I am an American bigot. Not against any person of pallor or color, or even ethnic background. It is against the "takers" who prey on those who produce and work for what they have.

Excellent point: being patronizing is damned racist. Outside the KKK, or that Black Muslim Preacher of Hate who's name I can't recall right now, there's hardly anyone more racist than a patronizing white liberal - unless it's a black liberal racistly accusing political conservatives of being racist.

The media's patronization constantly shows up in what they ignore in black newsmakers - such as when I watched Al Sharpton call Republicans racists during a Democratic Presidential debate, and John Kerry stood behind Shapton with a silly grin and clapped for Sharpton's blatantly racist comment. If you're a black media darling, you can be the village idiot and they will patronizingly ignore it. You can be a corrupt corporate blackmailer(Jesse Jackson) who hugs America's enemies, and the media will patronizingly never call you a spotlight chasing fool. I believe it's actual racism. I believe the media is figuratively patting the simple pickaninnies on their heads - as in: 'Who can expect such simple people to be held to adult standards of conduct?' It's insulting, and I feel certain many black people are insulted by it also.

I must point out that I don't think your examples are the best. Snopes reports this quote from the AFP reporter who snapped the photo of the couple who "found" food(quoting from memory): "A convenience store was flooded, and it's inventory was floating in the street. I saw the couple, and assumed they had found the items floating before picking them up."

Second: I think, maybe, in the 1960's, many people were proud to say "Dr. Martin Luther King". It was a different time and a different nation. I seem to recall hearing many people say "Dr. Martin Luther King" with quite a bit of pride in their voices. Maybe the "Dr." part of the title was a partial source of that pride. Just a thought. I'd like to hear more on this from someone who remembers that time.

You mean "The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan"?

Racist? Nah.

Check the dictionary; his picture is next to the word "bigot".

When I was about twelve and just beginning to develop some political awareness, I somehow became aware of the stereotype that conservatives are racists and liberals tend to be paragons of egalitarian tolerance. (At the time, I'd probably have used "Democrats" instead of "liberals," and "Republicans" instead of "conservatives.")

This bothered me a little. I knew my dad was a strong Republican, but I also knew he was no racist. I wondered why he'd want to support such people, so I asked him about it. That was my introduction to the concept of "the soft bigotry of low expectations," which I think largely explains the phenomena you mention, and many that you don't. ("A black man with a Ph.D.? Wow! Be sure to call him 'doctor.' A black man who seems really smart [to us]? Astounding! Let's do a cover feature on him! Affirmative action? How else are the poor, benighted, helpless blacks going to compete with white folks?")

Of course there are conservatives and libertarians who are genuinely racist, and there are liberals who genuinely believe that affirmative action is a moral imperative as a sort of penance for the evils of slavery and as a tool for eliminating racism. But in general, over the years I've come to believe that "the soft bigotry of low expectations" is something a great many liberals are guilty of, and that the philosophy that every person should be allowed to stand on their own feet, and succeed or fail without meddling from government, is about as egalitarian an idea as there is.

I will go a little farther Matt, I am a libertarian but I believe Affirmative Action was necessary for a period of time. Not because I believe blacks are incapable but this country needed to "jump start" many blacks into the middle class in the sixties and seventies. The bad think about affirmative action was that it should have had a time limit.
Now you have many black people who, I think, due to liberalism actually doubt their own ability to "make it" without government help. That is the sad legacy of soft bigotry.

"Smartest man in pop music"......hmmmmm, isn't that like being the best hockey player in Ecuador?

Captain of the Jamaican Olympic Bobsled Team.

Come to think of it, he's pretty smart; gets a free trip to the Olymics and all the fun at the Village.

Strike my comment;this guy IS smart.

Annie:

Regarding the looting, we apparently haven't been told the whole story. (Imagine that.)

http://marknicodemo.mu.nu/archives/116529.php

Joseph Heller observed in Catch 22 that we all have concentric circles of loyalty that expand outwardly from ourselves to our family, friends, community, etc... Part of the human condition is that we all love ourselves above others. Call it whatever you like. It wasn't until we tried to legislate equality, that the race-baters came to the fore, and the black man was driven from his home by the do-gooder welfare state, and the pop culture hung the face of pimp on him. Now "Art" follows the culture as teens take on the trappings of the characature, and every woman is a "ho".

At least the end of Western Civilization is interesting.

Thanks for taking up my slack, Mark. I got that link via e-mail yesterday and was planning to post it here, because it ties in nicely with Annie's subject. But I got busy, one thing led to another, and that was it.

My pleasure Matt. :)

With regard to the picture of the "white" people shown in the picture in question, the "finders" as opposed to the "looters", there was a write up by the photographer. He said that HE labeled the folks as "finders" because they were among a large group of people, both black and white, in an area where groceries had literally floated out of a nearby store. The people found the food floating on the water as they walked thru the area. They did not enter a store, did not break any windows, they just scooped some food out of the water as it floated by.

I did think of a white PhD who used the term "Dr." - Dr. Henry Kissinger.

I am unfamiliar with the black pastorate, so I don't know how many black preachers with PhD's referred to themselves as "Dr." I'm trying to think of a white pastor with a PhD, but I can't think of one - wait, I just remembered Dr. Gene Scott. So the "doctor" thing may be occupational, and have nothing to do with race. Further study is required.

I recall an interview with Ice-T conducted by a white, female, British journalist. On the topic of the rampant misogyny of his lyrics, she said something to him along the lines of "I think you're much too smart to be this sexist".

Then he proved her wrong by pimp-slappin' her for patronising him (well, at least that's how I wish he had responded).

Great post incidentally - such laboured reference to positive attributes only betrays the fact that the writer/speaker expected them to be absent.

"Smart" also constitutes such slight praise that it insults. Being praised as the "smartest" rapper is akin to receiving plaudits for being "the most competent" instrumentalist around.

Laura Ingraham was playing cuts from Elijah whats-his-face of the Congressional Black Caucus yesterday, and bumped out with the theme from the old Monkees TV show. You know, "Heh heh, we're the Monkees... " lmfao

Actually, a fair number of Ph.D.s like to be called Dr. off campus. I don't usually use it, but my wife will sometimes use it when she gives someone my name. If you read Slate, there was a "Dear Prudence" column about this a few months ago.

But just to show you I'm even-handed, there is some question about whether King really earned his title.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Luther_King,_Jr._-_authorship_issues

Personal to Casca: It wasn't the welfare state that drove the black man from his home. It was the slave traders.

Personal to Pericles:
The slave traders were a fortunate happening for the generations which came after slavery ended. My evidence is that we never saw a large - or even a medium - migration of U.S. citizens moving to Africa.

Given this, I find your slave trader reference to be disingenious.

In regards to this asshole Kanye West; I personally do not agree with a lot of what our president does and/or says, but I certainly think that it was beyond bad taste for this alleged entertainer to use the platform of aid and assistance to those devastated by this hurricane to spout this offensive, disrespectful diatribe against our president during this incredibly sad time. Plain and simple.....Kanye West is an asshole!

There may be some truth in what you say, but the lack of a migration back doesn't prove it. The children of slaves would have been going back to a continent where they didn't fit any more, in terms of language, culture, religion, etc. Where would they have lived---with tribes that their ancestors had been taken from generations earlier. African-Americans I talked to who have gone back to Africa have said that they are definitely regarded as Americans there, not as Africans.

Anyway, I was only responding to Casca's innane point about blacks having been deprived of their homes by welfare. Whatever negative consequences welfare may have had for the black community, and I know about the Moynihan Report, it didn't rob anyone of their homes. Given that s/he finds humor in the juxtaposition of a black face and the word "monkey," I think we know where Casca is coming from. I've heard conservatives complain that liberals are too quick to call them racists, and that may be true, but when the shoe really DOES fit...