I w
as watching the Channel 2 News and they were in California talking to people about the upcoming Super Tuesday. With the two who are leading in the Democratic polls, they newscaster just couldn't resist bringing up the vote for a woman or a black man issue. I can't remember who said it first, the woman or the newscaster, but I remember the woman saying something like "I don't know if I'm a woman first or black first" when discussing if she was going to vote for Obama or Hillary. Now I'm not the most P
olitically Ccorrect person around, although I try to be aware of my biases and deal with them, but isn't it just as bad to vote FOR a candidate just because they are a woman or black as it is to vote AGAINST them for the same reasons? Somehow though one sounds worse than the other. "I won't vote for Obama because he's black" or "I'm voting for Obama because he's black". Which one makes the neck hairs stand up more? Yet if you are voting for Hillary just because she's a woman, you are saying that her opinions, her attitudes and what she will or won't bring to the White House are all irrelevant. She's got to x chromosomes so you're voting for her. In my opinion, EXACTLY the same thing as voting against her because of the xx. Same with skin color.
as watching the Channel 2 News and they were in California talking to people about the upcoming Super Tuesday. With the two who are leading in the Democratic polls, they newscaster just couldn't resist bringing up the vote for a woman or a black man issue. I can't remember who said it first, the woman or the newscaster, but I remember the woman saying something like "I don't know if I'm a woman first or black first" when discussing if she was going to vote for Obama or Hillary. Now I'm not the most P
olitically Ccorrect person around, although I try to be aware of my biases and deal with them, but isn't it just as bad to vote FOR a candidate just because they are a woman or black as it is to vote AGAINST them for the same reasons? Somehow though one sounds worse than the other. "I won't vote for Obama because he's black" or "I'm voting for Obama because he's black". Which one makes the neck hairs stand up more? Yet if you are voting for Hillary just because she's a woman, you are saying that her opinions, her attitudes and what she will or won't bring to the White House are all irrelevant. She's got to x chromosomes so you're voting for her. In my opinion, EXACTLY the same thing as voting against her because of the xx. Same with skin color.
2 comments:
I've had this same discussion with my students, and I totally agree with you.
May I also add that there are plenty of folks in Utah who are voting for Romney JUST because he's Mormon and plenty of folks in the South who are voting for Huckabee JUST because he's a Born-Again and wouldn't be caught dead voting for Romney JUST because he's Mormon.
Now, I'm not voting for either of those two because they both have some mighty scary views (although I quite liked the "old Mitt" views), but voting for someone or against someone merely because of their religion is just as bad as the racism and sexim you mentioned. The person is narrowed down to one thing only: woman, black, Mormon, Born-Again. Their platform no longer matters. You might as well pick your candidate because you like his/her shoes.
You are absolutly right, and that's why we are in the situation, nationally and locally, that we are now. The Utah State Legislature gets away with whatever they want (except Vouchers, and boy are they pissed) because outside of Salt Lake City, people here will vote for a crash dummy with an -R- after it's name rather than an intelligent person with a -D- after their name. And, until recently, nobody was paying attention to what The White House was doing.
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