Personal Invectives - Part II

Hardly had the electronic ink dried on the Watchman's blog of September 10, when indeed a group of black publishers, National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) shouted from the roof tops "Racism" over Congressman Joe Wilson's calling President Obama a liar in the congress.(Black Publishers Cry Racism...) The direct quote of Wilson's is: "You lie." Nothing more was said by Wilson. No other pejorative was used in conjunction with the statement. He immediately apologized to the President. In the end, where is the "racism" claimed by the NNPA? Do they possess some supernatural god like power to access the intent of a man's heart? I think not. It appears the NNPA and others like them, see the bogeyman of racism at every turn and in every shadow. A sad commentary on the progress of race relations, don't you think?

Where was their out rage when during the presidential election campaign, Senator Reid and other democratic leaders charged candidate Obama with lying? Is the invective of racism only to be applied when convenient or invoked against individuals from the other party? Was it racism when most of the leaders within the democratic party called President Bush a "liar" over Iraq issues? Crying racism in the Wilson case demonstrates the inconsistency and resulting loss of power the word holds. Bull Conner and George Wallace standing in the doorway of southern schools to prevent entry of black children is racism. A no-name congressman embarrassingly loosing control of his emotions in congress saying two words is not.

The other sad part of the Wilson outburst is the lack of analysis into his charge by the main-line media. The puffed up indignation by Congressional leaders over Wilson's breech of protocol may be a dodge to deflect consideration that our President was less than truthful in handling the facts of the health care issue. Factcheck.org has a good review of the issue. Of the five items the President addressed, he was pretty loose with the facts on 4 of them. So is he only 25% truthful? Credibility on this topic is not his strong suite.

The NNPA in response will boycott South Carolina to punish Wilson. Huh? Yes, they plan on canceling their annual convention there to demonstrate opposition to South Carolina's continued use of the confederate flag as a state symbol. Only problem is the impact of their decision actually punishes the very people they represent, hardworking black and white poor who cook and serve in restaurants, do hotel laundry, work in the convention centers, or the small black business owner who just lost a catering contract.

Again, the over use of personal invective so easily undermines right thinking and results in innocent people being harmed. The knee jerk reaction by the NNPA demonstrates how thin skinned our fellow countrymen really are and how easy it is to use an invective to perpetuate negative political agendas. As the Watchman sees these things play out, he fears a return of old prejudices that keep us slightly ahead of savage barbarity.