Hoodwinkery, thy name is Sharpton
If ever there were a teflon don or a comeback kid, you'd think it would be Al Sharpton, except that he doesn't even come under the kind of scrutiny that generates such terms. You have to have survived some sort of scandal to earn these kinds of titles, and one of the greatest mysteries of modern life is how Al Sharpton does the things he does and yet appears to face no accountability whatsoever for his actions. Forget for a moment about Don Imus groveling to Sharpton for absolution of his supposed transgressions; ever since the time of the Tawana Brawley hoax, with Sharpton leading the way and destroying the lives of men unustly accused, he has had a free pass to repeat the process at his whim.His incitments to riot are merely the culmination of his regular output of lies, fabrications, and fantasy - his rhetoric is a screeching indictment of a society that he carefully cultivates in his own imagination and those of others, a land where the average, ordinary white man is engaged in a conspiracy of oppression towards the average, ordinary black man. Sharpton rallied his mob against that Jewish-owned store in Harlem, citing their very presence as a reason to get rid of them.
Does it strike no one as absurd that he would make such a statement, and be given a free pass as well? Last I checked, we live in a country where people are free to do business where they please - does no one consider the ramification of what Sharpton is claiming, which is that races should have their own separate areas of shopping?
Sharpton's fantasy world has been roundly denounced by better men, and yet the press and the media still seem to consider him the preeminent spokesperson for black affairs, a nauseating development for all who subscribe to the concepts of decency and common sense.
Is Sharpton allowed to remain where he is because people somehow think he still performs some sort of public service by agitating for what he interprets as the interests of black people? If that is the case, it is the symptom of yet another illness, and an even more tragic one, for the audience that Sharpton believes he is performing for is paying no attention to him at all.
Even with all these grotesque episodes, the biggest insult was yet to come, which was Sharpton's Presidential candidacy in '04, and his appearance at the debates leading up to the Democractic party's primary election. Far from the pariah he should long ago have become, this man was actually accepted and welcomed at these debates, with the moderators actually addressing him as "Reverend" - I really and truly don't know how anyone can take the Democrat party seriously when it engages in such shenanigans. Indeed, how to take anyone associated with this charade seriously?
The press continues to prop Sharpton up as some sort of "Civil Rights Leader" and actually presents him as a serious presidential candidate, but then wonders why Americans are so turned off to politics - and they actually don't see any connection at all.
Aren't people in media and news-related businesses supposed to possess some type of insight or acumen regarding their profession? Not only is it no longer a requirement, it seems not even to be a practice of any kind.
posted by ET @ 11:16 AM
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