USA Today:Keith Bardwell's comments to reporters follows calls for his ouster by Louisiana Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal and Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu.
"Everybody hates me," he tells reporters. "Really. I don't know why. I treat people, I figure, equal. I have one problem with mixed marriages and that is the offspring."
Asked if he is "racist," Bardwell replies: "Absolutely not.
"My definition of a racist is to hate black people, or treat black people different that anybody else," he says.
Like maybe refusing to give black people marriage licenses if they want to marry white people? You mean "treat black people differently" in that way?
This sort of thinking is way too common in America; it's the ability to ignore all evidence -- including things you've just said -- in order to come to a conclusion you want to come to. Don't like evolution? Hey, just deny it... The only thing that matters is what you believe with all your little heart.
Don't want the label "racist," even though it's clear you're the very definition of a racist? Just deny it applies to you, even as you all but admit it does.
This is America and it's a free country -- which means you're free to be just as ignorant and stupid and illogical as you want to.
In related news, Lousiana Sen. David Vitter, a Republican up for re-election, has been silent on the issue. Guess he knows his base pretty well.
3 comments:
Keith Bardwell: Welcome to 2009. You are obviously a time traveler from the nineteenth century. Relax. Scientists have pretty much laid to rest the theory of "race." There's really no such thing, it's just a cultural construction and its only use in this century is to give political hacks backed into a corner something to use as an argument. It did have some use as an excuse for under-achievement until recently...
Bardwell should keep talking. Each word is better than the last. Better isn't necessarily gooder. Good. Best. You know what I mean.
Seth Meyers had a pointed remark about this on SNL's "Weekend Update." Approximately: A tip for all you racists out there. Don't follow a denial of racism with its definition.
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