there was a time in america when, if a public figure fucked up badly or showed his true ugly face, the public outcry would be such that his disgraced ass would have little choice but to leave public life and retreat into ignominious retirement, rarely to be seen or heard from again (see joe mccarthy, richard nixon, et al.).
that time, sadly, has long since passed. today, such people use the sudden media prominence that said fuck-up affords them to elevate themselves into even higher positions of authority and influence. barney frank, david vitter, alan greenspan, ben bernanke, larry summers, george w. bush and condoleezza rice are but a few examples that come most easily to mind.
the reason for this is no great mystery--standards of behavior and performance in america have declined so radically in the last 40 or so years that incompetence, corruption and sociopathy in our celebrities, athletes and chosen leaders are not only forgiven, they're rewarded with even greater power and influence.
but as bad it's become in mainstream america, in order to experience the ultimate expression of this phenomenon at work, you have to look to the folks that the african-american community choose to elevate as their leaders. and while i could devote entire blogposts to such luminaries as marion barry, alcee hastings, charlie rangel, jesse jackson, bobby seale, louis farrakhan, william jefferson, maxine waters, jeremiah wright and sheila jackson lee, tonight's post is devoted to the man who currently occupies the throne in this pantheon of said knaves and malefactors: the loathsome, despicable al sharpton.
for those of you too young to have experienced the real al before he reinvented himself as the genial, folksy, besuited pundit you see on TV today, i have but two words for you: the first is "tawana", and the second is "brawley" (google her if you don't know).
while the fallout and scandal which ensued from the above-referenced fiasco should have discredited this charlatan forever, he went on to even greater glory when, not satisfied with the mayhem he had wrought in the above instance, he seized upon the opportunity to fan the flames of unrest following racially-charged incidents in the crown heights and bensonhurst neighborhoods of new york. in so doing, this megalomaniacal, malevolent fuck discovered, probably as much to his own surprise as everybody else's, that by threatening an escalation of tensions via the rabble-rousing at which he so excelled, he could pretty much bring the powers that be to their knees.
well, you can call ol' al any number of things, but one of 'em ain't 'dumb'. thrilled and emboldened by his newfound power, he cleaned up his image and took his show on the road, becoming a media darling and joining jesse jackson in threatening large corporations with all sorts of demonstrations and boycotts for their perceived discrimination against minorities unless they ponied up huge chunks of cash to his "national action network". and, one after another, they caved--companies like Pepsico, Chrysler, GM and Colgate-Palmolive fell like dominoes before mighty al, filling his coffers to overflowing (so much so that you'd think he'd easily be able to cover his IRS tab--but no, in addition to his other sterling qualities, al's a tax cheat, too).
and now, he's attempting to pull off his biggest coup yet: whereas in the past, the damage of which al was capable of inflicting was generally limited to local or regional fallout, he has assumed a starring role in the trayvon martin story, vowing an "escalation" (his favorite word) of demonstrations and civil disobedience in sanford, florida, unless the police force there immediately hop to his tune and arrest young mr. martin's killer.
and this time, the simmering resentment and rage that al and his fellow race-baiting grifters have so adroitly tapped into--and that they are in no small part responsible for creating--threatens to boil over and spread far beyond the small town where this tragedy took place.
and if it does, you can bet ol' al will be safely removed from it all, publicly disavowing any responsibility while privately grinning like nero as he stroked himself while rome burned.
god, i hate this motherfucker.
1 comment:
Guess you are not buying a ticket to any benefit for the one Mr. Sharpton.
You did not mention his 2008 presidential run. Over time, Mr. Sharpton has softened his tone and been generally much more congenial than when he first came onto the public stage. Certainly that is true.
It appears guttermorality sees AS as an opportunist out to make money and fame for himself. While I am not sure I can disagree with that, I am also not sure that AS is really that much different from any number of media celebrities.
I suspect, and ask, if a larger part of your post is not AS per se, but the controversy around George Zimmerman shooting dead that same Trayvon Martin you are posting about.
I think guttermorality can certainly understand the symbolic point at issue here: Many African Americans believe that Trayvon was murdered by a white (OK, Hispanic) man and nothing was done about it. And I think guttermorality can certainly understand the ugly history of race killings where African American men were lynched by the thousands to keep black people "in line."
So, there is genuine outrage here that is not delusional.
Do I think it was murder? I simply do not know enough to make such pronouncements. But the facts seem to be certainly suspect.
Which brings us back to the Rev. Al Sharpton. I suppose he is not the ideal community leader.
If I may, the point guttermorality want to make -- but is perhaps too tepid to say is this: Why is it that Al Sharpton is thought of as a spokesperson for the African American community and why can't blacks do better?
That is a much more complicated and (at least to me) interesting question that merely pointing out Mr. Sharpton's foibles.
Racial topics are complicated and often emotionally charged. It would be nice to be able to discuss these things with more light and less heat.
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