Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Geraldine Ferraro (AKA Big Brother)

Geraldine Ferraro's recent comment about Barack Obama immediately brings to mind three quotes from George Orwell's epic novel "1984":

Ferraro Stated:

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman [of any color] he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is."


The quote from "1984" was:

War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength

The remarkable similarity between these quotes is fairly obvious, both deliberately invert reality. In the style of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and the Bill O'Reilly Mrs. Ferraro infers that America has changed in a fashion that now gives the advantages to Black males and the disadvantages to White males. In Mrs. Ferraro's twisted version of reality, Black males are lucky because they are a privileged class and the unfortunate Whites of both genders have to take the crumbs left behind. In a country where white males occupy 97% of all administrative positions in the fortune 500 Companies, Black males are socially privileged? The naked truth is that the exact opposite is true.

This is reminiscent of the fascist dictator Joseph Stalin claiming to be a socialist and Hitler naming the fascist Nazi party the "National Socialist" party. The ultimate dishonesty is to make statements that are not merely incorrect, but are a deliberate inversions of the truth. In this case, playing the race card in this manner is intended to send a coded message to Whites that they must band together to protect themselves before the privileged class of Blacks take everything they have. It is directed towards the struggling blue collar Pennsylvania voters who are viewed as susceptible to this kind of right wing fear mongering. It is remarkable similar to the arguments made by modern White supremacists and identifies Mrs. Ferraro as another Democrat who resides with Zell Miller, Joe Lieberman (until his recent rejection by the voters), and Hillary Clinton in the far right wing of the Democratic Party.

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