A Problem With Co-Opting Black Culture

Has anyone noticed the great "interest" that Glenn Beck is taking in members of the black community? Recently on his Fox"News" program he had a panel of all-black "conservaties" that spoke out against Obama and his policies. It didn't take a Rhodes scholar to realize what Beck was really doing. But now, he's taking it a step further.

I am drafting plans now to bring us back to an America that our founders would understand. … We need to start thinking like the Chinese. I’m developing a 100 year plan for America. A 100 year plan. We will plant this idea and it will sprout roots.

Thinking like the Chinese? Really? And this from the man that recently lambasted people for simply quoting Mao.

Beck's rallying cry was heard within the friendly confines of the retirement-community-for-wingnuts known as The Villages.

So what does this have to do with black culture and black history? Beck's proposed rally at the Lincoln Memorial just happens to be the anniversary of another speech that took place there - one that had much more significance to this nation than anything Beck could ever conceive of.

On August 28, 2010, I ask you, your family and neighbors to join me at the feet of Abraham Lincoln on the National Mall for the unveiling of The Plan and the birthday of a new national movement to restore our great country.

Martin Luther King, Jr's "I Have A Dream" speech was given on that day.

So here we have a conspiratorial, reactionary, serial fabricator promoting a book and saying that we need to think more like the Chinese. Sounds like Beck is the one that is in love with Mao.

More from Think Progress.

A Tale Of Two Florida Groups

As consumers, we are often tricked by the "gimmick", the product-placement stylings, the "cool" factor.

Such is, and will be until the election, the case with Sarah Palin.

Allahpundit at HotAir is proof of the "consumerist" nature of Republican voters in this election.

He writes about a rally in Florida where Republican VP pick Sarah Palin was appearing under the heading of:

Palinmania: 60,000 turn out for event in Florida?

He attempts to rationalize, in the special ham-fisted way that only neo-conservatives are capable of, the crowd numbers and then relates them to Biden and current "president" George W.

He quotes a write-up on the event:

The Villages, a vast, upscale planned community north of Orlando, has about 70,000 mostly adult residents — many of them military retirees — who vote reliably Republican in statewide races. Tens of thousands inched along roads into the picturesque town square of the complex, where they stood in sweltering heat for about four hours as local GOP officials and a country band revved up the crowd.

emphasis via Allahpundit

Impressive.

People standing outside in the "sweltering" heat of Florida for hours. As if this common act - that other large groups of people in Florida have done - has somehow instilled within them a power, an ethereal glow if you will, that demands us to show our undying adoration.

Give me a break.

It is interesting to note that The Villages - touted in advertisements as "Florida's friendliest home town" - is a retirement community populated almost entirely by Republicans. So, to claim that Palin has accomplished some fantastic feat, that the mere presence of 60,000 people ( that number is still in question ) in what is nothing more than a conservative "compound" is something to be amazed at is to really be reaching for something to cheer about.

The warm reception that Palin received at The Villages is comparable to what would happen should a favored sports-caster appear at a baseball stadium in New York.


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The other group that met in Florida several weeks ago were also there in reference to Palin, just not in the same way:

From The St. Petersburg Times

Five weeks ago, the St. Petersburg Times convened a group of Tampa Bay voters who were undecided about the presidential election. Their strong distrust of Barack Obama suggested it was a group ripe for John McCain to win over.

Not anymore. The group has swung dramatically, if unenthusiastically, toward Democrat Obama. Most of them this week cited the same reason: Sarah Palin.

"The one thing that frightens me more than anything else are the ideologues. We've seen too many," said 80-year-old Air Force veteran Donn Spegal, a lifelong Republican from St. Petersburg, who sees McCain's new running mate as the kind of "wedge issue" social conservative that has made him disenchanted with his party.

This small focus group, containing only 11 people, was labeled as such by the esteemed HotAir employee as:

that anti-Palin focus group in Florida the ’sphere was buzzing about yesterday.

Whereas the focus-group seems to see Palin for what she is - a gimmick - Allahpundit and so many commentors at HotAir are approaching each story that is even peripheral to Palin as if she is the one running for President.

Neither group is representative of the whole of the American voting public. However, it is the later group that favor discussing issues rather than jumping up-and-down in the Florida heat over a woman is nothing more than a shiney, new toy.