Que Sensitivo!
Why is everyone so sensitive these days? Two recent events were the impetus for this post.
1) Vicente Fox, el presidente de Mexico, made comments the other day to the effect of "Hispanics in the United States do the work that blacks don't want to do." What struck me was the immediate reaction and associated media coverage of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. First, was what Fox said really that bad? Was it bad at all? I don't really see what was wrong with his comments (Jackson and Sharpton said that the comments were divisive). The comments were not critical of minorities, save Hispanics, in any way. Second, why the outcry about comments by Mexico's president, when there are far too many other important issues to deal with? Don't two of the most important black leaders in America have more important issues to stand up about? The outcry struck me as a knee-jerk reaction to a comment that had anything to do with race...it has become impossible to talk about race issues in any critical way in this country without being criticized for merely touching on the subject...the substance of comments is rarely the issue...merely the fact that race was mentioned acts as a trigger for criticism.
2) A Newsweek article somehow made its way to Afghanistan, where the public heard that some military folks at Guantanamo Bay had desecrated the Koran. Many citizens were subsequently killed as a result of a public uprising and outcry over the report. Newsweek has partially recanted the story (how much arm twisting by the White House went into that one?), but the public (in Afghanistan) remains in a frenzy. Why? I realize that religious fervor is at a different level in other parts of the world, but it still boggles the mind that people are willing to kill themselves and others over reports that a few soldiers half way around the world may have flushed a few pages of a book down the toilet.
2a) As an aside, it was beyond hypocrisy to hear the White House criticize Newsweek for publishing a false or partially true story and criticizing its method of partially recanting it. WMD's, anyone?
1) Vicente Fox, el presidente de Mexico, made comments the other day to the effect of "Hispanics in the United States do the work that blacks don't want to do." What struck me was the immediate reaction and associated media coverage of Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. First, was what Fox said really that bad? Was it bad at all? I don't really see what was wrong with his comments (Jackson and Sharpton said that the comments were divisive). The comments were not critical of minorities, save Hispanics, in any way. Second, why the outcry about comments by Mexico's president, when there are far too many other important issues to deal with? Don't two of the most important black leaders in America have more important issues to stand up about? The outcry struck me as a knee-jerk reaction to a comment that had anything to do with race...it has become impossible to talk about race issues in any critical way in this country without being criticized for merely touching on the subject...the substance of comments is rarely the issue...merely the fact that race was mentioned acts as a trigger for criticism.
2) A Newsweek article somehow made its way to Afghanistan, where the public heard that some military folks at Guantanamo Bay had desecrated the Koran. Many citizens were subsequently killed as a result of a public uprising and outcry over the report. Newsweek has partially recanted the story (how much arm twisting by the White House went into that one?), but the public (in Afghanistan) remains in a frenzy. Why? I realize that religious fervor is at a different level in other parts of the world, but it still boggles the mind that people are willing to kill themselves and others over reports that a few soldiers half way around the world may have flushed a few pages of a book down the toilet.
2a) As an aside, it was beyond hypocrisy to hear the White House criticize Newsweek for publishing a false or partially true story and criticizing its method of partially recanting it. WMD's, anyone?
posted by mattguiney at 7:23 PM
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