I just about blew a gasket in class last week ...

I'm in a MPA program here in Arizona .

I noticed early in the program that most of my 15 member cohort is made up of people working in the public sector ... a lot of cops, but other Muni, County, State and University employees. I also notice a distinct anti-Obama/anti-Democrat/rightwing slant from a couple of the more vocal members. One guy in particular is extremely caustic and seems to find a way to be critical of President Obama, no matter what the discussion topic.

Well, last week I had had enough ... We were discussing Rawl's Theory of Justice, particularly the concept of the "Veil of Ignorance" and this guy took off on one of his rightwing rants about personal responsibility and the need to end all the socialistic entitlement programs.

After about 15 minutes of his rant, I asked him what he did for a living? He related that he retired 3 years ago, after serving 10 years as a cop. I said, "Wow, you seem kind of young to be retired" and asked his age. He said he is 34 and told us that he went out on a medical retirement after being involved in a particularly horrific incident that resulted in two cops getting killed and another two getting shot . I remember reading about the incident in the newspaper ... Of course the suspect got shot to death, 8 shots to the back.



I said, "Wow. That's tough. How long did you have to wait for your retirement to kick in ." He related how he struggled on Worker's Comp until "those incompetent bureaucrats" got his retirement processed.

So I asked him what his been doing in the 3 years since he retired. He told us that he put his college degree to work and worked as an bookkeeper for about a year, but got layed-off as a result of the economy and that "thanks to Obama's socialist policies" he has been unable to find another job.

I asked him whether he drew unemployment when he was layed-off and of course he did. I asked him how he paid for college. He told me that he put himself through school using PELL Grants and loans.

At this point, the Professor got this funny little smirk on his face.

So I asked the student, "So ... Let me see if I have this correct; you are want smaller government; but you went to work FOR the government that you despise? You call for the end of entitlements because it's socialism, but you freely accepted Pell Grants and federally subsidized educational loans, Worker's Comp, a government pension and Unemployment Compensation? And how you waste our time, that we pay for, with your lectures on personal responsibility and socialism and whatnot? You really need to re-read this chapter on justice and I strongly suggest you pay close attention to Rawl's refutation of the distributive justice theories."

Many of my classmates smiled and nodded their heads, two of my classmates actually clapped ; and the unemployed, retired, government worker just sat there with that look on his face that I'm sure everyone who is family has seen before.

The professor said, "Well ... I guess we should take this time to re-read this chapter. Next week, please come prepared to discuss whether Mr. -- has appropriately applied Rawl's Theory of Justice. Class dismissed."

Since then, I've received 6 e-mails from classmates and a cautionary "attaboy" from the Professor.

I love when the people who jump on the anti-government bandwagon get called out on their hypocrisy!

I'm the only African-American in the class?

Although this conversation took place in a university setting, I'm hearing all kinds of comments like this in the workplace. Now, when Clinton was in office, politics never came up. His name wasn't mentioned until the Monica Lewinsky incident. While Bush was in office...nothing. Now that we have an African American president, it seems that I hear little snide remarks all the time about how the country has gone to hell. I thought it was because I live in red hell Nebraska now vs. Michigan, but when I talk to friends at home they tell me the same thing.

I'm sure this guy will think twice about ranting again after you called him on it. The icing on the cake is the fact that you are the only African American in the class! Getting all uppity Kweli! How dare you?! :rofl:

And you know the exact look that this guy was giving me ... the "you uppity ... oh, I better not say that word cuz I'm certain he can take me" look. All while I calmly gave him that "Now what?" look.

:applause::applause: :applause:

I LOVE when stupid people get called on their shit!! :rofl:

calling them on their crap. So I limit myself to the occasional "WTF are you talking about?" and the monthly dinners I have with the rightwing "christian" conservative, small business owning, Black child having adopted, glen beck/fox"news" worshiping, friends of my wife.

At these dinners there's usual another Black couple (and their kid) and a self-proclaimed leftist from Chile, who is in fact a slum landlord. We, menfolk, sit outside with a fine Single Malt and shoot the shit.

Before heading out, my wife makes me promise to avoid political and race discussions because she knows I don't let racist or anti-poor stuff slide. I'm usually good until the third pour, when the "leftist" will raise a topic like "was Katrina an example of American-style racism" and the rightwinger goes nuts.

To be honest, the only reason I go to these monthly get togethers is so that I can interact with their Black teenage son (17 years old). I really feel sorry for him. Though I have no doubt that his rightwing "father" loves him as a son, he is being taught that race doesn't matter. I have quietly told his father that while race shouldn't matter, I want my Black daughter to be prepared for those instances where racism rears its ugly head. I've told him that he is doing his son a disservice sending him out into the world completely unarmed.

The last couple of dinners the Black son sits in on our discussions. I, and the other Black guy, encourage him to talk. And, I try to be easy on him when he recites some beckish nonsense. Rather than call him out, like he has seen me do his father, I express that I have confidence in his ability to discern fact from fiction and challenge him to put in the work. I tell him don't trust what I say, or beck says, or what anyone says ... trust only what you can verify. And each time I see him afterwards, I ask him about his statement and what he has discovered.

A couple of months ago, I told this manchild ... look at the issues, then look at whom will be hurt by the various positions. Then ask yourself, "do the people likely to be hurt by the policy look like me?"

I've notice that he is now quieter and more attentive to our discussions.

I'm always amazed at white people who have embraced this as a way of thinking.

Race SHOULD not matter, but it f*cking does, it always has and it probably always will at least in America. Raising a black child to believe that "race doesn't matter" is like raising someone to believe that they can fly if they just try hard enough.

What is that boy supposed to think/do the first time he gets stopped by the cops for no reason? What is he supposed to think/do when he's out shopping with his white friends and he notices the security guard follows him constantly but not his friends? What is he supposed to think/do when women clutch their purses in his presence/non-blacks refuse to meet his eyes, including in a damn job interview (which will surprisingly result in him not getting the job)/his contributions at staff meetings are ignored and he is passed over for promotions regardless of his abilities? And that's just what I can think of off the top of my head.

That man may think that he is doing his son a favor, but he is actually doing him a tremendous disservice. My heart goes out to the kid to be frank with you, and it's a good thing that you have made yourself available to talk to him when racist incidents in his life happen, because let's be real -- they ARE going to happen.

I have had several conversations with my wife's friend and her husband about just the points that you have raised. On one occasion, I told him that "while race might not matter to YOU; we both know that it matters to many, if not most, people in the position to do the most harm, like the teachers educating him, the interviewers for his jobs, the bosses when it comes to promotions."

The conversation shifted slight to discussing Civil Rights laws. They began reciting the Rand Paul line "Government should not be involved because the market will punish companies that discriminate ... any business that makes decisions based on race will eventually become non-competitive and go out of business, so eventually racism will also die out."

I recalling laughing as I reminded him that his company had just paid out 6-figures to settle discrimination claims against his brother, their company's CEO. But more, I told him I wanted to be around when his Black son faces a situation where he cannot explain away how he has been treated by his accepting responsibility for someone else's actions ... "If I had only worked/studied harder, prepared more; if only my list of accomplishments had been longer" ... I told him that I want to see the expression on his Black son's face when his father tells him "the guy that didn't hire/promote/contract with/extend financing to him was an idiot. Take heart, the market will eventually punish the guy. But in the meantime, you, my Black son, will just have to wait until white folks are ready to accept you as a full human being."

He's like most freepers, they've never met a big government program they didn't like, unless it helps someone else, esp. "those people".

Excellent slam for game, set, and match! :applause:

This company had a big intranet that went around the world.

Many of the software engineers were free-market libertarians that argued against government entitlement programs.

They really didn't like it when I pointed out that their wages were payed for by giant Department of Defense contracts and US government scientific labs. There is no greater entitlement program in this country than the defense industry.

I've known him for years. Usually he'll only bring up politics around people who won't admit they disagree with him but he was spouting some Fox news talking point recently which lead to a discussion about how he became a Republican. Apparently early in his marriage when his daughters were young and the family was struggling he applied for food stamps. They turned him down because he made a few dollars more than the threshold. I had to point the irony out to him. The government didn't help enough people when he needed it so now they should assist even less people?

I think he'll remember not to discuss politics around me anymore.