{"id":339,"date":"2004-06-17T11:40:14","date_gmt":"2004-06-17T18:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/wp2\/uncategorized\/counterpoint-to-eulogies\/"},"modified":"2004-06-17T11:40:14","modified_gmt":"2004-06-17T18:40:14","slug":"counterpoint-to-eulogies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/theirs\/counterpoint-to-eulogies\/","title":{"rendered":"Counterpoint to Eulogies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reagan, Race and Remembrance on <\/p>\n

the Great Divide<\/a>
\nby Tim Wise<\/p>\n

This is the twisted psychosis of growing up privileged, as a member of the dominant group: a group <\/p>\n

that must view their nation as fair and just, as a place struck off by the literal hand of God, as a place where ”average” guys <\/p>\n

like Ronald Reagan can become ”great leaders.” As a place where an ”aw shucks” smile, and a profound lack of knowledge about <\/p>\n

the details of public policy — or even the names of foreign leaders — is not only not cause for embarrassment, but yet another good <\/p>\n

reason to vote for someone; where refusing to read up on important policy details prior to a key international meeting so one can watch <\/p>\n

The Sound of Music on TV, is seen as endearing rather than cause for a recall. <\/p>\n

This is why we get people like George W. Bush, for <\/p>\n

those who haven’t figured it out yet. Oh sure, vote fraud and a pliant Supreme Court help, but were it not for the love affair white <\/p>\n

Americans have with mediocrity posing as leadership, things never could have gotten this far<\/b>. <\/p>\n

It’s why a bona fide moron like <\/p>\n

Tom Delay<\/a><\/b> can brag about not having a passport (because, after all, <\/p>\n

why would anyone want to travel abroad and leave ”Amur’ca,” even for a day) and not be seen as the epitome of a blithering <\/p>\n

idiot<\/b>, and why he could probably be elected again and again in thousands of white dominated congressional districts in this country, <\/p>\n

and not merely in Texas.<\/p>\n

The <\/p>\n

Village Voice: Nation: Press Clips: Das Rongold by Richard Goldstein<\/a>
\nReagan’s funeral as a Wagnerian opera.<\/p>\n

And every other <\/p>\n

piece of news was pulled into the funeral’s magnetic orb. Ray Charles’s death was dealt with by working his rendition of ”God Bless <\/p>\n

America” into the soundtrack. That was a deeply ironic flourish in an almost lily-white — and for that matter, masculine — <\/p>\n

occasion. Women may have a place on the battlefield, but they can’t be trusted to carry the Great One’s coffin or handle the flag that <\/p>\n

drapes it. Manly shoulders must bear him to his rest. (Mohammed Atta, who stipulated in his will that no women attend his funeral, would <\/p>\n

have understood.) <\/b><\/p>\n

Former President Reagan” href=”http:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/000302.htm”>mjh’s Blog: The Beatification <\/p>\n

of Former<\/i> President Reagan<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reagan, Race and Remembrance on the Great Divide by Tim Wise This is the twisted psychosis of growing up privileged, as a member of the dominant group: a group that must view their nation as fair and just, as a place struck off by the literal hand of God, as a place where ”average” guys … Continue reading Counterpoint to Eulogies<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theirs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edgewiseblog.com\/mjh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}