And Maha, I am so sorry your words were confused with mine… I really really am.Just to be clear Maha is the smart one….I am an idiot compared to her and will never be worthy of being compared…I am here to learn and I am trying.

I am not sure how Steve Gillard or Jane scored political points using such images….but I respect your right to your feelings on the matter….

I was trying to ask where is the cut off for who owes whom an apology.Is it all bloggers, all Americans,, all readers,,, who?Just white women bloggers with a beauty mark?..I personally am bothered by the trend in society of any certain groups demanding blanket apologies … I don’t owe anyone anything, nor do they owe me anything …When rush limbaugh stays something sexist I don’t feel the need to here a “I am sorry ” from men and I personally don’t do blanket apologies for crap I didn’t do.. but thats just me…….

I am not sure to do with the next question and even though I wrote it I will pass on a reply given the fact I think you had mistaken me for maha….if you wish to talk about it further and I am wrong I will be glad to answer somehow if you wish.

I have a blog… nobody reads it but I have one… If I read correctly you ARE demanding all bloggers apologize for Janes image.If that is true I say, respectfully, NO SIR I will not.Despite the fact I would NEVER use the graphic myself I still will not say I am sorry for it. I am sorry your feelings were hurt, and I do understand why.I am only called to account for myself , the only other I apologize for is my pets should they have a accident.I am sorry to let you down if you feel I owe you something I cannot give.

Wow, Jump your ass????Holy crap … far be it from me to “jump ” anyones “ass” when they take a image from a blog and turn it into being”played for suckas by the white liberal establishment”… who exactly is the “white liberal establishment”? btw?….are they the ones smoking all the pot at Berkeley that righties are always talking about?

Then you rail on me for defending the left. Well let me tell you it is easy for me to defend the less of two evils.The two evils don’t even seem to be on the same level. I don’t even belong to a political party so I have no “political gain ” at stake when I say that the left is NOT perfect… But they have done more to further the cause of AMERICANS of all gender,color and faith then the right EVER WILL.And sadly I will point to Durfur and right here at home NO and ask you who is in charge and who has done nothing?The right controls every branch of our government and all they have offered up is never ending war and even if we stopped the war today, never ending debt to match… hows that workin for ya?So yes I will defend the left because I can compare this last 8 years to Clintons time and SEE things were not perfect then by far, but they were a hell of a lot better for us ALL.Even an uneducated woman such as myself can see that.
I stand by what I said…you,we can’t get more played than that..I respect your right to disagree.
4 times now I have read the post AND the comments…who here told you to f*** off ?I can’t find it anywhere..why have such a chip on your shoulder that you declare people will tell you something like that?
Still I don’t question your right to feel anger.. if you feel it, then it’s valid to me….but can’t we agree the real time suffering in Durfur and Iraq and NO (among other places) being ignored is more of an outrage?We could all go a long way to healing those old wounds with our actions in those areas, for starters.Lets face it we as a country, and we as the world need to do a lot of healing..to turn our backs on the suffering of real people to focus outrage on an image seems like cruelism if not worse,, but that is just me and I am a nobody and as you pointed out I didn’t even exist until this post so go back about your too smart for me discussion and let the suffering continue. PEACE

And the comparison to Lieberman is not really so far-fetched. We tend to become obsessed with people and situations which exemplify those qualities which we ourselves are afflicted with.

My impression is that would be rigidity and judgmentalism in your case.

That said, there is absolutely NO justification for Jane Hamsher’s use of that graphic. Jane Hamsher may not have [consciously] intended to use a racist graphic, but the fact that she did use one that is so blatently so says as much about her unconscious as Mel Gibson’s drunken tirade says about his.

And the fact that she did so all –as she and the Lamont campaign agree– all on her own, without even running it by a couple of her friends in the Lamont campaign, shows that she is infected with hubris of the worst kind. No pause, no reflection — no considering of how such an action might not only affect the Lamont campaign, but the black people the image ridicules. (& comparing LIeberman to a minstral performer — who were, after all, originally black btw — speaks volumes about how she feels not only about Lieberman, but about black folk on some level).

In politics and in life, actions have consequences. It is the Icarus’ of the world, like the self-absorbed Lieberman and his equally self-absorbed nemesis Hamsher (ironically) that don’t get this.

And the comparison to Lieberman is not really so far-fetched. We tend to become obsessed with people and situations which exemplify those qualities which we ourselves are afflicted with.

The right is notable for its inabitlity to recognize this dimension of life. On the left, we forget it or ignore it at our peril.

Well, yes, exactly.

I can see that you are very angry, and I’m not going to tell you that you don’t have a right to be angry. However, I did not create that anger, and neither did Hamsher.

I started another thread on this topic here.

http://www.mahablog.com/2006/08/05/about-that-graphic-ii/

It did not go into moderation. I’m very sorry. I don’t know what the problem is.

Update: I found it and unspammed it.

It doesn’t shock me one bit that the issue of structural racism, which is far more present in contemporary discourse than intentional racism (no one intends to be racist anymore, except for maybe Michelle Malkin), makes people upset. The discussion requires that people look beyond their intentions and dig deeper into how their actions may effect others. It also requires that you recognize that every critique is not a direct attack on YOU, personally. The Lieberman/Lamont race proves Malcolms point all to well, whether you want to admit it or not. How many serious issues concerning the Black community have been raised by Lieberman in this race? He’s just throwing blanket and unjustified attacks at Lamont and running around with Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson in order to scrounge up the oh-so-coveted Black vote (see! I have Black friends!). And now this whole Hamsher/Lamont thing?

So you can tell me to fuck off all you want. The fact that your reaction is to tell me to fuck off rather than to take seriously what at least two Black people feel is a continuing problem in contemporary political discourse tells me that this discussion is going nowhere.

I’m leaving this discussion with a quote from Changeseeker, a White woman who says it better than I can (go read the whole post, ” For White Folks: How To Become An Ally (Part 1),” it’s quite good.

Am I trying to be rude here or hurt your feelings or something? After all, you’re reading this because you want to be an ally for people of color, right? Shouldn’t I be a little kinder, a little more thoughtful, perhaps, of your good intentions? The answer is: no. You don’t deserve special kindness for making some tiny effort to face reality. It may not be your personal fault that institutionalized oppression in the name of racism against people of color has made sure that people who look like you and I have the most of the best and the least of the worst. But since you have benefitted from birth because of it–whether you realized it or not–you’ve already gotten all the special treatment you should expect. And given the fact that this system is not going to disappear any time soon, you’re going to continue to get benefits anyway, even if you don’t want them. (And let’s be real about that, shall we? Are you sure you’re ready to give up all that privilege when you’ve never experienced life any other way so far? Hmmm…?)