Racist McCain Ad
Ordering a black man to show you respect you is pretty over the top in 2008. I’m sure McCain’s constituency in the South and perhaps right here in Indiana will recognize the terminology from their heyday of sundown towns and lynch mob gatherings, though, and respond accordingly.
There’s only one response to that ad:
Why on earth would Senator Obama respect anyone from the McCain campaign? Sigh. I hate it when anyone demands respect, whether it’s my mom, a cop, a priest, or the McCain campaign. Respect is earned; You’ll get it when you show you deserve it.
I try to treat people courteously, because I want to live in harmony with people, so I don’t have to live on deserted island and make my own clothes and shelter. And there are people of great accomplishment like Kamau Bobb Google that I respect and admire.
It’s not that I disrespect authority — I just don’t believe authority exists. I do what they ask me at work because I get a paycheck. I won’t tolerate being the focus of offensive jokes at work because that’s harassment. I pull over for cops because I want them to come to my house if I need to call 911. I pay taxes because I want my roads paved. I’ll do what other people want if I get something in return that I want. Other than that, anyone telling me what to do is in danger of getting a stick in their eye. I hope Senator Obama feels the same.
Update: In case you haven’t heard yet — at The Value Voter’s Forum, one of the booths was selling ‘Obama Waffles’ with racial stereotypes. Lovely. Apparently before someone realized these were racist and should be pulled from event, Lou Dobbs stopped by and had some racist waffles with his wife.
Oh, and in case you haven’t seen it yet — What Made John Mad Today?
I’m a big fan of this quote from @stimmyabby:
Sometimes people use “respect” to mean “treating someone like a person” and sometimes they use “respect” to mean “treating someone like an authority.” And sometimes people who are used to being treated like an authority say “if you won’t respect me I won’t respect you” and they mean “if you won’t treat me like an authority I won’t treat you like a person” and they think they’re being fair but they aren’t, and it’s not okay.