Don’t Player Hate…Inaugurate!
“Don’t Player Hate…Inaugurate!” – Inauguration Redux
Obama
To begin, I want to answer a question that an astute reader asked. This reader wondered about the actual meat of the last post I made, in regards to why I feel so angry about pundits making comparisons between President Obama, and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The reason I felt a slight ping in my neck when Tom Brokaw alluded to this comparison is because it just reeks of logical fallacies. To me, this argument is quite possible a cheap appeal to emotion of the people watching the news broadcast, and further more it’s a ridiculous hasty generalization of these two men.
It happened to be pure coincidence that this year Inauguration Day fell right after MLK Jr’s birthday. Oh wait, it (technically) didn’t. It fell on the observation of his birthday; in my mind any comparisons should have been made on Dr. King’s actually birthday which is January 15th. The whole observed birthday thing seems like a cheat to me anyway. It’s like having a birthday coming up, but it’s on a Tuesday, which means you really can’t do anything until Friday, so you don’t get two birthdays. You get two half birthdays, and while the one on Friday is still going to be great, it’s just not your birthday. That’s the thing about American holidays, they are made so that they are not obtrusive to the work week, but really the best way to give remembrance and pause is to to actually have to stop because the holiday has in fact ruined the flow. My point is getting a little lost on the appeal to emotion logical error so to bring it back, I poise this question…if my girlfriend Madame Secretary Hillary Clinton had won, could this argument even be considered?
Moving on, the second logical fallacy is that at this moment there is not enough history behind what President Obama has said to even draw conclusions to Dr. King. Yes -both men have made eloquent speeches. Yes – both men are black. However, those are just surface generalizations. What Dr. King did for this country paved the way for what President Obama has been able to do for himself. Dr. King’s life, the things he did changed and entire people. Whereas, the idea that what President Obama has said (in reference to his “One America” speech) or what he will do largely remains to be seen. Everyone who walked around wearing a “My President is Black” t-shirt is well still somebody walking around with a “My President is Black” t-shirt. Racism in both overt and pervasive ways still exists. Having a black president doesn’t just dissolve people’s ideas of a culture they don’t know or understand. Nor does it challenge and defeat the anger or confusion that I have when a minority group does something that betrays its history. Case in point being that overwhelming minorities (particular African Americans) in California voted for Proposition 8, thus enacting a ban on gay marriage in the state. I literally spent an hour doing some online researching and correct me if I’m wrong, but the legality of a minority relationship could have easily been challenged during the Jim Crow era, and interracial marriage didn’t become widely legal to 1964. That face in itself baffled me.
In no way to I mean to dissuade President Obama’s success. I’m really not player hating. I’m just quite realistic about things. The economy has been waning for a while. There are still some kids who are struggling with grasping the basic concept of what a ‘noun’ is. Hell, I met a 16 year old 8th grader the other day, and all I could do is gape! I’m willing to give President Obama a chance, because it’s all I can do right now. I can only nothing but hope that the leader of our nation has our best interests out for us (even though history and hit television series 24 tell me otherwise.) But on the flipside, what he has accomplished is monumental in our country. But do me a favor, check out this link right HERE. It’s a list of countries that have had female heads of states or Presidents, bear in mind that the list is exclusionary of royalty (such as Queen Elizabeth.) Baffling, huh?
And if it makes any naysayers feel better, I too went to an Inaugural ball. Sure it was in Long Island City. Sure no one had a fancy smanancy dress. Sure we didn’t actually dance or call it a ball, per se. Yet, we still celebrated with hopes that when we quote “Yes, We Can” that we secretly keep some of that for ourselves to the idea that “Yes, I can.”
BTW If you are reading this byproxy such a repost on Facebook, Twitter, etc, please take a moment and stop by my blog’s actual url at “www.GetintheRye.com.” It would greatly be appreciated.
[Chester Kent]
