Patterico's Pontifications

12/6/2009

That Quote Most of You Called “Racist” Was Written by Robert Stacy McCain

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 9:26 pm



Whom I always liked, to be honest with you, as a funny and seemingly sensible guy. And I’m not saying that one racist/prejudiced quote brands you as a racist for all time. But at the same time, he wrote something that would make most of us cringe.

Earlier today I asked whether this quote is racist:

As Steffgen predicted, the media now force interracial images into the public mind and a number of perfectly rational people react to these images with an altogether natural revulsion. The white person who does not mind transacting business with a black bank clerk may yet be averse to accepting the clerk as his sisterinlaw, and THIS IS NOT RACISM, no matter what Madison Avenue, Hollywood and Washington tell us.

I asked readers to tell me whether you think this quote is racist. Many of you said that it is. I agree. As one commenter said: to be as charitable as possible, it is racially prejudiced.

The quote is from Robert Stacy McCain. Founding Bloggers asked McCain about the quote and he admitted the quote and claimed that it had been taken out of context:

We spoke at great length with RS McCain today, and we are satisfied with what he had to say about the above comments. To sum up, here is what he told us:

The quote about interracial marriage [The same one I quoted in this post — P] is taken out of context, and is more about ethnographic-genetic philosophy than race (our conclusion). While we personally do not accept the premise being discussed in the quote, to the degree which we can divine intent, we do not feel that McCain’s motive was any kind of overt racism. It is possible to be wrong on issues related to race without being racist. Some people will probably disagree with that conclusion but there you are.

They’re doing their best to be charitable, but the discomfort is palpable. As for “context”: if you want, you can read the quotes in their full context here, or an Internet Archive version of the quotes here.

For context, I am placing the full quote in the extended entry below. The reader can judge for himself or herself whether the context renders non-racist McCain’s observations about the “natural revulsion” that many people feel upon seeing images of interracial marriage.

By the way, I found the Founding Bloggers post linked at this very lengthy and thorough post that is very harsh to McCain. But the author also has plenty of evidence to back up much of what he has to say. It’s worth a click and a read.

I have much more discussion of the evidence at this page, but I think it’s too lengthy to include here. I think the evidence set forth there is quite compelling and interesting — and shows how McCain has made sort of half-assed attempts to deny, or implicitly deny, the quote. But when he was finally asked the question quite directly by the sympathetic site Founding Bloggers in the link above, he admitted it. And claimed he was taken out of context.

So let’s turn to the full context of the quote.

To be sure, McCain says some other stuff here that is not racist, and some stuff that is less racist than the part quoted above. But I keep coming back to his claim that “the media now force interracial images into the public mind” that that “a number of perfectly rational people react to these images with an altogether natural revulsion.”

And that “[t]he white person who does not mind transacting business with a black bank clerk may yet be averse to accepting the clerk as his sisterinlaw, and THIS IS NOT RACISM.

You can put as much context around that as you like. It still sounds like racism to me. But judge for yourself. Here’s McCain in his own words:

(more…)

Cloward/Piven and the Updated Deficit Chart

Filed under: Economics,Obama — DRJ @ 8:25 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

The original Obama Administration-CBO projected deficit chart:

null

From Doug Ross, the updated deficit chart shows the deficit is 25% higher than the original forecasts:

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The Cloward/Piven strategy is working. This is total economic meltdown.

— DRJ

Saturday Night Live: CrasherGate

Filed under: Humor,Obama — DRJ @ 7:04 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

The Tiger Woods segment on last night’s Saturday Night Live is getting the most attention but I think this segment is funnier:

Now it’s time for SNL to do a skit on Desiree Rogers.

— DRJ

BCS 2009 Bowl Games

Filed under: Sports — DRJ @ 5:30 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Tostito’s Fiesta Bowl: BCS #4 TCU vs #6 Boise State. TCU is #3 in the AP & USA Today polls. These two teams played last year in the Poinsettia Bowl. IMO, this is the BCS’s pathetic attempt to protect its teams from being beaten by a non-BCS team. It’s “separate but equal” for college football.

Here’s a link to the BCS bowl game schedule so you can check your favorite teams. I’m through giving the BCS publicity this week.

— DRJ

Is This Racism?

Filed under: Race — Patterico @ 3:28 pm



In my last post, I quoted an article and asked whether this is racism:

On the one hand, Ebonie Johnson Cooper doesn’t care that Tiger Woods’ wife and alleged mistresses are white because Woods is “quote-unquote not really black.”

“But at the same time we still see him as a black man with a white woman, and it makes a difference,” said Johnson Cooper, a 26-year-old African-American from New York City. “There’s just this preservation thing we have among one another. We like to see each other with each other.”

. . . .

“Had Barack had a white wife, I would have thought twice about voting for him,” Johnson Cooper said.

Most of you agreed that this was racist. Now, tell me whether you consider this to be an equally racist statement:

As Steffgen predicted, the media now force interracial images into the public mind and a number of perfectly rational people react to these images with an altogether natural revulsion. The white person who does not mind transacting business with a black bank clerk may yet be averse to accepting the clerk as his sisterinlaw, and THIS IS NOT RACISM, no matter what Madison Avenue, Hollywood and Washington tell us.

Let’s assume for the sake of argument* that a white person said this. Is it “racist”? Or “racialist”? Or something else?

And if you’re inclined to excuse this quote as non-racist, tell me this: how is it meaningfully different from what Ebonie Johnson Cooper said?

*For now, let’s treat this question as phrased: as a hypothetical. In a different post we can discuss whether someone actually said the quote. (Many will confidently claim that its provenance has been denied, but I’m not so sure about that. If someone says you said x and y — and you forthrightly deny x and issue vague statements about y, you haven’t denied y. But again, let’s save that debate for another post.) For now, the hypothetical question is: if someone said this, would it be racist?

If it’s context you’re looking for, the full context of the alleged quote is here.

EPA to Declare CO2 a Public Danger

Filed under: Environment,Obama — DRJ @ 3:27 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

The Wall Street Journal reports the Obama Administration’s EPA will declare CO2 a public danger as early as Monday:

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will early next week, possibly as soon as Monday, officially declare carbon dioxide a public danger, a trigger that could mean regulation for emitters across the economy, according to several people close to the matter.

Such an “endangerment” decision is necessary for the EPA to move ahead early next year with new emission standards for cars. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has said it could also mean large emitters such as power stations, cement kilns, crude-oil refineries and chemical plants would have to curb their greenhouse gas output.”

The EPA reportedly plans to establish “stringent” emission standards and large emitters are said to “cringe” at the costs of compliance, costs that will undoubtedly be passed on to consumers. Meanwhile, Obama can travel to Copenhagen and proclaim he’s doing all he can to fight climate change … except for this part:

“The UN estimates the 12-day “green” confab will produce 40,584 tons of CO2 equivalents, roughly equal to Morocco’s carbon footprint in 2006.”

Not to mention 1,200 limos and 140 private planes. That’s what I call an inconvenient truth.

— DRJ

Yes, There Is Racism in America

Filed under: Race — Patterico @ 11:02 am



SEK and other liberals often accuse conservatives of claiming there’s no racism in America. What nonsense. Why, here’s some racism right here:

On the one hand, Ebonie Johnson Cooper doesn’t care that Tiger Woods’ wife and alleged mistresses are white because Woods is “quote-unquote not really black.”

“But at the same time we still see him as a black man with a white woman, and it makes a difference,” said Johnson Cooper, a 26-year-old African-American from New York City. “There’s just this preservation thing we have among one another. We like to see each other with each other.”

The article says that many black women resent it when famous black men date or marry white women — and we learn Obama’s support from blacks may have been influenced by the face that he is married to a black woman:

Although a recent Pew poll showed that 94 percent of blacks say it’s all right for blacks and whites to date, a study published this year in Sociological Quarterly showed that blacks are less likely to actually date outside their race than are other groups.

“There is a call for loyalty that is stronger in some ways than in other racial communities,” said the author of the study, George Yancey, a sociology professor at the University of North Texas and author of the book “Just Don’t Marry One.”

The color of one’s companion has long been a major measure of “blackness” – which is a big reason why the biracial Barack Obama was able to fend off early questions about his black authenticity.

“Had Barack had a white wife, I would have thought twice about voting for him,” Johnson Cooper said.

You want an example of racism, liberals, you got it.

UPDATE: More from William Jacobson and JammieWearingFool.

SEK? Can we get an amen on how racist this is?


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