Uncle Pat Speaks the Truth

Pat Buchanan got kicked off MSNBC for having opinions that were " not worthy of being discussed" according to the networks leader. The issue with this sort of thinking is that by stating that someone's opinions are not worth discussing those opinions go behind the curtain. You cannot show the wrongness of someone's opinion if you do not listen to it.

So now that Uncle Pat is persona non grata at MSNBC he is speaking often to the faithful at Fox. What it would be helpful to understand is that having more people of diverse opinions interacting can only help the discourse and exchange of ideas. MSNBC and FOX have all but become the hallelujah chorus for the left and the right.

Joe Scarborough, who anyone knows that I love to hear, and respect a great deal, stated on his show that the other day that he did not know why the right was taking up the the Tranyon Martin issue. He has a point, there is no gain in this issue for them, they can be portrayed as racists for having a differing opinion.

If that be the case then Pat is a racist. If that is the case then I am as well. The problem for me is that I think that there are many issues surrounding the Martin case. It has been sensationalized to a point now that if you ask a legitimate question, if you express the vaguest sense of a differing opinion you see people not just disagreed with, but ridiculed and considered as someone playing to racial fears.

Perhaps in America we will never get this race issue fixed. It is just too sensitive. We must all accept however that the more we allow the media to sensationalize each issue we make things worse.

In an Op Ed written last week Uncle Pat talked about the Martin case. Certainly not defending Zimmerman he did point out that were alternate takes on the events that could or should at least be considered.

He, like I think many people should be, but aren't stayed away from the specifics of the case and talked about the overlying issues. Pat being on the right did not talk about why so many people are armed, if Stand your Ground is a good law, and why we have budget cuts causing a need for community policing. These are issues I would raise. I think they matter and had a real effect on the case.

Buchanan did talk about what caused Zimmerman to be suspicious. He talked about what are the causes that make a man who is on a "neighborhood patrol " suspicious when he sees a young black man. Are we all just by nature scared or unsure of what seems different. The answer is yes. If you were to go back to our primitive selves certainly coming across a group of people who did not look like us or dress like us would cause us to be wary.

In today's America there are many divides. Shared experience is becoming a thing of the past. It seems the only things that are a shared experience are things like this, where we are divided into two different camps about something we see, but see differently.

Can we not all agree that this shooting is a terrible tragedy? Can we agree that no matter what happened it should not have? Can we not agree that of the many underlying reasons an event like this takes place too often, one of them is that when it does all we talk about are the easily sensationalized issues. A sound bite is much easier to talk about than a long discussion over a complex issue.

In Buchanan's piece he talks about what Zimmerman saw. The fact is the numbers are the numbers. Like most things however statistics can be manipulated. In Sport's you can find a statistic that proves your point, even if it is taken out of context.

Talking about profiling in cities as relates to cabs and their sometimes refusal to pick up minority passengers he cited crime statistics that show that 49 out of 50 assaults and murders in New York City were committed by minorities. In other words 98 percent of these crimes are committed by non-white's. Can you blame a cab driver for profiling.

In that same vein close to fifty percent of crimes are committed by African Americans while they clearly make up a much smaller portion of the population. Is Pat a racist for talking about this. Is the argument that in this case the numbers do not matter a valid point.

They do not matter to the young man's family and friends and of course they should not. To all the rest of us however they should matter a great deal. This is the overlying cause of the suspicion that befalls young men of color. It is easy to say that people should not feel that way but the fact is the numbers are the numbers or as my old Sociology teacher used to say Stereotypes are created for a reason. They have a basis in truth.

Why don't the same activists for the minorities want to talk about what can be done to prevent these numbers. What social programs will work. Why don't we talk about why so many of the role models that young people in General but especially young minorities embrace are people who glorify the thug culture of bitches, drugs and ho's.


Pat Buchanon is not a racist for speaking valid points and legitimate numbers. Neither am I. I would think we could spend much more time and effort correcting the numbers than taking one case and sensationalizing it beyond all reason so that what should be two groups of people with common goals cannot even speak to each other.


Fox news has always been a joke. MSNBC now becomes closer and closer to being one with the rantings of their knee jerk liberals. Where does that leave us. More divided. More angry. More everything except closer together in common cause.