Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Wright was Right

"But the common and ordinary wisdom of Black America is inadmissible in mainstream US discourse. In the reality-defying bubble of US corporate media, one does not speak of the genocide and dispossession of Native Americans as “terror”. Comparing the atomic bombings of hundreds of thousands of civilians in World War 2, the snuffing out of two million Vietnamese lives in the sixties and seventies or one million plus Iraqis in the current war is, in mainstream media, strictly off-limits. And any suggestion that US imperial policies in the Middle East, Africa or elsewhere might provoke resistance or retaliation is deemed beyond-the-pale anti-American hate speech." Bruce Dixon, Black Agenda Report

"For this is where we are in the United States, nearing the end of the Year of Our Lord 2007: the truth is not merely unpleasant, an uninvited guest who makes conversation difficult and awkward. Truth is the enemy; truth is to be destroyed. To attempt to speak the truth on any subject of importance requires a deep reserve of determination, for to speak the truth requires that one first sweep away an infinite number of rationalizations, false alternatives, and numerous other failures of logic and the most rudimentary forms of thought -- as well as the endless lies."
Arthur Silber, Power of Narrative

There you have the Jeremiah Wright story in a nutshell. The truth of America's genocidal beginnings and its imperial atrocities must not be told. Anyone who does manage to break through the bubble and speak truthfully is ground into the dirt.

I don't know why Jeremial Wright thought that his association with Barack Obama could continue or that it should. An association with a presidential candidate should have been anathema to this man who has spent his life speaking truthfully. Was he blinded by the the thought of going to state dinners at the White House? Did he believe Obama when he whispered sweet nothings in his ear?

Wright knew or ought to have known that speaking truthfully and becoming president are simply inconsistent. Truth tellers are not allowed anywhere near the presidency. They can't raise money, they aren't allowed to debate and consequently are erased from memory. Just ask Dennis Kucinich.

Wright was not mistaken in his comments. The United States has terrorized people across the globe. The killing of Americans on 9/11 is no worse than killings anywhere else on earth. All of these things are true.

Wright's only mistake was believing Obama's hype. Anyone else who wants to speak the truth and also join the Obama band wagon should remember this lesson and decide now. Will you follow Obama or will you tell the truth? You can't do both.