Arguing it out
This is the pagan festival of Imbolg, which I don't celebrate because I'm an atheist and that includes the Great Goddess or it would be meaningless, right?
That was easy. I've spent the day trying to arrive at a position on Minstrelgate, which is the name I have given to the scandal over the governor of Virginia posing in blackface for his college yearbook photo in 1984. Unless he's the other guy in the Klan hood, but really, six of one, half a dozen of the other. On the one hand, Ralph Northam seems like a good guy, and he's a Democrat, and this only came up because he's being targeted by the anti-choice mob. He was on the radio talking about a proposed change in state law regarding the treatment of non-viable newborns who are going to die anyway. (I'm guilty of redundancy because a lot of people don't seem to know what "non-viable" means.) Of course they get put on NICU life-support while their parents face the crushing decision of when or if to remove them. The law now stipulates that two doctors must concur with their wishes; Northam, who is a pediatric neurologist in private life, opposes reducing that to one. The Rightzis have decided this means he (and all Democrats) want to MURDER defective babies and sell the parts, possibly to restaurants -- you know, their customary measured response. So all that is on one side, and is a pretty good reason not to hand the crazies a victory.
The crazies want Northam to resign because he doesn't want these poor kids kept on machines for months or years like Terri Schiavo. Other people want him to resign because he was a racially insensitive jerk, at best, back in 1984, when even the President couldn't recognize the token black member of his Cabinet. Not a heroic age of civil rights, is what I'm saying. It feels as if the incriminating photo was discovered long ago and kept for an occasion like this. A great many of those calling for Northam to quit are black, and I am happy to let them take the lead. I'm only offended as a friend of the family, so to speak. Northam says he won't quit, but only last week a Republican in Florida quit when a picture surfaced of him attending a Halloween party dressed as a black female victim of Hurricane Katrina. This was two months after the inundation of New Orleans and is bad on multiple levels. Besides, the lieutenant governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax, is African American. He has issued a statement that doesn't call for Northam to resign but also says his behavior cannot be condoned and is redolent of Virginia's ugly past. It sounds like he's as conflicted as I am. Maybe he thinks it's unbecoming to salivate at the prospect of becoming governor. After all, the voters chose Northam over the appalling Ed Gillespie. Then again, the voters didn't have all the facts.
The confluence of race, politics and fetus-worship is a maelstrom I'm happy to avoid. Maybe it's better if us wypipos just shut up now.
That was easy. I've spent the day trying to arrive at a position on Minstrelgate, which is the name I have given to the scandal over the governor of Virginia posing in blackface for his college yearbook photo in 1984. Unless he's the other guy in the Klan hood, but really, six of one, half a dozen of the other. On the one hand, Ralph Northam seems like a good guy, and he's a Democrat, and this only came up because he's being targeted by the anti-choice mob. He was on the radio talking about a proposed change in state law regarding the treatment of non-viable newborns who are going to die anyway. (I'm guilty of redundancy because a lot of people don't seem to know what "non-viable" means.) Of course they get put on NICU life-support while their parents face the crushing decision of when or if to remove them. The law now stipulates that two doctors must concur with their wishes; Northam, who is a pediatric neurologist in private life, opposes reducing that to one. The Rightzis have decided this means he (and all Democrats) want to MURDER defective babies and sell the parts, possibly to restaurants -- you know, their customary measured response. So all that is on one side, and is a pretty good reason not to hand the crazies a victory.
The crazies want Northam to resign because he doesn't want these poor kids kept on machines for months or years like Terri Schiavo. Other people want him to resign because he was a racially insensitive jerk, at best, back in 1984, when even the President couldn't recognize the token black member of his Cabinet. Not a heroic age of civil rights, is what I'm saying. It feels as if the incriminating photo was discovered long ago and kept for an occasion like this. A great many of those calling for Northam to quit are black, and I am happy to let them take the lead. I'm only offended as a friend of the family, so to speak. Northam says he won't quit, but only last week a Republican in Florida quit when a picture surfaced of him attending a Halloween party dressed as a black female victim of Hurricane Katrina. This was two months after the inundation of New Orleans and is bad on multiple levels. Besides, the lieutenant governor of Virginia, Justin Fairfax, is African American. He has issued a statement that doesn't call for Northam to resign but also says his behavior cannot be condoned and is redolent of Virginia's ugly past. It sounds like he's as conflicted as I am. Maybe he thinks it's unbecoming to salivate at the prospect of becoming governor. After all, the voters chose Northam over the appalling Ed Gillespie. Then again, the voters didn't have all the facts.
The confluence of race, politics and fetus-worship is a maelstrom I'm happy to avoid. Maybe it's better if us wypipos just shut up now.
posted by Buttermilk Sky at 3:00 PM
1 Comments:
For better or worse, the Democratic Party has decided on a zero tolerance policy for past sins, whether they were politically mortal sins, or just little itty bitty unconscious or barely-conscious sins. (Nothing herein should be taken to mean I classify those of Virginia's governor one way or another.) This new Democratic policy is fortunate when it rids us of racists, sexists, and sexual abusers. It's unfortunate when it deprives us of the likes of, say, Al Franken, but zero tolerance is now the hard-and-fast rule.
That said, it is now time for us to demand similar purges on the Republican side. You laugh? Exactly. But the likelihood that the Republicans will not follow suit deprives them of a wedge, and puts that same wedge in our hands. When will they demand the removal, for example, of Rep. Steve King? Or of a certain individual in the White House? We should demand to know, at every turn.
Yours crankily,
The New York Crank
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