I gotta quit listening to NPR news on my way to and from the mall every morning. The topics and perspectives presented are a little too revealing for me. For example...
Now I'd be the first to tell you that I'm not the sharpest tack in the box, and I'm sure no Harvard professor. I would hope, though, that I'd have sense enough to not follow a policeman - who has just come into my home and questioned me about my right to be there - out onto the porch to continue the discussion. Hello? Apart from the fact that the cop is armed, there's no point in fussing at him. No, I would do what many years of complaining to the wrong person finally taught me - call the turkey's superior, and then that person's superior, and so on until I find someone who can fix the wrong. (I don't know if the cop was a turkey or not - I'm just saying...you get my drift.)
Well, maybe Gates is young and experienced? Nope, turns out he's at least a year older than I am. Kinda rules that excuse out. :)
On my way to the mall this morning, NPR played an audio clip of Professor Gates stating that he now realizes how vulnerable black people are. Looking at Harvard's webpage that describes his accomplishments, I think he should have had this epiphany a while back. Otherwise, about whom has he been writing all this time?
No, I think Gates was supremely pissed off - as most all of us would've been - and is now using this as an opportunity to make a point...loudly. Or, maybe he's having a hard time admitting he shouldn't have followed the cop out onto the porch. Whatever the cause for it, I find his rhetoric to be unduly incendiary and racially divisive, and personally I'm embarrassed for him. Even I know better.
Furthermore, I voted for Obama, have the highest respect for his rationality and ability to see both sides of a situation, and will vote for him again, but honestly - huh? I'm hoping there's some serious reflection going on about that "stupidly" comment.
Then, on my way home from the mall, NPR reported on the declining number of members in the Southern Baptist Convention. Before this I didn't realize that the SBC says women can be spiritual leaders of other women and of children, but never, NEVER, can women be spiritual leaders of men. HUH??? As I pulled the Explorer back onto the pavement, I thanked God that I wasn't raised a southern baptist.
One of the commenters said that in a hundred years people will look back on the way the SBC treats women today and label it as slavery. Why so long? Good grief.
OK, who else wants to be picked on? (Sorry, Kath - I'll get back to my innocuous/inane photo posts now.)
2 comments:
Yeah - 100 years seems a long time to figure out the obvious! Geez.
Regarding the Gates issue: I don't think we'd have heard a thing about it if Gates didn't know the President. While I think that Obama could have diverted the question - I can also imagine him standing up there, with a lifetime of racial issues rambling around in his head - and here he was, the President, with all eyes on him. I think if I had been in his position I would have talked too, even though the smart move would have been to keep my mouth shut!
You're absolutely right - being in front of a crowd makes must of us say/do things we wouldn't ordinarily. I'm just as impressed as I can be by Obama's usual grace and sincerity. I doubt he'll be unprepared like that again.
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