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March 07, 2004
Shaking The Devil's Hand
Can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.
-- They Might Be Giants
This is the letter that a lot of people hate. People who prefer Arthur Ashe to Muhammed Ali, people who prefer MLK to Malcolm X. This is the letter where the charming well-spoken black man tells them to piss off. You've been warned.
What I'm talking about is respect. Smash called bullshit on Acidman's rant against people he considers no count niggers. Acidman said he doesn't care who he offends. Today I'm going to agree with him. The reason is simple. If he said anything like that around me, he'd get his ass kicked. You know it, I know it everybody knows it. So when it comes down to it, no real intellectual exercise in explication is necessary. Some whitefolks simply don't respect blackfolks and are looking for opportunities to talk about it. So fucking what? It's not like this isn't America and we've never heard that story before.
I was so taken for a loop that this cat Ironbear had such respect for me and yet was confused about what to do with his previous respect for Acidman that I began writing a complicated story about respect. Part of that came out in the "Legacy of Slavery" post from this morning. But let me tell you what, this is an old tired assed story and I need to slap myself for thinking twice. "Gee, I think my friend is a racist, but I think he does have a point about black poeple." Here's my answer. Fuck you and your friend. Don't ask me for permission, because I don't want any part of your sorry ass confusion. If your mother didn't raise you right and you hang out with cracker ass crackers, that's your problem. But your problem ends at my doorstep and you know that, that's why you're tiptoeing. I don't have time for this.
Intellectual clarity is a blessing. So is guts. Don't play around with men with both.
Now here's the abstract conservative part scavenged from the overlong thing I wasted Saturday writing:
The better part of wisdom is to know when to stop asking questions. Wisdom is not only a fullness of knowledge but a paucity of foolishness. Lines must be drawn if one is to respect one's own self. You can't engage everyone or consider the validity of everything. No reliable decisiveness comes from endless curiousity, no strength can be maintained without decisivenss. A little bit of everything adds up to a whole lot of nothing. This to me is the essence of conservatism. It isn't that conservatives are always correct, but that they can only be so wrong.
Posted by mbowen at March 7, 2004 08:14 PM
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Comments
I commented over there, too, and basically said it was a stupid discussion.
I'm not exactly sure what the problem I'm supposed to have with your comments, despite the dire warnings in your introduction. Which is odd, since usually I find something to disagree with :)
Posted by: IB Bill at March 8, 2004 09:41 AM
Well, guess that establishes I'm a racist, eh? I'm glad you cleared that up for me - I'll sleep so much better now that I know. ;]
Posted by: Ironbear at March 8, 2004 06:53 PM
self pity. how disappointing.
Posted by: cobb at March 9, 2004 08:57 AM
tee hee. cracker ass cracker. that always makes me laugh. makes me think of -- chris rock? i dunno.
Posted by: TLL at March 9, 2004 04:43 PM
That was a conscious decision to use 'cracker ass craker' specifically because of how certain folks love to cite Chris Rock for permission to use the n-word, acidman included.
Posted by: Cobb at March 9, 2004 06:14 PM