Valuable quotes

"No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow." ~~



"The minute you start talking about what you're going to do if you lose, you've already lost." ~~



Cree Prophecy - "When all the trees have been cut down, when all the animals have been hunted, when all the waters are polluted, when all the air is unsafe to breathe, only then will you discover you cannot eat money." ~~


Sunday, September 09, 2007

Losing respect really hurts

In the space of two weeks I have lost respect of not one but two women I have long admired, and for reasons I never would have expected. All having to do with race and people of color.
The women I am referring to are Whoopie Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey.

First Whoopie.
How thrilled I was when I learned she was going to be joining The View? After the recent rash of controversy caused for the show by Rosy O'Donnell, I mistakenly thought Whoopie would be the intelligent and light-hearted addition they needed to continue into their eleventh season with some freshness. So how shocked and disappointed I was when I heard Whoopie defending Michael Vick in his recent dog-fighting scandal.

"He's from the South, from the Deep South. This is part of his cultural upbringing. For a lot of people, dogs are sport. Instead of just saying (Vick) is a beast and he's a monster, this is a kid who comes from a culture where this is not questioned."

Whoopie, Whoopie, Whoopie! You mean like Jeff Saturday, born in Georgia or Peyton Manning born about as deep in the south as you're gonna get - New Orleans, Louisiana. ...would you be so quick to condone them too if they'd broken the law? Or is your compassion for Vick more to do with his color? That's a terrible accusation I make, but I'm left with no other explanation for what you've done.
Whoopie subsequently defended herself the next day, explaining that she was attempting to explain Vick's actions from a cultural view, but was in no way condoning his actions. ~*back pedal*~

Dog fighting and cock fighting are cultural in some countries, yes, unfortunately they are. But here in the USA they are not. It doesn't matter if you're Chinese, Irish, Greek or African American, if you are born in this country and you live in this country, you abide by the laws of this country. There are no exceptions because you are a certain color or you don't know the law. It is up to you as a citizen to learn the laws - ignorance of them does not except you.

Dog fighting is a felony in this country!

There is no dark side to Vick being charged with this crime, only shock and disgust! And to imply like so many other black people do that he is being made a victim because he is a person of color just breaks my heart coming from you. I would expect any person with scruples or a hint of ethics to see that and not make excuses and alibis for him.

Thankfully Joy Behar took immediate issue with Whoopies comments and asked her, "What part of the country is this? How about dog torturing and dog murdering?"

Her comments were also denounced by Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, who noted that dogfighting is outlawed in all 50 states and is considered a felony in all but two, Idaho and Wyoming. How long will it take now before we hear someone accuse Behar and Pacelle of making a victim out of Whoopie? I have a sad feeling that someone is out there ready to do that too.

And Oprah - Oprah endorsing Obama. We've long known that Oprah is a king maker but now she's moved on to something a little different. I will leave you to say what that is, but after listening to her from as far back as 1984 say that it's criminal that more women aren't elected to office in this country and chastising the women of her audience for not doing enough to make that happen, she herself has an opportunity to do just that now and doesn't. Why is that do you suppose?
Furthermore, though she hasn’t had other candidates on her show to my knowledge, she did invite and had Obama and his wife. Not only that, but she then holds an extravagant bash with 1,500 guests on Saturday evening. As she introducing Obama's wife, Michelle, (who was wearing a dress by Chicago designer Maria Pinto), Oprah called her the "first lady."

Wouldn’t you love to see that guest list? I do know that Stevie Wonder performed at the do and Chris Rock and yup! Whoopi too, were both in attendance. We can only speculate…

I hope no one takes me wrong with this post
though I have no doubt it's about to happen. But I stand by my convictions and I can live with peoples criticisms.. I admire Barack Obama very much and this really has little to do with his running for office - or him personally. He is a very pleasant and articulate man and he may well be the next president - the first black president this country has seen. I love the prospect of something like that happening. But this post has little to do with that. It has to do with hypocrisies and people’s motives and how they can be upset by accusations of racism against them yet perpetuate it with their actions.

Ladies, you really have let me down.


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The way that Whoopi stated that "Dog fighting is prevelent in the south, like that makes it ok, so was slavery at one time Whoopi, but that wasn't right either!

Maybe Mr.Vick should experience what it is like to be held under water or hung by his neck to feel what those poor, defenseless dogs went through!!!!! You are a well educated man Mr.Vick, and you should have known better! I don't care what color you are, you were WRONG, not only in the eyes of the law but also the eyes of the LORD and that is who you should be worried about!

Anonymous said...

I agree absolutely about Michael Vick. As far as Obama, he is at least a positive role model, which Vick is emphatically not. Good article.

Anonymous said...

"articulate"
It's interesting that this is part of your description of Obama.
I hate when people suggest they are non-judgemental...everyone is judgemental, it's how we make decisions in life!

Ginger said...

Charlotte;
I'm not sure if you think articulate is a criticism or a compliment, but I stated it as a compliment. I like how Obama can express himself easily and leaves no doubt as to what he means, whether we always agree with it or not. Is this a fault in your eyes?

As for being non-judgemental, that is how my family and friends see me and how they suggested I describe myself for my blog. I don't apologize for that. You mix up non-judgemental with being judgmental.
I try very hard not to judge a situation or a person by my own opinions, but instead on their own merit. Being judgmental means to make judgments, especially moral ones, on someone. I don't do that. Maybe I don't always get it right, but I still try to do it.

Anonymous said...

NIce article. I agree 100%.