How can we take racism seriously<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When the charge of racism is used as often as the English definite article? I've long maintained that someone who exploits racism for gain is no\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2011\/12\/how-can-we-take-racism-seriously.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How can we take racism seriously\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the charge of racism is used as often as the English definite article? 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{"id":2950,"date":"2011-12-12T09:39:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-12T09:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2011\/12\/how-can-we-take-racism-seriously.html"},"modified":"2011-12-12T09:39:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-12T09:39:00","slug":"how-can-we-take-racism-seriously","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/daffeythoughts\/2011\/12\/how-can-we-take-racism-seriously.html","title":{"rendered":"How can we take racism seriously"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This is, of course, difficult to prove, and can only be maintained in the area of \u2018hunch.\u2019\u00a0 Proving ulterior motives is, as we all know, next to impossible.\u00a0 Plus, racism is the opposite side of the \u2018only thing Americans care about\u2019 coin (the other being sex).\u00a0 As far as American popular meme is concerned, all evil is racism and if it ain\u2019t racism, it\u2019s not that important.\u00a0 Therefore it\u2019s all around us like the air we breath. <\/p>\n

Nevertheless, after the first three years of President Obama\u2019s term, it\u2019s not hard to see two things.\u00a0 First, there are obviously still racists in America.\u00a0 Second, there are obviously people who exploit racism for various \u2013 in this case political \u2013 agendas.\u00a0 Has some of the rhetoric and images tossed at President Obama been racist?\u00a0 You bet.<\/p>\n

But on the other side, have there been obvious attempts to exploit racism in order to shut down debate and advance various topics and legislation?\u00a0 Oh yeah.\u00a0 So here we have<\/a> an editorial cartoon portraying President Obama as a skunk.\u00a0 Not particularly imaginative.\u00a0 But nothing unusual.\u00a0 That sort of things goes back to the beginning of the office.\u00a0 Look at cartoons of presidents over the years.\u00a0 Many of them have been far from flattering.\u00a0 I grew up in the 1980s, and I can assure you that many of the portrayals of Reagan were far worse than this.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s in our blood to be offended when such images are applied to people we like, so it\u2019s not surprising that President Obama\u2019s supporters would not like the characterization.\u00a0 But racist?\u00a0 How is it racist?*\u00a0 It\u2019s to make a point.\u00a0 Now I might be inclined to consider that it could be racist if it weren\u2019t for the fact that almost every non-flattering cartoon, almost every criticism of President Obama or his policies has been called racist for the last three years.\u00a0 And just like the endless attacks against Bill Clinton by the Republicans in the 90s eventually eroded the Republicans\u2019 credibility, I\u2019m afraid I\u2019ve heard the boy cry racist one too many times. <\/p>\n

Racism is a problem.\u00a0 Naturally.\u00a0 It probably always will be.\u00a0 But exploiting it, using it, even, dare I suppose, encouraging it just to score political points is no better.\u00a0 Not just because of the chance of keeping racism alive and well, but also because once you\u2019ve heard it a million times, and then a million more tomorrow, eventually it loses its punch.\u00a0 And that, we all know, is just when the issue raises its head in the worst possible way, only to find a public that has grown apathetic about the entire topic. <\/p>\n

*I admit I haven\u2019t seen the actual cartoon, but that\u2019s the result of crying wolf every time someone criticizes the President.\u00a0 I assume, at this point, that the charge of racism is simply political expediency, not based on reality.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"