The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
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    A PORTRAIT OF CORNEL WEST - THE LIBERACE OF FAUX INTELLECTUALISM

    By Wattree on Sat, 07/27/2013 - 3:47pm |

    BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

     

    A PORTRAIT OF CORNEL WEST -
    THE LIBERACE OF FAUX INTELLECTUALISM
    .

    Have you ever noticed that nearly every public pronouncement that spews from the mouth of Cornel West is literally dripping with racial innuendo? His latest racist slander is that MSNBC is the ‘Rent a Negro’ network.
    . 
    Cornel West spews more racist rhetoric than any Republican in America. The reason for that is he’s essentially an entertainer who specializes in shock and race-baiting as his one and only routine. Clear evidence of that is he's over the top in everything that defines him - he's over the top in his personal image, in his overly gesticulative presentation, and his rhetoric is invariably inflammatory. Everything about him is a contrivance that’s specifically designed to bring attention to himself. The actual issues are meaningless to him. They're nothing more than a platform to launch his performance. In short, Cornel West is the Liberace of faux intellectualism.

    .
    CORNEL WEST USES A FALSE "LOVE OF BLACK PEOPLE" TO SLANDER BLACK PEOPLE WHO OVERSHADOW HIM
    .

    West routinely uses policy differences as a pretext for making unsubstantiated and slanderous assertions about the character of the president and every other high-profile Black person who overshadows him: 
    .
    1). President Obama is a "war criminal."
    2). President Obama is "a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs . . ."
    3). President Obama is "a black puppet of corporate plutocrats."
    4). President Obama is "a Rockefeller Republican in Blackface."
    5). President Obama "has a certain rootlessness, a deracination."
    6). President Obama Is "Afraid Of Free Black Men."
    7). President Obama is "a global George Zimmerman."
    8). Dr. Harris-Perry is a "fake and a fraud"
    9). Dr. Michael Eric Dyson "is a sellout."
    10). Al Sharpton "is a sellout."
    11). MSNBC is the "Rent a Negro Network."
    .
    Not one of those assertions is a disciplined and scholarly substantiated assessment of the facts. On the contrary, they're the reckless and intellectually undisciplined rants of a bitter, self-serving, and severely discredited academic fraud.
    .
    For Cornel West there’s something ‘racially defective’ about every Black person who has the audacity to preempt Cornel West from the limelight. In order to gain clear evidence of that fact one simply has to ask oneself, what efforts have West made to try to improve the plight of the Black community?
    .
    1). Is he in the community teaching 3rd grade to help ensure a better education for our children, or teaching at an Historically Black College or University to help "enlighten" young Black students?
    .
    No. He’s never taught at a school that more than 1% of Black students can even afford to have lunch in throughout his entire career.
    .
    2). Is he in the community teaching our young men to cherish, honor, and respect our Black women - the very womb of our culture?
    .
    No. He’s out trying to sell books filled with inane and misleading information, doing $30,000 an hour speeches, and trying to become a hip hop star.
    .
    3). Is he advising his good friend and business partner, Tavis Smiley, to be consistent with his sermons by being "accountable" to the community, and returning the money that he made on the Wells Fargo "Ghetto Scam" loans that he helped to herd over 30,000 poor minorities into?
    .
    Nope, not a peep.
    .
    So again, Cornel West's card has been peeped as the Liberace of faux intellectualism. So he needs to either put up, or shut up.

    RELATED CONTENT
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    .
    Eric L. Wattree
    Http://wattree.blogspot.com
    [email protected]
    .
    Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

    Comments

    Uh, do black people have to be teaching in the community to have an opinion?

    Isn't the black intelligentsia overloaded with people who are focused on the community and don't have other jobs? (not that Cornel West does much else either)

    Condi Rice gets $150K/speech. Colin Powell gets $150K/speech. Jesse Jackson gets $75K. Mr. T costs $30K. Corey Booker apparently made $1 million speaking and Al Sharpton is worth $5 million & gets at least $20K per speech (got $500K from some hedge fund for "reforming eduction" plus imagine MSNBC pays him and Melissa Harris-Perry well - would guess Tulane pays her reasonably also and I'm sure her many speaking engagements are all for free).

    Cornell West's official speaking price is sometimes $15K, sometimes $30K-50K, and he sometimes speaks for free or $2000. Are you against a black man making a living? Do you insult Jay-Z for how much money he makes off hip hop and Brooklyn basketball? or lay into LeBron James for making too much money? Is $15K-30K now too much money for a black man to make without being a sell-out to the community? Nice to have all these arbitrary rules when a black man has the audacity to question a black president.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 07/28/2013 - 11:49am

    I don't pay a lot of attention to Cornel West.  He's so goofy and over-the-top I frankly find him nearly impossible to watch.  But I wonder how the black community really feels about him?  If he really is that highly paid, who sits in his audience and what are they getting out of what he has to say?

    I've always felt that he thinks much more highly of himself than anyone else does, but I don't really know that.  He considers himself an intellectual and it could be that his audience sees him that way, too.  Perception is everything. 

    I think Rev Al is a bit of a buffoon, too, and even while I can appreciate what he has to say, I just can't spend a lot of time watching him.  He shouts into his microphone, he mispronounces words all over the place, his eyes bulge and his neck cords blow up.  I wonder, too, about his appeal, even though, as I said, there are times when I can agree totally with his message.  But that's just me, apparently.  His TV act drives me crazy but it doesn't seem to bother anyone else.

    But back to Cornel:  I'm pretty sure that if Obama hadn't snubbed him early on his whole vendetta against the president might have gone with the wind.  I remember Cornel spending an embarrassing amount of time complaining in detail that Obama didn't pay enough attention to him, making it personal, and then it morphed into all bad Obama all the time. 

    Right from the start it seemed wholly dishonest, but then what do I know?  I don't live in that community and I don't know if they would be thinking anything different without a Cornel West out there fanning the flames.


    by Ramona on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 8:36am

    I'd imagine there's a big difference between Cornel West on a podium and Cornel West on a talk show - take a look at Youtube and see if that holds up. Watching him on Amy Goodwin/Democracy Now I don't see anything goofy except maybe West isn't the face for all (should he wear a sack?)

    West has been speaking about black poverty for a few years now, and from what I can tell it's hurt him, yet he still keeps speaking. Meanwhile, black unemployment rose to 13.7% in June and will get higher as the sequester kicks in. No black jobs program in site - that would be favoritism. If New Jersey gets hit by a hurricane, we have to give FEMA aid to Des Moines as well, no? Obama lauds Ray Kelly of "stop and frisk" fame which heavily targets blacks in the street, yet everyone gets outraged at 1 murder in Florida last year ago - how many innocent blacks tasered or beaten since then?

    Illegal mortgage foreclosures occured on a massive scale under this president, overwhelmingly hurting black home owners, and the DoJ refused to step in in any meaningful way, let robosigners go without any prosecutions except for 1 non-bank-affiliated lady, did a pennies on the dollar settlement ($3000 for stealing your home?), let the feeble HAMP program languish while underwater home owners just gave up...  But no mess on Obama for the Detroit situation - we'll talk about it in the abstract, the white war on Michigan or something, forget the effects of the meltdown on car companies, how auto finance got 100cents on the dollar while administrators got new low wages to workers - but Cornell West is shrill for talking about poverty - must be personal.

    Maybe it's better to read West than watch him, as I've never found his comments that over the top - yeah, he's played the Dozens, but not that hard. I may not agree with him everywhere, but yes, I think he's an "intellectual" even though I don't think Harvard or Princeton make you an intellectual by default.

    Poverty

    MLK bible

    Obama as "Progressive"

    Anti-semitism

    Trayvon Martin

    Poverty Manifesto

    Occupy Wall Street


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 10:41am

    Where did I say Cornel was shrill for talking about poverty?  I said he made his hatred for Obama personal after what he perceived as a public snubbing.  The sniveling about it was embarrassing--something about standing in a receiving line only to watch Obama grab the hand of someone ahead and move right past the Great Cornel.  How do I know this?  Because for a while there Cornel never shut up about it.

    Nothing wrong with Cornel's face when it's in repose.  It's when he uses it's elasticity to become what looks to me like a clown on a burlesque stage and then goes into his St. Vitus seat dance.  Whatever message there is becomes lost on me.  All I can see is some guy who's latched onto an amateurish shtick in order to be noticed.

    But I guess I should overlook that, considering how he's performing a service exposing Obama for the Simon LeGree he is--allowing--no, forcing those poor people into an even deeper life of poverty so that he can profit.  Damn anti-Socialist.


    by Ramona on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 5:45pm

    Romana,

    You don’t have to be Black to have insight into the Black community based on the available face, and you’re right on the money on all counts. Here’s a little insight on the rise and fall of Cornel West:

    About the Rise of Cornel West

    I used to be a big fan of Cornel West. I’ll never forget how during the Clarence Thomas confirmation West was testifying and some old condescending senator started talking down to him and he said something to the effect of, "Wait a minute, senator. I have more education than you do." I loved that, because at the time I thought it was simply a Black man being assertive, and "standing his ground," as it were. But only later did I begin to recognize that the senator had played right into West’s hands, and what I took for assertiveness was merely an introduction to the Cornel West show. But before I became aware of his "shtick," he immediately became my main man.

    But later on, after West started making reckless and questionable remarks, I began to research him, and it became increasingly clear that his reputation, and his entire persona, was all smoke and mirrors. Now, upon reflection and the insight derived from 20/20 hindsight, it’s become perfectly clear to me how West rose to prominence .

    Cornel West came up during the time when their was a raging debate going on over the racist claim that due to the "artificial boost" that Black professionals were getting from affirmative action, they weren’t as competent as their White counterparts. And during that same time there was a debate going on over the claim by some White scholars that Black people were innately intellectually inferior to White people and the rest of the population.

    As a result of those debates, and the fact that West had an association with White Ivy League universities, the Black community embraced him as the poster child for Black intellectual competence without taking the time to vet him like we should have. It was that mistake that has led to the flawed intellectual monster - and the total embarrassment to the Black community - that we have today.

    http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/03/beneath-spin-eric-l_24.html


    by Wattree on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 3:38pm

    What does this have to do with poverty, drones or black unemployment?

    You don't need a Harvard degree to know people are hurting.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 4:19pm

    80 Percent of Americans Near Poverty as Obama Laments Less Mobile Society
    By: Monday July 29, 2013 1:14 pm

    According to a new survey made available to the Associated Press, 80 percent of U.S. adults struggle with poverty and diminished opportunities. An amazing statistic given America’s position as the richest country in the world and a thorough reality-based indictment of the American Dream mythology. A reality even President Obama, a skilled politician at preying on people’s hopes, was forced to acknowledge recently as the evidence piles up that American society is less mobile than much of the developed world and no longer the land of opportunity.

    Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream…

    Nationwide, the count of America’s poor remains stuck at a record number: 46.2 million, or 15 percent of the population, due in part to lingering high unemployment following the recession...

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 5:27pm

    All Obama's fault. . .

    So congress is off the hook then?


    by Ramona on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 5:48pm

    Of course not - mean ol' Congress has prevented him from doing anything - that's the line, no?


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 6:47pm

    So Congress is off the hook then?


    by Ramona on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 7:18pm

    Obama pushed austerity and budget cutting - until some recent flash of jobs concern. He set himself up for the showdown over extending the debt limit. He told blacks essentially don't hold your breath for any jobs program that addresses the worst hit, he's the President of all Americans (including the 1% he bailed out first). In 2009 he came into office with high public support to fix the economic crisis, and he went with the team that favored tax cuts over job stimulus and fretted over the deficit. Congress was ill-prepared to fight back much at that point, but he didn't carry the fight through. He had a chance to repeal tax cuts for the rich in 2010 but chose not to, and he could have dealt with the debt ceiling then too. All these errors were unforced. Just like choosing not to pass healthcare through resolution only to wait a year to pass it through resolution. And postponing actual implementation until years later. Sure, there's stuff Congress has done - but if Obama doesn't nominate judges to fill slots, how can you blame Congress for not approving his nominations? As for mortgage repossessions or the recent spate of federal raids on state medical marijuana facilities? That part doesn't even have to do with Congress - it's all his administration's choice. Did he have to state so unequivocally that Bradley Manning's treatment being stripped down in his cell was acceptable?

    So yeah, Republicans in Congress are obstructionist - but Obama's still the president. The buck stops there, if you recall Harry Truman, not with some little pissant like Lindsay Graham or Mitch McConnell. There's only 1 president - who should be telling them to stuff it right now and twisting arms to get what he was elected for done. Still waiting for those forceful fireside chats to get the public on his side and pressure any wavering Congressmen and women.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 7:46pm

      I don't know; Klein didn't offer any hard data to support the view that Republicans in 2010 would have done what he wanted regarding the debt ceiling. Obama wasn't in favor of tax cuts for the rich; I was surprised that he was able to get the Republicans to raise taxes on people making 400 grand a year.

     I've cited some data indicating that Obama's heart bleeds for the poor and disadvantaged. Some things in the budget can be cut without causing pain; I'm pleased that Obama wants to cut military spending(I'm not even sure if the U.S. military should go on existing).

      I can't agree that an obstructionist House is so easy to overcome; I think it's a devil of

    a problem.

     P.S. I think Obama is actually pretty bad, but the good things about him are consequential.


    by Aaron Carine on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 8:12pm

    Really don't have the energy to look it up, but living through pre- and post-election 2010 crap, Obama fucked it up and let down a lot of people trying to be "balanced" or something, traded away end to the high income tax cuts for some measly social security partial pay extension, a bit of unemployment insurance - an awful deal that then led into the game of chicken over the debt ceiling shortly after.

    My point is even when Obama can go it alone, he still disappoints - drug raids, handling HAMP & mortgage foreclosure, etc - all specifically under the executive branch.


    by PeraclesPlease on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 9:34pm

      Well, I myself don't think Obama is measly on social welfare; I think it's one of his strong points. I doubt if there was any way to avoid a battle over the debt ceiling.


    by Aaron Carine on Tue, 07/30/2013 - 8:03am

    They could have passed the debt ceiling in November before they lost the majority.


    by PeraclesPlease on Tue, 07/30/2013 - 10:10am

    Peracles, Why do you believe they didn't, when they had the chance? Was it cowardice?


    by Resistance on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 6:40am

    I must say, I'm often lost on the "strategy"- why didn't Harry Reid kill the filibuster after the Republicans played Lucy's "kick the ball" a few too many times? I dont'know what they'd gain

     


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 8:28am

    I don't find it all surprising that 4 out of 5 US adults struggle with joblessness, etc., for at least part of their lives.

    No, I take it back. I'm surprised that ratio is not higher. I've struggled with joblessness for at least part of my life, albeit a fairly small part. Median household income is about $52,762 in the US. That's not to say that everything's rosy nor that $50k is big money. It's not. (Half the households have an income of less than $52,762, of course.) But let's not exaggerate the situation, either.


    by Verified Atheist on Mon, 07/29/2013 - 6:53pm

    Cornel West is a verbal bomb thrower and little more. We remember the verbal bombs, but lose the rest of the speech. Reniggerization? Please.

    What did Cornel West do while Al Sharpton was organizing to at least force authorities to take a murderer to trial? Nothing. West remained on the sidelines and criticized the President for speaking after the verdict. West called Sharpton one of MSNBC's Rent-A-Negroes. Those Rent-A-Negroes orgnized free health clinics in New Orleans. West flapped his lips. West serves a diversion. West will be unimportant and useless in the fight against voter suppression. West will be unimportant and useless in the fight for women's rights.

    West's time has past.

     

     

     


    by rmrd0000 on Tue, 07/30/2013 - 9:30pm

    Did you and Wattree see LZ Granderson's July 26 column for CNN?

    (And David Dennis' piece the same day @ The Guardian? And Ernest Owens' piece the day before for HuffPo?)


    by artappraiser on Tue, 07/30/2013 - 11:19pm

    Thanks for the links. Perhaps West and Smiley will realize the harm they are doing and the loss of stature they have in the Black community. Wattree has been criticized by some for his repeated focus on West and Smiley.The focus is because these two men had a large audience in the Black community. They are now being tuned out. Many are saddened by their behavior.

    There are groups addressing the justice system, crime, misogyny, homophobia, education and jobs. West and Smiley suck the media air out of the room by constantly lobbing Molotov cocktails. It's time for them to step away from the mike. I know that their egos won't let them let go of the bashing.They have a free speech right to state how they feel. The community has a free speech right to criticize them.

    Reniggerization, the Obama plantation pre-sweetened Kool-aid and Rent-A- are what comes to mind when West and Smiley are mentioned. Sad.


    by rmrd0000 on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 12:25am

    Beautiful, the marketing machine is now coordinating its anti-Smiley/anti-West take.

    Maybe someone is doing morning faxes to get everyone on-message.

    Note: when Obama didn't go on Smiley's show in 2008, it was taken as a sign that he didn't want to be seen too close to blacks, that it would hurt his chances - and that it was also a sign there wouldn't be much black leverage with the first black President. They were right - aside from Michelle dancing with elementary students, there's not a lot of political crumbs that have fallen from the table. Women also got these messages early, and their intuition has turned out right as well - this administration is a moderate conservative boy's club.

    Gee, "Rockefeller in Blackface"

    1) grow up guys, fainting couch is back to the left. Ever hear Whoopi Goldberg, Harry Belafonte, Bill Maher or other black & white celebrities talk about say George Bush?

    2) Perspective - do you get so upset about 13.7% black unemployment, robosigning & meltdown that took away a black generation's homes, the gutting of Detroit, the continued effort to put blacks in prison for marijuana, the 8-10% of killed & wounded in Iraq/Afghanistan who are black, the guy who sponsored "stop-and-frisk" getting praised by the Prez, floated as a trusted advisor? Article after article I hear about how West is right to point out poverty but self-serving the way he says it - and then the jackass columnist wastes a whole column talking about West - Jesus, it's simple - "however you heard about it, now talk about the problem"

    3) Ït's about soundbites - if Bush says "Axis of Evil" it gets airplay. If West says almost anything about poverty that doesn't have such a phrase, it'll be ignored. The press likes better someone cute like Melissa Perry-Harris who can attack Snowden for not playing by the futile hush-hush attack-the-messenger whistleblower rules, even though this is the same kind of surveillance & informant system & rules that keeps blacks down. Remember: heads we win, tails you lose. Welcome to Las Vegas, and may the odds be ever in your favor.

    4) Rockefeller = "moderate Republican"; Obama = "moderate Republican"; "blackface" = "if Obama weren't black, people would notice that austerity is the same plan Republicans are pushing". Even Obama is now renouncing this fucked-up position, only 2 years late - maybe he heard Brother West even if the mostly brain damaged beltway press didn't.


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 4:19am

    Several Black people come to a similar conclusion about West and Smiley and it cannot be because they analyzed the data, it has to be that they were told what to think by a memo. 

    The Right argues that Blacks do not care about so-called Black on Black crime but only become outraged over cases like Trayvon Martin. This lame proposition ignores the work that local groups do in communities to end the violence.It als ignores the rage over Hidiya Pendleton and other cases. The idea that Blacks ignore Black problems is something someone without any connection to the community says to divert attention from the hard work going on. West and Smiley's verbal bombs have done nothing to improve lives in poor minority communities. 

    There a multiracial coalitions involved in challenging Stand Your Ground, Stop and Frisk and Fighting voting suppression. These groups continue hard work. They get attention from Rent-A-Negroes like Melissa Harris-Perry and Al Sharpton. When States were changing voting criteria, people could tune into Sharpton and Harris-Perry for useful information. West and Smiley were MIA.Sharpton got Blacks Nd the LGBT community together in a march against Stoo and Frisk earlier this year.

    Black are well aware of problems in the Black community. Blacks are confronting the issues. Even if West and Smiley stopped attacking other Blacks and joined in the real fight to change things rather than just launch verbal assaults, the impact of West and Smiley will be small because they are talkers rather than doers.

    The Black community loses nothing by rejecting West and Smiley.


    by rmrd0000 on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 8:38am

    No, they sling out the same expressions, so it's part of the mind vorp of the internet. Has nothing to do with being black - it does have to do with how the polarity of the internet makes all choices approach A vs. B with hugely stratified and mimicked acceptance of that choice.

    Waiting for all those doers to start having some actual *effect*.


    by PeraclesPlease on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 12:15pm

    I came to the same conclusions about West without getting the "memo".It has a lot to do with being Black because one tracks the trajectory of events in real time. Snowden supporters and Manning supporters also use similar terms to express dissent. It's condescending to cast the behavior of others as somehow abnormal.

    By your standards of waiting for "effect" West and Smiley are abject failures.Sharpton and Harris-Perry got voter turn out increased despite voter suppression efforts. Zimmerman was put on trial. Sharpton aided the case against Stop and Frisk.

    West and Smiley ...........crickets.


    by rmrd0000 on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 12:34pm

    Al Sharpton excited some  blacks, to FORCE a trial, to benefit Al Sharpton and the radicals. Now I hear there's talk of a backlash, by some of the most infamous radicals; the KKK; to counter what appears to be racist attacks against anyone but blacks; by those who would force a murder trial of a man who defended himself from an assault by a black person and if a black man speaks up in defense of Zimmerman, he is attacked also. How easy it is, to stir up the mob of the uneducated, those who ignore the facts of the case, because some rabble rouser wants to seek recognition, in order to make a name for himself, as some defender, not caring he harmed Zimmerman who was only trying to defend himself. Stirring up a mob by claiming victimization is an old demagogue tactic.


    by Resistance on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 6:27am

    The murder of an unarmed teen by a man with a history of violence against a police officer and who had a retraining order is reasonable. What was unreasonable was not to have an arrest the night of the murder.The public should fear a local police force that let a murderer go free. Juror B29 knew that she let a murderer go free because of a flawed law Juror B37 feels Stand Your Ground needs to be changed.Thenext threatened teen should gun down the aggressor. We have gone over this territory multiple times. We disagree.

    The KKK is always upset. They were upset when Blacks got the vote.The Klan was upset when Blacks could ride anywhere on public buses. The KKK hates the idea of a Black President. If the Klan being upset is a rationale for not seeking justice for a murder, then the sense of right and wrong is warped.


    by rmrd0000 on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 7:59am

    Acquittal after murdering an unarmed Black man not unexpected.Amadou Diallo's police officer murderers were not convicted. The Defense attorney blamed Diallo for failing to comply with the orders of four armed men who were not wearing police uniforms.

    It was legal for the NYPD to murder an unarmed man It is now legal for an armed citizen to murder an unarmed teen. You can be murdered trying throw you wallet to a band of armed robbers or you can be murdered for winning a fist fight with a wannabe cop. It's legal.


    by rmrd0000 on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 2:36pm

    Ramona, Rm,

    I don’t see why people even bother to try to have a logical discussion with people like Pericles. The primary reason the that this country is in such bad shape is that far too many of us allow people like Pericles to redirect the discussion by distracting us with nonsense. It’s routine with people like him that I have a permanent alert in a file that I post online when I see people like him engaging is such activity:

    A Potential Block Warning

    "This is a standard block warning that I keep in a file and then cut-n-paste to any poster that displays troll-like conduct on one of my threads.

    "I have no problem with varying opinions that differ from my own - in fact, I solicit such opinions. But I send this standard block warning out to any poster who displays troll-like conduct, fails to remain focused on the initial subject of the thread, or seems more interested in venting their frustration than adding anything worth pondering to the discussion. I find this necessary in order to maintain the integrity of the discussion, and as a good rule of thumb for controlling troll-like behavior over the net.

    "I assume everyone knows what trolling is, if not, let me give a brief definition. A troll is a person who submits deliberately inflammatory comments to an internet discussion. But there are other forms of conduct that are just as distracting as trolling, though a little more subtle. One that I immediately focus upon is obfuscation.

    "An example of obfuscation is, if I initiate a thread on say, GOP Obstructionism, I don’t want to hear, "Well, what about Obama?" Whether or not Obama is equally as obstructing as the GOP may be a point worth discussing, but not in the current thread. In the current thread we’re discussing the GOP, not Obama. Therefore, if a person wants to discuss what they consider Obama’s obstructive behavior, they should start a competing thread on that subject. That way they’re not distracting focus away from the discussion on what the GOP is engaged in, and also, it gives the people a choice in determining which discussion they think is more relevant.

    "So now that I’ve made myself clear on what I consider inappropriate conduct, I’d like to also make it clear that this is a one-time warning.

    "THUS, ANYONE WHO POSTS A COMMENT THAT’S OFF-TOPIC BENEATH THIS WARNING WILL BE BLOCKED WITHOUT FURTHER COMMENT."

    Unfortunately, we don’t have a block mechanism on Dagblog. If we did, Pericles would have been blocked from any of my posts months ago. But in the absence of such a mechanism, the best way to deal with him is to ignore him.

    Now, back to Tavis Smiley and Cornel West:

    People like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and Boyce Watkins are going out of their way NOT to tell the Black community that the United States Constitution gives sole control of spending to the United States House of Representatives, which is controlled by the Republicans. So the only way that President Obama can spend any money to assist the Black community is to get the Republican House to go along with him.

    That’s why it’s so important for the president to hold together a coalition of Blacks, women, gays, Hispanics, and every other segment of the American population. He needs ALL of us to place pressure on the Republicans to loosen the purse strings in order for him to get anything done. So anytime you hear Tavis, West, or Watkins pointing their finger at what President Obama is doing for any other segment of the population, they’re doing you a disservice.

    Here’s how politics works - you support me when I need you, and I’ll support you when you need me. So whenever President Obama does anything for other segments of the population, he’s building up political capital so he can help you. But, he doesn’t discuss what he’s doing for the Black community for a very good reason - as Cornel says himself (when it’s convenient), "Race Matters."

    These gentlemen know full well that if President Obama runs around bragging about what he’s doing for the Black community, the Republicans are going to use that as leverage to tear his coalition apart. They would tell women, gays, Hispanics, and everyone else in America that Obama doesn’t care about them, all he wants to do is help his own people, and that message hurts the Black community. Don’t these so-called intellectuals recognize that? If they don’t, they’re dumb. If they do, that means that they’re purposely trying to mislead you. The question then, is why?

     


    by Wattree on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 7:06pm

    Wattree is much better at simply ignoring Peracles.The arguments are interesting.We should celebrate two men who offer constant criticism of Obama and ignore people who actually have been success in getting out the vote or challenging Stop and Frisk. It was legal to murder an unarmed teen and there is no need to challenge Stand Your Ground laws that two jurors have cited as flawed. Blacks who criticize West and Smily are reading from a script. Snowden supports who cite similar reationale for supporting the leaker are engaging in intellectual discourse.

    I agree that the argument for argument's sake is more important to him than any belief in the word salad produced by West and Smiley.


    by rmrd0000 on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 7:42pm

    Rm,

    I don’t ignore him because of his point of view. I ignore him because he’s unfocused and tends to obfuscate. Such people tend to just blurt out whatever comes to mind, regardless to the subject under discussion. They’re all over the place, so they’re a distraction to clear and organized thinking.


    by Wattree on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 8:58pm

    I just found this a few minutes ago. It’s written by one of West’s former students. She comes to the EXACT same conclusion about West that I did. It has absolutely nothing to do with his political philosophy; it was written before most people even knew who Barack Obama was.  It specifically addresses his scholarship:

    A Former Student of Cornel West

    May 12, 2003

    "I know you've gotten lots of response on this, but, as a student who's taken Prof. West's class, I thought I might chime in. Here is a letter I sent to the Daily Princetonian.

    "I took Prof. West's large lecture course, Philosophic, Religious, and Literary Dimensions of DuBois, Baldwin and Morrison, this semester hoping to experience first-hand the teaching of the man behind the hype. While I found the class entertaining, I did not find Prof. West to be particularly informative or critical in his approach whatsoever. Most lectures boiled down to animated though repetitive paeans to the authors, rather than a critical appraisal or contextualization of the material.

    "Despite students' obvious appreciation of Prof. West's charismatic personality and gesticulating style, his acclaim stems from the histrionics he provides "on stage" in lecture, rather than the depth of scholarship displayed therein. If Princeton was looking to garner the publicity born of employing a fascinating personality, the "steal" of Prof. West was truly a coup. If it was hoping to improve the quality of the teaching faculty, I believe Harvard was the real winner in the exchange."

    Jessica Manley '03
    Princeton University


    by Wattree on Wed, 07/31/2013 - 9:14pm

    I'd probably agree - though I haven't taken West's classes.

    So West's value is histrionics tied to animating a particular topic, not particularly deep. Compared to many snooze-a-thons I had in college, this might be good (the student should always read the material anyway). Every college needs a character or 2 to talk about.

    In any case, we're seldom talking about West as a professor - we're talking about him on the political stage, whether at a protest or a talking head on MSNBC or ....

    In that environment, nobody is talking in depth about anything. So if West's histrionics and basic issue advocacy are on the right side of reason & compassion and get some traction, great.

    The US going around the world with drones looking for Muslims with hoodies & Skittles - that's a pretty interesting take. No need to have references to 12 doctoral theses to discuss.

    Black unemployment is now up to 13.7% and it'll get worse the more sequester kicks in - you don't need footnotes on this, except to note the hidden problem's much worse. What are the political & policy stances required to actually do something about it?

    We already know the Republicans are shits. So was Hitler. Did FDR say, "oops, he's too crazy and obstinate - we can't do anything about him, let Europe handle their own problems"? FDR inherited the depression from Hoover - the Republicans did their best to undermine him, though he fortunately had a good Democratic Congress to work with - but would he have avoided Fireside Chats if he didn't have a clear majority? Would he have blamed it all on Congress and resigned himself to just getting by with cutting taxes to hopefully raise all boats?

    Black unemployment is now 2/3 of US unemployment in 1934, about 3/5 of the peak 25% unemployment in 1933. AND IT'S RISING. Why are we talking about personalities, and not specific policies & political strategies? Why are white soup lines & homelessness an image that scarred a generation, while black soup lines & homeless are simply invisible, accepted because black unemployment is usually twice that of whites' or because it's confined to black neighborhoods?

    We can waste lots of time on some politician tweeting pics of his dick, but talking about poverty makes a guy a total outcast, unbearably histrionic.


    by PeraclesPlease on Thu, 08/01/2013 - 3:38am

    If Republicans are blocking jobs bills the vitriol should be focused on them. If a republicans are trying to keep people from voting they deserve the pushback. Congress controls the budget. It is ridiculous to suggest that people who see the logjam don't care about poverty. West's rants do nothing to change anything by your own stands he is a failure. Voting the scoundrels out is one plank of a program to change things.

    It is interesting that people who question drones are with US laws that support vigilantes. Drones have gone from attacking true military targets to attacking people who use verbal threats. Self- defense now includes killing someone because you are losing a fist-fight that you initiated. The laws are based on fear. Drones create foreign enemies. Stand Your Ground makes police and prosecutors the enemy. Stop and Frisk does the same.

    Crime is decking except in areas of high poverty. Instead of focusing on education and employment, the focus is on laws more appropriate to the Wild West. If you are concerned about drones, you have to be concerned about a police state that says that it is okay search people because of skin color. You also have to be concerned that our fellow citizens acquitted the murderers of Amadou Diallo and Trayvon Martin. Obama's words about how Blacks felt about the Trayvon case did more to explain things than all of West's word salad.

    Nobody believes that Cornel West is really capable of actually doing anything constructive. All that West does is try to prove his moral superiority to others despite his BFF's ties to some very shady corporations.

    West is useless in the assault on women's rights, useless in the fight against voter suppression and useless in curbing the use of drones. He has a free speech right to continue his rants. The only thing that will be remembered is that West attacked other Blacks with his words. The supposed underlying message is forgotten.

    I'm reading the "Gospel of Freedom" about the lead up to MLK's "Letter From the Birmingham Jail". The book points out that King was able to adjust tactics and words as circumstances changed. Because a sheriff in Albany failed to jail King or engage in violence, the intervention in Albany was considered a failure.In Birmingham, King changed tactics, the result was the picture of firehouses and police dogs that enraged the nation.

    People went beyond words and used action. While King was using the streets, Whitney Young was using board rooms to gain employment for Blacks. West is not capable of anything but histrionics and verbal attacks. He is worthless in this fight.


    by rmrd0000 on Thu, 08/01/2013 - 8:36am

    He is worthless in this fight? As you and others, always appear to be hating on West for what he speaks, maybe you  too would love to sucker punch him;  to silence him, as you and some others are always trying to beat him up.  Should he use a gun to protect himself and his rights to speak out his observations or opinions. Are you saying he has no right to be on the sidewalk (public square) so lets pummel him into silence? Is this a genetic characteristic of those who seek violence against others and then cry when their intended victims protect themselves?


    by anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 08/01/2013 - 9:29am

    Ridiculous. I said clearly that he has a free speech right to say whatever he wants. People have a free speech right to point out that he is not accomplishing anything. When he's one of his tirades, all that gets transmitted is that every Black person who thinks he needs to change his rhetoric is a Rent-A-Negro or worse.

    The more attacks he lobs, the lower his appeal. He cannot escape the fact that Melissa Harris-Perry, Al Sharpton and Tom Joyner impacted voter turnout in a positive way while West was just babbling on. West is nowhere to be found in the Moral Mondays battle in NC. 

    If West wants some Black love, he should stop his attacks on Black people. When West actually stops talking and actually does something concrete other than his animated verbal assaults, I will give him respect.

    A post absolved chided Blacks working to make positive change in the Black community for having little effect. I have noted success in fighting voter suppression, Tell  us all the great accomplishments of Cornel West.


    by rmrd0000 on Thu, 08/01/2013 - 10:35am

    An excellent assessment of the facts, Rm.

    In addition, Cornel West is one of the primary reasons the country is in the fix that it’s in. The Black community was doing pretty well under Clinton. Then during the 2000 election Ralph Nader and Cornel West teamed up and got Bush elected.

    Clinton’s vice President, Al Gore, lost the 2000 election to Bush in Florida by 537 votes, and the Nader/West coalition peeled off 97,488 votes from Gore in Florida alone. So, again, West is one of the big reasons that the Black community is in the shape that it’s in today. Under Bush, the country was hemorrhaging 850,000 jobs a month. So by criticizing Obama about the condition of the country, Cornel West is like a guy who walks into a restaurant and shits on the floor, and then calls the Health Department because the owner can’t get it up fast enough.

    And please keep this in mind - the worse the Black community is doing, the more money that Tavis and West makes talking about it, because Tavis owns a publishing company where he and West write books about it, a production company, where he and West do televisions shows about it, and he owns a speakers bureau, where Cornel West makes $30,000 a speech just to talk about Black misery.

    And isn’t it funny that Tavis and West seems to Talk about everything bad that’s happening to the Black community, EXCEPT, Tavis’ part in the Wells Fargo "Ghetto Loan" scam where Tavis helped to herd over 30,000 Black and Hispanic homeowners into where they lost their homes AND their life savings? The Department of Justice said that it was the second biggest housing discrimination case on record:

    "On July 12, 2012 Charlie Savage reported in the New York Times that Wells Fargo Bank agreed to pay $175 million to settle the discrimination suit which, according to the Department of Justice, targeted over 30,000 Black and Hispanic borrowers for subprime loans with a higher interest rate than for similarly situated White borrowers between 2004 and 2009."

    "Smiley was the keynote speaker, and the big draw, according to Boston [host of "Moneywise"] and Keith Corbett, executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending, who attended two of the seminars. Smiley would charge up the audience — and rattle the Wells Fargo executives in attendance — by launching into a story about how he hated banks, and how they used to refuse to lend him money for his real estate projects in Compton, Calif., and elsewhere... But what appeared on the surface as a way to help black borrowers build wealth was actually just the opposite, according to a little-noticed explanation of the "Wealth Building" seminar strategy, contained in a lawsuit recently filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan."

    Tavis Smiley and Cornel West’s outrage over those atrocities? Crickets. So they suffer from a sever case of selective outrage, at best.


    by Wattree on Thu, 08/01/2013 - 3:15pm

    Everything that I post is done out of love fro my Dear bother Cornel West. My hope is that he be released of his hatred towards so many Black people.


    by rmrd0000 on Thu, 08/01/2013 - 4:33pm

    Cornel West is one of the primary reasons the country is in the fix that it’s in. The Black community was doing pretty well under Clinton. Then during the 2000 election Ralph Nader and Cornel West teamed up and got Bush elected.

    Clinton’s vice President, Al Gore, lost the 2000 election to Bush in Florida by 537 votes, and the Nader/West coalition peeled off 97,488 votes from Gore in Florida alone. So, again, West is one of the big reasons that the Black community is in the shape that it’s in today. Under Bush, the country was hemorrhaging 850,000 jobs a month. So by criticizing Obama about the condition of the country, Cornel West is like a guy who walks into a restaurant and shits on the floor, and then calls the Health Department because the owner can’t get it up fast enough.

    And please keep this in mind - the worse the Black community is doing, the more money that Tavis and West makes talking about it, because Tavis owns a publishing company where he and West write books about it, a production company, where he and West do televisions shows about it, and he owns a speakers bureau, where Cornel West makes $30,000 a speech just to talk about Black misery.

    And isn’t it funny that Tavis and West seems to Talk about everything bad that’s happening to the Black community, EXCEPT, Tavis’ part in the Wells Fargo "Ghetto Loan" scam where Tavis helped to herd over 30,000 Black and Hispanic homeowners into where they lost their homes AND their life savings? The Department of Justice said that it was the second biggest housing discrimination case on record:

    "On July 12, 2012 Charlie Savage reported in the New York Times that Wells Fargo Bank agreed to pay $175 million to settle the discrimination suit which, according to the Department of Justice, targeted over 30,000 Black and Hispanic borrowers for subprime loans with a higher interest rate than for similarly situated White borrowers between 2004 and 2009."

    "Smiley was the keynote speaker, and the big draw, according to Boston [host of "Moneywise"] and Keith Corbett, executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending, who attended two of the seminars. Smiley would charge up the audience — and rattle the Wells Fargo executives in attendance — by launching into a story about how he hated banks, and how they used to refuse to lend him money for his real estate projects in Compton, Calif., and elsewhere... But what appeared on the surface as a way to help black borrowers build wealth was actually just the opposite, according to a little-noticed explanation of the "Wealth Building" seminar strategy, contained in a lawsuit recently filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan."

    Tavis Smiley and Cornel West’s outrage over those atrocities? Crickets. So they suffer from a sever case of selective outrage, at best.

    http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-question-for-both-tavis-smiley-and...


    by Wattree on Thu, 08/01/2013 - 10:25pm