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.

Comments

[nunzia]

No, I think he's probably right. He probably got the same kind of preferential deferential treatment in law school that he got when he was - wholly without merit - put on the SC. I think he knows the truth and that's why he hates himself. That catholic guilt gets you every time.

[deedrdo]

if he felt 'diminished' by being accepted into yale then why didn't he keep his dignity and say "no thank you"?

rather than emphasizing self-loathing i think it epitomizes moral bankruptcy.

[lisakaz]

That's a very perceptive thought. Guess he does have something in common with Paris Hilton, after all.

[peacehappens]

It is very telling that he says that he didn't listen to all of Anita Hill's testimony but he knows she lied.

[PerryWhite]

I haven't read everything that you have written but I know you are illogical.

[Qbear]

The next African American Supreme Court Justice will show what a lackluster oaf Thomas is/was. I hope she/he laughs and laughs at what Thomas thought were such incisive legal opinions.
Thomas isn't qualified to be Ginsberg's law clerk.

[BrighterStar]

Hay spelling snob, Thomas does not need anyone to stick up for him. If you were to read his decisions you would quickly realize that he is a brilliant jurist. But, I suppose, knowing of what you speak may be to much to ask of you.

[Apples]

Look for the book 'Blinded By The Right' by David Brock.

It's a good read, and even though the author himself is not a particularly likeable character, the message of the book and the revealing attitude of many on the Right is invaluable. The section on Clarence Thomas and Anita Hill is of particular interest. Brock wrote the damaging "The Real Anita Hill" only to state later that it was a book of lies. He even wrote to Anita Hill apologizing. Considering the hell she was dragged through, her response was very gracious.

But the important thing that the book reveals, though it never states it, is that Thomas should never have been confirmed on the Supreme Court. Reading these extracts on the HuffPo only underlines this fact.

[SkippyJones]

With all due respect, I'm mortified by Clarence Thomas, but this hit job is ridiculous. Taking a paragraph of text and reading an entire man's life out of it is pathetic. Its clear to me that what Thomas intended to express was that racial preference had robbed his achievement because others will always view it as a product of racial preference. There are plenty of african-americans who full heartedly agree with this sentiment and are not 'self-loathers' of the worse kind. C'mon. For that matter, any one who has ever received an appointment, promotion, acceptance or raise with the taint that it was due to other factors than excellence (such as beauty, family connections, skin color) always feels the tinge of the taint, some more than others. I actually call it sensitivity, and I'd be pissed, too, if I rose through yale law school with a ghost always floating next to me that says "it was because he's black". I think Thomas is batshit crazy, frankly, but he is wounded because of race, and understandably so - even here on huffpo the comments were full of racist diatribes. I frankly think he is so wounded from that, and yes, mixed with some self-loathing on a variety of matters, that his revenge is a sort of passive aggressive non-participation in the Supreme Court.
When we attempt to read others lives from a snippet of text, we must try to practice a charitable intepretation, not making it out to be "virtually a clinical definition of the weirdest kind of self-loathing." I would frankly call this post an "axe grinding" of the weirdest kind if we are going to so easily make such snap judgements.

[YellerDawg]

Get off your high horse. This a blog. People make judgements, and other people respond. Mr. Williams has a right to his opinion. I think Clarence Thomas's psychological condition is fair game, considering the power he wields over us all. Sure, he's suffered from discrimination in his life, so he has a right to sing the blues, but it's a little disingenuous to take advantage of affirmative action and then try to take the same opportunity from others. His condition seems more akin to Stockholm Syndrome, in as much as he seems to have embraced his oppressors. He may deserve to be called an Uncle Tom, but that is a disservice to Uncle Tom. The Uncle Tom of Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel was an admirable man who gave his life rather than divulge the whereabouts of two escaped slave women.

[BrighterStar]

Are you saying that anyone who benefits from affirmative action becomes bound to defend it. A black man who benefits from affirmative action loses his right to think differently? Do you want to keep blacks on the liberal plantation forever? So much for free at last.

[thesimulacra]

Actually if you read the WashPo article he's quoting, you definitely get the sense of self-loathing he's talking about. And honestly calling William's little piece a "hit job" is taking it a bit far. If you read what Williams was writing he was trying to say that Thomas shouldn't be so hard on himself.

[maddogbitesback]

Clarence Thomas is a Supreme Court judge. He says he got into a prestigious law school partly because of his color. Anita Hill was a brilliant black lawyer who sent a report about her experience while working with Clarence Thomas, to those involved with assessing him before he was made a Supreme Court judge. Her written submission was not for public consumption but was leaked to the press. She had several prominent white lawyers testifying about her character. She had a good job and a quiet life. Clarence Thomas' response to what she said re his pornographic video watching was turned against her. He said he felt as if he was being lynched. I never did see how that worked. She wrote something she was asked to write, it was confidential, it was leaked and he, having got into law school in part because he was black, said he felt he was being lynched. Supposedly by Anita Hill who is black and had a very secure prestigious job. Anita hill was the victim. Clarence Thomas was a quick talker. Clarence Thomas should have talked to Bork before he wrote his book. Clarence Thomas got into law school because he was a bright blackman. He got onto the Supreme Court bench because he was a black man and conservative. Anita Hill was ruined by what Clarence Thomas said but picked herself up and kept going strong. The damage done to her is not important to Clarence Thomas. She is black but she is a black woman and because she did what she was obliged to do she was lynched by Clarence Thomas. I have not read his opinions but I have never read anything about them that indicated he was anything but great.

[TommyMcCarthy]

PULLING THE LADDER UP BEHIND YOU??

Justice Thomas is just the latest in a long line of "conservatives" who have availed themselves of everything from affirmative action to national defense student loans: from a free public education to an F.H.A. morgatge: from National Public Radio to the interstate highway system: from a chair at a public university, to a chair at the U.S. Supreme court:............and then spent a lifetime railing how these programs should be cut, privatised and/or abolished before anymore undeserving deadbeats take advantage of them.......tm

[BrighterStar]

Do black men in America have the freedom to think for themselves or must they blindly follow liberal dogma?

[thesimulacra]

So because he's black we're not allowed to criticize him for being a radical conservative?

[BrighterStar]

The point is that Thomas gets more criticism than do white conservatives with similar points of view. If you doubt me just read the comments to this post.

[YellerDawg]

No, they don't. Black men are free to blindly follow the dogma of a party and movement that would oppress them, but such men had better be able to take the heat such misguided collaboration always generates. If Clarence doesn't have the courage of his convictions, then why are we even talking about him?

[BrighterStar]

Then argue against his position and leave his skin color out of it.

[mikeinwaco]

No memoir will change some basic facts that were in evidence at the time of Thomas's confirmation hearings:
1) he was an avid purveyor of porn videos
2) he was disgusting perpetrator of sexual harassment
3) he was a repetitive liar in his denials of both of the above
4) he was a notoriously poor EOE administrator
5) he had not distguished record of scholarly legal work

[maddogbitesback]

That is so true. He is one of the worst ever on the Supreme Court. And while he whines others who have risen in spite of gender and color keep their mouths shut and keep on trucking.

[Manx]

Thomas' book makes me wonder how a man so absorbed in bitterness could ever render an objective decision on any case that comes before the court. He is the most reticent member of the court and rarely writes an opinion. Maybe, that's because his opinions are preordained by his hatred of his perceived enemies - "left-wing zealots draped in flowing sanctimony." It would seem that he is not so much interested in justice as he is vengeance.

[TommyMcCarthy]

I agree.....and have thought all along that Thomas' opinions are more or less preordianed by his resentments.

There's an anecdote in Bob Woodward's "The Bretheren" in which a clerk to chief justice Warren Burger (also not noted for powerful intellect/ also a kneejerk conservative) scribbles at the bottom of a proposed brief: P.S. CHIEF...THE UNIONS LOSE!!

As an aside: I think Thomas' DECIDING vote in Bush v. Gore was about as preordained as that. It also had the added benefit of allowing Justice Thomas's WIFE to continue her fine work at the BUSH TRANSITION TEAM!!.......a blatant conflict-of-interest not often mentioned but quite significant in my opinion......tm

[NoContest]

"It would seem that he is not so much interested in justice as he is vengeance. "

That says it.

What another horrid, typical, disgusting Republican. And not just on the Judiciary. Washington is full of this mentality.

[littleblackcat]

These two comments speak volumes. Simplicity is often best. Thanks.

[murphchand]

I don't suppose CT is aware of the reversal of gains since affirmative action was so successfully gutted for the 14% minority by the 86% majority. He wouldn't know what opportunity was if it slapped in in the face.

BTW, how many of his written SC opinions have stood on their own? Less than I can count on one finger. So much for accomplishment and achievement.

[DonB]

Clarence Thomas is a disgrace. Under normal circumstances we would expect the chief justice of SCOTUS to discipline him but this court is so politicized and partisan that it will not happen.

If anybody had any doubts that Bush v Gore was a blatantly partisan ruling this should put an end to it. The 5 justices who voted for it were common thieves.

Clarence Thomas increasingly sounds like an unhinged radio talk show host. He is a disgrace.

[thesimulacra]

"Clarence Thomas increasingly sounds like an unhinged radio talk show host."

How apros-po... he's going to talk about his book on Rush Limbaugh's show this week. Anybody here still think Thomas isn't a disgrace?

[littleblackcat]

I must say your tying him up with his Mouth Dimbulb appearance gave me a laugh. How on earth can any thinking person appear on limbaugh's show? OOps! Sorry. The fact that he is, shows that he isn't.

[urbangreen]

Thomas is the epitome of bitter self-loathing. He knows damned well he's an affirmative action baby all the way.

Daddy Bush chose Thomas over many more highly qualified black jurists as a way of thumbing his nose at supporters of affirmative action.

[Boadicea]

Thomas is suffering from that age old condition that mainly effects adolescents which could be called insecure selfishness.

He doesn't want other members of his community to do as well as he did. Even more common than self-loathing. Ask any girl graduating from high school.