Another Leftist mind-reader

There is a fevered article in the LA Times by a David Shipler which makes great efforts to "reinterpret" things that whites say about Obama. It is like so much other Leftist drivel that I was not initially going to comment on it. I see, however, that Taranto thought it interesting enough to comment on so I thought I might take a few moments to point out the glaring weakness in Shipler's thinking. Take the following excerpt:

"But when his opponents branded him an elitist and an outsider, his race made it easier to drive a wedge between him and the white, rural voters he has courted. As an African American, he was supposedly looking down from a place he didn't belong and looking in from a distance he could not cross. This could not happen as dramatically were it not for embedded racial attitudes. "Elitist" is another word for "arrogant," which is another word for "uppity," that old calumny applied to blacks who stood up for themselves.

What evidence does he offer for any of those assertions? None. Leftists don't need evidence. They are just high and mighty beings who KNOW, without any evidence being needed. He implies that when whites say "elitist" in describing Obama they really mean "uppity", an old Southern Democrat term of criticism for self-confident blacks.

How does he know what goes on in other people's minds? There is only one way he can even hope to know and that is via introspection. He can use his own thoughts and feelings as a model for what others think and feel. And the inference from that is that HE is the one who sees Obama as "uppity". And he is, of course, in harmony with millions of his Democrat predecessors in thinking that sort of thing about blacks. In short, what Shipler says is mere unsubstantiated abuse that reveals more about himself than anything else.

This tendency of Leftists to make Lordly and abusive pronouncements with absolutely no backing evidence is one I almost invariably find in emails that I get from Leftists. They seem to think that because they say a thing is so then I must accept that it is so. I must confess that I do to an extent use their own tactics back on them sometimes. I don't dignify their emails with an argument about the facts. I just answer abuse with abuse. And even then what I say to them is milder than what they say to me. In answer to an abusive email, I might say: "You sure sound full of hate. Get help!" I gather that few conservatives reply that way because it sure rattles the Leftists concerned. They usually reply with either a denial or further abuse. But I keep up pointing out how what they say suggests mental defects of various sorts and they quite often get so upset that they ban my email address so that they cannot receive any further replies from me. What fun!

Posted by John Ray. For a daily critique of Leftist activities, see DISSECTING LEFTISM. For a daily survey of Australian politics, see AUSTRALIAN POLITICS Also, don't forget your summary of Obama news and commentary at OBAMA WATCH