Quote:Yes, Wright is not equated to Hitler,but the fiery bigoted oration inspiring an oppressed and humiliated population is similar.
Fine and good. If you think that's an enlightening comparison, I'm obviously not making much headway in convincing you otherwise.
Quote:That is why in the next question I asked you the same question about Farrakhan. Not two of a kind, and not three of a kind.
Really? Because you seem to keep putting them right next to each other, describing them with "Cone, Farrakhan and Wright are examples of XYZ" sentences. It's tough not to draw the implication that you mean they are actually all rather similar, or at least that the differences between them are irrelevant compared to their similarities.
Quote:I'm not familiar enough with the rantings of David Koresh, but he would be another similiar person who formed a cult of personality.
Just as with Hitler, I find the language to be far overblown. A cult? Come on. This is a preacher, not a self-idolizing lunatic.
Quote: Rhetorically, I'm asking if you condemn bigotry in all its expressions, even the most extreme.
I certainly condemn bigotry, in all its forms, especially the most extreme. But I also consider it a serious accusation that is not to be levelled at people lightly. There are ways of speaking that are not bigoted, but are still racially-charged, still firey, and still blunt about enduring racial problems.
Quote: I'm not saying all forms of bigotry are to that extreme, for example, Don Imus's flippant stupid racial comment might have been a momentary slip up.
I think it's more a matter of someone who regularily tests the water having accidentally made a larger splash than usual. But he is not consistently bigoted, and while I think he's a jerk, I can't really hold that too much against him.
Quote:You refuse to see between the lines, and instead choose to excuse Wright's blatant bigotry, support his adherence and promotion of Liberation Theology, and embrace his anti-Americanism.
His criticism of America was developed in a time when his world view was shaped by the legacy of Civil Rights, by Apartheid, by Vietnam. I don't mean that these things totally determine his outlook, but Wright is someone who has devoted his career to fighting what he sees as injustice, and his anti-Americanism was developed in that context. I think much of what he says is knee-jerk, and some of it is dowright ridiculous. I've tried to point those things out in fairness. But that's not the same as bigotry.
I'm not really a fan of Liberation Theology. I'm not religious, I don't have a huge axe to grind about race, and I find the emphasis on community over the individual to be a poor fit with my political beliefs. However, I have to at least try and understand what's going on with people whose life was not as comfortable as mine, who have lived under institutional racism, who have had to sit on the back of the bus. (Edit: Rushed first draft left an unfinished sentence here, posted too quickly.)
Quote:It was a valid exercise for you to ask me to show examples of his bigotry, which I've provided a few where text is available. It sure would be nice to have access to a library of transcripts, but that is not available. TUCC has also pulled most of their content and curriculum from the net in self defense. I also assume you've viewed the YouTube available content (and I agree many are edited out of context for Micheal Moore effect). The weight of readily available evidence is light, but it paints a picture extreme enough for Obama to condemn.
Obviously, I disagree. I think not only is that which is out there generally unrepresentative, but that the longer clips show a different message than the shorter ones. Yes, he is angry at America. Yes, he is angry at racism. But no, he doesn't cross the line into bigotry.
Does Cone? Yes, although I don't think that's all there is to the man. Does Farrakhan? Absolutely, and all his anti-poverty work does not make up for it. But does Wright? I don't see it. There's reading between the lines, and there's putting words in his mouth, and they're not the same thing.
-Jester