STARTING TOMORROW: Rachel, Donald and Robert (Kagan)!

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2021

But appearing today, Charles Blow: A troubling fact has become fairly clear within, let's say, the past decade:

Enlightenment values are extremely "last millennium" within our failing culture, even within our own  blue tribe. 

This fact becomes more and more evident as the days tick by. For one more example, consider Charles Blow's new column. Also, consider what two commenters said.

What should President Biden, and the Biden Administration, have done? What should they have done  in response to the recent, rather sudden arrival of a large number of Haitian migrants at the Southwest border near Del Rio, Texas?

We can't answer that very good question. In our view, reporting of this sudden event has been remarkably fuzzy, even by prevailing norms.

We do know this:

At the start of the coverage of this incident. a photograph was widely misreported and misunderstood. This produced enormous amounts of outrage. For Kevin Drum's presentation of this matter, including the relevant videotape, you can just click here.

We also know this:

Once the misunderstanding was clarified, a wide range of liberal and progressive "thought leaders" cleaned the cupboard of slippery language as they worked, around the clock, to keep misperception and outrage alive.

Inevitably, Blow follows suit in this morning's column. His slippery, misleading, emotional language appears in this passage:

BLOW (9/27/21): Yes, there were the outrageous images of agents on horseback herding the migrants like cattle, and there was also the administration aggressively deporting the migrants back to Haiti.

In Blow's emotionally-charged rendition, immigration officers were "herding the migrants like cattle." In such ways, tribal beings—humans like us—strain to keep outrage alive.

Full disclosure:

We weren't shocked to learn that law enforcement officials on the Southwest border sometimes work on horseback. 

Mounted police have routinely operated in northeastern cities. In our experience, this dates all the way to the street-fighting 1960s, when mounted police would be used to disperse crowds of (overwhelmingly "white") antiwar protesters.

It's hardly surprising to think that law enforcement would also work on horseback in the desert Southwest. To us, it doesn't seem like a "racial" play—but our tribe's various human beings have stripped the cupboard of emotionally-charged and deceptive language as they fight to perform their Storyline in the current circumstance.

In Blow's rendition, the mounted police were "herding the migrants like cattle." This is the sort of thing it may take to keep tribal outrage alive.

As for Blow, he's deeply upset, as he always is. 

His headline says this: "Joe Biden's mendacity." Soon, he's offering this account of his reaction to those "outrageous images:":

BLOW: Yes, there were the outrageous images of agents on horseback herding the migrants like cattle, and there was also the administration aggressively deporting the migrants back to Haiti.

When I see those Black bodies at the border, I am unable to separate them from myself, or my family, or my friends. They are us. There is a collective consciousness in blackness, born of the white supremacist erasure of our individuality.

Your accomplishment is never your own, but a credit to the race. Your sins are never your own, but a stain on the race. In America, and throughout the diaspora, all Black people are linked together like a chain of paper dolls.

So it has been incredibly painful to witness the treatment of the Haitians, and it has been impossible not to recoil in disgust or burn with outrage. And to think, “This is happening on Joe Biden’s watch.”

When Blow sees those "outrageous images" of the "herding" of those "Black bodies" (Tribal Private Language alert!),  he reports that he is "unable to separate [the Haitian migrants] from himself or from his family and friends."

We're supposed to admire this inability. We'll report a different reaction.

In fact, those unfortunate migrants aren't the deeply "privileged" Blow, his family or his friends. They're a very different group, a group of very unfortunate people, in a very different type of situation. 

That said, Blow is "unable to" keep this distinction in mind. For this reason, he says "it has been impossible not to burn with outrage" at the images in question—images he isn't willing to describe in a reasonably straightforward way.

It isn't clear that those mounted police did anything wrong in the incident which was photographed and videotaped. If they did do something wrong, Blow doesn't explain what it was. At times like these, why bother!

One (highly selective) photograph inspired a great deal of rage. And, at times of tribal war, we burn to keep rage alive.

Even as he keeps pretending that those officers treated the migrants like cattle, Blow seems to blame Biden for their alleged offence. In the larger sense, what should the Biden administration have done with respect to this large group of migrants?

You're asking a very good question! Below, you see the outraged Blow's (lack of) response:

BLOW: It seems to me that Biden tried to simultaneously eliminate the horrible optics the migrants present, and to do so as quickly as possible, and at the same time blunt the already loud criticism from Republicans that he is mishandling immigration and has an open-borders policy. (No wonder, then, that the migrant encampment beneath the Del Rio bridge has already been cleared.)

But those Republicans cannot be appeased. No matter what direction Biden takes they will condemn it. So why not take the moral path, the righteous path, the ethical path?

According to Blow, Biden and his administration should have "take[n] the moral path, the righteous path, the ethical path." 

That said, what was the moral, righteous and ethical path? Married to his sacred outrage, Blow never bothers to say!

At times like these, the center cannot hold. The worst are full of passionate intensity, but so is almost everyone else.

The deep emotions Blow reports are one of the many poisoned fruits of this nation's brutal racial history. That said, his self-reported fact—the fact that he can't see past his emotional reactions—explains why Enlightenment values have ceased to exist for him, as for almost everyone else.

Our own blue tribe has lost its way. There's no sign that we'll be finding our way back, or that the nation's center will be able to hold.

Inevitably, one early commenter to Blow's column said this. This is The Crazy on stilts:

COMMENTER FROM NEW YORK CITY: You know you are in trouble when a liberal progressive like Charles Blow is against you.  Is Joe Biden now a friend or foe to black people?  I would guess the latter. But, of course, only a black person can answer this honestly.

The highlighted statement is crazy. It's also a tribute to our tribe's sole surviving God—to the jealous god, Identity.

A second commenter offers this. Reactions like these have lost the war within our own blue tribe:

COMMENTER FROM CALIFORNIA: Perhaps Charles Blow needs to stop focusing so much on identity. We’ve been shipping non-black migrants home in their thousands for decades. But suddenly a bunch of black migrants, and he gets up in arms. The problem with this issue is, people don’t try to come here unless they think they can get in. If you let them think they’re getting in as long as they show up, what happened last week is inevitable. There’s no shortage of migrants—most seeking the same economic opportunities my great grandparents did—who would undertake this dangerous journey, with limited understanding of the risks and the ultimate (lack of) rewards, if the barrier for entry was dropped. I’m not sure what people want on the left—political suicide by just letting people in, encouraging more to come? I just don’t know how this could be dealt with other than how it was.

The commenter says he doesn’t know "how this could be dealt with other than how it was."

Nowhere in his column, as he flips out, does Blow attempt to address that obvious question. As is often true as we humans move to war, it's outrage all the way down.

The Times should have given Blow a rest a long time ago. His emotions may be understandable, but they defeat the journalistic purpose.

That said, Our Own Blue Tribe seems unable to grasp the danger of the moment. Starting tomorrow, we'll examine that problem all week. We'll focus on Rachel Maddow, plus a Donald and a Robert

The Donald will be Donald J. Trump, a deeply disordered figure. The Robert will be the man who wrote this widely cited essay, an essay which actually understates the problem we're all facing.

Tomorrow: We'll start last Thursday night


59 comments:

  1. how i got my Ex lover back after a divorced by the help of DR NCUBE a marriage/relationship specialist. contact him if you need help WHATSAPP DR NCUBE ON +2348155227532
    his em ail is drncube03@gmail.com.




















    how i got my Ex lover back after a divorced by the help of DR NCUBE a marriage/relationship specialist. contact him if you need help WHATSAPP DR NCUBE ON +2348155227532
    his em ail is drncube03@gmail.com.


















    how i got my Ex lover back after a divorced by the help of DR NCUBE a marriage/relationship specialist. contact him if you need help WHATSAPP DR NCUBE ON +2348155227532
    his em ail is drncube03@gmail.com.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mobile phone is capable of making millions if you are smart enough to invest in Stock/bitcoin through the help of an Expert, Mrs Mary, she will help you on how to invest and make good profits. I invested $5,000 with her help and I was able to make $32,000 within the period of intensive trading. How many hours a day do you spend on your phone and how productive are those hours? Contact her today to gain financial freedom. Email: maryreeltradings@gmail.com

      Delete
  2. There's no safe harbor when it comes to the state of politics and political commentary in the U.S. We are at a juncture here where we will disappear forever, through the looking glass. Politics is quickly becoming saturated with a sort of consumerism, you can now shop around for any set of facts you desire, truth be damned.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I thought we had it solved. We banned the horses and bused the Haitians.

      Delete
    2. What exactly does that solve?

      Delete
    3. It certainly doesn't solve the state of our political discourse. A couple of things need to happen in my opinion.

      People understand and it is clearly stated that news is entertainment, not a public service.

      The existing talking heads on TV and writers of the major rags need to be relentlessly mocked at a large scale. Think the Jon Stewart show from the late 90s, multiplied tenfold. Real news needs to be provided by some brave TV/paper and somehow made profitable. Perhaps with crossover into the relentless mocking.

      Delete
    4. News is primarily a source of information and secondarily entertainment. There is no reason it cannot be both, depending on the circumstances.

      Mockery isn't humor. It is social aggression and it conveys hostility. Jon Stewart did a lot more than mock people and is a bad example, in my opinion, since most people watched his show for information, not just humor.

      The entertainment provided by today's shows are that attempt to be profitable while providing news programming. Mockery is mean and makes people uncomfortable while watching, and it runs the risk of building sympathy for the mocked. I think it is not a good idea.

      Delete
    5. "News is primarily a source of information and secondarily entertainment."

      Your first sentence is incorrect, you have the order backwards.

      "Mockery isn't humor"

      You're a bit out to sea. Sign of the times I guess.

      Delete
    6. Mockery definition: "teasing and contemptuous language or behavior directed at a particular person or thing"

      AKA bullying

      Delete
    7. Anonymouse 2:35pm, the optics.

      Delete
    8. Mockery is also the act of delivering sarcastic humor... AKA not necessarily bullying

      Delete
    9. Is this "make up your own definitions of words" day?

      Contempt directed at a particular person is definitely bullying.

      Sarcasm is juvenile because it is largely practised by 12 year olds who have just discovered that tone of voice need not match the content of one's statement. It fades after the early teens as kids learn how to use prosidy to better communicate. If sarcasm is any kind of humor, it is a sledgehammer, not a scalpel (hint: because it is not subtle and mostly not funny).

      Delete
    10. Can we see that Anonymouse 10:09pm has helpfully used sarcasm and a tone of condescension and contempt in an unsubtle post to Anonymouse 9:25pm?

      Yes, we can…

      Delete
    11. Sarcasm occurs when the denotative meaning of a sentance doesn't match the tone of voice. (1) no tone of voice here, (2) no mismatch between what the words mean and my intention.

      There and certain undereducated people who think that anyone who knows more than they do must be looking down on them. Enjoy your ignorance Cecelia, but there was no sarcasm involved.

      Delete
    12. No, sarcasm can also be denoted in content as well as tone. Otherwise we would automatically assume that you were seriously asking if yesterday was an official ‘“make up your own definition for words” day?’

      Although, with your incapacity for subtlety of thought, you could have well been doing just that.

      Delete
  3. "What should they have done in response to the recent, rather sudden arrival of a large number of Haitian migrants at the Southwest border near Del Rio, Texas?

    We can't answer that very good question."

    Oh, you can't dear Bob? Really? How sad.

    How about: take care that the laws be faithfully executed?

    ReplyDelete
  4. "We're supposed to admire this inability."

    Blow isn't asking for admiration. He is stating a fact.

    Somerby's own inability to empathize may lead him to believe that others do not empathize either, which leads him to call Blow's identification with other black people "performative" instead of a genuine reaction.

    But it isn't up to Somerby to tell Blow how he feels about these current events. Blow tells us that himself.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. His feelings aren't legitimate. Or at least, legitimate argument.

      Delete
    2. Who says? According to whom? Who decides whose feelings are legitimate. Not you and not Somerby.

      Delete
  5. "In fact, those unfortunate migrants aren't the deeply "privileged" Blow, his family or his friends. "

    Somerby considers Blow "deeply privileged" because he got a job as a journalist, worked his way up to columnist and now earns a good salary? That is normal for Americans, not "deeply privileged". Deeply privileged is like Trump, being gifted with millions which he lost on casinos, then inheriting more millions in order to swagger through life as a purported "billionaire" spending other people's money.

    Somerby's idea that someone who is black, who has a life that would be considered normal for a white person, must be "deeply privileged" reveals his own attitudes and expectations, and they aren't pretty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That isn't what Somerby said. Your reading comprehension needs upgrading.

      Delete
    2. I quoted what Somerby said, and it seems pretty clear to me that he is implying that Blow is more privileged than those asylum seekers, so his identifications is inappropriate. What else can Somerby mean when he says that the migrants "aren't" the "deeply privileged Blow or any of his family or friends?

      I don't think there is anything wrong with my reading of what Somerby said.

      Delete
    3. He could mean that Blow seeing them on racial terms is less important, less interesting, less informative, less courageous etc than seeing them on terms of class and wealth. Because class is always left out of the discussion with blue wave Liberal moral scolds.

      Delete
    4. That would imply that Somerby is saying that Blow shouldn't care about the Haitians because they are poor, unlike Blow himself. That's not a very empathetic statement either.

      The point of being liberal is to try to change society for the better. If that equates to scolding, then so be it. Those who resist change aren't going to hear it in a positive way no matter how liberals express themselves.

      Delete
    5. 1. It doesn't imply that unless you are stupid or crazy.

      2. The point is liberals scold about the wrong issues, leaving the most important issue, class, untouched.

      Delete
    6. If you plan on helping "Anon #1" with his reading comprehension (as well as complete lack of humor and levity), you have a long tough road ahead...

      Delete
    7. Those Haitians struggling in the river certainly are a good subject for levity. It is so funny, ha ha ha, when a ranger hits an asylum seeker right on the top of his head, ha ha ha. Poor people are always good for a laugh.

      Delete
    8. You forgot those struggling Haitians are also great for rich, comfortable twits to pretend to care about so they get extra attention at the next cocktail party.

      Delete
    9. Why do rich people need to pretend to care about anyone during a cocktail party? Republicans don't. This is one of the aspects of "performative" caring that I don't understand. You don't get anything from doing it, so why bother?

      Would it make any sense to say that rich, comfortable twits (who do tend to be Republicans) need those Haitians in order to pretend not to care about them, so they get extra attention at the next cocktail party? I would bet that no one talks about Haitians during cocktail parties, even on the left, where some people might actually care about Haitians.

      As I said, I knew several Haitian students from my classes and I liked them. I do feel sad when I read these kinds of news stories and the thought of jerks like you laughing about their circumstances upsets me because they don't deserve that kind of treatment.

      These are people. It doesn't seem to me that those on the right are acknowledging that, because if they did, they would behave differently.

      Delete
    10. Valid points but making "the others" wrong for the billionth time doesn't make the growing leftist cesspool of hypocrisy and idiocy disappear.

      Delete
    11. What cesspool? Shouldn't you establish that one exists before talking about its permanence?

      This is a false equivalency. There is certainly both hypocrisy and idiocy on the right, but that doesn't mean the same exists on the left, no matter how many times Somerby tries to establish that something trivial equals the major cess on the right.

      Delete
    12. It's an elitist job.

      Delete
  6. Blow obviously isn't identifying the the Haitians because they are refugees or financially impoverished. He is identifying with them because their black skin means they can be treated in a cavalier manner by law enforcement, just as Blow himself can be if a traffic cop takes it into his mind to stop him. Blow's income and profession wouldn't protect him under those circumstances, judging by other occasions involving black men and white cops.

    Cops on horses do not ride down citizens walking our streets in any major city or rural area. This treatment of Haitians seeking asylum IS different than the norm and it is reminiscent of how animals are treated. Blow isn't making that up. The only emotional word in his otherwise factual description is "outrageously". That doesn't warrant Somerby's overblown complaint about Blow's emotionality. And I agree that this treatment of human beings is outrageous and unworthy of America, just as the use of police dogs against the marchers in Selma was outrageous.

    That Somerby has no visceral reaction to the video is itself telling about Somerby. He apparently has become desensitized to pictures of how people have been mistreated, so that behavior reminiscent of Nazis and other dictators now seems OK to him. Somerby should question his own numbness to human abuse, not complain that Blow isn't in the same boat as Haitians, who are apparently throw-away people from shithole countries, who deserve whatever we want to do to them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really stupid commenter.

      Delete
    2. Regardless of his feelings, Blow is wrong.

      Delete
    3. Cops ride horses down on people here all the time-Bob's right about white war protestors --and those pictures were misleading.

      Delete
    4. If you are going to say this, please be more specific, when and where do cops use horses for crowd control in modern policing?

      Delete
  7. We've been offering asylum to Haitians for a long time. Trump deported those in the US with special dispensation to be here. I don't understand why Biden is continuing Trump's policy this way. Not only are the optics bad, but the policy doesn't make much sense.

    ReplyDelete
  8. That Commenter from California doesn't know much about why people come here seeking asylum. It isn't that they are seeking economic opportunity as that they are fleeing intolerable conditions in their home countries. The basis for asylum is that they will be severely harmed if they stay there (e.g., killed, imprisoned, tortured, raped).

    The other mistaken idea is that we don't need more workers here. Already, there are insufficient people to staff a number of jobs, especially of the types that immigrants typically fill. We need those people here for economic reasons.

    I had several students in my classes from Haiti. They were good, hard-working students. I hate to see Haitians treated badly and I don't understand why Biden is doing this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Those Haitians aren't coming to the US from their home country, dear dembot. They are coming from Mexico. And if they aren't seeking economic opportunity, they can simply ask for asylum in Mexico.

      Delete
    2. Mao, these are not Haitian-Mexicans. They are seeking access to the American border so that they can make their claims. If they tried to board a plane directly to the US from Haiti, they wouldn't be permitted to do that, as you well know.

      From Politico:

      "Ebrard [Mexico's Foreign Relations Secretary] said most of the Haitians already had refugee status in Chile or Brazil and weren’t seeking it in Mexico..."

      "The second official said the plan was to move to Tapachula all Haitians who had already solicited asylum in Mexico, since Tapachula is where most of them would have applied and they can only legally remain in Mexico while their case is processed if they stay in the south.

      The Haitian migrants who are already in Mexico’s detention centers and have not requested asylum will be the first to be flown directly to Haiti once Mexico begins those flights, according to the official."

      Delete
    3. Those who have a refugee status in Chile or Brazil should go to Chile or Brazil.

      Those who don't have a refugee status should apply for it in Mexico. Mexico, as part to the refugee convention, will process them accordingly.

      Those whose claims to a refugee status are rejected by Mexico, will be repatriated to Haiti, from Mexico.

      And this is all there is to it, and the US of A should have nothing whatsoever to do with it.

      Delete
    4. ...and of course those who don't want to apply for a refugee status in Mexico, and don't have visas to stay in Mexico, should be repatriated to Haiti immediately.

      Delete
    5. So, you think the US can avoid accepting any refugees by pretending it has no border and no responsibility to other nations, including Mexico? Typical.

      Delete
    6. The U.S. has accepted Haitian refugees and many of the refugees coming up from Central and South America had been there for years.

      Delete
  9. "The commenter says he doesn’t know "how this could be dealt with other than how it was."

    Nowhere in his column, as he flips out, does Blow attempt to address that obvious question. "

    Does Somerby not understand that the commenter wrote his question AFTER Blow had written his column and it had appeared in press? Is Blow now suppoed to anticipate every reader question and address them before they are asked?

    Not only is Somerby demanding that Blow use no adverbs that might betray emotion, but he must also be prescient, and heaven forbid he identify with anyone in peril!!! These are not reasonable demands, but this is the kind of thing members of minority groups have to put up with. Demands for a certain kind of perfection that has nothing to do with competence.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "as he flips out"

      Nothing in the portion of Blow's column that Somerby excerpted constitutes flipping out. It is Somerby who is using histrionic language today.

      Delete
  10. Seeing black people chased around on horseback contributes to this kind of misunderstanding, because like it or not, people will assume that those being chased are undesirable, lower class, not full citizens:

    "A Black product manager at Google says he was riding his bike around the tech giant’s campus when he was approached by security. According to Angel Onuoha’s Sept. 20 tweet, someone there apparently didn’t believe he was an employee. In a Sept. 22 tweet following up on the incident, Onuoha said his badge was taken away from him after he was forced to miss his bus home sorting out the situation.

    He wrote, “A lot of people keep DM’ing me asking for the full story…They ended up taking my ID badge away from me later that day and I was told to call security if I had a problem with it. And that was after holding me up for 30 minutes causing me to miss my bus ride home.”"

    From The Root, 9/27

    ReplyDelete
  11. "The complaint [by black advocacy groups on behalf of Haitian asylum seekers], which is not yet public but has been viewed by The Grio, cites “verbal abuse and physical violence/intimidation,” denial of access to interpreters, and denial of peoples’ “statutory and international law rights to apply for asylum,” the report said. Advocacy groups call for a halt to deportations so that people may testify about abuses or abuses they witnessed, and argue that people deported in violation of their rights should be returned."

    ReplyDelete
  12. https://jabberwocking.com/bidens-immigration-policy-is-way-way-better-than-trumps/

    ReplyDelete
  13. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  14. "When I see those Black bodies at the border, I am unable to separate them from myself, or my family, or my friends."

    Interesting. It follows then that when Charles Blow sees other-than-Black "bodies" undergoing some kind of suffering he IS able to separate himself from them. This is classic ethnocentric thinking, the very flower of racism.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, except that like all the rest of hitlerian High Priests he is, of course, lying about it. He's just doing his job, inciting race hatred.

      Delete
    2. Gloucon, it takes a special kind of person to ride human beings down on a horse, white or black. Also this is a converse error, which is a logical fallacy.

      Delete
    3. What, the kind experienced in horseback riding, dear dembot?

      Delete
  15. Mobile phone is capable of making millions if you are smart enough to invest in Stock/bitcoin through the help of an Expert, Mrs Mary, she will help you on how to invest and make good profits. I invested $5,000 with her help and I was able to make $32,000 within the period of intensive trading. How many hours a day do you spend on your phone and how productive are those hours? Contact her today to gain financial freedom. Email: maryreeltradings@gmail.com






    ReplyDelete