They said despicable things about the Obamas but say they aren’t racists.
President Barack Obama with first lady Michelle Obama serve Thanksgiving meals to residents of
the Armed Forces Retirement Home, in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. Manuel Balce
Ceneta AP
Psychologists have long recognized rationalization as a defense mechanism that people use to excuse unacceptable or offensive behaviors.
Perhaps we justify that sumptuous dessert because as a reward for sticking to our diet, or we call in sick when we really want to go to the last ball game of the season. Some of these excuses are relatively harmless, but often they are not.
For the last eight years, people who have mounted despicable attacks on President Barack Obama and his family have tried to rationalize their bigotries. Consider these examples:
One of my favorite Abraham Lincoln stories relates his encounter with an elitist lawyer who dismissed him as a rustic bumpkin during a trial. Lincoln posed him a simple riddle. “If we call a tail a leg, how many legs does a horse have?’ The smug lawyer replied, “Five.” Lincoln corrected him. “No, he still has four legs because calling a tail a leg does not make it one.”
People are free to engage in self-delusion if they wish, but if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck, it is a duck and these comments are racist. But perhaps these bigots should heed the poet Robert Burns’ advice in “To A Louse.”
“O would some power the gift give us to see ourselves as others see us.”
Roger Guffey of Lexington teaches math and Sunday School.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/opinion/article117461468.html#storylink=cpy
.
Yes, they are
President Barack Obama with first lady Michelle Obama serve Thanksgiving meals to residents of
the Armed Forces Retirement Home, in Washington, Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016. Manuel Balce
Ceneta AP
Psychologists have long recognized rationalization as a defense mechanism that people use to excuse unacceptable or offensive behaviors.
Perhaps we justify that sumptuous dessert because as a reward for sticking to our diet, or we call in sick when we really want to go to the last ball game of the season. Some of these excuses are relatively harmless, but often they are not.
For the last eight years, people who have mounted despicable attacks on President Barack Obama and his family have tried to rationalize their bigotries. Consider these examples:
In this election year, a Republican candidate in Kentucky won a state legislature seat even though he had posted images of the Obama family as members of a band of monkeys, but he thought that was OK because he is not a racist.
Yes, you are.
A public official in West Virginia said she is glad to have a dignified white first lady in the White House instead of seeing an ape in high heels. But she says she is not a racist.
Yes, you are.
Some Hoosiers in Sheridan, Indiana, made a parade float of President Obama in a toilet, but said that was OK because they are not racists.
Yes, you are.
In Nebraska, a parade float showed President Obama as a soulless zombie, but the people who made it claimed they are not racists.
Yes, you are.
Shortly after the 2008 election, some cartoonists drew the White House with a watermelon patch on the front lawn, saying they are not racists.
Yes, you are.
A mayor in Pennsylvania ran a picture of Michelle Obama on a wagon of orangutans under the caption, “Move in day at the White House,” but denied being a racist.
Yes, you are.
The birther movement people who say President Obama is not a native-born American deny they are racists.
Yes, you are.
A candidate in Tennessee posted a billboard with the caption “Make America White Again,” and dozens of people wear shirts with the same message but all deny being racist..
Yes, you are.
A mayor in Washington State ran an image of Michelle Obama as a gorilla saying she could only be attractive to another monkey like her husband. He says he is not a racist.
Yes, you are.
When a gorilla escaped from a zoo in South Carolina, a GOP politician there posted on Facebook to be on the lookout for Michelle Obama’s ancestor, but he is not racist.
Yes, you are.
But these attitudes are not confined to comments about the first family. I have heard the following in Lexington.
Members of sororities and fraternities appearing in stereotypical blackface, but claim they are not racists.
Yes, you are.
People say that integration ruined the public schools but claim they are not racists.
Yes, you are.
I am against interracial marriages, but I am not a racist.
Yes, you are.
Yes, you are.
A public official in West Virginia said she is glad to have a dignified white first lady in the White House instead of seeing an ape in high heels. But she says she is not a racist.
Yes, you are.
Some Hoosiers in Sheridan, Indiana, made a parade float of President Obama in a toilet, but said that was OK because they are not racists.
Yes, you are.
In Nebraska, a parade float showed President Obama as a soulless zombie, but the people who made it claimed they are not racists.
Yes, you are.
Shortly after the 2008 election, some cartoonists drew the White House with a watermelon patch on the front lawn, saying they are not racists.
Yes, you are.
A mayor in Pennsylvania ran a picture of Michelle Obama on a wagon of orangutans under the caption, “Move in day at the White House,” but denied being a racist.
Yes, you are.
The birther movement people who say President Obama is not a native-born American deny they are racists.
Yes, you are.
A candidate in Tennessee posted a billboard with the caption “Make America White Again,” and dozens of people wear shirts with the same message but all deny being racist..
Yes, you are.
A mayor in Washington State ran an image of Michelle Obama as a gorilla saying she could only be attractive to another monkey like her husband. He says he is not a racist.
Yes, you are.
When a gorilla escaped from a zoo in South Carolina, a GOP politician there posted on Facebook to be on the lookout for Michelle Obama’s ancestor, but he is not racist.
Yes, you are.
But these attitudes are not confined to comments about the first family. I have heard the following in Lexington.
Members of sororities and fraternities appearing in stereotypical blackface, but claim they are not racists.
Yes, you are.
People say that integration ruined the public schools but claim they are not racists.
Yes, you are.
I am against interracial marriages, but I am not a racist.
Yes, you are.
One of my favorite Abraham Lincoln stories relates his encounter with an elitist lawyer who dismissed him as a rustic bumpkin during a trial. Lincoln posed him a simple riddle. “If we call a tail a leg, how many legs does a horse have?’ The smug lawyer replied, “Five.” Lincoln corrected him. “No, he still has four legs because calling a tail a leg does not make it one.”
People are free to engage in self-delusion if they wish, but if it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and swims like a duck, it is a duck and these comments are racist. But perhaps these bigots should heed the poet Robert Burns’ advice in “To A Louse.”
“O would some power the gift give us to see ourselves as others see us.”
Roger Guffey of Lexington teaches math and Sunday School.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/opinion/article117461468.html#storylink=cpy
.
