Inspiration Versus Degradation

Sometimes our degraded press prefers the prediction to the event itself. I'm talking about Jeremiah Wright's interview with Bill Moyers. It aired last Friday night and to my mind was one of Bill's best interviews. Rev. Wright was talking to someone in his own metier. Moyers is also ordained, is a great speaker and cares deeply about social justice. So it was an equal interviewing an equal -- so seldom the case on television.

Bill Moyers nevertheless pushed Wright hard, raised all the questions Wright's out-of-context sound bites have aroused and played lengthy excerpts from his sermons. I was inspired. This is a pastor I'd listen to on a Sunday instead of namby-pamby Tim Russert or the various screaming clubs on network TV.

Wright seems utterly sincere to me. He strikes me as having a true spiritual calling. When he says, "America's chickens have come home to roost," I can't fault his logic. Haven't we been squandering hard earned taxpayer money on overseas adventures while we starve poor children? Haven't we been supporting dictators while prating of democracy? Haven't we been enriching profiteers at the expense of health care and education? You betcha.

A week ago I told my audience in Rome that in the last several years, I've been ashamed to be an American. A cheer went up from the amphitheater. It was such a relief, audience members later told me, to hear an American speak the truth for a change.

The Italians may have voted for Silvio Berlusconi, but they don't think George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have been good for America or the planet. Like most Americans, they would love to see them gone. So would Italians. Italians love American and feel pain when we slide away from the great ideals our Constitution and Bill of Rights have given the world.

Italians feel they have a stake in America. It's interesting to hear how thrilled they are by New York. When I say "sono New Yorkese" (I'm a New Yorker), they are delighted. And they also love LA and Chicago and Miami. Many Italians commute between New York and Rome, LA and Milan, Miami and Florence. They can't vote in the US but you'd never know that by how interested they are in American politics. They love our great 18th century traditions -- sometimes more than we.

So where's the discussion of Jeremiah Wright's real calling? You can't find it. Our idiotic press prefers to play orphaned excerpts and force Barack Obama to apologize for words he never spoke. What is this apology stuff? Everyone has to apologize for their pastors, their doctors, their mothers, their fathers, their churches, their social affiliations. Why? Apologies are cheap. Inspiration is hard to find.

Just because a man is inspired by his pastor doesn't mean he agrees with every word his pastor says. Duh. Even a moron knows that. But inspiration remains important. And you will never be inspired by running stuff out of context and playing gotcha.

Our press has become a sea of triviality, meanness and irrelevant chatter.

God knows inspiration is always welcome. Moyers and Wright gave us that on Friday night.

Comments

[jefegeoffe]

Thank you Erica, for pushing through all the blather that makes up so much of even the "even-handed" media outlets. I had few problems with anything that the Rev. Wright said on the first airing of those snippets from his "Best of" DVD, excepting the bizarrely paranoid AIDS accusation, and his interview with Bill Moyers was refreshing in it's honesty, intelligence and insight. That being said, I think he is being decidedly short-sighted in iterating and clarifying his message at this point in time. He, and the issues that matter to him, would be far better served by having this discussion AFTER we had a sitting president of African descent rather than INSTEAD of having a president of African descent. I fear that his re-entry into the media maelstrom will mean the latter. Sen. Obama has other issues he needs to address, such as the need for more specificity in his vision of the future and the steps on the path he would follow to achieve it, but the Wright issue is like the death of a thousand cuts.

[Goldie9]

Rev. Wright's sermons, where he rants against the U.S gov't policies and inactions/­incompeten­ce, are not as offensive to me as compared to the extremist evangelical preachers (a la Hagee, Falwell, Dobson and Robertson) and their rants against gay people and women!

[elmysterio]

Agreed... Hagee and company are disgusting, and full of lies in the things they say. At least Wright is telling the truth when he speaks.

[priscg]

Finally, a columnist that writes the truth about Rev. Wright. What he said is true, and the chickens are coming home. The Bill Moyers interview was great and Ms Jong is right on! And while I was a Clinton supporter at first, after I started to listen to Obama, I was so impressed, I had to switch... and I'm that 'over 60, white woman' that is susposed to be for Hillary. Now, I'm sorry I ever supported her.

[Smartey]

Just what we all need -- Erica Thong giving justification to Old Uncle Remus and his lunatic rantings. The screwball was in some black church in Dallas over the weekend, and said Obama was going to be sleeping with a black woman in the White House -- but wouldn't be the first President to do so. This was confirmed as a veiled threat to Bill Clinton -- Wright has info on a black chick that was porked in the Oval Office by ole Blowjob Bill. The good reverend is letting the Clintons know that he'll spill the beans if they don't back off.

Seems like pure extortion to me. I may have to rethink my support for Hillary over this.

[diannerq44]

"The screwball was in some black church in Dallas over the weekend, and said Obama was going to be sleeping with a black woman in the White House -- but wouldn't be the first President to do so. This was confirmed as a veiled threat to Bill Clinton -- Wright has info on a black chick that was porked in the Oval Office by ole Blowjob Bill."
Confirmed by whom? Rev. Wright was undoubtedly talking about Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings.

[GolfingDevil05]

Taking things out of context is not anything new, nor is defining people by simple phrases that they have spoken.

For example, we all know that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is usually defined by the sentence, "I have a dream today." But how many people know that he also said that "America was founded on genocide," or that he once said that the US government was the greatest perpetrator of violence on the planet? Our media, our history, and our memories are often very selective.

My point isn't that Rev. Wright is the modern day equivalent of Dr. King. He is not, but he is clearly following in Dr. King's tradition. He points out (correctly) that much of the hatred of the US around the world is rooted in our nation's actions in other people's lands. September 11th wasn't about people hating us for our freedoms. It was about them hating us because we were on sacred ground.

The only way we break out of this cycle of selectively removing words from their context is to demand more of our mainstream media. They must know that we expect better than the lowest common denominator. Demand that they do better than using YouTube as a subsitute for investigative journalism. Write to them, and write to their sponsors. Make your voices heard.

[Bocababs]

U-Tube was not invented yet. Kennedy would have never made it to the Presidency either if we had this kind of visceral vetting, I call it of our politicians.

[paixa3]

Sadly, the USA is filled with many, too many, IGNORANTS.

[Artisbey]

The Rev. Wright maintains that attacks on him are attacks on the black church.

Where did this come from? I haven't heard a single attack on the black church as an institution, just on his ourtgeous, indefensible statements.

He's just trying to get the heat off himself by convincing black Christians that attacks on him are tantamount to attacks on the black church. Total foolishness.

Besides I don't trust any pompous egomaniac who continually refers to himself in the third person.

Who does he think he is, a basketball player?

[ibsteve2u]

Who does he think he is, a basketball player? Or Bill Clinton?

[elmysterio]

"just on his ourtgeous, indefensible statements­."

So, by telling the TRUTH about the nature of the United States, he's making outrageous statements??? Do you even KNOW what he said? And why he said it? Wipe the "star and stripes" out of your eyes and take a good hard look at your country... where it came from, what it does, and where it's going... if you seriously took a good hard look, what you'll find isn't pretty.

[Opus007]

I was also very taken by the snippets the media has been playing over and over again in contrast to the very thoughtful man I saw in Bill Moyers interview.

The corporate contriolled has an obvious agenda. Just look how they beat this story to death while McCain gets off scott free while he rides around with the busload full of lobbyists.

Bill Moyers is a gem. The rest of the talking morons should be ashamed.

[Liverp2]

I suspect you are mostly Obama supporters and you are looking for an excuse ot have him elected.

Shame on you.

That speech was racism at it's best. It is no wonder black people won't let go of their hate for white people. With people like him expounding on the difference in our color. Is it any wonder Bill Clinton is being called a racist?

Good grief I am sorry for those who want to believe but he is 100% wrong.

We are ALL HUMAN BEINGS AND WE ARE ALL GOD'S CHILDREN

[renoir]

Us Obama supporters don't need "an excuse" to support or defend him... we simply support him. That is our right and we do not have to apologize for it to you.

If you only heard snippets of the Rev. Wright speech then, yeah, it's offensive.­.. but it's fair to put it in context and it's fair to say that Obama is NOT Wright. What do you want? How many times does Obama have to renounce these statements that SOMEONE ELSE MADE for it to be okay with you? I don't think that speaking truth to power fuels hatred, and your comment that "black people won't let go of their hate for white people" is totally out of line. Just like the anti-feminists from my youth who would take a woman's statement about sexism out of context and pretend that criticism = hatred or all men, you are confusing a minority's experience with your own.

It's fascinating for us atheists to watch the so-called religious rip each other apart over style and tiny differences between sects. It's all about your own personal myth, and that's your right. But to pretend that other people's statements are black and white (so to speak) when taken out of context, and to criticize a reverend who, when all is said and done, has done wonderful life work for the human race and the poor and then to pretend that it characterizes his CHARACTER is unjust.

[elmysterio]

2 things...

1) I watched the sermon in it's entirety and I found NOTHING racist about it at all. I guess you'll consider it racism when a "black man" speaks up about injustice and inequity..­.

2) Black people won't let go of their hate for white people? Well duh... It's not like the white people have made amends for the disgusting treatment blacks have received and continue to receive in the US. And no, I'm not black... but come on people, until true equality is achieved, how can you expect peace?

[wino486]

I would like to know what kind of amends I should make for people who owned slaves 200 years before I was born. I was born poor and white to a good hard working family. I picked cotton as soon as I was big enough to pull a sack, to help feed the family. My parents could not send us to college, and we could not get help. But the black kids I went to school with were offered help from dozens of colleges. Just what amends should I make?

[BigSid]

Too bad Obama didn't stick by his man and his words.

[DRPike]

He stuck by the man and has no business sticking or not by anyone else's words.

[Liverp2]

Personally, I think he has no business being involved in this election.

He has already caused enough racial derision and now we are off again.

I would never vote for Obama he sounds just like him, except right now he is watching what he says.
His wife Michelle has not learned how to hide it as well as her husband.

Wright is a racist, remember Lee Harvey Oswald was in the military too. He does not want the races to unite and be Americans he is trying to mess up a good thing, we were coming together until his tapes showed up and we saw how Obama had overlooked him for 20 years.

The country does not need this we have enough problems to solve.
Reverend Wright is just like Obama he thinks he is smarter and better than everyone else.

[DRPike]

But your not bitter.

[elmysterio]

That's because Obama IS SMARTER than you.

[DiogenesII]

Ms. Jong,

I have been anxiously waiting, disappointedly, for many weeks for an individual to employ a modicum of "critical" analysis and studied research, prior to publishing a thesis on this controversy, and you have delivered a refreshingly candid, honorable and objective effort to provide and disseminate the "Truth."

In this age of an abundance of "media mavens", electronic, print, or alternative, much to my dismay, I'm amazed at the level of sloth we find in the so called "fourth estate". This dereliction and gross negligence by the media serves only to enable, and in many cases, and an ominous complicity in
the perpetration of high crimes and misdemeanors. We need look no further than the mendacious precept, which caused us to march off to an irrational, ill-conceived and unnecessary war.

Your insightful assessment and words are greatly appreciated as we are well aware, that the
“revolution of conscience and thought”, will not be televised. You have clearly demonstrated,
you have no “Fear of Flying”.

As you indicated, we must applaud Bill Moyers; a most distinguished and celebrated real journalist,
equipped with a Devinity Degree from the Southwest Theological Seminary. His unique qualifications
and sensibilities makes him uniquely qualified to engage in a constructive conversation of faith and theological tradition.


“IN A TIME OF UNIVERSAL DECEIPT, TRUTH IS A REVOLUTIONARY ACT”

George Orwell

[flatus]

As a now waivering Obama supporter the question now seems to be,"Would Obama still be in the lead if the primaries began last month?". Wright is delivering much pain. Although I agree that much of what he says has the ring of truth, the "GD America" comment cannot be defended. Certainly not when delivered by a man of God.

Now we have Wright on the loose, seeming to prefer his own moment in the sun to the much greater goal of electing Obama. His hateful imitation of Kennedy and Johnson this weekend will not sit well with much of the electorate. Obama should have cut ties with this man but, sigh, that's all water under the bridge now.

[Warmenuf]

Read the book of Jeremiah, the OT prophet for whom Rev Wright was named. If you can't find condemnations of the policies of the nation of Judah there equivalent to the "God damn America" soundbite, you aren't looking. Wright is being true to biblical prophetic traditions. This is a problem only to people whose religion is nationalism rather than Christianity.

[flatus]

Please spare me ancient references from a book written by those who had just discovered how to word to parchment. Those written words taking the place of story teller's tales that had been embellished over many generations.

There can be nothing more serious that a man of God asking God to damn a nation.
This is not "I'll have a cheese burger, please!", this is "God, destroy America".

[DRPike]

Based in the trajectory of his campaign, Obama would not be "in the lead" if the primaries began last month, it would be over and Obama would be candidate campaigning against McCain.

[renoir]

OBAMA IS NOT REV. WRIGHT! I've even seen pictures of them together, so they must be two different men! What will it take for people to really internalize that? Obama has renounced this man's word! (with many variations of that sentiment) I don't get it. Why are people so fixated on something that someone else said and attaching it to a good candidate? Heaven help us if we've really become a nation of people willing to beat a dead horse to death while real issues go unremarked upon.

[flatus]

So if I attend KKK meetings for 20 years then I'm still viable a candidate in your eyes?

[BarCadiz]

I am tired of hearing about the blacks and slavery. Every race has gone through something, so get over it and move on.
I am from the Northeast and now live in the South. Race-wise it is like living in the 60s. It is people like these that will vote according to race instead of the better qualified candidate.

[donovong]

Ever thought about moving back up north, and taking your hypocritical baggage with you? Trust me - we won't miss you down here!

[DiogenesII]

BarCadiz,

It is more likely that people such as your ilk, through denial, that perpetuates the disease of bigotry. Your approach is to “edit” the shortcomings of an imperfect union to ease your conscience. Yes many things have happened to many people in this country: The decimation of the indigenous people, the enslavement of Africans, the prejudice against the Jews, the Irish, the jokes about, Polish the interment of the Japanese, ad infinitum. It is you who will cast their vote, on the single attribute of color, not qualifications?

[PlantGod72]

I ringraziamenti, Erica, per parlare la verità.

Thanks for speaking the truth!