Holy fucking shit, I spoke too soon.
Just learned this is a real ad by Doug Jones, Roy Moore’s opponent. I just don’t know WTF to do with this among the various political threads, so I am leaving it here.
ETA - now assuming one has any integrity in them, who is one supposed to vote for now?
It is entirely true, but is using racism to prove your point really what we should be going for?
It won’t change anything, and he just outed himself as a racist. I guess I shouldn’t stereotype, but maybe in Alabama this is a given?
How is it racist to point out that a person of color wouldn’t enjoy nearly the same level of public forgiveness?
Because it uses the innate racism of the area, and the candidate, in an attempt to draw a parallel with Moore. If everyone was cool with black people in Alabama, then there would be no “teeth” to the ad.
But hey - don’t take my word for it, I am not an expert on such things. Listen to this guy:
That’s still not racist; it’s just pointing out that other people are.
The logic behind this creates an idiotic double bind.
Mention racial double standards: “The flyer is reductive in its oversimplification of the black mind as only caring about black issues.”*
Don’t mention racial double standards: Why don’t you care about situation of the marginalized groups, Mr. Privilege?
*It’s a f@#$% flier. Not a three-volume novel. Of course any message it conveys will be oversimplified.
Yeah, that’s entirely true. This also gives ammunition to the argument that white democrats are literally using black people and not giving them shit. Which isn’t wrong, actually.
[ETA - edited out the link, since @Mister44 already had it up!]
Because it’s yet again white people in power using black people as props in their quest to gain more powerful positions.
The point of the card isn’t to bring up double standards for the sake of the people who are victims of the double standards. It is an attempt to get a guy elected.
Yes. Which is how political issues get decided in a democracy. This attitude is totally undermining any possible path towards a remedy.
What attitude? That one shouldn’t stoop to racism to win an election? Well, shit, excuse me then.
I can sort of understand the feeling, but it’s still creating a completely unworkable standard where both mentioning and not mentioning the issue are unacceptable.
I suppose they could, maybe, talk to black voters in Alabama, ask them what they want, and run on those issues? It’s one thing to get a sense of a particular constituencies needs, and to try and address them. It’s another to use black people as a prop, as if they aren’t real people and will only response to racial overtures, as if they don’t have real bread and butter issues that can be addressed by politicians.
If pointing out racism is now racist and tantamount to “using people of color as pawns” you have tied yourself in enough knots to hang a whole social movement on.
This isn’t really my fight anyway, so I shouldn’t be getting this agitated, but this seems like a brilliant way to completely self-sabotage any attempt to actually do anything about the issues politically.
I think you have to ask yourself why they appealed to race in the first place, though. Was it necessary? I still think that the comment is entirely true, because black men are indeed held to higher standards than christian white men, but what did that have to do with this campaign? Literally nothing. Do you honestly think black Alabamians would have voted for Moore and NEEDED to be convinced that the GOP is racist?
Where are you getting this? To put it in postmodern terms: That’s just the interpretation you chose to impose on the situation. It’s one flier, addressing one facet of the issue. It’s not the entirety of the campaign. It’s most definitely not implying that black people aren’t real people. That’s just how you decided to see it.
Hardly. But maybe it’s a good reminder for the white voters.
I don’t think the flier is some work of a PR genius. But it should be discussed in terms of a stupid angle, not terrible racism.
Not every case of “pointing out racism” is racist nor “using people of color as pawns”. But I think it is in this case.
Again, read the linked article for additional insight from someone whose job is to write commentary on such subjects and who has a lot better understanding of the issue and the history.
By the flyer itself. It wasn’t about issues that black voters in Alabama actually care about, but about what a white person imagines they care about.
Maybe read the root article that @Mister44 posted which is told from a black perspective and see what they have to say about it if you want to get a black perspective.
Why do they need to be reminded that racism eixsts in Alabama (or anywhere in america). If we need to be reminded, then we need more help than a flyer can give us.
Also, should we ask this discussion to be moved, as it’s OT?
I think the tactical flaw on that poster is that anyone it was going to convince is already convinced.
I think the linked article described the poster as “racism adjacent”, which feels fair.
But it’s still using black people as props, though.
