Thursday, April 30, 2009

More Popular Overall Than They Actually Are

This Byron York post is being linked everywhere because it contains one of the most fascinating comments I've ever heard on race. It's not a throwaway line -- it's standing right there in thesis-statement position at the end of the first paragraph:
On his 100th day in office, Barack Obama enjoys high job approval ratings, no matter what poll you consult. But if a new survey by the New York Times is accurate, the president and some of his policies are significantly less popular with white Americans than with black Americans, and his sky-high ratings among African-Americans make some of his positions appear a bit more popular overall than they actually are.
"more popular overall than they actually are"? Usually, racism doesn't push people to say things that are flatly contradictory. Though we might be able to make it consistent if we take a racialized version of Brian Weatherson's view and assume that black people have non-actual modal parts while white people are wholly actual. It'll be hard to reliably poll people's non-actual modal parts, but that's never stopped Zogby before.

The real issue here is that York doesn't regard black people's input in the political process as having the same legitimacy as white people's. That's the only way you end up saying crazy stuff like that.

4 comments:

Lyn said...

The input of blacks in the political process is inconsequential. They are a very small minority that contribute nothing to this country or its culture. As for Whites they ALL should have voted against Obama. Not only because he's black but also because he is the personification of Chicago backroom corruption.

That any of Obama's policies are popular shows just how pathetically stupid Americans have become. This country has a sad future.

Glenn Fayard said...

Hey, Neil, between Ezra, The Cogitamus brigade, and you, how'd you end up with the Nazi troll?

Stephen said...

Yeah, Neil and Nick are always the lucky ones.

I went to Lyn's website. It's grade-a stuff. Few people can make me wonder if occasional forced sterilization could be a good thing, but Lyn has managed it.

Bravo!

Anonymous said...

This reminds me of the time that my blog was inundated with racist trolls. It was good times, especially since not a single one was clever enough to call me something other than "n*gger" or "ape."