. Nevertheless, life, and politics, go on.
Now that the Republicans have a Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, a good friend of mine and of The SuperSpade’s has some reactions to her selection and her speech.
Below are links to Clarence Wardell III’s Giant Steps blog, which has two posts on Palin & much more great content.
On the Palin Pick
By picking Palin, McCain has made himself out to be a hypocrite and liar. The immediate instinct is to react as Obama’s communication’s director did, and talk about how much Palin is unqualified, but that is not the winning attack line, and Democrats would be wise to stay away from this as much as possible. Based on Obama’s response to the Palin nomination on Friday, he gets it, which isn’t surprising at all. One thing we’vecome to find out about Obama is that he’s much more politically savvy than people tend to give him credit for being. By attacking on the front of Palin’s inexperience the Obama campaign opens themselves up to the response that she’s qualified as Obama (which is not true). The central line of attack must be that it was not Obama who thought he lacked experience, but McCain who thought Obama lacked experience. With this pick McCain has shown that either:
- He’s a liar and Obama does have the appropriate experience, or that
- Palin is inexperienced too, and he just picked someone who is not the most qualified.
However, he can’t have it both ways.
Read more of the “On the Palin Pick” post.
Reactions to Palin’s Speech
Some have commented that this speech was on par with the Obama speech of 2004. I have to laugh at this, because for one the speech that Sarah Palin read was clearly written by someone for her, packed with about 30 minutes of lines pulled straight out of the McCain commercials we’ve seen for the past month. Obama’s speech was written by him, and then tweaked by others. Palin’s was a speech predicated on division, while Obama’s was a salvo for unity. For all the energy put into the conservative base by the Palin pick, I can only imagine that her speech tonight did the same for the liberal base.
Read more of the “Reactions to Palin’s Speech” post.
One Love. One II.
