Found the Hillary context. And I was right, Rev Wright started the sermon in the context of how God sent his son to us in a manger, reflecting his position that the poor are no less worthy in his eyes than the privileged. That, is a good message.
However, the Reverend then goes on and veers away from that very important message and gets distracted by rhetoric about black and white people. As far as I am concerned, this still ended up being a hate-speech. The anger was palpable, the anger was directed and the anger, justified or not, was inappropriate and inflammatory.
Watch how the video starts and the unfortunate way it ended (which was focused on by the American media). I apologize for the poor video quality, but it was the audio that was far more important.
Friday, March 21, 2008
Reverend Wright: Some Context. I am so glad someone posted this on youtube and reminded me and some others about context. This is a full video of his speech, at least as far as 9/11 is concerned. As you can see, Rev. Wright is a far more complex man with a far more nuanced message than one might have gathered from what Fox News has shown. In fact, this has convinced me more than merely hearing what other people have said, how Fox distorts the news rather than present it. You can be sure that I will give very little credence to whatever subsequent stuff they show, at least not without some independent verifcation.
Meanwhile, watch this video in it's entirety. I'll admit, I'll have to try to find the context of the 2nd video of Rev Wright to see if it was also taken out of context. However, I doubt it was given what I saw.
Meanwhile, watch this video in it's entirety. I'll admit, I'll have to try to find the context of the 2nd video of Rev Wright to see if it was also taken out of context. However, I doubt it was given what I saw.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Hate speech?
I wished that Americans in general would think about an issue before judging. I would agree that the following speech this Reverend made just after Sept 11 was done in very poor timing and set in a very poor tone (very much in line with the tone of a later speech, which I do consider something very close to a hate speech).
The point about Hiroshima is controversial. There is still debate over whether it had to be done. I myself am not sure about this. My opinion, however, is that Nagasaki was unnecessary.
As for the other poorly-made foreign policy decisions over the decades after world war two, in spite of the distaste of the way the Reverend presented it, I would have to agree with the spirit of his words. American foreign policy has been dubious and it is a long-held view of mine that many Americans (actually, people in general, myself included) feel little to nothing in response to deaths in other countries, sometimes even if it is a direct act of American foreign policy. I believe the primary reason is that we are so far removed from the suffering and the pain inflicted on others.
As a result, I agree ... people here have no right to feel indignant, sad and hurt yes, but not indignant about the attack on 9/11. It is a very indirect swing of cause and effect. It is horrific event, for sure. I was personally so downcast by the event (I am not a US citizen), just by the sheer tragedy of the event that I could not work or smile or laugh for a week. If people think very carefully about it, the perpetrators of the event did a terrible thing, evil by it's very nature. However, I also strongly believe that the source of the evil and the hatred seeded in these people were indirectly affected by a sense of injustice, perceived rightly or wrongly, about US foreign policy. So many of us forget, this is not a black and white world.
Anyway, unfortunately, I think Senator Obama had rather prematurely condemned his former pastor in this respect. I do not, however, disagree with Obama for condemning the following tirade from the same Reverend:
I think can understand where Reverend Jeremiah's frustrations come from and he even speaks some truth, but this is to me, definitely hate speech and a clear case of religion gone wrong in America. I mean, why can't priests and pastors give useful, level-headed sermons of right and wrong backed up with facts in an even tone that is meant to help people think? Why do all these "charismatic" churches always have to sensationalize issues in this fashion? Just look at the people reacting to him as he speaks ... it's outright freaky, imho.
Anyway, here's Obama's response to the issue. As I have said, I feel he has prematurely denounced the Reverend's statements about U.S. foreign policy, which had more grains of truth than people were comfortable with.
I wished that Americans in general would think about an issue before judging. I would agree that the following speech this Reverend made just after Sept 11 was done in very poor timing and set in a very poor tone (very much in line with the tone of a later speech, which I do consider something very close to a hate speech).
The point about Hiroshima is controversial. There is still debate over whether it had to be done. I myself am not sure about this. My opinion, however, is that Nagasaki was unnecessary.
As for the other poorly-made foreign policy decisions over the decades after world war two, in spite of the distaste of the way the Reverend presented it, I would have to agree with the spirit of his words. American foreign policy has been dubious and it is a long-held view of mine that many Americans (actually, people in general, myself included) feel little to nothing in response to deaths in other countries, sometimes even if it is a direct act of American foreign policy. I believe the primary reason is that we are so far removed from the suffering and the pain inflicted on others.
As a result, I agree ... people here have no right to feel indignant, sad and hurt yes, but not indignant about the attack on 9/11. It is a very indirect swing of cause and effect. It is horrific event, for sure. I was personally so downcast by the event (I am not a US citizen), just by the sheer tragedy of the event that I could not work or smile or laugh for a week. If people think very carefully about it, the perpetrators of the event did a terrible thing, evil by it's very nature. However, I also strongly believe that the source of the evil and the hatred seeded in these people were indirectly affected by a sense of injustice, perceived rightly or wrongly, about US foreign policy. So many of us forget, this is not a black and white world.
Anyway, unfortunately, I think Senator Obama had rather prematurely condemned his former pastor in this respect. I do not, however, disagree with Obama for condemning the following tirade from the same Reverend:
I think can understand where Reverend Jeremiah's frustrations come from and he even speaks some truth, but this is to me, definitely hate speech and a clear case of religion gone wrong in America. I mean, why can't priests and pastors give useful, level-headed sermons of right and wrong backed up with facts in an even tone that is meant to help people think? Why do all these "charismatic" churches always have to sensationalize issues in this fashion? Just look at the people reacting to him as he speaks ... it's outright freaky, imho.
Anyway, here's Obama's response to the issue. As I have said, I feel he has prematurely denounced the Reverend's statements about U.S. foreign policy, which had more grains of truth than people were comfortable with.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Semi-Politics: A Broken Bureaucracy.
This is symptomatic of a government that would not listen or try to fix that which is not broken, or simply one that is so far removed from daily life that they cannot even understand what the problem is.
[Thanks, but sorry, it just doesn't work...] is an ST Forum article that shows just how incompetent the LTA has recently become. First, a long time ago, when people were trying to convince them the North-East corridor had become congested and bad, they had to be ultimately convinced by making the Minister for Transportation actually take the bus along that route at rush hour. Now, they are convinced that forcing taxis to stop at designated stands in the Central Business District is a good idea.
This is symptomatic of a government that would not listen or try to fix that which is not broken, or simply one that is so far removed from daily life that they cannot even understand what the problem is.
[Thanks, but sorry, it just doesn't work...] is an ST Forum article that shows just how incompetent the LTA has recently become. First, a long time ago, when people were trying to convince them the North-East corridor had become congested and bad, they had to be ultimately convinced by making the Minister for Transportation actually take the bus along that route at rush hour. Now, they are convinced that forcing taxis to stop at designated stands in the Central Business District is a good idea.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Malaysian Politics
I'm looking at the recent changes in Malaysia where the ruling party has lost it's 2/3 majority for the first time with great interest. It is a scenario Singapore's ruling party and even opposition parties have feared for Singapore: The opposition being thrust into a position of ruling.
We'll see over time, whether the DAP at Penang will reinforce the fear-tactics the PAP has inflicted on Singapore by failing the state big time ... or it will show Singaporeans that the fear is unfounded. For now, Lim Eng Guan's policies for Penang sound reasonable and looks good. So things are hopeful.
I'm looking at the recent changes in Malaysia where the ruling party has lost it's 2/3 majority for the first time with great interest. It is a scenario Singapore's ruling party and even opposition parties have feared for Singapore: The opposition being thrust into a position of ruling.
We'll see over time, whether the DAP at Penang will reinforce the fear-tactics the PAP has inflicted on Singapore by failing the state big time ... or it will show Singaporeans that the fear is unfounded. For now, Lim Eng Guan's policies for Penang sound reasonable and looks good. So things are hopeful.
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