For those of you that don't know me, my name is Meg, and I will be a guest blogger on this site so that our friend David can focus more time on law school. I'm glad to do it, even though I am in school myself, because while the world might not need any more lawyers, we certainly do need more lawyers like David Holt.
David had a prior commitment and asked me to go to Saturday’s Congressional debate in his place. I did so, and my overall impression was that all candidates did a good job of keeping themselves on message and for the most part avoiding personal attacks. But I am going to get into that more in my next post. What I want to discuss here is the downright depressing showing from some of Jake Ford's supporters.
In the interest of full disclosure, I am a volunteer for Cohen’s campaign. He has represented me very well in the state senate since I moved to Memphis. I have no reason to believe he won’t do the same on a national level. I have voted early for Cohen and will continue to support him as a Congressman as long as I am still pleased with his performance. This is the same attitude I have always had towards Harold Ford Jr. during his time in the 9th Congressional seat, save for some of his more recent votes.
In general, I vote for the Democratic candidate (unless he or she is a murderer or something), and as a general rule I never vote Republican. If I find myself totally dissatisfied with both major party candidates, I am not adverse to voting for an independent candidate, or writing in a name in order to vote against the others.
The reason I want to cover this debate in two separate posts is because I want my report on the debate itself to be neutral. However, I cannot be neutral about the atrocious behavior of some in the Jake Ford camp. I have some anger to get out, and there are a few things that need to be said. I’d prefer to keep that aspect out of my review of the actual debate.
When I arrived at Lemoyne-Owen, there were several young men carrying homemade signs in the parking lot. One read “Adam and Eve, not Steve and Steve”. Another was made to look like a Confederate flag, and said “No Confederates” and I think “Cohen” with an X through it. It was obvious that these were Jake Ford supporters. I’m not sure if they were there on their own or of they were paid to be there, but it hardly matters because Jake Ford and his people were there too. They were parked right by the men with the homemade signs. If this was not the message the Ford campaign wanted to project, they could have asked them to put their signs away and given them official Jake Ford signage. They did not do so and their extremely negative and hate-filled message is what remains.
The “Steve and Steve” sign is a reference to one of the claims Ford has made about Steve Cohen, that he supports gay marriage. It does not seem to matter that this claim is patently false. Jake Ford knows it is a lie and does not care. He believes it will get him more votes, so he continues to repeat the claim. In fact, Jake Ford and Steve Cohen have near identical views on the matter, both are in support of civil unions and against gay marriage. Ford has implied on many occasions, including a different televised debate, that Cohen himself might be gay, a charge that he bases only on the fact that Cohen is not married (Jake Ford is also single). Jake Ford knows this isn’t true. His father, Harold Sr., also knows it isn’t true. But to them, it seems, preserving the Ford Family Seat is more important than truth.
The Confederate sign is so inane it almost belongs in the “too loony to even mention” category, except that calling Steve Cohen a Confederate is so vile, so absolutely, unforgivably depraved, that I think it should be addressed. First of all, is the KKK accepting Jewish people now? Because if they are, was not aware of it. I was under the impression that the ignorant, knuckle-dragging neanderthals that populate the Klan hated Jewish people just as much as they hate all non-white people. If I’m wrong about that, please correct me.
Secondly, all anyone has to do is look at Steve Cohen’s record to see where he stands on civil rights issues. If checking his record is too much work, perhaps Democracy itself is too much work and we should all pack it in and surrender to the Bush monarchy.
Besides the total absurdity of the signs themselves, what really made me sad was the vicious racism that they displayed. It seems that Jake Ford has nothing else to run on besides the fact that he is black, and his last name is Ford. After all, this has been the refrain from the Jake Ford camp for months now. But what never ceases to amaze me is that this really is all that Jake Ford has to run on. Stoking racism and hatred can only be a detriment to this district. How can someone who uses racist tactics to win an election (as Bob Corker and the RNC have tried to do against Ford’s brother) expect people to believe that he will be a benefit to the 9th district?
I do not know Jake Ford personally. Anything I do know about him is by reputation or by his campaign message. I would like to think that he is not actually racist. Racism is immoral. Using racism to get ahead both immoral and deeply cynical. I’m not sure which is worse.
When Tennessee could be on the brink of electing their first black Senator in Harold Ford, (a great landmark no matter how you feel about him) why does his brother’s campaign insist on dragging the 9th district, and indeed the state, back down into the putrid mud of racial hatred?
Monday, October 30, 2006
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16 comments:
Great post Meg, and welcome to the blog! With posters like ya'll showing me up the readers might not want me back. :-) At the very least, I'm going to have to actually proof read.
Thanks!
Your first post hit the nail on the head, especially your last paragraph. This political season is my first time seeing Harold Sr. in action. In my opinion, the tactics he is using race-baiting, intimidation (I personally witness their intimidation with a well-known black person here in Memphis), free meals and corralling seniors from their nursing home is not flattering...it is disgusting.
November 7, will be interesting to see if HFS political strategy and influence in Memphis work for his sons.
If Cohen does not win against Jake, the city of Memphis is the JOKE.
ps
DH, we know you will be back, but Nut-Meg said it best, "The world need more lawyers like you".
David, we didn't want you back before you left! ;)
Meg, great post, and welcome aboard. I expect to have still frames of the "Steve & Steve" stuff (Did someone tell these assclowns that was somehow clever?) tonight.
You expected something different from a ultra low IQ Memphis negro?
Buck Wheat, I try to expect the best of people. It's a fatal flaw.
My feelings are hurt that no one wants me to blog with them (kidding). Great first post, Meg. I look forward to reading more from you.
Hey Meg!!
Well said. Welcome to the club! We are looking forward to hearing what you have to say.
Dave: Study hard and makes us proud!!
Meg, who is that picture in your profile?
It is a picture of one of my grandmother's cousins. The reason I use it is that it looks exactly like me at that age (minus the ringlets). My mom found the picture in my grandmother's attic.
Didn't Steve Cohen use race to his benefit when he waited for multiple Black candidates to get into the primary before joining in. He knew that this would work in his favor and allow him to have a good chance of winning the primary, because the Black vote would be greatly split and assuming he would get a majority of the White votes. Where's the distaste at this use of race?
You mean he's a racist just for running. That's a load of BS.
Never said "he" was racist. Actually, in the post nut-meg mis-characterizes the signs as racist. Indeed, they tried to use race for their purpose, and that has been what Jake Ford has staked his campaign on. Not sure how she made the leap of the use of race into Jake Ford (possibly) being racist. This is a common mistake that people make in just throwing around words regardless of definition (seems to happen quite often with racism). Now, if we base it on the idea of using race, you have to admit that Cohen has used race in his favor also. In the primary, he used the split Black vote, and the knowledge that Whites (as Blacks here do also) tend to vote with race in mind. In the current election, he has used this same tactic (as well as the Ford family scare) to build up what looks to be a good Republican vote base. Can't you admit that race has worked in Cohen's favor?
How the hell is race baiting not racist?
If Jake Ford is willing to use race baiting to win, he's no better than Corker. Both are racists. Both are wrong. Neither deserve to be in public office.
You appear to have your own definition of racism. The definition on Planet Earth is as follows:
ra·cism
noun
Definition:
1. animosity toward other races: prejudice or animosity against people who belong to other races
2. belief in racial superiority: the belief that people of different races have different qualities and abilities, and that some races are inherently superior or inferior
In calling Cohen racist simply because he ran for the office, you are working on the assumption that he had no right to run in the first place, simply because he's white. Guess what? That makes YOU racist too Mr. Anonymous!
I have no use for racists of any kind. Whether it's you, Jake Ford, or Bob Corker. You are all the same to me. Morally bankrupt and a detriment to society.
Now, I'm racist. You throw that term around with such impunity. I guess that's why it's use has been cheapened so. When I first learned about racism, we learned that it was power + prejudice. Many people use it in the more watered down way that it has been recreated making it interchangeable with prejudice or discrimination, as you have.
Again, just like David you put words in my comment. I don't believe I called Cohen racist. I took what you said that using race was wrong for Jake to do. I'm assuming you meant using race in anyway for anybody. I didn't say that Cohen didn't have a right to run. I'm just saying be honest that he knew what the field of African American candidates would mean for his chances, so he used race for his own means. He also knew that he could count on an overwhelming majority of whites to vote for him, and encouraged this. Only after the primary do I think you saw Cohen showing up at Melrose games. He knew who his base was and the numbers he needed from Whites and Blacks, and he played to it. Just as now in this general election he looks to receive a good number of Republican votes. Maybe Jake is a race-baiter, I still think calling him a racist is taking it a bit too far. But, again, I have to ask (which you didn't answer from my comment) hasn't race played in Cohen's favor. If he hasn't been aware of it or used it, I'm sure he's just been lucky about that. Please don't say he was just the best candidate, there's about 70% of the population that would disagree.
THE DAMAGE OF "THE CLOSET"
In the wake of all of the recent sex scandals in the past couple of years, months, weeks and days in Washington and now the leader of the evangelicals that have been monopolizing the news because they have been involving high profile individuals such as politicians, clergy etc. For this reason I believe it is high time that the phenomenon of “the closet” needs to be addressed and understood. I believe it will provide the necessary context from which to view some of these scandals. The closet, meaning where people hide their sexual orientation, whether one is a man or woman but particularly I am speaking of men at this time because I believe men use the closet even more often than woman because of societies more narrow view and expectations of what behaviors are considered acceptable and “normal” for men. Woman can be tomboys much easier than men can be sissies. Of course not all gay men are effeminate by a long shot but that is a stereotypical image of gay men and therefore many men attempt to cover up any behaviors they may have and believe may bring unwanted suspicion onto them. Therefore men, whether they be gay or straight, will practice stereotypical masculine behaviors to thwart any suspicion out of fear and/or necessity. This is especially true if they feel pressure to do so to protect their careers, career advancement, fear of social denunciation or for a variety of other reasons whether they have difficulties reconciling their religious views with their natural inner feelings and same sex attractions. These are however the most common reasons for men to join the astounding numbers of other men that are also hiding in the closet.
The fear of being discovered can be enormous and absolutely terrifying. These men will often then do whatever they believe society expects from them. They will marry and have children out of desperation in an always unsuccessful attempt at suppressing these natural longings and hoping that they will eventually go away. These powerful feelings of attraction that we all know very well and have all experienced ourselves whether toward the same sex or the opposite sex, it’s all still the same. They may also marry and have homosexual secret liaisons with men and feel terrible guilt in doing so. They will do their very best to compartmentalize their lives the best that they can. However I believe and have found while researching my book that the longer one stays in the closet the more damage is done. It is generally very difficult to compartmentalize ones life for long without developing some emotional problems begin developing in varying degrees and manifesting in a variety of ways. Many closeted men develop coping mechanisms such as addictive behaviors of all sorts whether they are alcoholism, prescription or non prescription drug abuse. They may develop addictions to pornography, sexual addiction or other self-destructive ways of acting out. Once again unfortunately the longer one stays in the closet there will then also generally be more victims because of their closeted lifestyle choice. The victims may be their wives and children, their friends, parents and siblings. All feeling like they have been betrayed and deceived when the closeted individuals true nature is discovered as it was for ex-governor of New Jersey, Mr. McGreevy, ex-congressmen Foley and now the president of the Evangelicals, to name just a few of the staggering number of men that have also been hiding their true selves. I feel very sad for the victims as well as I very much understand the humiliation, despair, and profound depression that the closeted individual feels that soon follows once that door to the closet is flung open. For some, the shame and fear is just too unbearable and suicide seems like the only alternative to ending their unbearable pain and shame.
Society needs to take some responsibility with this matter of the closet by being more accepting of alternative lifestyles. Without the closet, try and imagine how much less pain many people and families would have to endure. Not only the ones that feel that living in the closet is their only alternative, but for the victims that find themselves feeling betrayed and the breaking up of families that soon follows. We as a culture have some soul searching to do on this matter and not be so self-righteous. There are a variety of ways of loving and living. We need to accept the fact that, which seems to be normal for some is not necessarily normal for all. With that said in no way excuses adult men from making wrong choices that victimize others such as the irresponsible behaviors demonstrated by the now ex-congressmen Foley. I'm not even going to go so far as to say his closeted behaviors are the reason for his conduct. I don't know. I don't know him. However, as I said the closet can cause deep and very troubling emotional problems that can eventually manifest in abhorrent behaviors. This may or may not be the cause of his behaviors. However one thing I do know is that he does know what's right and wrong and as he surely knew, his attractions to young teens, although may not be technically illegal, is however an inappropriate attraction and should have sought therapy before creating victims. However, because there is still so much shame yet in this day and age in our rather hypocritical puritanical society, cause many gays not to seek help concerning issues they may be struggling with from the appropriate professionals. I generally do not recommend clergy because it can cause further damage due to their religious agendas which can deepen one's shame and depression. This is a very complicated issue that society has to become more compassionate about or we will continue to shame many people with same sex attractions enough that will continue to inhibit many from being true to themselves from the beginning or it may prevent them from seeking the appropriate help for any specific personal issues in which they may be struggling with.
One can read more about this issue and many other disturbing issues involving gay culture of today in my new book; "why gay men do what they do", an inside look at gay culture. Thank you, Aaron Jason Silver
www.aaronjasonsilver.com
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