The Daily Howler: How stupid has our pseudo-liberal discourse become?

Bob Somerby is right angry today. From Cynthia Tucker not knowing there were desperately poor people in New Orleans, to Ray Nagin's Republican past, to Atrios and the use of the f-word, to poor kids denied a decent education because they've been abandoned by "liberals", just about everybody gets attention today.

http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh090705.shtml

WE ALMOST FORGOT: Also amazing this weekend was Cynthia Tucker, editorial page editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She appeared on Sunday’s This Week roundtable. Try to puzzle this out:

TUCKER (9/4/05): I was one of the people who was very angry watching from the safety of my living room and with the New Orleans portion of my family—I have a sister who lives there with her husband and their small daughter—we were all watching it in the safety of my living room but I was furious and disappointed at my government that this looked like Bangladesh or Haiti or somewhere. And if we don't figure out what went wrong, I don't know how we can correct the mistakes that were made and let me also say that I think one of the things we have to focus on is those people who don't have the resources to get out, and I think that all of the officials knew—local, state and national—that there was a significant portion of residents of that area who didn't have the resources and I have to tell you, I was one of the people who was not aware of that. I'm one of those people—I'm middle class. My sister and her husband are middle class. They had the resources to get out and get to me. And I said, “Why didn't those people leave?” and my sister said, “You don't know how many desperately poor people there are in New Orleans.”

Perhaps it’s true—that our lives are merely a joke, a mirage, devised by the gods for their endless amusement. How else to explain that statement by Tucker? Just imagine: You’re the African-American editorial page editor of Atlanta’s biggest newspaper. You constantly appear on national TV, asked your opinions on the issues of the day. And when Katrina slams into New Orleans, you have to wait for your sister to tell you that New Orleans (like your own Atlanta) is full of “desperately poor people”—people who couldn’t afford to flee as Katrina bore down on their city! Faced with a statement like that, can sane people fail to ask if Homer was right? Fail to wonder if our lives are a joke, played on us by the immortals, who sit and laugh from the heights of Olympus at the mockeries they produce in our realm?

<edit>

If that study is right, then three years from now, Gabrielle Sorina will be reading “about three grade levels behind” non-poor kids. Yep! After attending school for three years, she’ll be about three years behind.

And make no mistake—the liberal elite walked away from such kids some time around the mid-1970s. Within the next week, we’ll return to the study from which Herbert drew that quote, and we’ll tell you why we were semi-disgusted when we read through it last week. But make no mistake—that 6-year-old child who started first grade had plenty of reason to cry this week. “I don’t know anybody,” Rein quotes her saying. But her future problems go well beyond that. We “liberals” left her kind for dead long ago. This week, we loudly rant at President Bush for committing the sins of our kind. More to follow.

lots more...

**It = "whatever happens to have my knickers in a twist today"

:wtf:

Does Somerby have a meth problem? Is he a repuke mole posing (amateurishly) as a liberal? What?

:shrug:

nt

With friends like that... :(

when they should be kicking ass--he's trying to help wake them up.

... blaming "the liberal elite" for ills of the past 30 years... well. Left me kinda cold.

I sure understand wanting to light some fires under our party leadership, but I think he's got a handful of damp matches on this one.

:)

children to a crap education. If I'm not mistaken, Somerby was a teacher for a number of years. He's not blaming liberals for everything. I think he just wants us to avoid morphing into an imitation of the right. He wants us to be something better.

and along with it cradle-to-grave healthcare and public education.

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Ditch Bu$h and save the Gulf: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=106&topic_id=22507&mesg_id=22507

Then save the nation!
http://timeforachange.bluelemur.com/electionreform.htm

I have to admit his words can STING!

he's been attacking all our favorites lately--Josh at TPM, Kevin at CalPundit, even Atrios! Pretty intense. I wonder what's up?

I trust him though, he is rigorous and meticulous about the truth and is quick to admit errors.

But he makes quite a few cogent points.

#1) "Millionaire Anchors" Specifically referring to people like George Stephanopoulos and Diane Sawyer. These people make millions, but are among the worst at their professions. They never ask the follow-up questions that would really get to the heart of a matter; likely because they don't care. They're millionaires after all.

#2) "Black people supposedly representing the progressive viewpoint can do more harm with their stupidity than good." I agree with him regarding Jesse Jackson's appearance with Lou Dobbs. There were so many other CRUCIAL topics and viewpoints that needed to be discussed, but he chose to focus on the whole "refugee" thing. I disagree with Bob in the usage of the term. I think it's derogatory and demeaning to the survivors, however by definition, I think the term could certainly apply. Here's the definition of refugee:

an individual seeking refuge or asylum; especially : an individual who has left his or her native country and is unwilling or unable to return to it because of persecution or fear of persecution (as because of race, religion, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion)

Are these survivors not people seeking refuge? Are they not people who have been forced from their homes, their communities that they are unable to return to?

Bottom line is that if refugee is a dirty word, we should stop using it to describe everyone. The problem is that we Americans are too proud to associate ourselves with some third-worlders who have gone though similar circumstances. Bob was not only exposing the hyprocrisy regarding the term "refugee," but he was also making the point that there were better points that could have been made by Jackson that would have improved our national discourse (something he's extremely passionate about since the 2000 selection).

As for Cynthia Tucker, well suffice it to say that from one African-American female to another, she's one idiot.

#3) "Just because the Right tries to villify him/her, doesn't mean we should embrace him/her." I happen to think Nagin did the best job he could have under the circumstances, and damn better than a good portion of this nation's mayors. Of course, the Right is trying to deflect attention regarding Bush's abysmal performance during the Katrina disaster, and so the local officials are the ones they are trying to shift the blame towards. Bob's point is that there exists a city with an emergency preparedness plan superior to the one NO had. He's also cautioning liberals not to be knee-jerk in their reactions to defend anything the Right attacks. Nagin was a Republican. He did contribute to Bush and he endorsed the Republican gubernatorial candidate over the Democrat.

Bob is NOT saying, if I'm interpreting him correctly, that we should blame Nagin. He's only saying there is reason for caution considering he played for the other side not too long ago and we shouldn't be calling him a hero yet. How can you call yourself a Democrat, but vote for Republicans? It's a fair question. I have my own opinion on that topic, but I hope Nagin decides to enlighten us at some point in the future.

The conclusion I took away from the piece is that we need to elevate our public discourse and we need to do it with facts, reasoning, and common sense -- not knee-jerk rants because we don't advance our cause by name-calling. Now I think a rant is warranted every once in a while, but we advance our cause by persuasion and education and we can only accomplish this through the use of facts. Olbermann knows how to do this. Jon Stewart knows how to do this and even manages to incorporate humor into his message.

I'll admit my first thoughts were "Why didn't these people leave" - just like the freepers and heartless right-wingers.

But here's the difference between them and Cynthia and me. We look BEYOND our initial reactions to try to discern all the factors that are involved in a situation and then realize we sholdn't be so quick to judge. That's something conservatives cannot (or will not) do. Even when someone points out the various factors at play in a given situation, they will deny those things matter and stick to their talking points.

A liberal mind is a complex and wonderful thing. It may start out in a reactive "rat brain" mode, but eventually comes around to seeing the whole picture.