From: Olga Bourlin (fauxever@sprynet.com)
Date: Wed Oct 02 2002 - 00:24:42 MDT
From: <Dehede011@aol.com>
>
> Olga,
> Clarence Thomas was an absolute gentleman and a credit to his country
facing that group that he so accurately described as a "high tech lynch
mob."
I don't put much stock in descriptions like "absolute gentleman" (I'm not
even certain what that means). Ted Bundy was often described as a
"gentleman" - his polite demeanor even helped him gain the trust of his
unsuspecting victims. Don't get me wrong, for I'm all for being polite and
thoughtful - but that's just one part of the whole package (e.g., there are
many wolves in sheep's clothing, or else decked out in Grandma's nightgown
and spectacles). I can think of many people whom I consider to be a "credit
to [their] country" - but what has Clarence Thomas done (besides add two new
phrases to our vocabulary - one which you note above, and the other being:
"Long John Silver")? Can we at least agree that he's no Thurgood Marshall?
> As I listened to those hearings over a period of several days it
became apparent what Clarence Thomas' sin was and is -- he got off the
plantation and built his own life without being beholden to any of those
that thought they owned him.
You really don't think Thomas feels beholden to the Republicans? Observe:
"The question never has been who Thomas is, but what he has done and how he
got into a position to do it. Those are matters Thomas declines to explore,
for a very good reason: he may not consider himself an intellectual slave,
but he has been lavishly rewarded for serving a particular political master.
He has never made a serious attempt to engage his black opponents in a
serious debate about his ideas. He owes his meteoric rise exclusively to the
patronage of conservative white Republicans with little interest in racial
equality." [-- Time National Correspondent Jack E. White in a piece
subtitled "Clarence Thomas has a master: the right wing," August 10, 1998.]
> I will always admire that man for being able to face that mob day after
day, never giving an inch, answering every charge no matter how transparent,
and never acting any less than a complete gentleman.
Thomas may have been a "complete gentleman," but I would have thought a lot
more of him had he not been so loutish as to deny others the benefits of
affirmative action, even while being a benefactor of affirmative action
himself (which received benefits, of course, he opportunistically played
down). BTW I'm all for affirmative action for *poor* and disadvantaged
people of all "races," and for both sexes.
> I cannot sit silently and hear the good name of a person such as Clarence
Thomas trashed.
On the other hand, sitting silently is something Clarence Thomas does very
well indeed! ;-)
> BTW, now that I have answered the comments about Clarence Thomas what does
that have to do with Dr. Sowell's column on IQ?
I veered off from Sowell's article to talk about "black" conservatives -
Sowell made me think of Thomas made me think of Watts (and Watts' father's
great quote).
Olga
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