Author: Katie Presley
The Associated Press reported yesterday that John McCain promises to “whip” Barack Obama’s “you-know-what” in the final Presidential debate on Wednesday.
Well, good, John. You go on ahead and whip your Black American candidate’s “you-know-what” all the way back to Louisiana in 1854. I mean, if you’re really looking to beat him good, why don’t you just say you’ll lynch him in the debates? I want my next President to take no prisoners when it comes to his opponents. None of that torture business you know so much about, dear Senator. You show Obama who’s boss. And who’s slave, for that matter.
Sure, Obama’s father is actually Kenyan. But in a country where 1 in 10 people, conservative and liberal alike, still think Obama is Muslim, specifics of heritage get tossed aside.
And sure, saying you’ll “whip” somebody is just a saying. But so is “faggot.” So is “nigger.” Those are two of the most vile words in the English language, in my opinion. They are used for the sole purposes of degrading and oppressing. Words matter.
When you want to lead the most powerful nation in the world, your words matter. When you want to prove to 300 million people that you are the one, the only one, fit to be in charge of all the rest, I need you to sound like you’re smarter than me. I know better than to say I’ll whip anybody. The history of this country is too fraught with actual whippings for me to throw around words that hearken right back to it. I get myself through the day by thinking we’ve made some progress since then. McCain clearly doesn’t.
Massive McCain gaff Number Two involving blatantly prejudiced language: On Friday McCain calmed a female supporter’s fear of Obama because he was an “Arab” by saying “No ma’am, he’s a decent family man.”
So now “Arab” is being defined as “opposite of decent family man,” is it? Silly me, for thinking it was simply an ethnic signifier.
What last week taught me about John McCain is that four years under his administration would be four more years of Americans coming across as bigoted, close-minded jingoists to the rest of the world. We’ve tried electing one of these types before, because we thought we’d like to have a beer with him. Well, it’s too late for beer. Our money goes to gas and wars now, not beer. Now is the time to try the candidate who’s too busy organizing communities to drink beer.
Katie Presley is a senior ECLS major. She can be reached at kpresley@oxy.edu.
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