Maureen Dowd Calls Joe Wilson a Racist. (America Shrugs.)

JW,

If you weren't already convinced of the American Left's willingness to ignore logical soundness in pursuit of political ends, take a look at Maureen Dowd's recent excoriation of Joe Wilson and his now-famous interruption of what must have been Barack Obama's hundred-thousandth primetime address. Here's the pertinent section:

I’ve been loath to admit that the shrieking lunacy of the summer . . . had much to do with race . . . . But Wilson’s shocking disrespect for the office of the president . . . convinced me: Some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it.

Well, then.

As you're probably realizing, Dowd's gravest error isn't her overwrought prose (though "shrieking lunacy" comes close). Instead, it's her willingness to affirm the consequent--creating a line of reasoning that reads something like this: If Joe Wilson were racist, he'd call Obama a liar. Wilson did call Obama a liar; thus, he must be racist.

The problem, as you know, is that one thing doesn't logically follow the other. And by suggesting that it does, Dowd discounts the possibility of legitimate disagreement (which must be answered, or at least explained away) in favor of illegitimate disagreement (which must be censored on the House floor). Simply put, Obama cannot be fairly opposed. His followers have removed that option.

Sadly, Dowd's silliness is a preview of what we can expect for the next few years. Anytime Obama stumbles--anytime his critics get too loud--we're going to hear the "r" word. It's the great American circus of racial politics. I can't get enough of it.

-GM

GM,

Over the past few days, I've seen numerous tweets (well, Facebook updates) disparaging Kanye West for some action that may or may not have been racist. I honestly had no idea what it was all about--or that it had anything to do with Taylor Swift or Beyonce. I only knew that Kanye's accusers (in my neck of the woods, at least) were themselves playing the race card on a guy who played it four years ago. Before I continue, let's make it clear that I've never once tweeted or intentionally listened to any of these artists, but I've at least heard of such nonsense.

For those who don't know, West (black) interrupted Swift's (white) award acceptance speech to say Beyonce (black) should have won the award, and many of my pop-culture-tolerant friends (white) deemed the act racist. There's an undeniable parallel here. They, like Dowd, viewed the offender's history, used some bad logic, and came to the conclusion that the act itself was racially motivated. After all, a racist person might perform such an action because of race. If I were one to bet on completely unprovable features such as racism, I would bet that West and Wilson are racists. But maybe, just maybe, West thought Beyonce should have won and Wilson thought Obama was lying. When Dowd wrote that she practically heard, "You lie, boy!"--"boy" being a word she added and used twice in the title--she was assuming that Wilson's outburst couldn't possibly be a legitimate thought. If I could sit down with her, I'd inform her that a white racist can assume poorly of a black person without using any prejudice. It's possible. And if he's a republican and the black man is a radically left president, it's likely.

What's more interesting is the side story that enabled me--rather, forced me--to learn all this pop stuff. Turns out that ABC News reporter Terry Moran tweeted Obama's off-the-record remark that Kanye West is a "jackass." Let's see.... A racist person might breach his or her journalistic duties to expose a black president's name-calling. So Moran is a racist, right?

-JW