If you're wondering why the left hates Clarence Thomas so much, the answer can be given in one sentence: here is a black man who has left the liberal plantation. This is not supposed to happen. Those of us who are "persons of color" are supposed to march in liberal lockstep, spinning out elaborate tales of victimization and dutifully voting for the Democrats on election day. If we don't, we're accused of selling out to the white man.
It is a mark of Thomas' independence of spirit, and also his moral and personal courage, that he decided early on to become his own man. For him conservatism doesn't just mean tax cuts or free markets: it means personal emancipation from the imprisoning categories of race that, even today, keep African Americans and other minorities "in our place." In breaking with liberal expectations, Thomas betrayed no one because he never owed these self-styled benefactors anything in the first place. His new book "My Grandfather's Son" makes it clear that his real debt and allegiance is to his grandfather, who taught him to think for himself and act on those convictions.
When Thomas was nominated to the Supreme Court, the left could not defeat him on ideological grounds. So they hauled in Anita Hill, who in the tradition of Southern slaveowners and segregationists sought to bring this black man down by hurling at him the age-old accusation of being a sexual predator. In his memoir Thomas draws a poignant analogy to the classic novel and film, To Kill a Mockingbird, in which a black male is falsely accused of rape. In retrospect it's incredible that so many aspersions could be cast on Thomas based on not a single piece of strong corroborating evidence. Even so, senators and media pundits engaged in lengthy disputations about pubic hairs allegedly discovered on coke cans. By my recollection, the most exotic theory was advanced by sociologist Orlando Patterson, who speculated that perhaps Thomas had engaged in some Southern lower-class down-home courtship techniques, complete with taunts and lascivious jokes, and that Hill, while understanding Thomas' stylized overtures perfectly well, was manipulating them in order to play the feminist heroine.
Thomas has proved to be an excellent justice, unusually taciturn during oral arguments before the court, but unfailingly principled and passionate in his opinions. No clone of Scalia, Thomas has developd his own approach to constitutional interpretation, emphasizing not literal allegiance to the text but rather a dedication to the central constitutional principles of individual liberty and local self-government over centralized control. Meanwhile Anita Hill has vanished into obscurity since the left no longer seems to have any political use for her. But I expect she'll be trotted out again to "refute" Thomas' memoir. Can we expect outlandish new accusations or a replay of the old ones? I hope she hasn't been saving those pubic hairs.
Reader Comments ( Page 5 of 5)
61. #53 from VV -Yes, it shows. BTW, as I've pointed out on another board, Red-baiting went out with tail fins and hula hoops. Or perhaps, you're actually a marielo posing as a PR and you still think people drive around in '57 Packards like they do back home.
entrue
If you want to know what I think gladly, you have nothing intelligent to say cause your nothing but White trailer trash who dropped out of high school and you hang out on these blogs hoping to fulfill a fantasy that some how you aren't as irrevelent as you obviously are! Again white trash bigots who morphed from democrats of 150 yrs. ago your so ridiculous and pathetic thats why all the bigotry. your nothing but a pinko commie hating scum bag!!! Bring it on TRAMP
Manny at 5:06AM on Oct 6th 2007
62. From: Manny at 5:06AM on Oct 6th 2007
your nothing but a pinko commie hating scum bag!!! Bring it on TRAMP
V -You're a slow learner, marielo. Here...let me help you
In this country, we do not use the possessive "your" to substitute for the contraction of "you are". Therefore, it is "YOU'RE nothing but a pinko commie hating scumbag." Also, in general, "pinkos" usually do not hate "commies".
Like I told you before, either learn the English language or return to Cuba on whatever inner tube you floated over here on.
Ventrue at 2:37PM on Oct 6th 2007
63. #61 Like I told you before, either learn the English language or return to Cuba on whatever inner tube you floated over here on.
MAKE ME!! BITCH, YOUR A PINKO COMMIE HATING UGLY WHORE BITCH TRAMP HOMO Bigot Hows my english now SLUT?
Go back to the South with the rest of your Bigot White Cum Drinking Democrat LOOSERS!!!
Manny at 2:57PM on Oct 6th 2007
64. MAKE ME!! BITCH, YOUR A PINKO COMMIE HATING UGLY WHORE BITCH TRAMP HOMO Bigot Hows my english now SLUT?
Go back to the South with the rest of your Bigot White Cum Drinking Democrat LOOSERS!!!
V -Ummmm Manny....I thought I told you earlier, in this country, we don't use "your" when you mean to say "you're". What's a looser, btw?
Tsk, tsk, not only are you a slow learner, you don't follow directions very well.
I told you to go back to Uncle Fidel until you learn to speak the language of your gracious hosts.
Ventrue at 11:34PM on Oct 6th 2007
65. #63 ventrue you deserve credit where its due YOUR the most asinine and pathetic individual that I've come accross yet on the internet!
Let me remind you douchbag that you don't know who's reading so keep insulting marielitos cause I'm hoping a few will show up at your place unexpectedly and give you everything your bigotted ass deserves and more!!!!!
You pile of whale shit your not worth any bodies time let alone mine!!
YOUR!!!! Typical Southern Bigotted White TRAILER TRASH DEMOCRAT I'm happy you showed YOUR coward self!!!!!!! WATCH OUUUT THE MARIELITOS ARE COOOOOMMING WHEN YOUR NICE AN RELAXED!!!!!!
Manny at 9:29AM on Oct 7th 2007
66. From: Manny at 9:29AM on Oct 7th 2007
Typical Southern Bigotted White TRAILER TRASH DEMOCRAT I'm happy you showed YOUR coward self!!!!!!! WATCH OUUUT THE MARIELITOS ARE COOOOOMMING WHEN YOUR NICE AN RELAXED!!!!!!
V -YOU'RE just not getting it are you, Manny. I've already explained to you how English works, and here you are issuing threats. :) What'sa matter...is a little knowledge making that empty head of yours hurt?
Don't know quite how things work in that Third World cesspool you come from but in America, threatening people is a crime.
I warned you to play nice, but YOU'RE too stupid to take the hint, so it looks like Johnny Law is going to have to step in and send you back to El Jefe on the, umm "Illegal Elian" express.
Ventrue at 10:05AM on Oct 7th 2007
67. #65 ventrue YOUR warning me and yet you accuse me of threatning you? YYYOOOUUURRR the one who doesn't know the English language. how convinient now your an American, you American hating scunbag.
By the way I'm from this hemisphere you go back to hekk where you came from DEMON!!! Speak to yourself I won't give you another second of my time show us all what a coward you are!!!
Manny at 10:35AM on Oct 7th 2007
68. Can Manny and Ventrue have their own blog? Please.
Dave at 12:49AM on Oct 8th 2007
69. From: Manny at 10:35AM on Oct 7th 2007
66. #65 ventrue YOUR warning me and yet you accuse me of threatning you? YYYOOOUUURRR the one who doesn't know the English language. how convinient now your an American, you American hating scunbag.
By the way I'm from this hemisphere you go back to hekk where you came from DEMON!!! Speak to yourself I won't give you another second of my time show us all what a coward you are!!!
V -Ummmm, Manny....do you have an extra chromosome, by chance? How many times have I explained to you how the English language works?
In any event, calm yourself, my li'l puta.....you may well be from this hemisphere, but you certainly are no American. Thanks for finally running up the white flag of surrender. I graciously accept...for however long it lasts.
In the meantime, my original question to you still stands. Are you criminally ignorant or blatantly dishonest enough to compare the Democratic party of years past to the the Democratic party of today.
See if you can answer without blowing a brain cell....after all, it's not like you have many on reserve. :D
Ventrue at 3:11AM on Oct 8th 2007
70. The Racists Democrats from 150 years ago resentful for being forced to free slaves now have enslaved blacks all over with their garbage about tolerance and denying vouchers which has shown to help blacks more than others.Their ticket out of such schools as these!!
Broken Schools Betray Struggle For Civil Rights
By WALTER WILLIAMS | Posted Wednesday, October 03, 2007 4:30 PM PT
Five police "mini-stations" will be located in Detroit public schools this year, primarily due to the merging of students from several high schools on the city's west side. According to a Sept. 1 Detroit Free Press article, armed police officers will patrol the hallways in an effort to stem violence.
During the 2005-06 school year, officials issued 39,318 disciplinary referrals and filed 5,500 crime reports, and that's not including truancy and property damage. Uniformed and undercover police officers ride on city buses that transport students to and from school.
A woman throws an object at Detroit Board of Education members at a meeting in April.
As of last year, according to a June 2006 USA Today report, Detroit's public school graduation rate is only 21.7%, the lowest among the nation's 50 largest school districts.
During the 2003-04 school year, only 52 of the nation's 92,000 public schools were labeled "persistently dangerous," a designation under the No Child Left Behind Act entitling students to move to an alternate "safe" school. Philadelphia had 14 schools labeled as "persistently dangerous," and Baltimore had six.
The level of violence in Philadelphia schools is so high that each high school is equipped with a walk-through metal detector, security cameras and a conveyor-belted X-ray machine that scans book bags and purses.
Philadelphia and Baltimore, like Detroit, have armed police to try to stem school violence. School violence, including assaults on teachers and staff, is not restricted to inner-city schools but also occurs in suburban and rural schools. However, the bulk of the violence is at schools with large black populations.
One has to ask: What happened?
I graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School in 1954. Franklin had just about the lowest academic rating of all Philadelphia high schools and probably the city's lowest-income students.
But what goes on today in Philadelphia high schools would have been inconceivable back then. There were no policemen in or around the schools, there wasn't wanton property destruction, profanities weren't heard up and down the hallways, and the furthest thought from a student's mind was to curse or assault a teacher.
Much of what's seen today is a result of harebrained ideas and a tolerance for barbaric behavior.
Kathleen Parker cited such an example in her May 16 syndicated column. The case concerned teacher Elizabeth Kandrac, who was routinely verbally abused by black students at Brentwood Middle School in North Charleston, S.C.
A sample of the abusive language: white b----, white m-----f-----, white c---, white ho.
Excusing A Tragedy
Despite frequent complaints, school officials did nothing to stop the abuse. They told her this racially charged profanity was simply part of the students' culture, and if Kandrac couldn't handle the students' cursing she was in the wrong school. Kandrac brought suit alleging a racially hostile work environment, and the school district settled out of court for $200,000.
People with such a tolerant mind-set are in effect saying that blacks are not to be held to civilized standards of conduct and academic expectations that might be enforced for others. That's a disgusting and debilitating notion.
I guarantee you that years ago such nonsense would not have been tolerated, and a person making excuses for barbaric behavior by black students would have been considered a lunatic.
What has been allowed in predominantly black schools is nothing less than a betrayal of the struggle paid with blood, sweat and tears by previous generations to make possible the educational opportunities so long denied blacks that are being routinely squandered today. Blacks who lived through that struggle and are no longer with us wouldn't have believed such a betrayal possible.
There's enough blame to go around for each to have his share: students who are alien and hostile to the education process, parents who don't give a damn, and the education establishment and politicians who accommodate and excuse this tragedy of black education.
Copyright 2007 Creators Syndicate, In Search
Manny at 4:51PM on Oct 8th 2007
71. Clarence Thomas didn't leave the plantation. He just kissed his way up from the field to the house.
Captain Negative at 4:57PM on Oct 8th 2007
72. #70 CN
What is it the you hate about Clarence Thomas that his thinking is different from yours or what?
Manny at 1:55AM on Oct 9th 2007
73. Leave it to the republicans to come up with a black man who hates black people to put on the supreme court. It's the hypocrisy of the republicans. The supreme court is not the place to play politics. Clarence Thomas was totally unqualified to be on the supreme court and the only reason he is on the court is that the republicans played the RACE CARD.
Captain Negative at 2:07AM on Oct 9th 2007
74. Well these "opinions" are all over the place with much valid from each side. But a whole bunch of "bull" in most of the postings too!
Just have to respond to vikingmother - PLEASE get your facts straight per George W. Bush's own counter-terrorism czar (Richard A. Clarke) - Bush & his neo-con supporters were so fixated on Saddam Hussien that he turned his back on Bin Laden & Al Qaeda. Clinton made attempts on Bim laden's life - without the support of the US Miliary who refused to go after him & then spread the falsehood that Clinton was the one who was afraid to make the move! Read the documents - learn the facts
creole at 2:54PM on Oct 9th 2007