CNN Takes A Stand Against Political Name Calling, Collective Judgements, And Trashy Politics

An October 1, 2010 Associated Press article reported that CNN had fired one of its afternoon news anchors, Rick Sanchez, after Sanchez accused Jon Stewart, host of "The Daily Show," of being a bigot and sarcastically disputing whether being of the Jewish faith made someone a minority.  Sanchez made his comments on a satellite radio show during an interview.

Sanchez said that Stewart is bigoted toward "everybody else that's not like him" and "he's upset that someone of my ilk is almost at his level." Sanchez, who was born in Cuba, claimed he grew up poor and saw prejudice directed against his father. Regarding his Jewish comments, Sanchez stated, "I'm telling you that everyone who runs CNN is a lot like Stewart (Jewish), and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart, and to imply that somehow they, the people in this country who are Jewish, are an oppressed minority?" Shortly after the interview, CNN announced via a statement that Sanchez was no longer employed at CNN. Stewart had no comments on the matter and Sanchez did not return emails and phone calls.

This incident reminds me of an old saying: "No race is superior. No religion is inferior. All collective judgements are wrong. Only racists make them." Quote by Elie Wiesel. Unfortunately for his career, Mr. Sanchez was not aware of the wisdom in this statement. "Everyone" is a lot like Stewart, "A lot of people," are like Stewart, etc. Since Sanchez had already accused Stewart of being a bigot, then in Sanchez's mind a lot of people who are like Stewart must be bigots also. Sanchez is making collective judgements about people he never met which, according to Mr. Wiesel's insights, makes him a racist.

I congratulate CNN for making the firing. The country makes no positive change or movement whenever collective judgements are made. I am sorry that Mr. Sanchez grew up poor and faced prejudice, but that is not an excuse for disparaging another person or his religion or his profession. Discussions like this are not productive and CNN made the right step in getting rid of a newsman who could not longer be impartial.

Unfortunately, CNN cannot fire most of our political class, the biggest offenders when it comes to vindictive and racist collective judgements:

• All Americans who were against the invasion of Iraq were unpatriotic, according to President Bush.
• All Americans who were opposed to Obama Care were un-American, according to House Speaker Nancy Peolosi.
• All Americans who were opposed to Obama care were like the racists that opposed the civil rights movement in the 1960s, according to Congressman Charles Rangel.
• All Americans who were opposed to Obama Care were like the racists that opposed the civil rights movement of the 1960s, according to Congresswoman Shelia Jackson Lee.
• All Americans who are opposed to Obama Care were wearing white sheets over the heads 25 years ago (a Ku Klux Klan reference) and are knuckle dragging Neanderthals, according to Congressman Alan Grayson.
• All Americans that are opposed to Obama's proposals and plans are no better than terrorists, according to Congressman Alan Grayson.
• All Americans who visit Washington D.C. as tourists in the summer physically smell, according to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
• All Republicans are a _ _ h _ _ _s, according to Obama czar Van Jones.

Rather than celebrating diversity and the rights of Americans to have an opinion, even if it is contrary to a politician's opinion, basically celebrating our heritage of freedom, our political class would rather pass collective judgement on us in order to protect their political power and standing. How does calling anyone in America a racist, unpatriotic, Neanderthal-like or smelly promote a rich and intelligent discussion on how to solve the many problems facing the country?  It does not. All it does is allow the entrenched political class to divide the country up into "tribes" and then use this type of inflammatory language to get us fighting each other while those that are passing the collective judgement, the racists according to Wiesel, sit back and rake in campaign money from their "tribes" while the country's ills are never addressed.

The sin of the whole situation is that President Obama could have changed this whole name calling culture and started to heal the divisions in he country that the political class has created and continues to drive stakes into. He came into office in 2009 with the nation hoping that he could create change and get the nation's ills remedied. His approval ratings were sky high, transcending many "tribal" boundaries. Alas, he never stepped up to the plate. He has said nothing when Americans were called racists, terrorists, and Neanderthals by members of his party. He said nothing when a leading member of his party called a subset of Americans smelly. And he only reluctantly fired Van Jones for calling Republicans a _ _ h _ _ _s, doing so only because of the out cry against the viciousness and nastiness of Jones' statement. For all the hope and hype, Mr. Obama has behaved just like any other ordinary politician.

In the midst of all this name calling, nothing ever gets accomplished. National debt soars, government waste and fraud is rampant, no effective legislation is ever passed (and please, the health care reform bill and the financial regulatory reform bill do not come close to being effective), we are still bogged down in two wars half way around the world, etc. Something needs to be done to break the cycle of name calling and the negative reaction that comes with it. The political class will not do it, they seem to enjoy inciting American on American animosity, we will have to do it with the following three steps: 

1. Vote out all incumbents in November in order to clean up the bad blood that currently exists. How much worse could it get if we replaced every politician up for re-election in November? I would contend it can not get much worse so why not take a shot with some new blood and hopefully, some less petty and "collective judgement/racist" approaches to dealing with diversity.
2. Implement Step 39 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government," a step that would institute term limits for every Federal politician. If politicians were not worried about getting re-lected after their first term, there might be less tribalization since dividing Americans into tribes is how they get funding for their re-election campaigns. Eliminate the possibility of re-election and maybe the name calling goes away.
3. Implement Step 38 from "Love My Country, Loathe My Government," which would require all politicians to sign a shared values statement. This shared values statement would be a set of principles under which the political class would begin to operate. Included in this shared values statement would be the principles of respect, commitment, teamwork, trust, integrity, and other high principles. Maybe if the politicians were held to such principles, words like terrorist, racist, Neanderthal, etc. would vanish from our political discussions and debates and replaced such words as how do we fix our education system, how to we get our national debt under control, how do we handle the drug plague in this country, how do we come up with a sane and coherent national energy program, etc.

CNN took the first step to fighting collective judgement. We can take the second by voting out all incumbents in November. The next, longer term steps are term limits and working towards a set of principles and shared values. No more tribes, no more name calling, no more bigotry from the biggest offenders of all, our political class.

Our new book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.

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http://www.cato.org/
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http://www.flipcongress2010.com/