Nov 12 2008
Politics and transitions
Two great articles in the NYTimes today - one about restrictions on lobbyists in the inauguration/transition for Obama, and one about how electing a person of color is relevant (or not) to European countries. The latter is one of my most favorite articles in a long time.
I remember hearing somewhere than during the Cold War whenever the US brought something up related to human rights the USSR would rebut with “well, you enslaved people.” Course, serfdom was roughly the same, but it seemed to cow people back then.
A quote from the article about Europe:
But Ms. Kiyak said the Obama victory was causing significant reflection in the immigrant community, if not yet in the country at large. “Minorities see what is possible in another country, and they become jealous,” she said, noting that President Abdullah Gul of Turkey said recently in Der Spiegel that Turkish Germans “should take part in German society and politics and not look back.”
Engaging is good. Not looking back - problematic. It kind of falls into what I think is the trap of colorblindedness - saying you’re colorblind to mean non-discrimination takes away the culture and identity of so many people involuntarily - and it’s a terrible thing to take away people’s cultures. It means that everyone is the same in silly ways - we all grew up the same, we all communicate in the same ways, we all have the same hopes and dreams. And that’s a dead end as everyone can’t share the American Dream or whatever group consciousness colorblind people seem to advocate. In the basic sense of the word, we don’t go, wow, it’s great you can’t see the color red. Blindness is a deficiency, not an asset.
