News and Politics | April 30, 2008 | 13 comments

Wright is Right - The Politicos Don't Get It

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brokenladder
As I explained in a response to Andrew Sullivan:

As an avid reader of your blog, and an ardent Obama supporter (formerly pushing for Ron Paul until his hopes fizzled out), my biggest disagreement with any of your positions has been over the Jeremiah Wright fiasco. Watching Wright's recent speeches, it seems clear to me that his logic and rationale are impeccable, and that they are simply obscured by his jarring defiance and the counter-intuitiveness of his positions - so much so that his detractors get away with simply taking it for granted that we should find his remarks offensive and outrageous. It is all the more conducive to that position that he may be hurting our man Obama. But to be frank, I have not seen a single intelligent repudiation of anything he said - not by you or Obama.

Like most who hold your view of him, I had started from the position that Wright's comment on the origin of HIV was alone enough to relegate him to the province of quackery. But it turns out there is at least some plausible evidence for this position, in works that Wright cited during a recent post-speech Q&A period. While those with expertise in genetics and/or epidemiology may see obvious deficiencies in that evidence, the fact that the likes of a Harvard researcher have devoted entire books [e.g. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0923550127] to the theory, coupled with numerous historical examples of government atrocities like the Tuskegee experiments, certainly at least elevates Wright's assertions from the cesspool of quack ideas like creationism (or theism for that matter), that garner far less media hysteria for their adherents.

Obama, lacking the facilities to translate for, or perhaps even comprehend him, has no recourse but to "denounce and distance". Even as Wright calls for intertribal reconciliation and cooperation, he's tarred-and-feathered as an apologist for black victimhood, over the mere suggestion that our leaders officially apologize for slavery. In light of all this, I think it's fair to say that Wright's "crowning achievement" has been to out-wonk the wonks. They must paint him as a madman, lest their whole ideological framework be contorted.

"A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate, because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can understand."
-- Bertrand Russell
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    brokenladder wrote response to linked item
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13 comments // Wright is Right - The Politicos Don't Get It

  • maasanova
  • soleil10
    • 0
      soleil10  
    • Divine perpective- Are you asking me a question?

      My comment was quite clear. Yes his IQ mut be good.

      I was questioning his EQ and SQ ?. It take these 3 Q to be smart in my opinion

      Concerning the media, their comments are for ratings mostly. I do not pay too much attention to the gossip.

      MY Direct TV has been gone for over a year. I feel much better

    • 4 years ago
  • DivinePerspective
  • soleil10
    • 0
      soleil10  
    • I heard Dawkins mentioning this in the interview that he gave in the movie Expelled.

      I was surprised because, it would be much harder for me to believe in such a possibity. In addition the next question would be: Who created theses higher intelligent beings.

      Yes I heard that you can retrace your DNA. I heard that we all come from one man and one woman 80,000 ago in Namibia Africa.

    • 4 years ago
  • brokenladder
    • 0
      brokenladder  
    • soleil10,

      What anti-Santa-Claus group or church do you belong to? :)

      When did "Dawlins" (think you mean "Dawkins") ever say we may have been created by intelligent beings from another planet?? I think you're thinking of someone else. "Modern" humans began to appear about 200,000 years ago on Earth, with no alien intervention that I'm aware of.

      I'm actually participating in the Genographics project, where my DNA is being analyzed to tell me about my lineage, like when my ancestors left Africa, and where they traveled in what time frame. There's no talk of aliens in the brochure they sent me. :)

    • 4 years ago
  • soleil10
    • 0
      soleil10  
    • Brokenladder- what atheist group or church do you belong to ? Do you believe like Dawlins that humans may have been created by some higher intleigent beings from another planet ?

    • 4 years ago
  • brokenladder
    • 0
      brokenladder  
    • soleil10,

      Watch that clip again. Wright asks whether that's an audience question, or specifically the moderator's question and grabs her paper out of her hand and says "it's your question" - so I do not think it was an audience question that she was just relaying. Then Wright simply asks, paraphrasing, "what's your church attendance like?" That's not an implication that she specifically isn't a "good church-goer", for she had the opportunity to say otherwise. I see it as more of a point on the fairness of such a question, considering a huge number of Americans go to church rarely if at all. I, for instance, am an ardent religion-bashing atheist of the Hitchens-Harris-Dawkins ilk.

      I think Wright could have been cooler under the collar, but he had every wright to take people to task for that kind of religion-as-a-litmus-test nonsense.

    • 4 years ago
  • jawnybnsc
  • soleil10
    • 0
      soleil10  
    • Ok here is an example

      I do not know if you saw the National press club video.

      There was a lady that was asking the repeating the individual question from the audience at the podium.

      I forgot exactly what the question was. I believe someone ask if Obama was a good membr of his church....something like that.

      The rev ask her if she remembered what her own pastor spoke about last Sunday. Without knowing her personnaly, he pretty much implied that she probably does not go to church herself or she would not remember what he sermon was if she went.

      This lady's job is to repeat the question of the audience, that's really all. He puts her on the spot and turn the question on her, pretty much mocking her and making some mocking allusions.

      An example like that tells a lot about a person to me.

      Thanks for telling me what brokenladder means. I hope the futur of your life will be much better.

    • 4 years ago
  • brokenladder
    • 0
      brokenladder  
    • Can you give an example of his "ridiculing" people? This is just more assertion that he acted badly, but you're not explaining what was bad about the way he acted. "Na na na"? What are you talking about? Show examples.

      My name is an allusion to defective DNA, which is a further allusion to being dealt an unfair hand in life. It has to do with growing up in poverty and foster care and other horrible things I went through when I was younger.

    • 4 years ago
  • soleil10
    • 0
      soleil10  
    • I saw him speak on video at the press club.

      Anyone with a good EQ and SQ would not act like he did. What a missed opportunity. He had been monsterized by the medias for weeks and could have proven them wrong. As a pastor, he could have shared how God did griee over so many things that are wrong and challenged us.

      Instead he reacted like a teenager trying to get even and ridiculing people like he is so right and theyr are so wrong.

      It was like na..na...na, I got you.

      Truly spiritual people with depth do not act like that

      I am sorry.

      By the way, is there a reason you picked the name broken ladder ? You do not have to tell me. I am just curious

    • 4 years ago
  • brokenladder
    • 0
      brokenladder  
    • More criticism unsupported by any rationale. What makes his social/emotional/spiritual I.Q. deficient?

      What makes you think he did not learn from Martin Luther King? It seems you haven't heard many King speeches.

    • 4 years ago
  • soleil10
    • 0
      soleil10  
    • Jeremiah Wright may have a lot of academic knowledge.

      Unfortunatly his social and emotional intelligent IQ is low.

      I like to add also that his spiritual IQ is deficient.

      He did not learned from Martin Luther King

    • 4 years ago
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