THIS is inspired by a Black celebrity who spoke recently on TV. He was on the Phil McGraw Show. Phil is a psychologist, who usually has guests with severe social problems. His (black) guest was a “bishop”(sic) Jakes. What, or who, he is a bishop of, I do not know. Maybe no one knows. Jakes was responding to a remark by the black presidential candidate Herman Cain. Cain had said that American Blacks had been brainwashed into voting, blindly and against their best interests, for liberal Democrats.
This bit of conventional wisdom is offered so often as a fact that no one ever denies it. I do not know how valid the polls are that support this conclusion. However, I believe it to be valid. My own experience validates the fact that even Middle and Upper Class Blacks DO vote, blindly and automatically (like Jews), for Democrats. Blacks are disproportionately dependent upon government programs, so this explains some of this tendency.
Jakes said that Blacks are not “brainwashed” into voting for certain candidates. He pointed out that certain Black candidates did not receive Black support, even when they were liberal. One was Jesse Jackson. He may have been right about the lack of support. I simply do not know. I also do not know why a Black political/religious celebrity was on a show whose purpose is, officially, to help families with problems like addiction, infidelity and crime. Maybe Phil got brainwashed by Jakes.
The overall theme was to make that case that Blacks are “just like the rest of us.” That is, they have different views on different issues and make different decisions, based upon different values, exactly as white people do. Allegedly, despite every bit of demographic data, the Blacks do not vote in a block. They are, to use an old expression, “passing for white.” The only reason why this denial would be advanced would be that such a herd tendency would a sign of inferiority that might be racial in nature.
Let me examine the premise. Why would block/reflexive voting, or group think, be bad? IF the Democrats are better for Blacks THEN why should the Blacks not vote for them, as a monolithic conditioned reflex? Are they blind to their own best interests? This could only be true if they are inherently inferior. By definition only one of the two parties can be better for Blacks. If Blacks divided their vote this would necessarily mean that the ones who are voting for the wrong side really are rather stupid, and/or ignorant. My premise, and it is a good one, is that all honest and intelligent people should vote the same way. Blacks SHOULD vote as a block. That is they should vote as I do.
And I am not even Black, or a bishop (yet).
New plays by Oscar Wilde are available on Amazon and Lulu.com (Who’s Afraid of a Long Day’s Journey into the Drawing Room?).
Another fine article from a truly Catholic Mind! Thank you.
Posted by: Chris Perry | January 05, 2012 at 07:17 PM