I got up thinking about Anthony Thomas this morning, yet another dumb, Republican-leaning Black man that I ran across on Facebook the other day. I cut off communication with him after I lost patience with all of his obfuscation and evasions to avoid recognizing facts that were splattered all across his face. I’m sure you know the type - the kind of person who would rather engage in logical contortions to embrace a lie than to modify their clearly erroneous beliefs.
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People like Thomas seem to feel a vested interest in remaining blind, so I don’t waste my time with them, because it’s counterproductive. They tend to give their ideology priority over truth, so if you tell them the Sun is hot, they’ll say something like, "Well, it depends on what you mean by hot." So it’s just a complete waste of time trying to have a rational discussion on any issue with such people.
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But I’ve come to the conclusion that the internet has the potential to be the most powerful educational tool that man has ever known, so I’ve set upon an agenda of trying educate the people who may not follow politics to what’s going on behind their backs. I also take advantage of the opportunity to allow myself to be educated by others regarding the erroneous beliefs that I may hold. After all, I’ve long since recognized that I don’t corner the market either wisdom, knowledge, or intelligence.
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So I’ve decided that it’s a mistake to ignore people like Anthony. I’m making the very same mistake that the Democrats continue to make with respect to responding to Republican nonsense. Democrats often assume that the many gross misstatement of the facts made by Republicans are so stupid and counterintuitive that it’s not necessary to respond, because anyone with any sense should be able to see through them. But that’s both an unwarranted, and unwise assumption, because there are many people who do not - far too many people, in fact. So even though it may seem like a fool’s errand to argue back and forth with people like Anthony, we should always take the time to do it, or at the very least, take the time to cut the legs off their basic premise before we dismiss them.

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In that regard, while Anthony CLAIMS not to be a Republican, the basis of his argument seems to hinge on the fact that being partisan is never a good thing, and it’s unwise to take sides with one political party over the other. That’s become a basic Republican talking point. They have to push that position - particularly among the poor, middle class, and minorities - because they know that their scorched earth policies toward these groups are antithetical to everything America stands for. They are out to recreate the very kind of society that America’s forefathers left Europe to get away from - an aristocracy, in this case, based on corporate feudalism. If they have their way, instead of living in New York City, you’ll be living in New Halliburtia. You won’t have the right to vote, and Blackwater will enforce what will be called ‘the law.’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sX69a45LFLI

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