Mandark said:Not to pick on Gaborn, but this is a great example of how people screw up when talking about race in the US.
It makes the underlying assumption that there are Racists and Not Racists, which simplifies and distorts the situation. Racial attitudes are a lot more subtle and complex than Stormfront vs. everyone else.
It also frames the discussion as what people are, rather than what they do. This makes white people very defensive (why the phrase "I'm not a racist, but..." is common), and that in turn means any black person who brings it up is liable to be accused of "playing the race card."
Plus it kills any shot at accurate social or political analysis. Gaborn's statement is just soooooooooo wrong wrong wrong.
Do you have actual data that supports that, or are you just asserting it's wrong because it goes against your belief system?
I agree it was simplistic, there are obviously many different types of racists, but historically racists do not vote in an election unless a particular candidate is espousing their ideology. There are always individual exceptions of course (I'm fairly comfortable saying that in every election there have been people that have been party line voters their entire life that found a particular candidate completely unacceptable), and I see no reason why racists would be different, some non-black racists will vote against Obama because he's black, and some non-white racists will vote against McCain because he's running against a minority (obviously I'd suspect the former group is going to be more numerous).
I do think though the underlying assumption some people make, that all racists will automatically vote, and vote against Obama and for McCain (rather than some other candidate) is inherently flawed because it assumes that racists all view as important an individual's skin color rather than the ideology that they perceive as harmful (white supremacists, in my understanding, seem to advocate a sense that whites are superior by birthright to non-whites).
Edit: Incidentally, more from the southern policy law center:
With the nomination of Barack Obama as the Democratic presidential candidate clinched, large sections of the white supremacist movement are adopting a surprising attitude: Electing Americas first black president would be a very good thing.
Its not that the assortment of neo-Nazis, Klansmen, anti-Semites and others who make up this countrys radical right have suddenly discovered that a man should be judged based on the content of his character, not his skin. On the contrary. A growing number of white supremacists, and even some of those who pass for intellectual leaders of their movement, think that a black man in the Oval Office would shock white America, possibly drive millions to their cause, and perhaps even set off a race war that, they hope, would ultimately end in Aryan victory.
He will make things so bad for white people that hopefully they will finally realize how stupid they were for admiring these jigaboos all these years, Darthvader wrote on the neo-Nazi [1] Vanguard News Network web forum. I believe in the motto Worse is Better and Obama certainly fits that description. Just last week, another poster on the same thread chimed in with this: I hope Obama wins because in four years, white people just might be pissed off enough to actually do something. White people arent going to do a thing until their toys are taken away from them. So things have to be worse for things to be better.
Oh man, enthused Centimanus on the white nationalist [2] Stormfront website. I am gleefully, sadistically looking forward to Obama as president. It will be a beautiful day when the masses look at the paper and truly realize they have lost their own country. Added Fulimnata: To the average white man and woman, they could look at Obama and see plain as day that whites are not in control. Another message, from TheLastOfMyKind, agreed: Could it be that the nomination of Obama finally sparks a sense of unity in white voters? I would propose that this threat of black, muslim [sic] rule may very well be the thing that finally scares some sense back into complacent whites throughout the nation. Actually, said another poster, if Obama were to win, it would be the best thing that ever happened to the Klan. They would have massive growth. And TeutonicLegion said that a whole bunch of people will join us and find these boards if Obama becomes president.
David DukeEven [3] David Duke (right), the neo-Nazi and former Klan boss who is the closest thing the movement has to a real intellectual these days, sees clear advantages in an Obama victory in the fall. Obama will be a signal, a clear signal for millions of our people, Duke wrote in an essay entitled [4] A Black Flag for White America last week. Obama is like that new big dark spot on your arm that finally sends you to the doctor for some real medicine. Obama is the pain that lets [sic] your body know that something is dreadfully wrong. Obama will let the American people know that there is a real cancer eating away at the heart of our country and Republican aspirin will not only not cure it, but only masks the pain and makes you think you dont need radical surgery. My bet is that whether Obama wins or loses in November, millions of European Americans will inevitably react with new awareness of their heritage and the need for them to defend and advance it.
Opinion on the radical right is far from unanimous on the topic of a possible Obama victory. Many of those writing on the topic perhaps half of those who have posted recently think an Obama presidency would destroy the country and oppose it mightily. On the other hand, there is virtually no enthusiasm on the radical right for presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, who is widely seen by white supremacists as a sellout, particularly on the issue of nonwhite immigration into the United States. But increasing numbers think that a bad situation with a black president will be good for their movement.
Thomas Dixon Jr., a Stormfront poster using the name of the racist author who wrote the classic novel [5] The Clansman, put it like this: As WLP [William Luther Pierce, the late leader of the neo-Nazi National Alliance] would say What is bad for the system is good for us. Obama, added The Patriot in the same thread, would be better for our cause in the long run, no doubt about it.
I think people have a cookie cutter image of racism and hate and forget that they're thinking individuals. Twisted in their thinking, not always logical, but within their ideological framework it's not necessarily in their interest to work against Obama if they believe he's inferior by genetics and doomed to failure because of some inferiority they perceive. They're making a political judgement rather than a personal one, it's really quite fascinating if you think about it.