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3DHS / double standards
« on: April 21, 2010, 06:36:39 PM »
So today, for the first time in something like 20 years, here in Columbia, SC, we have a new mayor. He's a Democrat, which isn't the problem (well, it is a problem, but not the one this post is about), and he is African-American, which is also not the problem. He ran a campaign about how he was going to unite us all into "One Columbia". Which almost made me gag, but that also isn't the problem. Part of the problem is the day of the election he ran an ad that basically said people should vote for him because he is black. The other part of the problem is that the ad contained an direct endorsement by a reverend.
I think we all know what would have happened if a white man had advertised that people should vote for him because he is white. Yes, that would have been wrong. Seems to me running an ad that suggests one should vote for an African-American because of his race is also wrong.
The reverend endorsing a political candidate is not something I think is wrong. I believe a person does not give up his First Amendment protection of free speech just because he preaches at a church or has a Doctorate of Divinity. But I am fairly certain that had a reverend or preacher directly endorsed a non-African-American candidate in a political campaign ad, there would have been an outcry.
I just don't get this sort of double standard. And I just felt like getting this off my chest.
I think we all know what would have happened if a white man had advertised that people should vote for him because he is white. Yes, that would have been wrong. Seems to me running an ad that suggests one should vote for an African-American because of his race is also wrong.
The reverend endorsing a political candidate is not something I think is wrong. I believe a person does not give up his First Amendment protection of free speech just because he preaches at a church or has a Doctorate of Divinity. But I am fairly certain that had a reverend or preacher directly endorsed a non-African-American candidate in a political campaign ad, there would have been an outcry.
I just don't get this sort of double standard. And I just felt like getting this off my chest.