*The Donald Sterling mess *
The Donald Sterling mess is one more example of something that deserves
the sobriquet, "pathetic."
At the risk of exposing my own education-centric biases, it is all too
easy
for me to mentally conceive of Sterling, many years ago, saying to himself
at some stage in the period when he was still in school, something like*:*
"Culture? Why in the hell should I study culture? Will culture make
money for me? What good is culture and social science and history
and philosophy ? Its all useless, I don't need any of that stuff."
Needless to say, it seems fairly obvious that Sterling is an old
fashioned racist
and, accordingly, deserves every bit of opprobrium now directed at him.
However, what if this is a gross oversimplification? What if he simply
cannot make a case for some views that may well be valid simply because
he lacks the vocabulary, intellectual concepts, and communications skills?
To repeat, even this qualified benefit of the doubt seems to be a real
stretch.
Sterling actually seems to be prejudiced against black people /sui
generis/.
If that is true, then my view is that he basically can go f**k himself.
But what if, precisely because he has limited vocabulary and an
impoverished
palette of concepts and few cognitive alternatives, buried in his
"racist" rants
are some defensible positions that ought to be defended?
To repeat a point I have made before in another context, there are a
number
of African-American sub-cultures. We all know what these are, they
range from
Black Baptists and other Christians to the gangsta set and the Muslims.
Personally, I have no problems (at least none that are obvious to me)
with black believers -or black people who are entrepreneurs or
military officers and the like. I admire people like Thomas Sowell
and Alan West and Juan Williams and etc.
However, suppose I had a mistress. I sure and hell would not want her
associating with gangsta rappers or members of the Crips or Bloods,
nor with black Muslims (or other Muslims for that matter). I think that
if each and every word I said was recorded in conversations with a
hypothetical mistress it should be no problem to defend my position
and even turn any criticisms of it to my advantage.
But on the improbable chance that Sterling also has this kind of outlook,
clearly he cannot defend his views and values. Why not? Because, many
years ago he once said to himself*:*
"Culture? Why in the hell should I study culture? Will culture make
money for me? What good is culture and social science and history
and philosophy ? Its all useless, I don't need any of that stuff."
The moral of the story, of course, is that it is generalizable to many
other people
who, once upon a time, said approximately the same thing. And they wonder
why people who have, in fact, made themselves culturally knowledgeable
look down their noses at them. Why shouldn't they look down their noses?
They know damned well that to befriend such people is to invite trouble.
Why be friends with someone who is likely, at any moment, to put his
foot in his mouth and greatly embarrass or even injure his cultured
friends?
The message is that it is very costly, where it may matter the most,
to be culturally ignorant -no matter how much money you earn.
This ought to be obvious but as well all know, a heck of a lot of people
are incapable of getting the point -until it is waaaay too late.
Billy
---------------------------------------------------------------
*Jewish Journal*
published at Real Clear Politics
May 1, 2014
Donald Tokowitz Sterling:
A Jew minus
*by David Suissa <http://www.jewishjournal.com/about/author/508>*
My head is spinning from watching the horror show of Donald
SterlingâEUR^(TM)s racist rants and his subsequent lifetime banishment
from basketball. In case youâEUR^(TM)ve been on Mars the past week,
Sterling is the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Clippers who was
recorded spewing racist bile to his mistress, telling her, among other
things, not to bring âEURoeblack peopleâEUR? to his games.
The sin of cheating on a spouse is bad enough, but in todayâEUR^(TM)s
world, the sin of racism looks even worse. ItâEUR^(TM)s not simply
that bigotry of any kind has become so frowned upon. ItâEUR^(TM)s also
the new media environment we live in.
Put it this way: If you want to be a racist today, youâEUR^(TM)d
better keep it to yourself. We canâEUR^(TM)t legislate decency, but we
can /shame/ bigotry like never before. In a digital world, where
millions of sound bites can spread in seconds and never go away,
unleash your bigoted impulses and watch your legacy go down in shame.
When Donald SterlingâEUR^(TM)s great-great-grandchildren Google his
name a hundred years from now, the first thing theyâEUR^(TM)ll see is
that their famous ancestor was famous for being a racist.
TheyâEUR^(TM)ll learn that he was sued by the Department of Justice
for refusing to rent to minority tenants, and that the bigoted rants
revealed in April 2014 were only the latest in a long pattern of
racist behavior.
They may also learn that he grew up in Boyle Heights and saw his
father wake up every morning at 2 a.m. to buy produce and resell it to
local restaurants. And that he picked up his fatherâEUR^(TM)s strong
work ethic to work his way through law school, and when the big firms
did not hire Jews at the time, started a thriving practice to help
everyday people get legal assistance.
They may learn all that, but in the end, it is the bigotry and racism
that will stick.
His descendants may also learn that Donald changed his last name from
Tokowitz to Sterling to give himself an aura of success. The name
Tokowitz, apparently, sounded too Jewish.
I guess you can say that his name change was good for the Jews.
Can you imagine the anti-Semitism that would have been rekindled today
had it been billionaire Donald Tokowitz spewing these racist rants?
Not that people canâEUR^(TM)t do quick research and figure out that
Sterling is Jewish, but in our Twitter-dominated world, âEURoeTokowitz
the racistâEUR? is exponentially worse for the Jews than
âEURoeSterling the racist.âEUR?
HowâEUR^(TM)s that for delicious irony? By selfishly worrying about
his own reputation, he ended up protecting âEUR" somewhat âEUR" his
own peopleâEUR^(TM)s reputation.
There is something pathetic about a wealthy old man caught in the vise
of bigotry. Of all that IâEUR^(TM)ve read about this saga, maybe the
saddest thing is that Sterling doesnâEUR^(TM)t have any tenants in his
Beverly Hills office building. Apparently, thatâEUR^(TM)s so he can
ride up in his gold-plated elevator alone. God forbid he should come
into contact with ordinary people.
It makes you wonder: Was there anyone he respected in his inner circle
who could confront him? Or did they all laugh at his jokes, funny or
not, as cronies are wont to do?
Beyond the issue of SterlingâEUR^(TM)s personal failings, there is
also the hypocrisy of those who have enabled his behavior âEUR" groups
such as the National Basketball Association, which for 30 years failed
repeatedly, until now, to punish his misconduct.
Another group that comes to mind is the NAACP, which gave Sterling a
Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009 âEUR" the same year he paid out a
record $2.75 million to settle allegations of discrimination against
minority tenants âEUR" and recently announced that it planned to give
him /another/ award at its 100th anniversary gala this month.
Of course, after this latest eruption of bigotry, complete with
smoking gun, the NAACPâEUR^(TM)s leaders have seen the light and
announced they will /not/ honor Sterling this month and are taking
steps âEURoeto rescind the previous award they bestowed on him.âEUR?
Sorry âEUR" nice try, but too little, too late.
ItâEUR^(TM)s no secret around town that organizations desperate for
funds have been honoring Sterling and his wealthy connections for
years while closing their eyes to his racist indiscretions. All these
groups were playing with fire, but the NAACP, for obvious reasons,
should have been extra careful not to associate with someone with such
a shady record in race relations.
If the NAACP is looking for someone to honor at its gala event, I have
an idea: Honor the Jews who helped start the NAACP a hundred years ago
âEUR" names like Julius Rosenthal, Henry Malkewitz, Lillian Wald, and
Rabbis Stephen S. Wise and Emil Hirsch.
Those Jews never felt a need to make their names sound less Jewish.
They didnâEUR^(TM)t have to âEUR" they had nothing to hide.
The memory of these heroes may not raise as much money or sell as many
tables as a billionaire slumlord does, but their
great-great-grandchildren will have no shame when they Google their
names.
--
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
<[email protected]>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
---
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
an email to [email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
