tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post8349901563033207946..comments2024-03-27T19:11:37.620-04:00Comments on You Don't Say: Obama and the racial divideJohn McIntyrehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03559687583130468871noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-91606010346780183842019-05-08T13:43:43.993-04:002019-05-08T13:43:43.993-04:00I think there's a real phenomenon in which peo...I think there's a real phenomenon in which people think a problem is getting worse as they become more aware of a problem, even if the problem is getting better. And for a lot of white people, racial tensions certainly became more visible during the Obama administration, partly because a black man was president, and of course he's going to talk about the issue, and partly because of things like the Black Lives Matter movement. I also think that for a lot of white people, making them aware of racial issues makes them uncomfortable, which makes them feel like the issue is getting worse. <br /><br />Were things actually getting worse during that time? I don't know, but if they were, I suspect that it was partly because of the backlash against BLM and partly because, as you said, a lot of people seemed uncomfortable with Obama as president (you know, because of *economic anxiety*).<br /><br />So there's a very real sense in which some people <i>feel</i> that things were worse under Obama because they were made more aware of the problems (and probably made to feel guilty for their own implicit racism). And then along comes Trump, spouting a lot of racist rhetoric while also claiming to have healed the racial divide, which reassures racists that there isn't really a problem because they're not really racist.Jonathon Owenhttp://www.arrantpedantry.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-47935825344890461832019-05-07T15:47:16.583-04:002019-05-07T15:47:16.583-04:00Nothing about what you've been reporting along...Nothing about what you've been reporting along these lines (might I guess that the person mentioned was yet another of your high school classmates?) has made me regret for a nanosecond that (1) I severed all ties with my high school the minute I was handed my diploma in the secretary's office in August 1972 and hightailed it out of there, and (2) I avoid Facebook like the plague. I can't begin to imagine the number of utterly pointless arguments that these two decisions have saved me. A. Mariehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12348733577500591253noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6051744883907551402.post-32953926306582505742019-05-07T14:39:57.318-04:002019-05-07T14:39:57.318-04:00It was all Hillary's fault. It was probably in...It was all Hillary's fault. It was probably in some of the e-mails she destroyed.J Ballhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16778276357744975696noreply@blogger.com