A Commentary on the Passing Scene by
Robert Paul Wolff
rwolff@afroam.umass.edu
Monday, November 13, 2017
APOLOGIA
A number of you have questioned my recommendation of the Johnson piece, and I can understand why. I am afraid I am so angry and depressed that every so often I lose all perspective. My apologies.
Holy crap- how depressing could that movie have been? I am glad you warned me off it- that's the last thing I need now.
Come on Professor, don't let some dumb-ass like me make you apologize for something you don't need to apologize for. Stay angry- anger can be productive. And I was obviously angry when writing that comment. Angry with my political party for losing an election to some buffoon- I'm sorry- President Trump. And angry about the excuses they have made for it. And extraordinarily angry about the crap they pulled in the primaries and before apparently.
I must comment on something that "Jerry Brown" wrote the other day in regard to Trump voters:
"I don't know why you find this essay to be the best thing you ever read about Trump supporters. Lumping all the people who voted for Trump into some group of racists might make some people feel better for some reason, but it also makes it impossible to focus on what mistakes might have been made by our side and what needs to change next time. And the same goes for blaming the results on the Russians."
Trump voters most certainly ARE in love with an authoritarian racist. Whether a few previously voted for Obama doesn't necessarily mean they are free from racist tendencies — or that eight years of a black president didn't make them even more racist.
And anyone who was paying attention to the campaign could not ignore the fact that Trump ran on a blatant racist platform. Sorry, Jerry, but if you vote for a racist with a transparent racist platform — then you're a racist yourself.
David E., I disagree. Lots of people who voted for Trump are just ordinary Republicans. They don't necessarily approve of Trump and for many of those, Trump was not their first choice. As Ezra Klein said a few days ago- "For elites, politics is driven by ideology. For voters, it's not." https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/9/16614672/ideology-liberal-conservatives
I believe that most Trump voters in the general election were simply voting their party identification, not their racial beliefs. If you said that a fairly significant subset of the Republican primary voters who voted for Trump might be described as racist then I think I would agree with you. But that is a different story from Republican voters in the general election.
As for Clinton- I personally voted for her based on my party identification because that was the only remaining reason I could find for me to vote for her. Other than what I figured was a very slim chance that Donald Trump might be elected and that she would be the lesser of two evils. And I didn't like casting that vote but did it anyways. I did want to send a big middle finger to the Democratic party by voting for Stein (or even by not voting for president) but restrained myself. I am sure plenty of people felt like me but made the wrong calculations about how close the election might be.
You recommended an article and some people didn't like it. You can't win them all, as my father would have said with a shrug of his shoulders.
ReplyDeleteNo need to apologize.
Holy crap- how depressing could that movie have been? I am glad you warned me off it- that's the last thing I need now.
ReplyDeleteCome on Professor, don't let some dumb-ass like me make you apologize for something you don't need to apologize for. Stay angry- anger can be productive. And I was obviously angry when writing that comment. Angry with my political party for losing an election to some buffoon- I'm sorry- President Trump. And angry about the excuses they have made for it. And extraordinarily angry about the crap they pulled in the primaries and before apparently.
I must comment on something that "Jerry Brown" wrote the other day in regard to Trump voters:
ReplyDelete"I don't know why you find this essay to be the best thing you ever read about Trump supporters. Lumping all the people who voted for Trump into some group of racists might make some people feel better for some reason, but it also makes it impossible to focus on what mistakes might have been made by our side and what needs to change next time. And the same goes for blaming the results on the Russians."
Trump voters most certainly ARE in love with an authoritarian racist. Whether a few previously voted for Obama doesn't necessarily mean they are free from racist tendencies — or that eight years of a black president didn't make them even more racist.
And anyone who was paying attention to the campaign could not ignore the fact that Trump ran on a blatant racist platform. Sorry, Jerry, but if you vote for a racist with a transparent racist platform — then you're a racist yourself.
David E., I disagree. Lots of people who voted for Trump are just ordinary Republicans. They don't necessarily approve of Trump and for many of those, Trump was not their first choice. As Ezra Klein said a few days ago- "For elites, politics is driven by ideology. For voters, it's not."
ReplyDeletehttps://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/11/9/16614672/ideology-liberal-conservatives
I believe that most Trump voters in the general election were simply voting their party identification, not their racial beliefs. If you said that a fairly significant subset of the Republican primary voters who voted for Trump might be described as racist then I think I would agree with you. But that is a different story from Republican voters in the general election.
As for Clinton- I personally voted for her based on my party identification because that was the only remaining reason I could find for me to vote for her. Other than what I figured was a very slim chance that Donald Trump might be elected and that she would be the lesser of two evils. And I didn't like casting that vote but did it anyways. I did want to send a big middle finger to the Democratic party by voting for Stein (or even by not voting for president) but restrained myself. I am sure plenty of people felt like me but made the wrong calculations about how close the election might be.