Cedar Interviews Dyson - Redneck Later Proves Their Point

As a student of psychology and sociology, I have always found de facto racism to be extremely interesting in terms of how it rears it’s subtle but still ugly head in society.

This type of racism interests me because as we live in a more socially conscious society, we find that black jokes and white-only drinking fountains are almost extinct, while gestures that tend to be more insinuating are so common that we tend to not even know it’s occurring, or cover it up with “well I have friends who are black!”

We see examples of this in the “liberal media” on a weekly basis, whether it’s the “finding versus looting” captions below, or entire nation-wide efforts to find missing white teens in Aruba or via Amber alerts for missing white children, or the unbelievable media barrage that occurs with the murder of attractive women by their husbands.

Either black girls don’t ever go missing or get murdered by their husbands, or there is some unintentional, societal racism here propagated in part by our media.

Now, this needs to be said:

This is one of thousands examples why those who are more aware of this stuff are not only in disagreement but in absolute shock when the tired “liberal media” sound byte is uttered by the Right, and it’s why I truly believe conservatives who believe there is a liberal media are either not educated, or unwilling to understand the sophistication of cultural bias to even participate in this conversation intelligently.

While those on the Right cling to tabloid-esque botched Dan Rather investigations of the President’s military service as confirmation of their paranoia, the rest of us who are much more culturally aware, view all of this on much, much deeper and educationally mature level, and view those of differing opinions as children, as the neanderthals of society. It would be like explaining physics to a 4-year-old.

It’s why when conservative Bush supporters talk about racism, they don’t understand how incredibly ridiculous the rest of us think they sound. Call it elitist, I don’t care. We call you fucking morons.

Sam Cedar, pinch hitting for Franken last Thursday on Air America, gave a great interview to Dr. Michael Eric Dyson that I have posted below regarding Hurricane Katrina and much of the cultural/socioeconomic issues surrounding the storm regarding this subject.

Regular Bill Maher views will recognize Dyson as a rotating panel guest, who could probably be 10% more effective if Maher would ban comedians from his discussion table.

You can listen to the Dyson interview here...Warning – your conservative friends will just blink rapidly and change the dial:

"See, most people fail to understand that race played a huge role (in Katrina), but it doesn't mean necessarily racism, so that (people said) 'oh they're a bunch of black people so forget them.'

"No, this is how race operates. There's this set of expectations, there's an atmosphere, it's an environment. Whatever happened when the nation was transfixed during Natalie Halloway, but indifferent to Tameka Houston, is what happened in Katrina.

"However you explain it, whatever words you want to apply to that phenomenon, that if you're white and blonde - and God knows that if it's my daughter, I want every resource of the state to be deployed to help her - but that when black and latino women disappear, there's not eagerness, there's not anticipation, there's not use of the resource base, there's not appear to the nation's conscience in the same way to inflame the passions of the people to respond in a serious fashion.

"And that's what I'm talking about here...it's true the government may not have been able to get down there any quicker, because the ineptitude and the inexperience were devastating and the disinclination to use resources to help the public has been well documented, but they might well have tried.

"It's not simply a very narrow 1 to 1 relationship of 'ah ha, we hate black people!' It's about a set of expectations, the collective racial unconscious that gives us queues about who is important and who is not.

"I think Kanye West had it right, because he's not speaking about George Bush the individual when he said, 'George Bush doesn't care about black people.' What does he mean? He's not talking about George Bush the individual, he doesn't know him. He speaking about George Bush, the face of the government, George Bush the particular head of American Democracy. And when he says, 'not caring,' he's not talking about person sentiments that are sympathetic to black people, he's speaking about care in political terms. How do you measure that? Distributing resources in a timely fashion to people in crisis who need help, that's how we measure care..."

Now, in sharp contrast, almost as if on queue, the exact type of overt racism emerged via a caller who compliments the exact theme that Dyson is speaks of just moments before.

Have a listen to Clay from Louisiana, here:


I must add to all of this by saying that this entire theme doesn’t just apply to issues of race and culture. Almost everything this “uniter not a divider” Bush administration stands for is so divisive among our population, but divides us so predictably every time. The cultural centers, the colleges, the health food store goers, the intellectuals, the questioners, the scientists, the grass-roots organizers, the critical thinkers – they flock to one side, while the oversimplistic, uniformed people who respond best to fear and nationalism flock to the other.

Bush’s administration and philosophies of its supporters are predicated on a hyper-patriotic, over-nationalistic, heart string-tugging policies and speeches that evokes “us versus them,” over simplistic ways of looking at the world in terms of national security and terrorism. It’s as if the Bush Administration practices policy based on used by authors of fiction novels (see Star Wars). There’s the antagonist – terror, accompanied by the black pit of evil, and the good guys who can do no wrong, whatsoever – the USA.

I believe much of this is routed in Bush’s strong conservative Christian beliefs, which is a sect of religion that thrives upon good and evil, right and wrong, the hero against the enemy, etc. It taps into a primal yet incredibly basic formula on how to rally people and make them fight against an enemy, whether perceived or real, and anyone who disagrees with you is part of the problem, and sides with that enemy. It’s why countless whistleblower after whistleblower in this administration gets fired or smeared, and it all has to do with keeping the weaker minds hooked on the plot, if you will.

It should be no surprise then that the analogy with which liberals view conservatives, in terms protecting America the way a 5-year old protects mommy, holds true.

Want to try and warn people Saddam might not be seeking uranium from Niger? Your wife will pay the price. Want to try and see Bush speak if you’re opposed to his agenda? You’ll be kicked out of the venue. Want to try and show a movie detailing the Bush administration’s ties to the Saudi family and failure to act before 9/11? You’ll have bomb threats called into your theater. Feel like criticizing the Bush administration’s military policies despite the fact that you’re a war veteran and the accuser is not? You’ll be labeled a traitor. In short, even when the facts are completely against them, they’ll smear anyone who attempts to inject reason, as we have done to the Galileos throughout our history.

Bush-supporters, especially during difficult times, fail to examine what is right and just intellectually, while huddling around those who are like-minded for protection, and take their fears to the ballot box. Because after all, Bush’s entire agenda is marketed through fear, propaganda and symbolism, while destroying the very foundation of what those symbols represent (burn the flag? No way. Violate Constitutional law? No problem).

Think about the constant messages from this administration. Endless terror alerts before the election, and hardly any after. The gays want to destroy your family! Prescription drugs from Canada are unsafe! Social Security is going to leave us broke! The blacks are trying to gain access to college! Saddam is going to nuke us ASAP! When you’re on the wrong side of almost everything factually, you can’t get anything done unless you scare the shit out of people as a method of motivation.

As a liberal I can tell you I’ve always loved my country, kept an eye on my government, and have been proud to be an American. Through watching some of the Olympics I realized how much our national anthem, especially when played in front of a mostly non-American audience, still evokes emotions within me that I can’t explain. And that’s exactly the difference between liberals and conservatives. We love our country’s symbols – but we’re not hypnotized by them into poor decisions that hurt the very things those symbols represent.

Despite this, it no longer puzzles me that Constitutional values liberals, progressives, independents and libertarians are trying to preserve are not of importance to Bush supporters, and those who are voicing these concerns are lumped with the enemy to continue the simplistic view of a simple black and white world.

I have honestly never experienced a moment in history where such a large group of individuals were so collectively misinformed and misguided, and I hope I never have to see it again.