Yes, John, I loved it! Your Mom is a very wise woman. And Anne Wortham demonstrates, if any evidence was needed, that you can be an academic AND a conservative. Thanks for sharing her high quality intellect with us.
Platt On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 4:15 PM, John Carl <[email protected]> wrote: > Ah, that proper balance. Being a Libra, I'm all about the balance. So... > a > present for you Platt > > On Fri, Jul 10, 2009 at 12:14 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > The struggle for a proper balance between freedom and order goes on. > > > > > Ah yes, as a libra, I am all about the balance. My mom is an Obama hater > and she sent me this today, I just knew you'd love it. > > Also, while I don't agree that we need more of the same industrial > dominated > capitalism that got us to where we are today, I don't think socialism is > the > answer either. Even though being a poor family, I definitely benefit > personaly from a socialist society more than most of y'all. But this idea > of a caretaking government is dangerous to the dynamic potential of > americans: > > > ** > > *ANNE WORTHAM** > > **Anne Wortham is Associate Professor of Sociology at Illinois State > University and continuing Visiting Scholar at Stanford University 's Hoover > Institution. She is a member of the American Sociological Association and > the American Philosophical Association.* > > *She has been a John M. Olin Foundation Faculty Fellow, and honored as a > Distinguished Alumni of the Year by the National Association for Equal > Opportunity in Higher Education. In fall 1988 she was one of a select group > of intellectuals who were featured in Bill Moyer's television series, "A > World of Ideas." The transcript of her conversation with Moyers has been > published in his book, A World of Ideas.* > > *Dr. Wortham is author of "The Other Side of Racism: A Philosophical Study > of Black Race Consciousness" which analyzes how race consciousness is > transformed into political strategies and policy issues. She has published > numerous articles on the implications of individual rights for civil rights > policy, and is currently writing a book on theories of social and cultural > marginality.** > > **Recently, she has published articles on the significance of > multiculturalism and Afrocentricism in education, the politics of > victimization and the social and political impact of political correctness. > Shortly after an interview in 2004, she was awarded tenure. * > > ** > > ** > > ** > > ** > > *Fellow Americans,** > > Please know: I am Black; I grew up in the segregated South. I did not vote > for Barack Obama; I wrote in Ron Paul's name as my choice for president. > Most importantly, I am not race conscious. I do not require a Black > president to know that I am a person of worth, and that life is worth > living. I do not require a Black president to love the ideal of America . > > I cannot join you in your celebration. I feel no elation. There is no smile > on my face. I am not jumping with joy. There are no tears of triumph in my > eyes. For such emotions and behavior to come from me, I would have to deny > all that I know about the requirements of human flourishing and survival - > all that I know about the history of the United States of America , all > that > I know about American race relations, and all that I know about Barack > Obama > as a politician. I would have to deny the nature of the "change" that Obama > asserts has come to America . > > Most importantly, I would have to abnegate my certain understanding that > you > have chosen to sprint down the road to serfdom that we have been on for > over > a century. I would have to pretend that individual liberty has no value for > the success of a human life. I would have to evade your rejection of the > slender reed of capitalism on which your success and mine depend. I would > have to think it somehow rational that 94 percent of the 12 million Blacks > in this country voted for a man because he looks like them (that Blacks are > permitted to play the race card), and that they were joined by > self-declared > "progressive" whites who voted for him because he doesn't look like them. > > I would have to wipe my mind clean of all that I know about the kind of > people who have advised and taught Barack Obama and will fill posts in his > administration - political intellectuals like my former colleagues at the > Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. > > I would have to believe that "fairness" is equivalent of justice. I would > have to believe that man who asks me to "go forward in a new spirit of > service, in a new service of sacrifice" is speaking in my interest.. I > would > have to accept the premise of a man that economic prosperity comes from the > "bottom up," and who arrogantly believes that he can will it into existence > by the use of government force. I would have to admire a man who thinks the > standard of living of the masses can be improved by destroying the most > productive and the generators of wealth. > > Finally, Americans, I would have to erase from my consciousness the scene > of > 125,000 screaming, crying, cheering people in Grant Park, Chicago > irrationally chanting "Yes We Can!" Finally, I would have to wipe all > memory > of all the times I have heard politicians, pundits, journalists, > editorialists, bloggers and intellectuals declare that capitalism is dead - > and no one, including especially Alan Greenspan, objected to their > assumption that the particular version of the anti-capitalistic mentality > that they want to replace with their own version of anti-capitalism is > anything remotely equivalent to capitalism. > > So you have made history, Americans. You and your children have elected a > Black man to the office of the president of the United States , the wounded > giant of the world. The battle between John Wayne and Jane Fonda is over - > and that Fonda won. Eugene McCarthy and George McGovern must be very happy > men. Jimmie Carter, too. And the Kennedy's have at last gotten their > Kennedy > look-a-like. The self-righteous welfare statists in the suburbs can feel > warm moments of satisfaction for having elected a Black person. > > So, toast yourselves: 60s countercultural radicals, 80s yuppies and 90s > bourgeois bohemians. Toast yourselves, Black America . Shout your glee > Harvard, Princeton , Yale, Duke, Stanford, and Berkeley. You have elected > not an individual who is qualified to be president, but a Black man who, > like the pragmatist Franklin Roosevelt, promises to - Do Something! You now > have someone who has picked up the baton of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. > But you have also foolishly traded your freedom and mine - what little > there > is left - for the chance to feel good. > There is nothing in me that can share your happy obliviousness.* > > > > > > > > > > Moq_Discuss mailing list > > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > > Archives: > > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > > > > > > -- > ------------ > There are differing interpretations of Reality, some are just better than > others, that's all. > ------------ > Moq_Discuss mailing list > Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. > http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org > Archives: > http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ > http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/ > Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
