More Timely Than Ever!

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Conservative Hypocrisy -- What Else Is New?

I can't stand hypocrites. I can't stand conservatives. But I repeat myself.

Last night Sean Hannity, one of the the heavyweight thinkers at Fox News, went after Barak Obama for being a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ. The Church advocates a "Black Value System," which among other things calls for a commitment to the black community. Hannity suggested that such a commitment is "separatist" and that if a white church used the same kind of language, it would be rightly condemned. Hence, he said, there is a double standard. (Tucker Carlson of MSNBC earlier did the same riff.)

A typical conservative cheap debating point. Where's the separatism? Conservatives love it when Bill Cosby (properly) berates fellow blacks for not disciplining their own community. But when Obama voices a similar position, it's seen as separatist at Fox News. Is this because Obama is a threat to Republican presidential aspirations?

More fundamentally, Hannity's suggestion that the white and black contexts in America are equivalent is absurd on its face. Given the two different histories -- one of domination, the other of subjugation -- there is no double standard involved. Ayn Rand would call this "context-dropping."

I can't t see that radical libertarians and conservatives have anything significant in common.

4 comments:

Sheldon Richman said...

Also cross-posted.

Instead of opening one of your canned speeches, try reading what I actually wrote. " [T]ypical socialist-liberal collectivism"? Yeah, that sounds like me. What a laugh! The point is that when Bill Cosby or black conservatives tell blacks to fix their communities and families, the Sean Hannitys of the world whoop and holler with glee. But don't let those words be heard from someone who actually threatens the fortunes of the Republican Party.

Sheldon Richman said...

Please, let's keep things civil. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, Sheldon.

Sheldon Richman said...

I see that Hannity on two more programs did segments on Obama's church. What a dolt.