Dr. Ben Carson is learning the perils of rising in the polls in a presidential election. This week, the National Enquirer produced an article detailing what it says is a pattern of malpractice by Carson, including leaving a sponge in the head of a patient. Some of the harshest commentary however have come from liberal African Americans. Much like some of the criticism faced by Clarence Thomas, Carson has been attacked as being a type of traitor to the black community despite the fact that he is a hugely successful doctor and mentor for many. University of Pennsylvania Professor Anthea Butler however took that criticism to a new low in calling Carson a “coon.” While such a racial slur would normally be followed by demands for terminations from a white professor, the response to the slur has been at best muted.
The Butler incident raises again the question of a double standard in controversies at the University of California and Boston University, where there have been criticism of a double standard, even in the face of criminal conduct. Just yesterday we discussed a case at the University of London involving Bahar Mustafa.
Butler said that Ben Carson should win the “coon of the year” after the 2016 hopeful supported allowing Confederate flags at NASCAR events. Carson had stated a principled position in favor of free speech despite his own obvious dislike for the imagery. Many free rights advocates, including myself, have argued for the right to display such symbols. Carson said “Swastikas are a symbol of hate for some people too … and yet they still exist in our museums and places like that . . . If it’s a majority of people in that area who want it to fly, I certainly wouldn’t take it down.”
There are strong arguments for protecting this right, but Professor Butler by writing “If only there was a ‘coon of the year’ award …”
The response from the head of her department indicates that this is not going to be viewed as an issue for her colleagues or the school. Professor Justin McDaniel told the Washington Examiner that “She is a valued colleague and faculty member, but I have no comment on the tweet, because I have not seen it nor know the context of the comment.” Fair enough. However, there is a legitimate question of how the school would have responded to a white professor calling a leading African-American a “coon” or other slur. Would that public comment be treated as a private affair? Indeed, racially insensitive comments on social commentary by a Duke University professor led to calls for his termination.
McDaniel is not the only one defending Butler. Over at Mediaite, they are insisting that Butler never actually referred to Carson as a “coon.” While I have added “reportedly” to the title, the defense seems to go nowhere beyond suggesting that people are racists if they interpret a tweet on Carson as receiving an award of “Coon of the Year” as referring to Carson as “Coon of the Year.”
“Now, if you want to interpret Professor Butler’s tweet that way, you’re welcome to do so, but to state that interpretation as fact is just plain wrong. In fact, maybe you’re the racist for reading that tweet and assuming that she meant Ben Carson is a “coon.” There’s another much more relevant interpretation to be made.”
However, Tommy Christopher never gets around to actually explaining the misinterpretations by presumptive racists. It is simply noted that the tweet was in response to Ben Carson’s remarks on NASCAR and the Confederate flag — as has been widely reported. Christopher then goes into an aside on an actual Coon of the Year competition in Maine. Others have suggested that Butler was referring to how “whites” would refer to him. I fail to see how that is a defense. She would still be saying that Carson qualifies as a “coon”, which was obviously slur created for whites for blacks. It is saying that he meets that definition. You end up in the same place. It is like saying that a black leader is an Uncle Tom or “house n****r” — the point is that he qualifies as the type of subservient slave-like character referenced by racist whites. For those who have long been critical of the increasing list of “microaggressions” being sanctioned on campuses, this would seem a macroaggression under the prevailing logic.
This is not the first controversy for Butler who is also a regular on MSNBC as a commentator. In 2013, she tweeted in commentary on the Zimmerman case that
God ain’t good all of the time. In fact, sometimes, God is not for us. As a black woman in a nation that has taken too many pains to remind me that I am not a white man, and am not capable of taking care of my reproductive rights, or my voting rights, I know that this American god ain’t my god. As a matter of fact, I think he’s a white racist god with a problem. More importantly, he is carrying a gun and stalking young black men.
Once again, I have long maintained that academics, including Professor Butler, deserve free speech and academic protections for expressing controversial thoughts. The problem is not that there is a clearly undefined and unevenly applied standard for academics with regard to racially sensitive or controversial comments.
As for Carson, I find the backlash against successful African-Americans like him or Clarence Thomas to be astonishing. One can easily disagree with Thomas’ opinions, but he has one of the most genuine and moving life stories of anyone in Washington. If he were liberal, his rise from abject poverty to the highest court would be celebrated as the triumph of true American values. The same can be said about Carson who has achieved a remarkable amount in his lifetime. African Americans should be celebrated regardless of their political views by the black community and society at large. The harsh and intolerant response to conservative blacks on campuses in not just unfair it is distinctly anti-intellectual. Yet, this intolerance is becoming a badge of pride for some who believe that they have license to insult and degrade those who dare hold views different from their own. Carson’s comment about the confederate flag shows considerable principle in overcoming the powerfully negative imagery for his community. It is Professor Butler who reduced this substantive debate to the level of racial slurs and personal insults.
Martin Luther King said “the ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Carson stood for free speech rights. It is not clear what Professor Butler stands for in casting racial slurs in response.
phillyT … gotta love your avatar…reminds me of my old dog “Zoya” who had that same beautiful face.
Mike said …
Aridog … You may want to reconsider modeling your behavior on Dr. Carson.
Where did I say I wanted to “model” my behavior on that of Dr. Carson? That said, I’ve faced a drawn gun…have you? All I said was that he didn’t claim heroism for his words, however he may have acted, or not, previously.
I’ll not hold is against him if he didn’t live up to his words today in his actions in his past. How many of us actually do that?
None of us know how we’d react to lethal threat, in our face no less …until we are faced with it. It is different each and every time.
I’m not at all impressed with Ben Carson. It’s amazing somebody with an advanced degree in neurosurgery could misunderstand evolution. Really amazing. Amazingly foolish.
As for the black lesbian who called him a coon, I think it’s funny. Let’s just keep the playing field level and allow for epithets to be used by all comers.
Does anybody ever find it ironic that democrats call republicans racist, but the republicans have a coon, two spics and dot among their candidates? To say nothing of that Fritz-hun-jerry kraut Trump. Let’s ruminate on that racial diversity for a minute.
Free speech cuts a lot of ways and the best thing Carson said so far was condemning it.
@Mike You wrote: “Skousen listed dozens of the goals of the commies and their useful idiots, including pushing free trade, promoting coexistence with the Soviet bloc, capturing “one or both of the political parties in the United States,” (((The left of the Democrats seems to fit this one, wouldn’t you agree?))) winning control of schools (“use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda”) (((How appropriate for this article on a bitch that should be removed not only from the classroom but from any classroom for her teachings obviously are not in line with good American “all men created equal” values. Then you have common core taking over all education coast to coast and re-righting the history books to eliminate the truth so as not to offend the accused), and infiltrating the press (“get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, and policy making positions”) ((( Again, perfectly finalized as what form of media other than Fox (and I am not saying they are always correct, but they are only different) goes after the truth) Who tells us of the IRS and Hillary’s scandals, until they are unearthed, rather than finding them and bringing them to the attention of the nation like it used to be when we had a free press))). He said they wanted to control “key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures,” (((Are you over 20, can you remember moral movies that had values and didn’t have 200 throat slashings per minute, gang rapes, drug scenes, car bombings, devil worshipers, etc. Movies like John Wayne where they flew the American flag with honor and gave tribute to the military before and after the show?))) weaken American culture by degrading artistic expression (and substituting “good sculpture from parks and building” with “shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms”), (((I can appreciate modern art, but where are the masters? Where is the teaching of form and light and composition in the arts today. Being an artist, it is gone. Enter an artistic piece and it has little chance of success, as the only thing that is accepted by the “critics” is the “shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms” as you put it.))) and present homosexuality as “normal, natural, and healthy.” (((You think this is not happening today? It has not come to past?))) What’s more, he claimed, they wanted to discredit the Bible, eliminate prayer in schools, (((Seems like the liberal, socialistic democrats have done well in that, except of course for the courses in Islam that are now being taught throughout America, in place of the Biblical classes that never were taught or and other religions that are banned to be even thought of by the teachers or students, as are prayers in silence for fear of disciplinary action.))) demean the American Founding Fathers as “selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the ‘common man,’” (((A daily act by many in the media and Congress, if you choose to listen to either))) and support “any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture—education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.” (((Are you really saying you don’t think this is happening in America today and that there is a guiding force from one direction, the liberal side of the aisle that is leading it? Are you that high on Kool-Aide to believe that?)))He said they also wanted to encourage divorce and promiscuity, incite “special-interest groups” to “rise up…to solve economic, political or social problems,” and seize control of unions and big business” (((This happened long ago, in fact the unions have since lost most of their powers as the people began to learn the truth about them and started to leave. But they were a front for the libs and still are a major donator to the party))).
And here is more:
According to Skousen, The Manchurian Candidate was a documentary—he earnestly believed Communists sought to create ‘a regimented breed of Pavlovian men whose minds could be triggered into immediate action by signals from their masters.’”
Carson’s repeated and full-throated endorsements of Skousen—which tend to be coupled with dire warnings about the covert scheming of Marxists and Saul Alinsky—suggest that Carson shares Skousen’s belief that the civil rights movement, acceptance of homosexuality, the rise of abstract art and modernism, and the advent of Medicare, Social Security, and other safety-net programs have all been part of a clandestine plot waged by Communists or other dark forces to destroy the United States. As Carson points out, this nefarious plotting is still in the works today.
And finally there is this:
“Carson’s faith in Skousen is even more unsettling because Skousen was far more than a rabid anti-commie crusader and Red-baiter. He was a complete crank. He maintained that the Founding Fathers were direct descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel and contended that a global cabal of bankers controlled the world.
In a 1962 book, Skousen decried homosexuality and insisted, “Every boy should know that masturbation may be the first step to homosexuality.”
I know that large chunks of information are not popular here, but you may find it valuable to know who Dr. Carson thinks is a swell guy and whose ideas he enthusiastically shares.
(((I find it truly amazing that you are so brainwashed by the socialist of the left as to not see the real America you live in. Having been here since before Ike, I’ve seen the changes. We are in hell and all of what Dr Carson quotes from the text above has and is rapidly coming true. All of what Donald Trump says has and is rapidly coming true. We are currently led by a madman who has no interest in this country or it’s people. He is currently authorizing the importation of 200,000 refugees, many of them men of military age, who do not choose to stay and fight for their country, but who we have no way of knowing may in fact be our enemy in the Trojan Horse of the ISIS, to join those that came across the open southern border that he refuses to allow to be controlled! He is destroying our economy by bringing these people here while our own people live in the woods just a mile outside the towns, as they have nowhere to live!
I sure hope that you and others start learning the truth and whether you vote for men like Dr Carson and Donald Trump, you at least get the answers from the people you want to vote for on what they believe in relating to that. And make sure that they give you the right answers, not some political BS, like Hillary does.
And if you are going to vote for her, heaven help us. For if she doesn’t know what happened to her email, what is she going to do when she needs the code for the nukes!!!)))
The Republican Party was founded primarily to oppose slavery, and Republicans eventually abolished slavery. The Democratic Party fought them and tried to maintain and expand slavery.
The 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery, passed in 1865 with 100% Republican support but only 23% Democrat support in Congress. During the Civil War era, the “Radical Republicans” were given that name because they wanted to not only end slavery but also to endow the freed slaves with full citizenship, equality, and rights.
Lincoln’s Vice President, Andrew Johnson, was a strongly pro-Union (but also pro-slavery) Democrat who had been chosen by (R) Lincoln as a compromise running mate to attract Democrats.
After Lincoln was assassinated, Johnson thwarted Republican efforts in Congress to recognize the civil rights of the freed slaves, and Southern Democrats continued to thwart any such efforts for close to a century.
The 14th Amendment, giving full citizenship to freed slaves, passed in 1868 with 94% Republican support and 0% Democrat support in congress.
The 15th Amendment, giving freed slaves the right to vote, passed in 1870 with 100% Republican support and 0% Democrat support in Congress.
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was originally and primarily an arm of the Southern Democratic Party. Its mission was to terrorize freed slaves and Republicans who sympathized with them.
In the 1950’s, President Eisenhower, a Republican, integrated the US Military and promoted civil rights for minorities. Eisenhower pushed through the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
One of Eisenhower’s primary political opponents on civil rights prior to 1957 was none other than Lyndon Johnson, then the Democratic Senate Majority Leader.
LBJ had voted the straight segregationist line until he changed his position and supported the 1957 Act.
The historic Civil Rights Act of 1964 was supported by a higher percentage of Republicans than Democrats in BOTH houses of Congress.
In the House, 80% of the Republicans and 63% of the Democrats voted in favor. In the Senate, 82% of the Republicans and 69% of the Democrats voted for it.
Contrary to popular misconception, the parties never “switched” on racism. The Democrats just switched from overt racism to a subversive strategy of getting minorities as dependent as possible on government to secure their votes.
At the same time, they began a cynical smear campaign to label anyone who opposes their devious strategy as greedy racists. YET… many liberals, when pressed on the matter, will inevitably claim that the parties “switched” and that most racist Democrats became Republicans!
In their minds, this historical ju jitsu maneuver apparently transfers all the past sins of the Democrats (slavery, the KKK, Jim Crow Laws, etc..) onto the Republicans and all the past virtues of the Republicans (ending slavery etc…) onto the Democrats! That’s quite a feat!
These are a few basic historical facts that each and every American should know. I don’t care how old these are, their proof that Democrats are racist misogynist hypocrites and your responses to my factual post just proves it.
Liberal’s, name calling will never shut down facts. Liberals always name call to shut down those who have differing opinions than theirs. They can’t debate facts and instead, resort to elementary grade school name calling. Words so appropriately spoken by a predictable Astro- turf Democrats.
lol
Paul C. Schulte
It’s one of the hazards of growing old… Depends on the genes we get… Wet.
Annie
“I hear that older men who have prostate issues might have leaky moments when laughing.”
= = =
Hea! I resemble that comment.
Oh no, Nick. I wouldn’t call you a Republican. No. You are a first-class, A #1 ————wonderful, loving person who desires only truth and beauty. You and Lee Atwater.
I’m not a Republican, but I’m sure you’ll act as though I am. That’s how duopoly cultists think.
A fat, lying, lesbian w/ MS, as well as a bumbling grandma when it comes to email. A spittle shooting socialist who wrote about violent rape fantasies and wants to tax us like France. And, a plagiarist, hair plugged, phony may join in as well to help save the day. Oh, and a shanty Irishman from Baltimore and little Lincoln Chafee. LMAO. I hope Hillary doesn’t think Chafee is a snack pizza and eat him on the debate stage.
Nick
As ever, wrong again.
Democratic voters prefer candidates that don’t think evolution is Satanic.
Democratic voters prefer candidates that don’t think masturbation leads to homosexuality.
Democratic voters prefer candidates that don’t think the founding fathers were direct descendants of the lost tribes of Israel.
Democratic voters prefer candidates that aren’t called total wack jobs by the Buckley bible, the National Review.
Jason Chaffetz, chairman of a House committee investigating Planned Parenthood, announces the finding of the committee:
THE COMMITTEE FOUND NO WRONGDOING.
Well then.
I guess it is time for the Republicans to start up the NEXT committee.
Aridog,
Great comment at 11:59am. I miss reading your contributions.
The dysfunction in the Republican Party may be getting even more titlilating. There are rumors of an extra marital affair between Kevin McCarthy and Rep. Renee Elmers.
https://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/shepard-smith-hammers-house-repub-who-suggested-kevin-mccarthy-was-hiding-an-affair/
“Fox News host Shepard Smith had Rep. Walter Jones (R-NC) on the ropes on Thursday, as Smith pushed the congressman to reveal why he alluded to rumors that then-House Speaker candidate Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was hiding an affair.”
Dem voters love their professional politicians. There’s a revolution afoot and they are absolutely clueless.
Dr. Carson was a fine neurosurgeon. He is completely ignorant about the debt ceiling.
NPR Wednesday interview with Kai Ryssdal, host of Marketplace:
Ryssdal: All right, so let’s talk about debt then and the budget. As you know, Treasury Secretary Lew has come out in the last couple of days and said, “We’re gonna run out of money, we’re gonna run out of borrowing authority, on the fifth of November.” Should the Congress then and the president not raise the debt limit? Should we default on our debt?
Carson: Let me put it this way: if I were the president, I would not sign an increased budget. Absolutely would not do it. They would have to find a place to cut.
Ryssdal: To be clear, it’s increasing the debt limit, not the budget, but I want to make sure I understand you. You’d let the United States default rather than raise the debt limit.
Carson: No, I would provide the kind of leadership that says, “Get on the stick guys, and stop messing around, and cut where you need to cut, because we’re not raising any spending limits, period.”
Ryssdal: I’m gonna try one more time, sir. This is debt that’s already obligated. Would you not favor increasing the debt limit to pay the debts already incurred?
Carson: What I’m saying is what we have to do is restructure the way that we create debt. I mean if we continue along this, where does it stop? It never stops. You’re always gonna ask the same question every year. And we’re just gonna keep going down that pathway. That’s one of the things I think that the people are tired of
(end of excerpt)
Dr. Carson is not presidential material.
“Depends”
*****************
I hear that older men who have prostate issues might have leaky moments when laughing.
Inga – I know older women who need Depends just because they laugh and have a leakage problem.
Aridog
You may want to reconsider modeling your behavior on Dr. Carson.
Turns out he once had a gun stuck in his ribs at Popeye’s. Dr. Carson reports that he calmly directed the holder of the gun to the guy behind the counter saying: I believe you want the guy over there.
So much for ‘let’s everybody rush him at once’.
Dr. Carson was a fine surgeon. He is a disaster as a presidential candidate.
bam bam
Oh you do have great sources. Outfits run by Scaife, Farah, and the noted journalist, Christopher Agee. Outfits that specialized ‘investigating’ the ‘murder’ of Vince Foster. Otherwise known as wack job conspiracy freaks.
Come back when you discover something that is not covered with slime.