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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Racial Justice / Post-racial America / Because No One Knows The Essence Of Blackness…

Because No One Knows The Essence Of Blackness…

by Tom Levenson|  October 8, 20158:23 am| 48 Comments

This post is in: Post-racial America, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell, Clown Shoes, Just Shut the Fuck Up, Our Failed Media Experiment

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….like an  old, filthy-rich white guy.

Alexander_H_Stephens_circa_1875_by_Brady_&_Co

Here’s noted sociologist of race and authenticity, Rupert “Bug-Eyed Monster” Murdoch

“Ben and Candy Carson terrific. What about a real black President who can properly address the racial divide?…” [via TPM]

Ummm.

Rupert…

…Protip:

Take it from a  fellow person of the Caucasian persuasion:

You don’t get a vote.

Or, consider the shorter:

Bugger off, mate.  May all your chooks become emus and kick your dunny door down.

(PS — anyone besides me think it … let’s just say “odd” … that the new owner of National Geographic should fall in love with a stone-cold evolution denialist? Just askin’.)

Image:  Brady & Co, Cabinet card portrait of Georgia politician Alexander H. Stephens with a servant, formerly a slave c. 1875.

 

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Reader Interactions

48Comments

  1. 1.

    SRW1

    October 8, 2015 at 8:29 am

    The Essence of Blackness?

    One drop of blood. One way or the other, depending a bit on the times.

  2. 2.

    MomSense

    October 8, 2015 at 8:29 am

    Murdoch owns National Geographic now?

    The energy required to counter all the destructive BS that awful man “contributes” to our world is exhausting.

  3. 3.

    Cervantes

    October 8, 2015 at 8:29 am

    Your shorter isn’t!

    Still, I agree.

  4. 4.

    Punchy

    October 8, 2015 at 8:30 am

    How an MD, who clearly must be aware of developing antibiotic-resistant strains that appear on a whim, can deny evolution is farcical. Pretty sure if he expoused this “belief” during his med school interviews, he never would have been accepted.

  5. 5.

    srv

    October 8, 2015 at 8:34 am

    You don’t get a vote.

    Besides the fact that he has US citizenship, he has a lot more than one vote.

    Will never understand where you people think reality has a liberal bias. What’s real and proper is whatever Murdoch wants it to be.

  6. 6.

    Ryan

    October 8, 2015 at 8:38 am

    @Punchy: I’ve been trying to square that circle for awhile. My guess is that he was ineffective, and thus promoted out of daily surgery. Over time, he grew older and more conservative, and eventually anti-science.

  7. 7.

    Cervantes

    October 8, 2015 at 8:40 am

    Image: Brady & Co, Cabinet card portrait of Georgia politician Alexander H. Stephens with a servant, formerly a slave c. 1875.

    Just to add some detail: That “Georgia politician” served as Congressman, Governor of Georgia, and Vice President of the Confederacy. A good lawyer, he once defended a slave who was accused of trying to murder someone — and got her acquitted. But his infamous “Cornerstone” speech was not ambiguous. It celebrated “the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race, is his natural and normal condition.”

  8. 8.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 8, 2015 at 8:41 am

    @Punchy: They believe in “micro-evolution” not “macro-evolution”. No, it makes no sense what so ever, but that’s what they believe.

  9. 9.

    bystander

    October 8, 2015 at 8:42 am

    I’m wondering if Murdoch was saving two characters in his tweet and actually meant “a really black” POTUS. Our Kenyan in Chief is so cafe au lait.

  10. 10.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 8, 2015 at 8:46 am

    @bystander: Or that the Kenyan usurper is not eligible to be President.

  11. 11.

    OzarkHillbilly

    October 8, 2015 at 8:46 am

    @srv: tee hee hee… you funny.

  12. 12.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    October 8, 2015 at 8:49 am

    @OzarkHillbilly: Yup, Colbert needs to watch out for srv.

  13. 13.

    mclaren

    October 8, 2015 at 8:54 am

    Oh, come on. Let’s be fair. Nothing is as black as Rupert Murdoch’s heart.

  14. 14.

    rikyrah

    October 8, 2015 at 8:57 am

    the Kennedy Center will celebrate the lifetime achievements of American rock band the Eagles, singer-songwriter Carole King, filmmaker George Lucas, actress and singer Rita Moreno, conductor Seiji Ozawa, and actress and Broadway star Cicely Tyson. CBS will broadcast the Honors gala on December 29, 2015.

  15. 15.

    rikyrah

    October 8, 2015 at 8:58 am

    Adam SerwerVerified account
    ‏@AdamSerwer
    Oh so Ben Carson has no idea what the debt ceiling is. Cool. http://mktplc.org/1ZdqSeB

  16. 16.

    rikyrah

    October 8, 2015 at 8:59 am

    @SRW1:

    The Essence of Blackness?

    One drop of blood

    BOOM!!

    Black people didn’t invent the one-drop rule.

    And White people don’t get to dismiss it at their convenience.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    October 8, 2015 at 9:00 am

    Maybe the modern measure of blackness should be based on how much the GOP hates you.

  18. 18.

    Belafon

    October 8, 2015 at 9:01 am

    Carson does a great job of explaining blackness – those on welfare are lazy good-for-nothings – in a way that white people like. Of course Murdoch likes him.

  19. 19.

    rikyrah

    October 8, 2015 at 9:01 am

    McCarthy’s odd demand: ‘Stop playing politics’
    10/08/15 08:35 AM
    By Steve Benen
    Today is likely to be a pretty big day for House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.). He and his Republican colleagues will meet behind closed doors this afternoon, at which point the GOP leader expects to be nominated for Speaker of the House.

    The process, however, is proving to be unexpectedly difficult. The right-wing House Freedom Caucus announced yesterday that its members are throwing their support behind Rep. Dan Webster (R-Fla.), one of McCarthy’s lesser-known rivals. Even if that proves inconsequential, McCarthy will still have to wait until Oct. 29 – three weeks from today – before the House officially elects the new Speaker, giving his rivals and his critics 21 days to derail his promotion.

    McCarthy’s principal trouble is his accidental candor: he recently admitted that his party’s Benghazi committee is a taxpayer-funded political operation intended to undermine Hillary Clinton. Everyone already knew that, but GOP officials aren’t supposed to admit this truth out loud. McCarthy told an intra-party secret and he’s been in trouble ever since.

    The California Republican is still scrambling to clean up his mess, conceding yesterday that he “could have been more clear in my description of what was going forward.” But National Journal noted that’s not all McCarthy said.
    “Let’s be very clear: Benghazi is not political,” Mc­Carthy said. “It was created for one purpose and one purpose only: to find the truth on behalf of the families of the four dead Americans. Period.”

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/mccarthys-odd-demand-stop-playing-politics

  20. 20.

    Belafon

    October 8, 2015 at 9:03 am

    Seems Rupert wants to walk back his comment a bit (this will all be mangled because I can’t access twitter directly) https://twitter.com/rupertmurdoch/status/652094791602319360:

    Apologies! No offence meant. Personally find both men charming.

    — Rupert Murdoch

  21. 21.

    SRW1

    October 8, 2015 at 9:07 am

    @rikyrah:

    I think what Rupert did was attempting to sort of invert the rule: Obama isn’t really black, because his mother was white.

    Racists have very exacting standards for what they consider pure, you know.

  22. 22.

    Belafon

    October 8, 2015 at 9:16 am

    @SRW1: Yep, what is most convenient at the moment.

  23. 23.

    JPL

    October 8, 2015 at 9:16 am

    @Belafon: It’s difficult to walk back that comment, imo.

  24. 24.

    rikyrah

    October 8, 2015 at 9:17 am

    who?, what?
    ‏@pannlewis44 Meet Candy Carson, the Anti–Michelle Obama http://natl.re/zd2YlA via @NRO

  25. 25.

    rikyrah

    October 8, 2015 at 9:24 am

    @Belafon:

    Carson does a great job of explaining blackness – those on welfare are lazy good-for-nothings

    You mean like him and his Mama.

    I will continue to say this.

    Ben Carson is who he is

    BECAUSE OF GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS.

    He got EVERYTHING because of GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS.

    Back when you were Black and Poor, there was an actual investment in you.

    And, the Ben Carson of 2015..

    With Ben Carson’s teenage ‘attitude problems’ and his ‘ mischief’

    Would NOT be on his way to medical school..

    Would NOT be on his way to even community college…

    With the personality issues that Carson had in his teens..

    The Ben Carson of 2015 would not be given the opportunity to ‘ find his way’…

    He’d be firmly entrenched in the SCHOOL-TO-PRISON PIPELINE.

  26. 26.

    RSA

    October 8, 2015 at 9:26 am

    @Punchy:

    How an MD, who clearly must be aware of developing antibiotic-resistant strains that appear on a whim, can deny evolution is farcical. Pretty sure if he expoused this “belief” during his med school interviews, he never would have been accepted.

    It is farcical, but…

    A national survey of 1,472 physicians indicates more than half — 63 percent — believe the theory of evolution over that of intelligent design.

    “More than half” of the surveyed physicians are not science illiterates. Yay, I guess.

  27. 27.

    dmsilev

    October 8, 2015 at 9:26 am

    @BillinGlendaleCA: it makes perfect sense when you consider the definitions the creationists use. Micro-evolution is any evolutionary event which is documented to a sufficient degree that they don’t feel they can dispute without getting laughed at too much. Macro-evolution is any evolutionary event which doesn’t rise to that threshold. So, by definition, micro is ok and macro is not proven.

  28. 28.

    rikyrah

    October 8, 2015 at 9:28 am

    @SRW1:

    I think what Rupert did was attempting to sort of invert the rule: Obama isn’t really black, because his mother was white.

    Barack Obama is Black…

    the same way Sally Hemmings’ children were Black….
    the same way Booker T Washington was Black…
    the same way WEB DuBois was Black…
    the same way the late head of the NAACP Walter White was Black….

    I will repeat….

    Black folk didn’t invent the one-drop rule.

    The Black community – in America- has ALWAYS been multi-racial.

    Ever since the first time Massa went down to the slavequarters.

    The only pure-Black folks in 2015 America are the ones that are VOLUNATRY immigrants from Africa.

    The rest of us?

    No six degrees of separation from us and a White ancestor.

    All we have to do is look in our families.

    Black people came over from West Africa..
    yet, the Black community today spans every shade of the Brown rainbow…

    from high-yella to blue black and everything in between…

    we did not go from West African to the rainbow of shades through osmosis…

    there was a whole lotta raping going on.

  29. 29.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 8, 2015 at 9:28 am

    @rikyrah: I don’t know what goes on in the heads of people like Bobby Jindal and Michelle Malkin. I am sure the other folks at KLo’s Corner of Crazy must sneer behind their backs also.

  30. 30.

    Elizabelle

    October 8, 2015 at 9:29 am

    @rikyrah: And on some level, unconsciously, he knows that. Which is why it stays in the way back of his head and heart.

  31. 31.

    schrodinger's cat

    October 8, 2015 at 9:33 am

    Of all the odious things drugged Ben says, his denial of basic science is what I find most appalling because he clearly knows better.

    ETA: Conservatives love Candy Carson because she doesn’t threaten them or their racist ideals like Michelle does.

  32. 32.

    rikyrah

    October 8, 2015 at 9:37 am

    Kasich’s clumsiness continues to be a problem
    10/08/15 08:02 AM
    By Steve Benen
    A few weeks ago, Ohio Gov. John Kasich took his Republican presidential campaign to Los Angeles, where he tried to praise Latino voters. It didn’t go well – the GOP governor clumsily conflated Latinos, service-industry workers, and his hotel room’s maid.

    This week, as the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported, Kasich had a similar stumble, this time in Virginia.
    A University of Richmond student says Republican presidential candidate and Ohio Gov. John Kasich demeaned her by joking about Taylor Swift tickets during a question-and-answer session at the school Monday.

    Kayla Solsbak, 18, wrote an account of her experience for student news outlet The Collegian, saying Kasich responded “I’m sorry, I don’t have any Taylor Swift concert tickets” when Solsbak raised her hand with a question.
    American Bridge 21st Century, naturally, captured the moment on video. Kasich is seen dramatically waving his hand, telling the young woman, “I don’t have any tickets for, you know, for Taylor Swift or anything or, you know, or Linkin Pa… Go ahead. Yes. I know. You’re just so excited. Yes.”

    According to the report from the college newspaper, the Republican presidential candidate told another young woman at the event, “I’m sure you get invited to all of the parties.”

    Kayla Solsbak, not surprisingly, didn’t appreciate Kasich’s attempt at humor: “What continues to strike me is the hypocrisy of his condescension. He touted his ambitious energy as an 18-year-old man, but as soon as I, an 18-year-old woman, exhibited ambition. I became the target of his joke.”

    http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/kasichs-clumsiness-continues-be-problem

  33. 33.

    Elizabelle

    October 8, 2015 at 9:40 am

    What we have going on here is “our black guy” vs. Barack Obama, “that one”, the other.

    Tom: great photo illustration.

  34. 34.

    rikyrah

    October 8, 2015 at 9:40 am

    HOW MUCH DO I LOVE THIS!?!??!

    Shanice WilliamsVerified account
    ‏@LuvbeingShanice
    When Dorothy meets Dorothy! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️! #myinspiration #TheWiz @PrettyMill1

  35. 35.

    debbie

    October 8, 2015 at 9:43 am

    @rikyrah:

    And yet, no one asks Carson directly why the opportunities he was shown shouldn’t be available to others?

    As for Kasich, the local Fox news pointed out last night that people were starting to see him as “goofy.” Ohioans already know, but it was surprising to hear this coming from the Voice of Conservatism.

  36. 36.

    Baud

    October 8, 2015 at 9:43 am

    @rikyrah:

    The entire field is amazing horrible, each in their own special way.

  37. 37.

    rikyrah

    October 8, 2015 at 9:55 am

    Touré ✔ @Toure
    To say that Obama has failed because he hasn’t fixed America’s racial issues is proof that you hold him to a standard no human could reach.

  38. 38.

    rikyrah

    October 8, 2015 at 10:03 am

    I think the entire story about this is so sad. One of the scariest possible deaths to me is to drown at sea. I think about all those crew members, being at the mercy of Mother Nature.

    ……………………..

    El Faro crew member sent final email to mother
    Oct 8th 2015 6:52AM

    A crew member of the El Faro container ship that went missing last week sent her mother one final, heartbreaking email.
    34-year-old Danielle Randolph was the second mate of the ship. Before she and 33 other crew members got caught in Hurricane Joaquin last week, she was able to email her mother Laurie one last time saying, “We are heading straight into it, Category 3, last we checked. Winds are super bad. Love to everyone.”

    http://www.aol.com/article/2015/10/08/el-faro-crew-member-sent-final-email-to-mother/21246579/?icid=maing-grid7%7Cmain5%7Cdl1%7Csec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D1756806625

  39. 39.

    Mike J

    October 8, 2015 at 10:22 am

    @Belafon:

    Apologies! No offence meant. Personally find both men charming.

    — Rupert Murdoch

    If he didn’t mean to offend, what exactly did he mean?

  40. 40.

    gwangung

    October 8, 2015 at 11:13 am

    @rikyrah: So she’s a classless blabbermouth?

  41. 41.

    Matt McIrvin

    October 8, 2015 at 11:38 am

    @SRW1: That “Halfrican-American” attack, that Obama’s mixed race meant he was somehow faking being black to get those white-guilt and affirmative-action goodies, was a favorite of Rush Limbaugh in 2008, and I heard a bunch of dittoheads knocking it around. It was amazingly despicable.

  42. 42.

    Brachiator

    October 8, 2015 at 11:45 am

    @rikyrah:

    filmmaker George Lucas, actress and singer Rita Moreno

    Lucas deserves only half an award. He still needs to do penance for that mess of a prequel he inflicted on the world.

    Rita Moreno is one of the EGOTs. Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony winner

    (Composer Richard Rodgers is a PEGOT, Pulitzer, Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony)

  43. 43.

    J R in WV

    October 8, 2015 at 11:50 am

    I happened to listen to that interview Kai Ryssdal had with the good doctor Carson.

    First, I was struck by how downed out the doctor’s voice was, exactly as if he was inebriated somehow, just like his nearly closed eyes.

    Then I heard Ryssdal try to ask Carson about the debt ceiling; Carson’s answer clearly showed he doesn’t get it that there are two distinct financial issues, the debt AND the budget. They are related, but not closely, and trying to speak of the debt as if it were the same as the annual budget shows that he doesn’t understand our economy and how it works at all.

    Then Ryssdal took a second swing at the debt, with extra explaining built into the question. Carson evidently can’t listen to a question closely enough to answer what he was asked, and so missed the second AND third attempts to get a responsive answer to Ryssdal’s question.

    Ryssdal was a great and very patient interviewer with Carson, but Carson couldn’t hold up his end of the conversation.

    Not Qualified to be President, not at all. Doesn’t understand the first thing about it.

    I wonder if/when we’ll get a copy of a complete physical showing that he is medically qualified to become Commander in Chief? Don’t people do that before they accept a major party nomination?

  44. 44.

    Elizabelle

    October 8, 2015 at 11:55 am

    @rikyrah: I’d find that terrifying too.

    Two women on the El Faro, and the mother of one of them — I think it might have been 2d Officer Randolph — said her daughter would rather be part of the sea than buried on land. Lot of grace from that mother.

    Other female crew member was Mariette Wright, who had visited every continent but Africa.

  45. 45.

    Cervantes

    October 8, 2015 at 12:16 pm

    @Matt McIrvin:

    amazingly despicable.

    Synonym for “Rush Limbaugh.”

  46. 46.

    Tyro

    October 8, 2015 at 12:16 pm

    @Cervantes: But his infamous “Cornerstone” speech was not ambiguous

    And in the style of Republicans of today, once he was confronted with this fact after the war, he walked it back, said that it was taken out of context, and blamed the media for it being misinterpreted.

  47. 47.

    sdhays

    October 8, 2015 at 1:00 pm

    Does this mean that Michelle Obama isn’t black either? Isn’t Mitt Romney her distant cousin?

    It used to be that the one drop rule worked the other way, but apparently that has changed. Thanks, Obama!

  48. 48.

    terben

    October 8, 2015 at 7:31 pm

    The way I heard it was, ‘May all your chooks turn into emus and kick your shithouse down.
    Alternatively. May your earholes turn into arseholes and shit all over your collar.

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