Meet Clarence Thomas, Self-Loather
From a Washington Post article about the new autobiography from Clarence Thomas:
Thomas has been a sharp critic of affirmative action and the use of racial classifications in schools, but he acknowledges in the book that he was admitted to Yale Law School in 1971 partly because he was black. "I'd graduated from one of America's top law schools -- but racial preference had robbed my achievement of its true value."
That's the most bizarre thing I've read in some time. In effect, he's saying this:
"I got into Yale because I'm black, but they shouldn't have accepted me based on that, and the fact that they did makes me feel diminished."
His achievement has been robbed of its true value, he claims? The man now has a lifetime appointment to the United States Supreme Court, for God's sake. The foundation for getting the job was surely his prestigious Yale parchment.
Let's be clear: racial preference helped get him in the door of a law school that historically lacked African-American representation, but it damn sure didn't sit through class for him, take exams for him, or pass the bar for him.
He had to do all of that on his own, even if his skin color were green (which it seems to be, with envy).
I'm no psychiatrist, but Justice Thomas strikes me as someone who doesn't like himself.
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After watching the 60 minutes interview I would have to agree with several other posters that Thomas is not so much a product of Ideology but is instead a severely damaged person psychologically due to where and how and the time period in which he was raised. Lots and lots of anger there, and it would seem that he means to have people pay for it for a long, long time.
I am sure that Bush, Sr. knew exactly what he was doing. "lets screw up that liberal Affirmative Action crap by ramming through Congress the most unqualified, undignified, self loathing black man we can find for the Supreme Court. Then those Liberals will realize what they started with Affirmative Action. That'll learn 'em. After all is said and done, Clarence Thomas is the fault of liberals, not us Republicans."
Isnt irony a great thing?
Why do you assume that he earned his grades at Yale any more than he believes that he earned admission there? As a college instructor myself, I know that affirmative action sometimes doesn't stop at the admissions office!
I can think of another Yale "graduate" who only got a diploma - a reward for a ream of 'gentleman's C's" - because of who his father is/was. These lifetime appointments must be ended.
I have never seen a more undignified Justice, who not only has conservative blinkers, but also is one who is not above insulting people while on Bench. Can we ever expect "justice" from such a person?
What Justice Thomas will NEVER admit to himself is... he didn't EARN the seat on the Supreme Court. He got it because he was black! Bottom line. Even though George HW Bush did not use the phrase, he was looking for Uncle Tom to fill the seat, and he succeeded brilliantly.
Clarence Thomas is one of the permanent living, breathing disasters of both Bush administrations.
I saw Thomas on 60 Minutes last night and came away with the impression that the guy has at least a touch of mental illness. I didn't get self-loathing so much as deluded. He has created for himself a rigid mental structure composed of conservative ideology into which no contrary view may be allowed. Mentally, he's got himself into a cramped, tiny, airtight box cuz without it he'd have to question his own fantastic rise to power and prestige. At the same time, he's seething with anger inside that box. He's a nut job.
No one knows what it's like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind george bush
No one knows what it's like
To be hated
To be fated
To telling only lies
But my dreams
They aren't as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That's never free
No one knows what it's like
To feel these feelings
Like I do
And I blame you
No one bites back as hard
On their anger
None of my pain and woe
Can show through
But my dreams
They aren't as empty
As my conscience seems to be
I have hours, only lonely
My love is vengeance
That's never free
When my fist clenches, crack it open
Before I use it and lose my cool
When I smile, tell me some bad news
Before I laugh and act like a fool
If I swallow anything evil
Put your finger down my throat
If I shiver, please give me a blanket
Keep me warm, let me wear your coat
No one knows what it's like
To be the bad man
To be the sad man
Behind george bush
Okay, the Anita Hill accusations were debunked.
The timeline was not right. They ran a documentary on TV late at night. No media picked up that story and today people still believe Anita Hill.
Sad that is. I wonder why Anita herself fell for it and made a fool of herself. Maybe one of these days we will find out.
I saw the '60 Minutes' interview - yes, I am officially old - and it was very interesting.
I think that Mr. Thomas was and is still angry that people thought he got into Yale just because of the color of his skin and not because of his intelligence. To my understanding, affirmative action was created in order to give opportunities to qualified candidates who normally would have been discriminated against because of their gender (women) and race. He was black and he was qualified. However, like in many of blacks' cases, people automatically think you're hired, accepted, promoted, etc., because of your race (and sometimes gender). And even if you can kick their asses in every aspect, most times - sometimes - it still doesn't matter. You're still the negro who got in, accepted, promoted, etc., because of affirmative acction. We're 'never' given the credit. Or, if we are, we're seen as the Super Black (in cases of skin color).
When it comes down to it, who cares what people think.
Most people are going to make racist assumptions about you one way or the other if you are a "minority" so its a no-win situation.
When a white person (such as George Bush Jr) gets into Harvard and Yale because of his family connections, do people assume that he got in because of the color of his skin?
With that said -- again -- who cares what people think.
All that matters is that you know that you are qualified for your position and that you perform up to your own expectations.
If it angers those who would assume that you aren't qualified for your position simply because you are a "minority" then that is their problem, not yours.
No one questions when non-minority white males use their connections to get ahead so likewise no one has the right to judge a "minority" for using whatever means to get ahead as well.
Well said.
It annoys me as well when people continue to ignore the legacy form of affirmative action as you stated. The other form is financial. Yes, America, there are children who are accepted based on the fact they have no need for fiinancial assistance. Isn't there a running joke about Brown University on this very issue? 'I can always go to Brown?'...or something like that?
In any case, I know I'm qualified and it always gives me great pleasure to show it to the doubters and the haters. It's not purposefully done, it's just getting the job done.
Saw the "60 Minutes" interview, very confusing, but I still believe Anita Hill.
Do you still believe Juanita Broderick?
Do you still believe Kathleen Willey?
Do you still believe Paula Jones?
Do you still believe Myra Belle "Sally" Miller?
Question: What the hell do Bill Clinton accusers Paula Jones and Juanita Broderick have to do with Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas?
Answer: Absolutely nothing.
Oh, wait. I get it. Commenter Giglawyer is suggesting that if you believe one accuser in one case (Anita Hill) you have to believe all accusers in all other cases as well or else you're not being consistent. Giglawyer is saying, apparently, that all women behave the same.
Steve Kroft said people assume from Thomas's silence that he's stupid or incompetent. Not me. I think he's a vindictive, hate-filled old man who's punishing us, his persecutors, who don't appreciate his moral and intellectual superiority. Scary stuff.
I did not watch the entire segment of 60 Minutes, but it is scary that Thomas is in the Supreme Court. Thomas does not believe in affirmative action, yet he never refuses it and actually profits from it. Obviously not qualified for the Supreme Court, he accepts the position and then demeans it. The man suffers from deep inferiority complex from having grown up in a racist environment and does not know how to deal with it as an adult. So he marries a white woman and adopts the views of those who would have been his oppressors. A little therapy might help him.
Brighter Star has it wrong. I'm a libertarian progressive, and I don't care a whit whether Thomas is black or not. I do care that he was nominated for his position for political reasons, not because he was the best qualified candidate...which he clearly was not. He wasn't even WELL QUALIFIED, let alone the best.
Oh, and please, trolls, don't respond that other Supremes were nominated because they were black, or women, or whatever. It's still wrong to place someone on the Supreme Court when better qualified candidates are available. Thomas made the whole thing worse by pulling the race card out; his unfair treatment had nothing to with race, and everything to do with feminist pressure groups who used ancient allegations of sexual harassment to disguise their true motive, which was to protect abortion rights.
He's a supreme court justice and he's "complaining"? Whazzat about?
C. Thomas sounds like a self-involved, whining narcissist. Nothing pleases Mr Thomas.
Of course, he is in a highly uncomfortable position of looking like the Supreme Fool on the supreme court: being a chronic "echo boy" for extremist Scalia, writing nary a single original opinion, and sitting mum like a bump on a log in virtually all cases--saying NOTHING.
If Mr Thomas is that uncomfortable, HE SHOULD QUIT.
Perhaps his real feelings of self-loathing originated when he was selected to be Thurgood Marshall's replacement on the Supreme Court. He probably got over the whole "affirmative action getting him a place in Yale" thing years ago, but when his nomination came SOLELY because he's Black and George I *had* to choose a Black man to replace Thurgood Marshall, I can only surmise that it really affected Clarence's self-worth.
Just imagine if you knew the only reason you were chosen to take a seat on the highest Court in the United States of America was because you just happened to match your predecessor's race, and NOT because any other qualifications had been considered. (Of course, Clarence wasn't regarded very highly by the American Bar Association, so he might just suck it up and realize that at any other time in this country's history, he wouldn't have ever been considered for the position--well, not without having been a major contributor to a presidential campaign.)
He not only had to match his predecessor's race, he had to harbor extreme right-wing beliefs. Now, those are tough shoes to fill.
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