The Other Double Standard

Rather than write a long rant about what's wrong with our current political system, I just have a few questions about a double standard:

1. What if a Black man showed up to a presidential event with a gun strapped to his back and a sign that read, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of tyrants?"

2. What if a Black man got on a nationally syndicated radio show, such as Glenn Beck's, and advised people to go out and purchase guns...to be armed and dangerous?

3. What if a Black man had spat on a Congressman?

4. What if a group of Black men had beat up a small, white female protester in Kentucky?


5. Why haven't there been any Congressional hearings for White Supremacist groups? Why haven't they been summoned to the Hill?

I think we know the answer to these questions...People often conclude that Black people in America are too sensitive and play the race card when race isn't even in the game. But anybody reading these questions, regardless of color, knows the answer.

Think I'm just spouting conspiracy theories here? Replace the word "Black" with "Mexican." The answers would still be the same.

Unacknowledged Debt and Phallic Distractions

I have not posted in a long time. I normally take my posts directly from the nightly news. However, I feel that the news has gone on a constant political sideshow for the past three weeks; between Palin and Weiner's picture of a package, there has not been much substance behind the reporting.

The coverage of the false arguments about the debt ceiling has been rather scant. Instead of focusing on Weiner's package, our outlets should have been focusing on the false connections made between employment and the debt ceiling. I am appalled at the way Republicans and conservatives misuse the press by repeatedly making rhetorical/argumentative errors that we learn to avoid in any debate or composition II class. And since these people have all had some sort of higher learning, I want to say that they do this by design. And since journalists have also gone to college, I want to say that they are not calling the culprits on their error by design. Why kill this argument and kill the ratings? Better yet, why have this argument and kill the ratings when Palin's stupidity and Weiner's penis are much more interesting to viewers?

Here is the false argument that the Right and Republicans repeatedly make: the debt ceiling has absolutely nothing to do with employment, or economic growth. The debt ceiling is simply an acknowledgement of the bills we have to pay. That's it: to raise the debt ceiling is to acknowledge the nation's bills so that they may be paid. To constantly conflate the debt ceiling with economic growth or the need to decrease taxes on the rich or the need to cut social spending programs is to commit several non sequitur fallacies. One thing has almost nothing to do with the other, but may appear that way. It is like saying: "if we hold firm on the debt ceiling, the economy will bounce back." Anyone with a healthy understanding of composition II, economics, or simply running a household budget knows this is a lie. For example, we have a light bill, but we do not acknowledge the light bill. Yes, we will have more money in our pockets, but we won't have any electricity...which in the end, will cost us more money. We'd lose our food because the freezer will not run without electricity, for instance.

To the average viewer, this is a pretty boring conversation to have. It rests upon logical fallacies and economic talk. Neither of these things are ratings gold for liberal or conservative media. It is just more fun to focus on a beautiful, silly half-governor from Alaska and a senator's penis.

But my question is this: what will our love of people's personal lives -these national distractions -cost us in the future?