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Bill Kristol Becomes the Latest White Bigot to Lecture Us on Race

Posted by Jeff Fecke, Shakesville at 5:16 AM on March 25, 2008.


Bill Kristol, you see, thinks that racism isn't a problem at all. At least not one we should talk about.
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Bill Kristol, as usual, is wrong about something.

What he's wrong about today is race in America. Now, you, being a sentient human with eyes and/or ears that function to bring information to your brain, may have thought that racism was still a problem in our country. Au contraire! Bill Kristol, you see, thinks that racism isn't a problem at all. At least not one we should talk about:

Racial progress has in fact continued in America. A new national conversation about race isn't necessary to end what Obama calls the "racial stalemate we've been stuck in for years" -- because we're not stuck in such a stalemate. In fact, as Obama himself suggests in the same speech, younger Americans aren't stalemated. They come far closer than their grandparents and parents to routinely obeying Martin Luther King's injunction to judge one another by the content of our character, not the color of our skin.
Over the last several decades, we've done pretty well in overcoming racial barriers and prejudice. Problems remain. But we won't make progress if we now have to endure a din of race talk that will do more to divide us than to unite us, and more to confuse than to clarify.
Never has a quote by a socialist equalitarian been so often misused by plutocraits. Kristol wants to pat everyone on the back for the fact that I am not as overtly racist as my grandparents. Well, I should hope that my generation is more tolerant than a generation of people who were adults during Jim Crow, and didn't move immediately to stop it. Yay us.

But to argue that racism doesn't need to be discussed, despite the fact that "problems remain" -- that's unusually wrong, even for Kristol.

It's easy for Kristol to choose to avoid a discussion of race. How, after all, is Kristol affected by racism? It's not a problem for him! And it can only become a problem if we actually talk about things. Then we might have to hear that racism is a problem for people who are not, in fact, rich and white.

I, for one, think that it's okay to talk about race; indeed, it's important to do so. If we are to solve the remaining problems of race in our country, we must honestly address those problems. Sweeping them under the rug will only ensure that they fester and mutate and grow.

Besides, I truly am interested in Bill Kristol's opinion on affirmative action. As a clear beneficiary of the program -- how else to explain his position on the Times' editorial page than that he was a conservative quota hire? -- he should be all for expanding it to give non-white, non-conservative, non-wrong people a chance. Something tells me, though, that he won't be.

Digg!

Tagged as: race, racism, obama, new york times, kristol

Jeff Fecke is a regular blogger for Shakesville.


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Crystally Kristol
Posted by: QCao009 on Mar 25, 2008 6:28 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"As a matter of fact" Kristol loves to take his own opinions and make them facts. Like William "Virtuous" Bennett, this Buckley/Will wannabe is another reason conservatives have lost their moral standing. They take half-facts, create absolutes and turn a discussion into a harangue.

Sure America has made progress on race and gender and equal opportunity, but we have also regressed in these areas under Reagan/Bush. These neo-cons are no true Goldwater conservatives as Kerry/Hart/Richardson are true liberals. They came to the DC power grabbing they criticized and manage to take the looting and pilfering of the public to a higher level. In the process, they have created an American government that's no longer recognizable, no longer responsible to the people, no longer fiscally sound and most of all morally bankrupt. Mr. Kristol, if your forebears can see you now!!! Point of fact, have you no shame?

[« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

I won't get in a Limo with him to prove i am not a Racist
Posted by: MPrck on Mar 25, 2008 6:33 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
YIKES, who is racist in America anymore ? We ALL ARE. We always will be. To be in favor of ones race is not bad. What is bad, is when we judge other races to be less than us. To allow some phoney Race or Gender cards to be thrown down in this election is to ensure that we remain asleep to the truth. Why did we invade, and continue to remain in Iraq ? 9-11 needs to be investigated. Wake UP.

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Mr. Kristolllllll
Posted by: chuckjs on Mar 25, 2008 7:09 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Racism is worse now, in the US, than it was before MLK's time. Your media, government members and a percentage of your population are contantly degrading and demeaning Muslims, Mexicans, Canadians, French, gays, lesbians, transexuals and most importantly anyone who does not subscribe to the ultra-consevative, right-wing(nuts)view that the US has the final say in any other countries business.
The people expressing views to the world, on behalf of the US, are starting to sound more and more like another government in another nation, some 80 years ago. The Mexicans are invading! The terrorists are coming through Canada because we cannot take the blame for folks getting through our secure borders! Or how about those poor French folks who were cast as siding with terrorists because the only thing they did was not support an illeagal war of aggression in IRAQ. I think the bottled water these people drink should have exseesive amouts of anti-psychotic drugs in them because when I hear US spokespersons spewing there venom towrds other nations I hear rumblings from past eras of facism and racism.

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» Sorry to nitpick, Posted by: joeunix
» RE: Sorry to nitpick, Posted by: blackie4aces
» RE: Sorry to nitpick, Posted by: joeunix
» RE: Sorry to nitpick, Posted by: bc430
» RE: Chuckjs Posted by: blackie4aces
Kristobull
Posted by: Lauren on Mar 25, 2008 7:51 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
But to argue that racism doesn't need to be discussed, despite the fact that "problems remain" -- that's unusually wrong, even for Kristol.

It is the same argument used to cover up any kind of abuse - don't let anyone talk about it. He is just reflecting his (religious) perspective, don't allow anyone to discuss the abuse. Fill the air with other distractions while carefully avoiding any admission of abuse.

9/11 - you are only as sick as your secrets.

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» Excellent point, Lauren Posted by: joeunix
» RE: xcellent point, Lauren Posted by: Doubtom
reply
Posted by: chuckjs on Mar 25, 2008 9:13 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Your absolutely correct that is has nothing to do with race but everything to do with unbridled bigotry and hatred which is no different than racism and also part of the topic. I know this because I come under 2 of those tiltes gay and transexual. As a matter of fact to correct myself completly Muslim's are not a race either but just a relgion. Yet they are cast as an entire group of evil killers bent on the destruction of the world, and villified at every turn.

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» Thanks for the reply Posted by: joeunix
How does William Kristol
Posted by: hurricane hugo on Mar 25, 2008 9:49 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
even have a job at this point, much less get taken as anything other than a sadly botched joke by anyone?

jdfu!

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The Age of the Charlatans
Posted by: blackie4aces on Mar 25, 2008 11:17 AM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
If Bill Krystol says racism is not a problem, then there is no better proof that it is. With his unbroken track record of being wrong about everything of which he opines, if anyone had any doubts about this issue, they may now rest easy. Confirnation from none other than "Wrong Again Bill" should be all that anyone need.

However, I do have to wonder how this pontificating, foppish asshole continues to remain on the stage. That the NYT rewarded him with a coveted column to further his poisonous propaganda finished off the last ounce of respect that I had for that publication. I must admit that at the time of his hire it wouldn't have taken much to end any credibility that the newspaper had as far as I was concerned, and Bill Krystol isn't much.

As in the past Krystol runs his mouth about something which he knows nothing whatsoever. Having never been near a military uniform in his life, like in ever having to wear one, he batted his lips endlessly about military strategy. Of course, as usual, it was nonsense. Fancying himself as a geopolital expert, he demonstrated that he had no grasp of geopolitics, history, or cultural dynamics by being wrong one-hundred percent of the time.
Now he is at it again expounding upon racism, a subject he couldn't possibly know anything about. Did his daddy never explain to him that he is fucking white, and that being white and existing in the narrow corridor between New York City and Washington DC meant he would not be subject to random frisks and arrests, he would not be denied services or subjected to shoddy service as a way of discouraging his return, nor would he face surreptitious bigotry in hiring situations, and he would not be a product of inferior public education? He would never have to concern his little white ass about it being red-lined in desirable neighborhoods.

We had the Gay Nineties at the turn of twentieth century. The Gilded Age preceeded it. The Roaring Twenties followed it. The early twenty-first century may well go down in history as the Age of the Charlatans, which would be the only way Bill Krystol could ever be thought of as remotely significant.

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What a self-important pig.
Posted by: Quannah on Mar 25, 2008 7:31 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
"...But we won't make progress if we now have to endure a din of race talk..."

Like he EVER had to "endure" ANY "race talk." Lauren is right. They simply DON'T talk about it. Because it doesn't effect them directly, why discuss it? BillyBoy has never been one to put his country's interests ahead of his own. So he misses the point of the great need for reasoned dialogue in this country.

He's only where he is today because he is born a priviledged, white elitist who happened to inherit a nice trust fund and doesn't have to "mingle" with "the other half."

He is the human barometer of what is wrong with this country. He epitomizes all that I disdain! And I refuse to read The New York Times as long as he's a columnist there.

What a self-important pig.

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» RE: What a self-important pig. Posted by: blackie4aces
» ;) Posted by: Quannah
When dear god, when,
Posted by: Doubtom on Mar 28, 2008 9:58 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
can we look forward to not seeing or reading this blowhard know-nothing? Exactly what are his credentials anyway?

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