Mandatory Obama Blog
I didn't think I'd find myself so strangely taciturn with America's new presidential-elect as I do now. People who know me 'n' my wee blog will know by now that I think we live in a society goverened by a great many taboos perpetrated by the Home Office and the BBC, and Obama's VICTORY (and I can't use that word enough) brings to light a lot of those issues that Britain's Post-Enoch Powell slash post-Alf Garnett generation have brushed under the carpet.
To me it seems almost amiss to celebrate a President based on the colour of his skin for the same reason I feel uncomfortable attributing the success of the 19th century commonwealth colonies with the phrase `White Man`. The point is race is neither a factor in, or the cause of, any sucess or failure in the world. Indeed, the only examples of race having an affect on people's lives is the prejudice of skin colour - not the its variance.
So for a black president to be elected is neither a step in the fight against racism or a milestone in creating a better planet to live in. And if the polls are to believed and `only 1/10 voters believed race to be a factor in their voting decision`, that still works out as around 30 million citizens who think that the race of their president will make the country a better (or worse) place.
Of course, there is there is the issue of Republican Southern State eyes to be closed to skin colour and I'm sure in the next generation we'll see a diminishing prejudice thanks to Barack's appointment, but we're not talking mid '90s S. Africa - Obama is not a revolution like Mandela. Obama and Mandela are the only two presidents in recent history to be famed and acclaimed by the virtue of their skin colours and comparing the two puts into light the insignificance of Obama's race card. Mandela on the one hand gave re-birth to a nation - he was in many respects a liberator and a true visionary who it can be said with some certainty: changed the world.
In the shadow of this, Obama is a president who it seems is put on a pedestal because he is black - elected because of his economic and foreign policy*. So surely all the Left Wingers, Democrats, Politicly Correct Commentators and bloggers are perpetrating the imaginery racism in the world; raging a battle against an enemy that was crushed years ago. Abolutionists, Suffragettes, the Civil Rights Movement, post-modernism, even the US Constitution are all egalitarian lessons built into the mindset of Mr American and Mr Western World and the racist sect of the country are nothing but the mere seperatists who time forgot who aren't a might to be conquered but a minority whose opinions don't affect majority consensus.
For that matter, if nothing else, I again find myself uncomfortably taciturn in public that you can elect a president using his skin colour and contrive an adversary against which both black and white come together to defeat.
So un-PC ranting aside, I still find myself beside myself with excitement that Obama will be the new President. Not because he's the first black US President, but because of his policies and the `YES WE CAN` that comes with his idiology. I only hope that the mouldy dated primaries of our political parties here in the United Kingdom (Yup, I include Glenrothes in that statement :-) ) can be inspired to inject some meaningful zest into 21st century politics.
* and the nation's complete lack of trust in the Rublican Party courtesy of George Dubya I'm guessing
To me it seems almost amiss to celebrate a President based on the colour of his skin for the same reason I feel uncomfortable attributing the success of the 19th century commonwealth colonies with the phrase `White Man`. The point is race is neither a factor in, or the cause of, any sucess or failure in the world. Indeed, the only examples of race having an affect on people's lives is the prejudice of skin colour - not the its variance.
So for a black president to be elected is neither a step in the fight against racism or a milestone in creating a better planet to live in. And if the polls are to believed and `only 1/10 voters believed race to be a factor in their voting decision`, that still works out as around 30 million citizens who think that the race of their president will make the country a better (or worse) place.
Of course, there is there is the issue of Republican Southern State eyes to be closed to skin colour and I'm sure in the next generation we'll see a diminishing prejudice thanks to Barack's appointment, but we're not talking mid '90s S. Africa - Obama is not a revolution like Mandela. Obama and Mandela are the only two presidents in recent history to be famed and acclaimed by the virtue of their skin colours and comparing the two puts into light the insignificance of Obama's race card. Mandela on the one hand gave re-birth to a nation - he was in many respects a liberator and a true visionary who it can be said with some certainty: changed the world.
In the shadow of this, Obama is a president who it seems is put on a pedestal because he is black - elected because of his economic and foreign policy*. So surely all the Left Wingers, Democrats, Politicly Correct Commentators and bloggers are perpetrating the imaginery racism in the world; raging a battle against an enemy that was crushed years ago. Abolutionists, Suffragettes, the Civil Rights Movement, post-modernism, even the US Constitution are all egalitarian lessons built into the mindset of Mr American and Mr Western World and the racist sect of the country are nothing but the mere seperatists who time forgot who aren't a might to be conquered but a minority whose opinions don't affect majority consensus.
For that matter, if nothing else, I again find myself uncomfortably taciturn in public that you can elect a president using his skin colour and contrive an adversary against which both black and white come together to defeat.
So un-PC ranting aside, I still find myself beside myself with excitement that Obama will be the new President. Not because he's the first black US President, but because of his policies and the `YES WE CAN` that comes with his idiology. I only hope that the mouldy dated primaries of our political parties here in the United Kingdom (Yup, I include Glenrothes in that statement :-) ) can be inspired to inject some meaningful zest into 21st century politics.
* and the nation's complete lack of trust in the Rublican Party courtesy of George Dubya I'm guessing
posted by Ben F. Foster Esq. (c) @ 3:04 AM
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