I didn’t have much to say (obviously) about this weekend’s Glenn Beck rally on the Mall. I spent Saturday afternoon on the golf course (shooting a 77 on the par 72 Miramar golf course, with an inexcusable double bogey 6 on the par 4 eighteenth), and flew three flights on Friday on one of the sweetest days of the summer. The air itself being like fine white wine, if white wine were actually blue and maybe just a little bit turbulent on the coastal transition. Two-thirds of my guest pilots were overwhelmingly female, as a consequence of the fact that I briefed two of the three events, and briefers get to pick.
Almost entirely on weight and balance considerations, I assure you. Former USAF F-16 jock Pokey being a wee, slip of a thing, and your host remaining a man of a certain, shall we say, consequence. When it comes to weight and balance. (Pokey’s call sign being very well earned, I might point out. Deliberation in his pre-start routine far exceeding the normal requirements of key in, mixture rich, fuel selectors on, carb heat off, prime and crank.)
Which, anyway.
I’m not a particular fan of Glenn Beck, don’t dislike him either. Even while, as a student of American history, I recognized that religious revivals weave a recurrent thread through our national fabric, although somewhere between 300-500k of our fellow citizens peaceably assembling – and taking their trash home with them – is certainly more than just a blip on the radar. I just don’t see how this particular iteration will do all that much to sort out the national mess we find ourselves in. As individuals, I think that turning to God in times of trouble – and other times too – is a right and proper thing to do. But as an inheritor of the Protestant work ethic, I firmly believe that God will turn right back around and tell us, individually, to work a little harder in our own little spheres of influence. The harder our work, the greater His providence and so on.
So I regarded the 8/28 event with about the same reptilian indifference as one of my beloved wife’s favorite shows on the cooking channel: Greatly good for them as needs it, of no essential consequence to the rest of us. Although I am perhaps even now finding some linkage between weight and balance calculations in the mighty Varga 2150A Kachina and the Hobbit’s entertainment preferences.
But be that as it may.
I turned to those who were paying attention, and found out that the folks gathering on the National Mall were “overwhelmingly white,” at least as characterized by the overwhelmingly white news media that covered the event.
I have just one question, for all concerned: What the hell does that even mean?
Put another way, by one far more eloquent than I: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
I guess we all need to keep dreaming.
Ross Douthat’s op-ed on this is quite good (and, white as he is, he entirely missed The All Important Rassenpolitik -oops, entschuldigung fur das kleine slip…- aspect of this…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/30/opinion/30douthat.html?_r=3&ref=opinion
Of all the things I miss about the US (and am very soon to be back to), our national obsession ain’t high on that list…
By pure chance, I happened to click on the streaming link sometime at night, having no sense of the time, and got to watch most of it live, including Glenn’s, Sarah’s, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece’s speeches. None of them had the fire and fervor of Dr. King himself, but it was all good. I would have liked to have seen a powerful gospel choir in the program.
There were stirring moments. One of the most stirring, actually, came tonight, watching the perfectly timed (10:00 am sharp) flyover by precise formation of Canadian geese. That was Divine for sure.
It was all good. We have yet to see the Dr. King of today, wherever he is, find his voice. Let Freedom Ring, America.
Best regards, Peter Warner.
“Overwhelmingly white” in the minds of the Lame Stream Media means that they were bad people, whose views should not be taken into account.
Of course most of those bad people will go out and vote this year; and each one of their votes will count for just as much as the votes of the dead voters in the Chicago cemeteries. The difference is that live bad people will vote just once–and the graveyard crew will vote early and often.
Some parts of that great speech, and Rev. King was a rhetoritican par excellance, that get overlooked: We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
======
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Seems like the good Rev. didn’t see it as only a black thing.
As for the Restoring Honour thing being “overwhelmingly white,” if I recall, the shots of tailgate parties at football games, both pro and college, are “overwhelmingly white.” Does that make tailgaters racist too?
An irrelevant aside, every time I read “Varga 2150A” I seem to add an i and transpose the r & g, coming up with a little blue plane.
MLK was also all for set asides for blacks and special treatment, regardless of his ringing speech. The man was a socialist through and through.
King’s rhetoric is much like that of a lot people, they put their own stamp on what was said, and make it say what they want to hear. That’s why a vapid, empty suit was elected POTUS in 2008. It was also why Germany got Hitler, and Russia got Lenin and Stalin.
I’m sure there is a very close connection with weight and balance calculations and the Hobbit’s TV viewing habits. There is also something to be said for the consumption side as well. I know from personal experience
At that time, in the context of our culture as it was at that point in time some set asides and special treatment were understandable, and, I think, proper. Not unlike giving a child a step stool to stand on to reach a shelf. But at some point that step stool becomes unnecessary and can be put away. (no, I’m not calling blacks then or now children, just using an analogy to show that some tools or aids, while useful for a time, at some point become unnecessary.)
Those things were never appropriate, Joe. You can ruffle through a lot of the writings of Tom Sowell and see that blacks were actually advancing at the time without such things, and the Civil Rights Act and other pieces of that schemozzle actually set blacks back and they have been declining ever since.
They are now far worse than they were when I was born in the early 50s.
QM, a classic example of this were the desegregation of all the all-black high schools in the inner cities (if just one, usually called “Central” High as in Louisville, Little Rock, etc.) in the late sixties when busing hit its stride. It exploded the black leadership cadres–Principals, Administrators, teachers and coaches by dispersing them to other schools and thus in practical fact resulting in black children actually coming under the influence of far FEWER successful black role models/authority figures. The idea that blacks couldn’t academically compete with whites in all-black schools is also belied by the fact–as Thomas Sowall has pointed out–that in the 1890s there was an all-black school in Wash DC within walking distance of the Supreme Court whose reading comprehension scores were the highest in the city–black OR white.
That’s just one of the nails you’ve hit on the head. We’ve also so softened expectations we let ‘em off easy. Then, when they can’t do the work, we accuse the world of racism. Sorry, they’re simply lazy, and/or have parents (assuming it’s in the plural) who don’t care a whit whether you do the work or not.
We’ve done blacks, and now so-called Hispanics, no favors with that trash.
Hmmm…I guess I’m thinking more of the ending of certain special treatments – the “no blacks allowed” signs at lunch counters, the “whites only” rest rooms, drinking fountains, and back of the bus kind of thing.
A white friend of my told me of some time he spent in the deep south. He got on a bus, and just went to the back of it. The driver stopped, told him to get to the front, the back was where the n****rs sat. Wouldn’t move until he came to the front. That was in ’62.
That I have no trouble with. I remember the colored restrooms and asking my mother about them, who responded in the half angry way parents do when asked something in public better left unasked.
Reminds of a story from the Navy when a diver was going over the side of a Carrier in Norfolk and asked the Quarterdeck Watch Officer to pass the word to secure the heads. word was passed and the diving crew went to the barge to prepare for the dive. Just as the diver was about to go into the water, someone flushed one of the WCs.
So, up comes the dive crew chief to the Quarterdeck and reiterated the request a bit more forcefully, and pointed to the offending outlet. The QDWO replied, “but that’s from the Officer’s Head.” To which the crew chief replied “and you think Officer’s S__t is any different from Enlisted S__T?”
People are people, and I couldn’t care less about the melanin content of their skin. All I’ve ever cared about was their character, and I’ve known good and bad of every skin color.
While I don’t personally remember it, being only 82, my grandmother did, since she was born in 1865 and learned of it in person from her parents, and the Underground Railroad of the War Between the States was inspired and in many cases carried out by white folks. This was in the days before we white folks were demonized for our skin color by our darker brethren. Several pundits on the Internet have noted that those with empty minds and little energy for research to find real arguments to support their claims, will howl ‘racist’ at anyone who thinks differently than they.
Tut-tut, people. Just as success in selling real estate is all in “location-location-location”, success in thinking, which is really hard, is in “research-research-research”, a fact which the mainstream media seems to have forgotten.
Marianne, who’s a bit cranky this morning having read The Houston Chronicle and found it sloppy and incorrect, as usual.
“by white folks.” Yup, and Quakers, too, lots of ‘em.
P.s. Oh, and my congratulations to you, Ma’am, on surviving that horribly bloody 20th Century!
And not just “white folks,” but Southern white folks. Good post Marianne.
Clarity thy name is Marianne Matthews. So my question for you dear lady is – where is your blog?
I was at the rally as wingman for my stockbroker and his wife. It really was a church service, and quite low-key. I kept thinking that there are a lot of individuals all around, for disparate reasons. The rally was much bigger than the 12/31 2000 Millennium celebration at the same location (which had Sofia Loren, Liz Taylor and President Clinton as draws, plus the entire Washington Monument rigged with plenty of fireworks).
I kept looking for the counter-protesters, but saw not one. I had some questions. Like “In a world that knows about single nucleotide polymorphisms, why are you harping on melanin distribution? Your world outlook may need some updating from the 19th Century.” The line “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” got a lot of applause from the polite and receptive crowd. An American crowd, not a [subdivision label}–American crowd.
An indication of just how deeply ingrained the “sin of whiteness” is in the psyche of the left, may be seen in a story which took place almost 30 yrs ago in Louisville. Our neighborhood assoc in “Old Louisville” (that area between the CBD and the U. of L) the St. James/Central Park assoc, hired–with our dues, natch, plus with a grant from the City (read: our pocket money once removed via taxes) a young, “hip” female “urban planner” type fresh out of U of L to help as a grant-writer, news-letter gal,etc., for our assoc. to further “development”/beautification/recreation projects mainly for Central Park where she was housed rent-free in extra ofc space in the 5th Dist Police Station located within Park boundaries. Natch, first thing, she was off to an “urban planning” conference in Philly and tour of the “inner city” (on our dime) for tips on neighborhood “renovation” etc. Once back she reported “lessons learned” via our neighborhood newsletter. So far, so good, right?
Well, in the body of the “report” while discussing comparable neighborhoods to ours and how they were handling/solving a variety of problems, she just couldn’t help her liberal, lefty self in allowing that, while there were many things to be learned and emulated from the approaches taken in Philly, the one caveat was that they all seemed to be: (her words) “…..’unfortunately’ overwhelmingly white….”
Insulted with our own dime…
And the REALLY sad part is that I don’t think she really thought/realized she was saying anything untoward…I mean, after all, in HER world…the circles within which she moved, was educated and socialized in…standard multi-culti PC group-think..par for the course..
And that was over 30 yrs ago.
,
*Sorry–mentally riffed on Lex’s title. My gal 30 yrs ago actually used the term “EMBARRASSINGLY WHITE” to describe those neighborhoods in Philly that she toured..
An indication of just how deeply ingrained the “sin of whiteness” is in the psyche of the left
And still is. I still cringe in sadness and repressed anger when I think of my college experiences in the education field. They tried so hard to make me feel bad for the color of my skin, despite the content of my character and the inter-racial breadth of my relationships, experiences and behavior.
*stopping before I remember too much and get even angrier*
although from Bowling Green, i have spent a lot of time right at the silos visiting college friends. never know when you will run into another fine member of the commonwealth
So, VX, you know how to pronounce “Louisville” properly then, eh?
Loo uh vull
And remember to swallow the lls, Graig–can’t let em trail on now…
PS: And I should hasten to add that our neighborhood was a fairly mixed-race affair–with black, asian physicians, lawyers and secretaries alike–to be seen on the park tennis courts equally as much as the whites..although, of course, still a minority of the total neighborhood population..
The “whiteness” of the crowd was just part of several rhetorical devices used by the Lamestream Media to denigrate the rally, its participants and whatever significance it might have. It was just part of the script.
Well I hate to throw a cold dose of reality on those journa-liberalists, but MLK’s “I Have a Dream” audience was waaaaaay past 51% black. And no brown latins anywhere.
Seems that in the USA at current you’re judged by the colour of your skin only if you’re white and if you are you’re automatically judged to be a racist religious fanatic…
I wasn’t there so I don’t know what it was like. I read about it in the media and I therefore still don’t know. This race thing is getting to me. I”m starting to be offended everytime its pointed out that I am white with a tone that suggests there is something wrong with being so. I didn’t plan on being white just as I’m confident someone who is black, brown, etc. didn’t plan on being whatever they are. It just happens, I think, by the grace of God. Something that sought to celebrate that grace sure seems to rile those who go out of their way to remind us how offensive it is to do so. Its frankly very tiring and counterproductive to keep hearing such utter nonsense. Its gotten to the point that those suffering from such intolerance can’t recognize their own contempt for everyone else. Too bad so many seem to fall for that but mankind has shown this part of his nature since recorded history has made us aware that we are the first generations of people to not get along. What seems missing is the close correlation of just this intolerance with the butcher’s bills of history.
Its only a matter of time.
Something I will never understand: Judging the “acceptability” of an event based on the melanin content of the crowd who freely choose to attend, or not to attend.
Should I choose to attend an event, I can do so in no other way than as a white male in my latish 40′s; it’s not within my power to control my race, my sex, my age. Because this is not within my power to control, I do not decide which events I will or will not attend based on these factors.
I decide which event to attend (or not) based on a few simple choices:
1) Is it worth my time?
2) Will I enjoy the content or learn something interesting from it?
3) Do I support the message being put forward (if any) to the extent of being willing to be publicly associated with it?
Generally (some exceptions), I will have no way of knowing the ethnic diversity (or lack thereof) of an event’s audience until the event is underway. And even more generally I could care less – - it’s not a dog show and I’m not a dog.
If an event with the proclaimed & apparently honest purpose of restoring greater honor and dignity to our nation and spotlighting notable people from many diverse backgrounds draws somewhere upwards of a half-million people freely choosing to attend, yet remains “overwhelmingly white” when conducted in the heart of a city with an “overwhelmingly black” resident population (DC demographics show 55+% black as of 2007) that tells me one thing very clearly:
That being, the people who chose NOT to show up are the ones who might have had racially-motivated reasons for doing so.
Well said, sir.
Tsk, tsk, tsk. Sarge, you clearly don’t understand how racist that post makes you look. You’re probably embarrassingly white, too, I’ll bet.
I have to take my Beck in fairly small doses, but I do somehow learn a bit about the Founders on his nightly show, and I admit I’ve yet been able to last through an entire hour show. That said, IMHO, he makes more sense than many of them out there, albeit I must take some of what he says with a good-sized grain of salt. Like Old Ronnie Rayguns said. . . .”trust, but verify”.
One thing that DID upset me a bit was the reporting of crowd size. The good ol’ MSM insisted on maintaining that there were ‘tens of thousands’ in attendance, when anyone anywhere near a TV could see that there were HUNDREDS of thousands packing the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial almost to the Washington Monument.
Zipper
I was there — if only to help show the flag and scare-the-poop outta the folks at the opposite end of the Mall.
It WAS a “mostly” white crowd but then again, last time I checked so was our nation. There were minorities of all types in the crowd, but the DNA-demographics was far less important than the other measures of the crowd’s “diversity”:
I met and ended-up hanging-out with a USA SGT (retired — but with CIB and purple-heart) who is now a pastor, his lovely wife, his adopted daughter and son-in-law (who are now small-biz owners struggling to stay solvent). Everyone was friendly (except for a couple moonbat provocateurs), unfailingly polite, neat, and positive in their attitudes.
Like me, a lot who were there were not necessarily there for Glen Beck — he was just a catalyst. Many who I talked to were there to honor our veterans and, even moreso, to show the incumbent leadership in DC what they likely have coming for them on 02 NOV 2010.
Those who conspire (and they do) to keep our Nation weak, revel in their success at dividing us by the color of our skin. The George Soros, Eli Parisers and Carl Popes, etal, work long and hard to ensure that we will never see a day that the race card won’t be played, if held.
It’s working well with the Hispanic, Asian and other groups who find comfort in making an enclave of their area. Support is found through our notion of political correctness which is simply cultural Marxism.
Say it isn’t so!!!!1!11!111!!!! Linkage between epicurean delights prepared so lovingly and which, of course, are fondly consumed to please the spousal unit, to whom you are trothed, and the girth-nee-mass-nee-butt-spreading of the pilot of your esteemed favorite vehicle? Oh, the horrors of a misspent youth!
Personally, I believe it to be the Guinness……..
Subsunk
It’s that misspent youth coming back to haunt him in the guise of a lessened metabolic rate coupled with a happy marriage.
I was talking with my boss we were comparing notes. I live in constant stress at home because an unhappy marriage and can’t lose weight as a result. He’s living with a happy marriage and can’t lose weight because life is so sedate and bucolic. It seems the problem is marriage, hang the rest.
Imagine if they’d said a crowd was “overwhelmingly black”.
“Look at all the darkies!” Wouldn’t be cool. You’d think we’d have come further by now.
Racists dominate the left. Always have. Always will. As a result, they can’t leave it alone. It’s like the Nazis and Jews. Seems every leftist group has it bete noir.
In this case, a bete blanc.
LOL!
The sermon at church this weekend contained the nugget, “God works when YOU work.” Not that that is the ONLY time He works but it was a nugget.
But let’s never believe that “God helps those who help themselves.”
Amen, ‘cuz the next step is to think “God saves those who save themselves”
The sermon was more along the lines of “get up of your duff”. You know the old joke:
Old Mrs. Watkins awoke one spring morning to find that the river had flooded the entire first floor of her house. Looking out of her window, she saw that the water was still rising. Two men passing by on a rowboat shouted up an invitation to row to safety with them.
“No, thank you,” Mrs. Watkins replied. “The Lord will provide.”
The men shrugged and rowed on. By evening, the water level forced Mrs. Watkins to climb on top of the roof for safety. She was spotted by a man in a motorboat, who offered to pick her up.
“Don’t trouble yourself,” she told him. “The Lord will provide.”
Pretty soon, Mrs. Watkins had to seek refuge atop the chimney. When a Red Cross cutter came by on patrol, she waved it on, shouting, “The Lord will provide.”
So the boat left, the water rose, and the old woman drowned. Dripping wet and thoroughly annoyed, she came through the pearly gates and demanded to speak to God. “What happened?” she cried.
“For cryin’ out loud, lady,” God said. “I sent three boats.”
Yeah…it was that kind of sermon.