The Swash Zone contributor, Sheria, has written a thoughtful post about the Sherrod debacle. Sheria exposes Breitbart and FAUX New for what they truly are: purveyors of crass sensationalism and lies.
Shirley Sherrod and the Myth of Reverse Racism
As shameful as the firing of Shirley Sherrod based on false allegations was, it is also shameful how quick folks are to blame the Obama administration. Black folks who play in the white arena have always had to bend over backwards to combat accusations of reverse racism. The NAACP and the Obama administration acted quickly to refute any support of what appeared to be blatantly discriminatory statements by a federal employee; if it had turned out to be an accurate assessment and the NAACP and the administration had not swiftly condemned what much of white America is quick to call "reverse racism," then the condemnation of Obama and the NAACP would have been loudly proclaimed. Like it or not, it boils down to race. Being black in this society is a constant balancing act.
The Obama administration and the NAACP have publicly apologized to Ms. Sherrod. The Agricultural Department has offered Sherrod a new job. However, Andrew Breitbart, the imitation Glenn Beck, and the poster of the heavily edited video that made it appear that Sherrod was a supporter of racial discrimination, hasn't apolgized. In his appearance on Nightline Wednesday night, Breitbart relished the tempest that he stirred up with the selective clip of Sherrod's speech, a speech that rather than promoting racism was about racial reconciliation. Sherrod used her initial reaction to a white farmer's request for assistance 24 years ago when she worked for a nonprofit that assisted farmers to make her point that race should not be the issue and that the significant divide was haves and have nots, regardless of race. The white farmer and his wife, Roger and Eloise Spooner, were among the first to speak in defense of Sherrod, crediting her efforts 24 years ago with saving their farm.
However, Andrew Breitbart is not interested in truth but sensationalism and controversey. Appearing on Good Morning America after the entire video speech had been widely released, Breitbart appeared delighted with the hornet's nest that he intentionally stirred up, particularly the discomfort that it caused the Obama administration and the NAACP. Of course, he may have cause for delight. Instead of widely condemning Breitbart and later Fox News for choosing to release the highly edited clip, the attention has been on chastising the Obama administration for reacting too quickly to the video clip.
I wish that the administration had waited and gathered more facts. I wish that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack had given Sherrod the opportunity to explain. It appears that CNN the Atlanta-Journal Constitution used good old fashioned journalism and interviewed Sherrod and the Spooners. Evidently, Breitbart knows about as much about real journalism as I do about building a space shuttle.
I don't believe that the Obama administration is above reproach in all of this. I want this administration to stop letting Beck, Breitbart, and the Tea Party play the tune and call the steps and I think that it is important that we send a clear message that we actively support soundly kicking purveyors of lies and half-truths in their yellow journalism keyboards. However, at the same time, we must stop allowing these rabid, lying, rabble rousing wingnut lunatics to perpetrate their faux news, then sit back and laugh while progressives eat their young.
The Obama administration acted rashly based on intentionally misleading information and the apology offered to Ms. Sherrod was absolutely necessary. However, progressives need to turn our attention to the real culprits, Andrew Breitbart and Fox News. Divide and conquer is an old adage but it still applies unless we refuse to be distracted by lies and distortions from the real issues.
A recap of the story by newsy.com:
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8 comments:
As I commented on SZ this is an excellent, level headed approach to a very sad occurance that never should have happened. Hopefully, we've learned a thing or two, but I'm still a little rattled, i.e., pissed.
Shaw - your Tea Party Jesus isn't working.
Thanks for the thoughtful perspective.
I'm not sure how the administration can fight back without getting into the mud itself, which will just egg these guys on. What must happen, as you say, is for progressives to stop the circular firing squad and take aim at the real enemy. I find that ridicule accompanied by logic can actually drive the righties a little nuts.
Huffington Post has become a stealth for the Republican party; I've quite reading it.
The Nation, which out to know better, refers the teabaggers as expressing "populist rage" when it's nothing but the usual vile racism dressed up in a different coat.
Any number of progressive writers, bloggers, and commenters take the president to task for not having accomplished the political equivalent of stopping a planet in its orbit, reversing its rotation with a flick of his finger, and sending it back in the other direction.
It's just plain tiresome.
If you have the time and are willing, I would appreciate your reading and commenting this entry that I wrote last week. Thanks in advance.
P.S. I just got back from the Sox-Mariners game. Lester gave up one hit in seven innings and was on the hook for the loss. Ouch.
K, I couldn't agree with you more.
I'd love to read the link you provided, but it's not working for me. could you post the url address?
Thanks. And thanks for coming by and commenting.
Lester is my favorite player. I admire him so much.
Sorry about the link! Try this:
http://killiansaid.blogspot.com/2010/07/elephant-in-room.html
This is a rant, but I'm guessing that you share my frustrations:
http://killiansaid.blogspot.com/2010/07/thunderbolts-of-certitude.html
Apologies for the length.
K and Shaw - I'm alway delighted to see others agree with me on our progressive friends taking aim at the president for every damn thing. It's not really very intelligent thinking. I'm with you on Huff Post and have felt that way for quite some time. I've taken The Nation off my blog roll. I don't have any more patience with them than I do the Tea Baggers.
At any rate, I've gotten more out of Sheria's post than most others.
Citizen K, I read your link "The Thunderbolts of Certitude" and have it linked on the top of my sidebar. It was a wonderful tract on what's happening, and the childish impatience we're seeing from Mr. Obama's base.
tnlib, I urge you to read it.
K, my nephew and his wife live in Seattle--she's a native, he's a Boston transplant.
Kevin
Xenia
tnlib: I can't give up on The Nation: I've been reading it for 33 years, plus I know a couple of people there. My gripe with them is less about their and more that they're missing the boat on the real story. The danger is on the right, and I believe they have fundamentally misread the nature of it.
I've cancelled my subscription to Rolling Stone (I didn't like it that much anyway) and quit reading Huffington Post. When I see Arianna, I'm inevitably struck by her limitations: She isn't that bright.
Shaw: Thanks! I thought it might register with you. I have a neighbor -- someone old enough to know better -- who's completely down on Obama for not pursuing single-payer. He listens with the attention of a teabagger when I tell him that getting fifty senate votes for that -- never mind sixty -- would have been a miracle. And then what would we have had? Fifty votes and nothing else.
Some of these people would rather lose nobly than take what they can get. I'm not a huge Rahm Emmanuel fan, but I understand his frustration with this attitude.
I wonder if Xenia showed at the Bellevue Arts & Crafts Show this weekend.
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