Stupidly Retarded
Tuesday, July 28, 2009 at 04:44PM 
If either of the terms in the title of this post offend you, I am sorry about that but I do not apologize for using them. Call me the Professor Gates of blog post verbiage. I had no choice but to write it. I was a victim. This is what it's like to be a lover of language in America.
If you go away now, as always I'll miss you, but this is how it has to be. To quote the cute pirate (as I am wont to do): I'm sorry, darling. It never would have worked out between us.
In a week made ridiculous by an overly-dramatized incident that took place in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where the race card was not only played but was dealt dog-eared, then thrown under the short bus and driven over repeatedly, then ridden hard and put up wet, and by the subject of a healthcare bill, which if it is discussed much longer will make wholly unnecessary all medical care other than treatment for insanity, those were the only two words that made any sense.
Clap her in irons!
Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. -- head of the phatly-endowed "African Studies" depahtment at Hahvahd, a university so liberal that you can't even get in unless you're either black or solemnly swear to make only left turns, live on the left side of the street, sleep on the left side of the bed, part your hair on the left, exit stage left, eat only leftovers, and (above all) forever vote Kennedy -- aided by another man and a crowbar, was seen engaging in suspicious activity that, at least to one lady, resembled breaking into a house. Said concerned citizen called the police.
What a nice neighborhood!
The dispatch audiotapes prove that Lucia Whalen -- who, incidentally, has since lawyered up *moue of shock* -- never claimed that the men shouldering their way into the lovely house on a quiet street were black. The police did not show up because they were told that two black men were breaking and entering. They were not told that, so that couldn't have explained their appearance. They came because a woman caller reported that two men had gained entrance to a private residence without benefit of a key. She said she wasn't sure what color the men were. One "might be Hispanic," she thought.
What incendiary and racially-charged language! Clap her in irons!
Did it ever occur to anyone that the police, during preliminary assessment of a potentially dangerous situation, have a perfect right to ask a concerned citizen caller the color and gender of the alleged perpetrators of a possible crime? That way, they'll know when they get there if they're on the lookout for a 52-year-old white female with her arms full of Wal-Mart bags busily jimmying a window, as opposed to a black male with an accomplice, wielding a crowbar, prying open the front door.
(One thing the concerned citizen caller was certain of: the house was yellow. Last I heard, the house has retained legal counsel. Real estate profiling! Just when I thought we were past all that.)
Book him, Danno.
What Ms. Whalen did and said makes sense to me, but then I know what it's like to be a 52-year-old white woman in America. I do not get -- and have never gotten -- the passes (and by that I do not mean pinches, leering looks, or invitations for "coffee") that hundreds of thousands of black men (and women) take for granted. I did not go to Harvard on affirmative action. I went to an unaccredited Bible college on the sweat of my mother's brow, augmented by work scholarship, the kindness of strangers, many prayers, and a few shekels from my dead father's veteran benefit.
That sort of thing tends to skew one's paradigm. Decidedly to the right, thank God. Conservatism tends to life. Liberalism tends to death. Period. Fortunate are those who know and believe this.
And by the way, I would rather BE dead than a liberal. I repeat: I WOULD RATHER BE DEAD THAN A LIBERAL. Death for me would be far less tragic than life as a liberal.
Back to our story. One valiant Sergeant James Crowley (who knows what it means to be a white law enforcement officer in America) and his partner -- a black man *moue of shock* -- arrived at the house in question and asked Professor Gates of Hahvahd what was going on. I don't know exactly what was said because, sadly, I wasn't there. But by all accounts Professor Gates -- a personal friend and supporter, by the way, of Barry Soetoro, a/k/a Barack Hussein Obama, another guy who knows how perfectly dreadful it is to be black in America -- explained to Sergeant Crowley what had taken place, and even supplied identification.
There! I think that solves it. Let's move on.
But wait! Wait, officer! I have something to say ... *walks out onto porch* *becomes belligerent* ... you only drove over here and demanded to see my ID because I'm a black man in America! Right? I mean, left?
For someone who works at Hahvahd, he's not too smaht, is he? Because that got him arrested on a charge of disturbing the peace. Book him, Danno.
Are you digging the Hawaii reference? I know I make this look easy but believe me y'all, it ain't.
On some lib blog or other I read a rhetorical query to the effect of, how is it possible to get arrested for disturbing the peace when you are standing on your own front porch? Uhm, let's see ... could it be that wherever you happen to be standing, if you threaten and accuse a police officer with vocal vociferousness, and get your tidy whities wacky blackies all in a wad, and throw out the race card like the first pitch at the All-Star game, you may be perceived to be disturbing the peace? I just wonder.
He's dead and he won't be scaring people anymore.
So then the media picked up the story *moue of shock* and in due time our rock-star president -- who bowls like a member of the Special Olympics and throws a baseball only slightly better than yours truly -- just HAD to weigh in.
"The police acted stupidly" was his brilliant and scholarly take on the matter.
Sir, I have one word for you. Shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up. Shut up.
Please. (That was the one word to which I was referring.)
And yes, I purposely left out "with all due respect." When no respect is due a person, you don't say that. I have ZERO respect and ZERO tolerance for dedicated baby killers, regardless of their race or the office they hold.
But I digress.
And now our esteemed Commander-in-Chief has the perfect solution to the plethora of problems caused by the less-than-perfectly calibrated words chosen by both him and his Hahvahd-professor buddy: invite workaday-world Barney "Whitey" Fife to the Oval and bestow upon him the rare privilege of having a beer with two black millionaires who never got a fair shake in America.
Maybe they should invite Conrad Murray, MD, Michael Jackson's poor beleaguered Doctor Feelgood, to the beer party too! He's finding out more than he ever wanted to know about being a black man in an America that worships a sick-freak pedophile who, as a mere passing glance confirmed, had abused his own body so much that he was lucky to have attained the age of fifty.
I don't say the doctor should get a pass when it's possible he hastened Jacko's death by administering enough IV propofol to put the quietus on King Kong, much less the King of Pop. By the way, would you call that black-on-black crime? I guess you might except MJ hadn't technically been black for some time. One thing is for sure. He's dead and he won't be scaring people anymore ... at least not in person.
But I double-digress.
Anyone besides me find it vexing that the truth is being systematically and cruelly suffocated by political correctness? The fact that a thing has NO BASIS in truth is viewed as a positive instead of a negative, as long as it SOUNDS good to a liberal. And sometimes even to someone posing as a conservative.
Having the ability to make slow progress is better than being at a standstill.
Case in point. I was watching Faux News as Gatesgate was unfolding, and -- EGADS! -- they actually began to cover a different news story! This one involved language that was found to be embedded on page 389 of the 56,845,23-page O'couldcarelessabouthhealthcarethisapowergrab bill being considered on Capitol Hill in the waning days before the August recess.
The term in question? MENTALLY RETARDED.
*moue of shock*
Someone actually put the words "mentally retarded" in the healthcare bill! And no, they were not referring to our Special Olympics president! In case you're not PC enough, you should know that for simply ages now, the "correct" term for that unfortunate condition is "mentally disabled."
Because we all know that if a person has sustained a brain injury at birth or, due to some other tragic malady, has a brain that does not function at the same rate and capacity of "normal" people, it makes everything so much easier for them and their caregivers if you refer to them as "disabled" instead of "retarded."
People. Think with me for a moment. To "disable" means "To make unable or unfit; weaken or destroy the capability of; cripple; incapacitate." To "retard" means "To make slow; delay the development or progress of (an action, process, etc.); hinder or impede."
See that picture at the top of this post? I found the word "retard" right on the side of a bag of Pepperidge Farm dry stuffing mix reposing innocently in my pantry! And I thought this was America! Somehow the use of that horrible word escaped the notice of bureaucrats who surely keep their eyes peeled for these kinds of politically untenable and wholly offensive preservative terms!
Let me ask you something. If you are driving through a bad neighborhood -- one, perhaps, where people are prone to breaking into houses -- and you happen to be lost, and someone is walking toward you brandishing a crowbar, and you're not even sure if the house they live in is yellow, would you rather be behind the wheel of a car that is RETARDED or one that is DISABLED? Because in my opinion, having the ability to make slow progress is better than being at a standstill.
But that's just me.
Guess what word the Faux News talking heads used to describe the use of the term "mentally retarded"? Wait for it ... OUTRAGE! It is an OUTRAGE that the bill contains the word RETARDED.
And boy, are you ever going to pay.
Not an OUTRAGE that, if passed into law, this legislation will put the pedal to the metal for abortion funding by the American taxpayer in numbers heretofore unheard-of. And this in a country that simply LOVES to let the taxpayer foot the bill for the murder of millions of unborn children.
Not an OUTRAGE that, if the bill passes, the elderly will be "counseled" to end their lives voluntarily rather than suffer excruciating deaths because no health care will be available to them due to their advanced age and its corollary, their utter uselessness to society.
Not an OUTRAGE that, no matter what your age, your government instead of your doctor will decide what procedures and treatment options are available to you, and all health care will be rationed.
Not an OUTRAGE that when our president takes the podium three times a day and four times on Sunday to tell us what this bill does and does not contain, he lies through his teeth. And knows that we know he's lying through his teeth, and not only does not care, but no doubt finds it amusing.
The Faux News blonde-of-the-moment and her guest expert didn't consider any of the above to be an "outrage." But they both declared it an "outrage" that the term "mentally retarded" was substituted for the euphemism "disabled" in a healthcare bill that is itself a TRUE outrage.
Something else is an outrage. A wealthy black man who by any standard has led a privileged life -- a life that would be all but impossible for him to achieve in any other country on Earth -- believes he is above the laws of this land simply BECAUSE he is a black man, and because he is friends with another black man who happens to be the most powerful man in the world.
What a country.
And it's an outrage that although white people AS WELL AS BLACK PEOPLE experience racial discrimination every day in America, it's not politically correct to talk about racism against whites. If you're black, you're presumed to be right because of course if you're black, you've automatically been wronged. If you're white, not only are you wrong, but you've been wrong for centuries. You can't be right if you're white! Everything bad that has ever happened to the black race is your fault.
And boy, are you ever going to pay. Pay with your money. Pay with your life. Pay with your sanity. Pay with your freedom.
I hope Sergeant Crowley has plans to wash his car or mow his lawn on the day he's invited to the White House ... oops ... is it okay to call it the WHITE HOUSE? ... I mean, does it offend a black person if I say that? But if he does show up at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue for his "teachable moment" with the Hahvahd Professor and his old friend Barry Soetoro, I hope he declines the beer and, like the proverbial man in the white hat on the old frontier, orders milk. Fresh, cold, white milk. And I hope he leaves the Left Wing with a white mustache and rides away on a white horse.
Because in this situation, there's no doubt in my mind that the white guy is the good guy.
Reader Comments (21)
I can't believe the way the media latched onto this either. It shows that common sense is no longer alive and well in the USA!
Really this whole thing could have been avoided if people took a smidgen of time to think and use their words a bit more carefully. I don't read or watch the news for this reason, but I did notice that the President, after saying he knew nothing about the facts,(as you know, lawyers, especially Hahvad trained ones, do not jump to conclusions until all facts are in), immediately said the police acted "stupidly." Major cringe with that one!
PS It was so lovely to "hear" your voice again! Thanks so much for visiting!
None of this surprises me. One more of Barry's "friends" is proven to be an elitist race-baiter. Once more, Barry opens mouth and inserts feet without his teleprompter to guide him.
As for the "retard" in HR 3200, it's just one more demonstration of what the Left in this country really is, and really thinks about the rest of us (either we are "retards", or are too stupid to understand what they're doing).
2010...2012. Bring the Left's jihad to a screeching halt with an informed vote.
Wow! After not blogging for two weeks, you certainly made up for it.
I hope Sergeant Crowley declines the invite, too. And if he's asked why, he should respond, "Because the insanity has to stop."
Great work. I've RT'd you on Twitter. Hopefully my numerous (up to 38 now!) followers will stop by and leave you comments. :)
Amazing post, Jennifer. So much of what has been on my mind.
Why is it, every time there's a bloated piece of yuck making its way through Congress, there's some "distraction" leading the gullible populace's attention away from the TRUE outrages being perpetrated against ALL of us, regardless of color?
I hate to break it to Mr. Gates, but you don't have to be black to encounter police officers who demand total subservience and are sure you are scum just because. I have a lot of police officer friends who are amazing and do an impossible job with grace; but I've also encountered those who are so full of themselves that they are scary. In this case, Mr. Gates definitely shouldn't have been saying the things he said, but neither should you be arrested for "hurting a police officer's feelings." Once he proved he lived there and wasn't committing a crime, that should have been the end of it. My brother is licensed to catch nuisance gators and you wouldn't believe the abuse he takes from people who are all gooey eyed over the gators - my brother has to take it on the chin. He'll be fired if he doesn't. But he's seen body parts that were pulled from gators, and small pets that are in pieces. He represents the State though and can't even be disrespectful to people in his face cussing him out for doing his job and possibly saving their lives. This police officer should have said something like "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, sir" and left.
I did mean to say, this was very well written though, and I did agree with a lot of things.
@ Mari ... agreed! The world has gone crazy. And it was already crazy. What's next? More crazy? I fear so!
@ Keli ... totally cringe-worthy and very stupidly spoken! BO is an angry man and so is Gates. BO usually hides it but this time he let the mask slip.
@ SF ... like you, I think the midterm and presidential elections will be some of the most exciting in our history ... & I hope they'll be game-changers.
@ Kev ... that's a great line for Sgt. Crowley! Wish I'd thot of that! I fear the insanity is just getting started, however ...
@ Angie ... I fear these "distractions" are sometimes deliberate too. It's scary. I'm almost afraid to watch the news anymore. Thanks for reading!
@ Tracie ... On this one I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. I think the thing to remember is that we weren't there and we don't know what was said or how it was said. Police officers are in constant danger that can come from any direction. They have to make split-second judgment calls and they are subjected to uncommon scrutiny after the fact. Sure, there are lots of them who mess up every day. I know that.
Perhaps Crowley made the wrong call; I don't know. I do know that what Gates did was all wrong, totally out of bounds, and designed to bring race into a situation that was NOT about race until he made it about race. I don't think he got arrested because he hurt someone's feelings. He verbally abused a police officer and, as you know, that's a risky thing to do. I would never do it; but then, I don't think I'm entitled to special treatment due to my color.
I think Gates was belligerent and out of control, and I think he deserved to be arrested. I think the President was a complete goofus to get involved, but then nothing about that surprises me. I think the two black men owe the white man a huge, public apology. Which I know he won't get.
And the beat goes on.
Thanks for reading and for your always-insightful comments, luv!
This is my first visit to your site, found the link on Twitter. I am definitely coming back!!
@ Wendy ... you are as welcome as rain in the desert! I do hope this won't be your last visit to IHATH!
Oh, I definitely don't think it was about race; I agree that Gates tried to make it about race. Some black people can only see color, and then accuse us of it, and it gets very annoying. I think prejudice, from either direction, is retarded (or perhaps disabling is the word :) But I was raised to believe that the policeman is my friend and I have nothing to fear if I am not in the wrong, and I have found that to be anything but the case, so I am a little disillusioned. However, I am not defending Gates as his actions were wrong and way out of line. I couldn't help thinking he would have been howling just as loudly if his house was broken in to and none of his neighbors called the cops, that they didn't care about him because he was black or something. But that is just speculation.
@ Tracie ... I was not raised to believe that the policeman is my friend, but I was taught respect for authority. Professor Gates, like many blacks in America (and lots of whites too), obviously did not think Sergeant Crowley had any say over him. And that's where he was wrong. As you said, where was the gratitude for a public servant showing up at the house to make sure nobody was breaking in? Gates owed Crowley a huge thank you for doing his job in a timely and efficient manner. I don't think Officer Crowley was thanked for his efforts. That's so wrong.
As usual, what bollixes up everything when you're dealing with knee-jerk libs is that their sense of humor has been surgically removed. The onus was on Gates, being the man of considerably more power, wealth, connection, and stature in the community, to defuse a potentially bad scene with some grace and humor. After the misunderstanding was cleared up (as I'm sure it was, in no longer than was necessary to clear it up), he should have offered Crowley his hand, clapped him on the shoulder, given him a great big smile, and said "Thanks for having my back on this one, Officer," before waving bye-bye from the porch.
Instead he accused Officer Crowley of being a racist. That was acting stupidly. And don't think it's lost on many people that Gates KNEW his buddy Barack would put in his $.02 ... and turn the whole thing into the "lesson" for Whitey that they hope it has turned out to be.
Tommyrot. Barack Obama's problem is that most of us are not nearly as dumb as he looks.
You did treat us with an awesome post since it's been so long! Thanks for coming through! First I read Ann Coulter's column about the ridiculous fiasco and then yours. Both equally entertaining and well-written I might add.:)
@ Audrey ... yep girl I did get all wound up didn't I? Ann's article was pure genius. I tweeted the link immediately! Michelle Malkin was fantastic in a showdown with Matt Lauer this morning too. You can see the vid on the Human Events web site and I'm sure on Michelle's web site too! Must watch.
Great article and spot on!!
My question is, what is up with the other man the 911 caller saw? Was there perhaps something going on which caused Gates to act so aggressively? Was he afraid he'd be discovered?
Just wondering.
Keep up the great writing.
Tim
@ Tim ... I think the other guy was the cab driver! The one who supplied the crowbar ... unless Prof Gates kept one in his luggage! Supposedly there were two men in the house, though, when the police got there, so I wonder if the other man was actually a friend. Who would let the driver into the house, even if he had helped break in? We may never know, because the whole thing has been blown so out of proportion, I don't think the truth really matters to those who have the power to disseminate it.
Thank you for your kind words! Your blog post of tonight truly was genius! TimTipper 4 Congress!
I would never have expected that any author could tie abortion into a post about the Cambridge "event" but, by George, you accomplished that.
Cheers
Bravo, Bravo! ! ! !
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MARIA
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Barack Obama's problem is that most of us are not nearly as dumb as he looks sound very funny. do you really think that.
MARIA
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