Wednesday, March 23, 2011

The Progress that is Black Mediocrity and True Freedom: Herman Cain is not too Fond of Muslim Cancer Surgeons Saving His Life



There is an old joke that goes as follows:

What does a white man with a penny hate more than anything else? A black man with a nickel. The Herman Cains of the world would give that white man their last five cents just to make him happy.

Like Sarah Palin, Herman Cain is the gift that keeps on giving. Consequently, whenever I am going to move on and post an essay on pedagogy, sex, African American history, or comic books, Uncle Ruckus opens mouth and inserts foot.

This feels so dirty that I am loathe to even write it: Tea Party GOP presidential candidate was relieved to find out that his cancer surgeon was not a Muslim. Wow. Rendered. Speechless.

Yes, I just wrote that sentence. As long time readers of my work here and elsewhere know, I have little use for religion as I find it a net negative for society. Nevertheless, I believe in intellectual honesty and some adherence to a modicum of consistency in argument and thought. To point: I can only imagine the histrionics that would ensue if an American Muslim dared to suggest that a Christian by virtue of faith was somehow unqualified to be a surgeon. I must have been asleep that day in school, because I have always believed that there were no litmus tests of faith for employment or office-holding in this country. Likewise, I did not know that there were special medical boards exclusive to Muslim Americans where standards were systematically lowered.

There is a deep irony at work here in the sheer resplendent stupidity of Herman Cain's deep and sincere Islamophobia--Brother King suggested that the arc of history is long and true. He also dreamed of a day when true equality would exist between the races. Cain, despite his fond yearning for a return to Jim Crow America, is proof of the radical vision at the heart of the Black Freedom Struggle.

How? True equality is the ability to be mediocre, dumb, bigoted, foolish, and possessing the special qualities of a turd that cannot be polished. In his pandering to the religious Right, Herman Cain has demonstrated that he is just as common--in the worst ways possible--as the other Tea Party GOP ilk with which he lays.

History looms large over Cain's comments. As Herman Cain certainly knows--because he is a proud "Morehouse Man"--Black folks in America have always had to be 10 times as good, to get half as far, as white folks. Barack Obama's America has apparently changed that calculus. Ultimately, Black Archie Bunker Uncle Ruckus Herman Cain's most recent episode of verbal diarrhea has demonstrated that the collective mediocrity of African American Black Conservatives is rapidly approaching that of their white brethren.

That is progress my friends. Yes, it is.

6 comments:

Daniel Waters said...

Chauncey, your words and writing are like an intellectual orgasm.

Keep on writing!

Plane Ideas said...

CD,

As I have posted many times on this site the reality of white supremacy/pathology etc in America has wounded and continues to contaminate so many Black folks..

Herman Cain is a classic example of the human damage caused by the legacy of our country's racial reality..

Cain's tale is lethal in part because unlike millions of Black folk Cain has influence and clout in some venues of the ruling class..Cain's wounds create problems for our community and his exposure to the ruling class hampers our collective development as a people..

Imagine if this mindset was in a classroom..WTF

Vesuvian Woman said...

The best part (Silver Lining) of the internet: When idiots run there mouths for camera, print and any other form of celebrity - We the People can respond tout suite and let everyone else know that we are under no obligation to accept the BS ; )

It's Hump Day!

chaunceydevega said...

@Daniel. I don't know whether to be titillated or scared.

@Thrasher. They should donate his collective psyche to the Museum of Racial Curiosities where it will be featured in the hall of shame.

@Vesuvian. But the internet is also a memory hole. His devotees will see Cain's foolishness as a virtue, his enemies won't be surprised, and those in the middle will just not care.

Beyond-The-Spectrum said...

Stupidty has a gravitational pull which attracts weak minds like Cain's.

Daniel Waters said...

I promise, Chauncey, I am not doing a creeper stalker bit. I just like your prose and little digs slipped here, and the strikethroughs.

Oh, and slipping in Sanford and Son gets a few brownie points too.