Things which amuse me more than they should, part 1

[silverwind126]

Linky linky: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080429/ap_on_el_pr/obama_pastor

"The person I saw yesterday was not the person that I met 20 years ago," Obama said of the man who married him.Ooooh, boy. Unfortunate word-choice there, happy little AP reporter

Comments

[rjb182]

Okay, here's the problem with this: There is no genetic basis for race. You can't target a disease to wipe out a specific race or to wipe out "minorities". There's no black gene, or an Asian gene. They are phenotypes, not genotypes.

I don't think-- I'm guessing off the top of my head-- that he's suggesting AIDS was literally engineered to target blacks. Just that it was meant to do what it's currently doing, both in Africa and to the African American population of the United States. The targeting would be based on social and not genetic factors.

Which doesn't make it any less of a nutty conspiracy theory. But I don't think his knowledge of biology is what's at fault...

[silverwind126]

Granted I haven't been following the whole Wright thing, but I don't see any other way for interpreting "United States invented the HIV virus as a means of genocide against minorities."

Hell, if he is claiming the US gov't exploited social factors to utilize HIV as a method of genocide, isn't he really the one slamming African and African-American people? Because it's not exactly a secret that it's spread most readily through needles and sex...

[rjb182]

I suspect you're thinking this through too logically, though. I think the reasoning is probably as simple as "Poor people are victims of the drug problem in this country and less likely to be educated about unprotected sex... Poor people are also more likely to be minorities... I like to aggrandize myself and don't trust the government... Hey, maybe the government is using AIDS to wipe out minorities!"

It's very bad logic, it's absurd, and yes, it's a little insulting to the people it claims to champion. I'm certainly not trying to defend it. But I suspect that's closer to what's going through his mind than any really well-thought-out concept of a scientifically engineered minority-killer...

[silverwind126]

Fair enough. I forget that most people don't do that whole "logic" thing. :p

[jb1234]

I try to be openminded, but Wright makes me see all sorts of red. And it's already red, never blue or black.

Or purple. I do love purple...

[silverwind126]

I consider myself open-minded, in that I think bigoted idiots come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and faiths. Does that count?

[jb1234]

Sure! Personally, I eat bigots for breakfast, sprinked with Splenda because they're not worth getting fat over. ;)