Hail Al Sharpton...king of Demagogues

The demagoguery has run amuck, and its “lord and savior,” Al Sharpton, is on fire! Why not? The rabble-rousing was a roaring success.  I have just read the press release announcing the placement of Sharpton’s visage, along with that of Joseph Goebbels, and Che Guevara in the OED and Merriam-Webster next to the definition of “Demagogue.”  Well, ok, he’s not quite at that stature, but he IS paying his dues.  For over thirty years, the Right Reverend Sharpton of the Newer Dukedom of York has been regaling the masses with his cynically manipulative brand of racial divisiveness.  The most recent edition to his body of nausea inducing work was his claim that the GOP is somehow responsible for high unemployment among Black Americans.

It’s difficult to translate his rhetoric into English, but he’s apparently calling on …well, somebody…to “take on these [Republican] Governors and Mayors as well as the private sector on why the private sector is getting all these contracts and bailouts and not hiring and correcting the disproportionate amount of their employment does not touch our community and have the President and them us in that.” Basically, his argument--if one can dignify it as such--is that because Black Americans are more highly represented in Public Sector jobs than in private, the reduction in Public Sector spending, by Republicans, is somehow deliberately targeting the Black Community. 

Excuse me, I just need to take a few warm-up swings, and crack my knuckles before entering the ring…ahhh, that’s better!  Now allow me to address the foolishness that has come before us…publicly, and with the abetment of local and national media coverage.  And yes, I WILL hold the Mass Media responsible for their part in the promulgation of these histrionics.  After all, they actually pay the man, Monday through Friday, and sometimes on weekends to spew his nonsense…and nonsense it is. 

First off, while it is true that the unemployment rate among Black Americans is higher--at a consistent record of 14.1 percent under President Obama--to infer that that number is caused by a deliberate conspiracy of some variety, is offensive.  We have to call out the fallacious “reasoning” behind such conclusions, and do so with carefully tailored and substantive public counter-statements, by calling it exactly what it is and nothing more: 

‘A means to further divide our country by setting up straw-man arguments to distract people from real issues.’ 

We have to do this by addressing the inanity head-on, while maintaining the higher ground. Specifically, we can’t just lose the discourse by merely labeling something “racism.”  We’re at ground zero in our fight right now…in fact we’re at negative one. We have to be careful, so as not to fall into the trap of liberal-style knee jerking. 

It’s absurd to imply that, because government agencies employ more minorities, supposedly, than the private sector, that 1) this is reason enough to keep the funding for an otherwise superfluous agency department, as if it existed solely for the purpose of employing…well, ANYBODY, and 2) any governing authority that seeks to close a superfluous government agency is doing so for racist reasons, and 3) the private sector, when taking over the operation of said services, will refuse to hire a qualified and experienced applicant simply because they are a former government employee that happens to be African American.

There is no data to support any of his contentions, especially that the private sector will, for some reason, not hire a qualified, former government employee, who happens to be Black American.  Now that we have seen that he brings forth his claim, without evidence of any sort, we can dismiss it for what it is: A Vacuous Statement. That which can be put forward without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.

Of course, it is no surprise that this is the case.  All thinking consumers of news, on either side of the political aisle, know that Sharpton is not a reliable source of data, or logic, for that matter. If everyone just ignored him, he would NEVER have had a platform upon which to stand. Unfortunately, this calculated chaos has multiplied, and the wild fires have spread to areas that should have been resistant to such flames…and those are the minds and hearts of the Conservative Movement. 

I have been greatly disturbed by some of the reactionary statements made by members who claim to share my political philosophy.  I have relentlessly attempted to caution those who call out vitriolic attacks against Conservatives not to respond to claims of racism by making claims of racism of their own.  This lamentably predictable type of response plays right into the puppeteer hands of liberal demagogues.  

For instance, Conservative Media has been guilty of responding to such liberal propaganda as Sharpton’s with propaganda-style videos highlighting images of the so-called “New Black Panther Movement” as if it had any actual impact on the Black Community, or anyone else for that matter.  We rely on our Conservative Media to relay factual information, not tainted with irrational bias…liberal or otherwise.  When they resort to cheap manipulative tactics, even in response to cheap manipulative tactics, it is a betrayal of our trust.  It is flagrantly ignorant to imply that this fur ball of a “radical movement” is any kind of real issue.  The Black Panther organization is now a fossil, one on which mentally minuscule morons are trying desperately to do a Jurassic Park.  Much like Jurassic Park however, it’s just NOT possible.

I am calling on Conservative Media to STOP giving credence to such tomfoolery.  We don’t have to try to trigger hysteria and fear in viewers’ minds that there is some kind of kabal that has an actual impact, of Black revolutionary militants who seek hands-outs, and demand all Whites pay for the sins of their ancestors…and the ancestors of those with a similar lack of pigment.  If we, as Conservative Americans, are going to penetrate the ears and minds of those misguided, but well intentioned individuals, many of whom have been poisoned by racial demagogues (see above re: Sharpton) and believe that Republicans and Tea Partiers are racist, we are going to have to do so by proving them wrong, not by demonizing those who are misled by the Villain.

We still have time to correct this illness while it is a debate of ideas instead of a conflict of force. Simply put, which do we really want, Discourse or Civil War?  That said, we need to reclaim the word “forward,” along with our country, and reclaim the true moral high ground. Now more than ever, we Conservatives need to stick together, and reassess our own moral convictions. 

If you consider yourself a Christian, and/or you agree with Jesus’ teachings, then don’t be a Pharisee by making hypocritical and unsupported accusations in response to vitriolic bigotry of ANY KIND.  Instead, like Jesus, address the substantive errors with facts.  Turning the other cheek in our struggle to live the ideals in our Great Constitution…despite what Chief Justice Ginsburg might say about it*…is one of the most powerful strategies we can use.  Our battle is a defense against attacks on the very principles which underlie the existence of the Republic itself, not the manufactured platform that was designed to keep certain long-winded individuals employed.  The claims by Al Sharpton, and by other demagogues like him, are the products and producers of Goebbelsian brainwashing.

This is a very serious warning!  If you respond to such statements in kind, like one magnet pole lining up with the opposite pole of another, you play right into the hands of such people.  You allow yourself to be cast--and therefore seen--as exactly what they claim you to be: A bigot.  The fact that we have lost this election at many levels demonstrates that such tactics are working.  The strategy is in motion, and we must recognize its calls when the opposing--second-string--quarterback is running the play.

It is in our power to defuse such arguments utterly simply by not dignifying them.  This is my plea: I am begging other Conservatives and Republicans to make a conscious effort always to think about what they say and/or write, and to consider how it may be perceived, before disseminating that communication publicly.  This is not about political expediency or any short-term goal like winning over the Black and Latino vote for any given election.  This is about being true to our ideals.  This may be the last chance we have in our crucial turning point in our country’s history, to make consistent, concerted efforts to be deliberate in our stance against the Liberal Objectives.  We have to win people over with our message and our platform.  The alternative is not an acceptable option, not for me, and not for my children. 

*Someone should remind the Chief Justice that her job is predicated on the document she is criticizing.