A low IQ isn't required to read the New York Times, but it helps.

[cnelsen]

Here's today's entry to the Stupid-Things-You'll-Find-in-the-NYT list:

"Their resentment of the removal of public symbols of the Confederate past — the genesis of this weekend’s rally — is fueled by revisionist history."

by the especially stupid, hate-spewing, super-light-skinned Michael Eric Dyson.

Hey, Michael, those monuments have stood for 150 years, so when you and your American Taliban allies demand they be removed, it is you who is revising history.

 

[usmbguest5318]

Having a not-high-enough IQ may explain why you don't "get" the sentence you've quoted. It appears in a paragraph that has a Gunning-Fog Index score of 16.57, which corresponds to a college senior's reading level.

The whole paragraph reads:

Such an ungainly assembly of white supremacists rides herd on political memory. Their resentment of the removal of public symbols of the Confederate past — the genesis of this weekend’s rally — is fueled by revisionist history. They fancy themselves the victims of the so-called politically correct assault on American democracy, a false narrative that helped propel Mr. Trump to victory. Each feeds on the same demented lies about race and justice that corrupt true democracy and erode real liberty. Together they constitute the repulsive resurgence of a virulent bigotocracy.​

The theme of that paragraph is later expounded upon in Dyson's essay. One must, however, have the training and intellectual acuity sufficient for recognizing that, in terms of compositional structure, the above paragraph is in Dyson's essay prefatory to the next couple that follow.

The essay continues:

This bigotocracy overlooks fundamental facts about slavery in this country: that blacks were stolen from their African homeland to toil for no wages in American dirt. When black folk and others point that out, white bigots are aggrieved. They are especially offended when it is argued that slavery changed clothes during Reconstruction and got dressed up as freedom, only to keep menacing black folk as it did during Jim Crow. The bigotocracy is angry that slavery is seen as this nation’s original sin. And yet they remain depressingly and purposefully ignorant of what slavery was, how it happened, what it did to us, how it shaped race and the air and space between white and black folk, and the life and arc of white and black cultures.

They cling to a faded Southern aristocracy whose benefits — of alleged white superiority, and moral and intellectual supremacy — trickled down to ordinary whites. If they couldn’t drink from the cup of economic advantage that white elites tasted, at least they could sip what was left of a hateful ideology: at least they weren’t black. The renowned scholar W.E.B. Du Bois called this alleged sense of superiority the psychic wages of whiteness. President Lyndon Baines Johnson once argued, “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
​

Reading the entire essay, one observes the following:

• Paragraph 1: Tonal introduction
• Paragraph 2: Situational introduction
• Paragraph 3: Thematic introduction
• Next two paragraphs: Development of the key theme
• Remaining paragraphs: Observations, implications and conclusion.

If one is a sentence-by-sentence comprehender rather than a forest-and-trees comprehender, I understand why one may hone in on just one sentence of such an essay. Too, individuals by taking a statement out of context to make something out that which doesn't truly exist in an author's piece, but that in abstraction can be made to seem as though it does, well, such individuals also may posit the notion one finds in this thread's opening post.

I agree with your assertion about not needing a high IQ or education level to read New York Times, at least in terms of its news articles. Of course, the piece cited in the OP is not a news article.

 

[cnelsen]

OK, then, explain how the white unity types are "revisionist". Then, if you can, explain the difference between the Taliban who blew up the ancient Buddhist statues in Afghanistan and the BLM folks clamoring to remove the statue of Robert E Lee.

 

[Pogo]

Having a not-high-enough IQ may explain why you don't "get" the sentence you've quoted. It appears in a paragraph that has a Gunning-Fog Index score of 16.57, which corresponds to a college senior's reading level.

The whole paragraph reads:

Such an ungainly assembly of white supremacists rides herd on political memory. Their resentment of the removal of public symbols of the Confederate past — the genesis of this weekend’s rally — is fueled by revisionist history. They fancy themselves the victims of the so-called politically correct assault on American democracy, a false narrative that helped propel Mr. Trump to victory. Each feeds on the same demented lies about race and justice that corrupt true democracy and erode real liberty. Together they constitute the repulsive resurgence of a virulent bigotocracy.​

The theme of that paragraph is later expounded upon in Dyson's essay. One must, however, have the training and intellectual acuity sufficient for recognizing that, in terms of compositional structure, the above paragraph is in Dyson's essay prefatory to the next couple that follow.

The essay continues:

This bigotocracy overlooks fundamental facts about slavery in this country: that blacks were stolen from their African homeland to toil for no wages in American dirt. When black folk and others point that out, white bigots are aggrieved. They are especially offended when it is argued that slavery changed clothes during Reconstruction and got dressed up as freedom, only to keep menacing black folk as it did during Jim Crow. The bigotocracy is angry that slavery is seen as this nation’s original sin. And yet they remain depressingly and purposefully ignorant of what slavery was, how it happened, what it did to us, how it shaped race and the air and space between white and black folk, and the life and arc of white and black cultures.

They cling to a faded Southern aristocracy whose benefits — of alleged white superiority, and moral and intellectual supremacy — trickled down to ordinary whites. If they couldn’t drink from the cup of economic advantage that white elites tasted, at least they could sip what was left of a hateful ideology: at least they weren’t black. The renowned scholar W.E.B. Du Bois called this alleged sense of superiority the psychic wages of whiteness. President Lyndon Baines Johnson once argued, “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
​

Reading the entire essay, one observes the following:

• Paragraph 1: Tonal introduction
• Paragraph 2: Situational introduction
• Paragraph 3: Thematic introduction
• Next two paragraphs: Development of the key theme
• Remaining paragraphs: Observations, implications and conclusion.

If one is a sentence-by-sentence comprehender rather than a forest-and-trees comprehender, I understand why one may hone in on just one sentence of such an essay. Too, individuals by taking a statement out of context to make something out that which doesn't truly exist in an author's piece, but that in abstraction can be made to seem as though it does, well, such individuals also may posit the notion one finds in this thread's opening post.

I agree with your assertion about not needing a high IQ or education level to read New York Times, at least in terms of its news articles. Of course, the piece cited in the OP is not a news article.

Nor did the OP even link anything. Wonder why.

Nor do statues and monuments constitute "history" anyway. They constitute commemorations of history. Thus, removing a monument doesn't remove the history but rather removes the commemoration. And what is a commemoration but a reflection of what that community deems worthy of a place of honor. And that value, over time, changes.

One wonders if the OP and his ilk were similarly "outraged" when the new owner of a building in Pulaski Tennessee turned backwards a plaque that had been placed there in 1917 by the Daughters of the Confederacy commemorating that building as the site where the Ku Klux Klan was formed.

Ah but that was twenty years ago and that shit wasn't being encouraged as it is now.

 

[Pogo]

OK, then, explain how the white unity types are "revisionist". Then, if you can, explain the difference between the Taliban who blew up the ancient Buddhist statues in Afghanistan and the BLM folks clamoring to remove the statue of Robert E Lee.

WHO is proposing blowing up statues of Robert E. Lee?

And WHEN did Robert E. Lee turn into a religious figure?

What did you think of the removal in New Orleans of the Liberty Place monument? You know, the commemoration of the riot started by the White League, one of the dozens of vigilante white supremacist groups that sprang up with the Klan (and in their case outlasted it)?

Do you mourn for the marker honoring the White League?

How many people do you think learned about the White League from that marker? I didn't learn about it from there even after living in that city for a dozen years.

 

[miketx]

OK, then, explain how the white unity types are "revisionist". Then, if you can, explain the difference between the Taliban who blew up the ancient Buddhist statues in Afghanistan and the BLM folks clamoring to remove the statue of Robert E Lee.

WHO is proposing blowing up statues of Robert E. Lee?

And WHEN did Robert E. Lee turn into a religious figure?

What did you think of the removal in New Orleans of the Liberty Place monument? You know, the commemoration of the riot started by the White League, one of the dozens of vigilante white supremacist groups that sprang up with the Klan (and in their case outlasted it)?

Do you mourn for the marker honoring the White League?

How many people do you think learned about the White League from that marker?

The king of deflection and smoke and mirrors speaks!

 

[Pogo]

OK, then, explain how the white unity types are "revisionist". Then, if you can, explain the difference between the Taliban who blew up the ancient Buddhist statues in Afghanistan and the BLM folks clamoring to remove the statue of Robert E Lee.

WHO is proposing blowing up statues of Robert E. Lee?

And WHEN did Robert E. Lee turn into a religious figure?

What did you think of the removal in New Orleans of the Liberty Place monument? You know, the commemoration of the riot started by the White League, one of the dozens of vigilante white supremacist groups that sprang up with the Klan (and in their case outlasted it)?

Do you mourn for the marker honoring the White League?

How many people do you think learned about the White League from that marker?

The king of deflection and smoke and mirrors speaks!

So go ahead.....

 

[Pogo]

A low IQ isn't required to read the New York Times, but it helps

Know what actually IS required to read it?

Something we call a "link".

How long do you suppose it takes to set that up?

Or did you just want to cherrypick certain sentences out of context and then go "Hey Michael" to an author who isn't even here to read it? Echo chamber much?

And while you're at it, why don't you essplain to the class exactly what the color of the author's skin has to do with the material therein. You know, for those of us sporting a low RQ.

 

[miketx]

A low IQ isn't required to read the New York Times, but it helps

Know what actually IS required to read it?

Something we call a "link".

How long do you suppose it takes to set that up?

Or did you just want to cherrypick certain sentences out of context and then go "Hey Michael" to an author who isn't even here to read it? Echo chamber much?

And while you're at it, why don't you essplain to the class exactly what the color of the author's skin has to do with the material therein.

Trolling noted. The race of a person usually sets the stage for certain amounts of opinion based on their skin color.

 

[rightwinger]

Here's today's entry to the Stupid-Things-You'll-Find-in-the-NYT list:

"Their resentment of the removal of public symbols of the Confederate past — the genesis of this weekend’s rally — is fueled by revisionist history."

by the especially stupid, hate-spewing, super-light-skinned Michael Eric Dyson.

Hey, Michael, those monuments have stood for 150 years, so when you and your American Taliban allies demand they be removed, it is you who is revising history.

Those monuments have not stood for 150 years
They were erected well after the war

 

[cnelsen]

Def

Having a not-high-enough IQ may explain why you don't "get" the sentence you've quoted. It appears in a paragraph that has a Gunning-Fog Index score of 16.57, which corresponds to a college senior's reading level.

The whole paragraph reads:

Such an ungainly assembly of white supremacists rides herd on political memory. Their resentment of the removal of public symbols of the Confederate past — the genesis of this weekend’s rally — is fueled by revisionist history. They fancy themselves the victims of the so-called politically correct assault on American democracy, a false narrative that helped propel Mr. Trump to victory. Each feeds on the same demented lies about race and justice that corrupt true democracy and erode real liberty. Together they constitute the repulsive resurgence of a virulent bigotocracy.​

The theme of that paragraph is later expounded upon in Dyson's essay. One must, however, have the training and intellectual acuity sufficient for recognizing that, in terms of compositional structure, the above paragraph is in Dyson's essay prefatory to the next couple that follow.

The essay continues:

This bigotocracy overlooks fundamental facts about slavery in this country: that blacks were stolen from their African homeland to toil for no wages in American dirt. When black folk and others point that out, white bigots are aggrieved. They are especially offended when it is argued that slavery changed clothes during Reconstruction and got dressed up as freedom, only to keep menacing black folk as it did during Jim Crow. The bigotocracy is angry that slavery is seen as this nation’s original sin. And yet they remain depressingly and purposefully ignorant of what slavery was, how it happened, what it did to us, how it shaped race and the air and space between white and black folk, and the life and arc of white and black cultures.

They cling to a faded Southern aristocracy whose benefits — of alleged white superiority, and moral and intellectual supremacy — trickled down to ordinary whites. If they couldn’t drink from the cup of economic advantage that white elites tasted, at least they could sip what was left of a hateful ideology: at least they weren’t black. The renowned scholar W.E.B. Du Bois called this alleged sense of superiority the psychic wages of whiteness. President Lyndon Baines Johnson once argued, “If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you.”
​

Reading the entire essay, one observes the following:

• Paragraph 1: Tonal introduction
• Paragraph 2: Situational introduction
• Paragraph 3: Thematic introduction
• Next two paragraphs: Development of the key theme
• Remaining paragraphs: Observations, implications and conclusion.

If one is a sentence-by-sentence comprehender rather than a forest-and-trees comprehender, I understand why one may hone in on just one sentence of such an essay. Too, individuals by taking a statement out of context to make something out that which doesn't truly exist in an author's piece, but that in abstraction can be made to seem as though it does, well, such individuals also may posit the notion one finds in this thread's opening post.

I agree with your assertion about not needing a high IQ or education level to read New York Times, at least in terms of its news articles. Of course, the piece cited in the OP is not a news article.

Nor did the OP even link anything. Wonder why.

Nor do statues and monuments constitute "history" anyway. They constitute commemorations of history. Thus, removing a monument doesn't remove the history but rather removes the commemoration. And what is a commemoration but a reflection of what that community deems worthy of a place of honor. And that value, over time, changes.

One wonders if the OP and his ilk were similarly "outraged" when the new owner of a building in Pulaski Tennessee turned backwards a plaque that had been placed there in 1917 by the Daughters of the Confederacy commemorating that building as the site where the Ku Klux Klan was formed.

Ah but that was twenty years ago and that shit wasn't being encouraged as it is now.

Define "encouraged". Encouraged by whom? Since you are a fan of links, this is all there is to say about the destruction of heritage:

New Orleans Is Not New Orleans Anymore

 

[cnelsen]

WHO is proposing blowing up statues of Robert E. Lee?

And WHEN did Robert E. Lee turn into a religious figure?

So you are arguing that the BLM and Taliban are different because 1) the Taliban blows up statues while BLM just tears them down, and 2) the only monuments worth preserving are religious monuments?

 

[cnelsen]

And while you're at it, why don't you essplain to the class exactly what the color of the author's skin has to do with the material therein. You know, for those of us sporting a low RQ.

Nuthin', Teach. Nuthin' at all.

1. Charlottesville and the Bigotocracy
   It is disheartening for black folk to see such a vile and despicable replay of history.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   Aug. 13, 2017
2. Racial Violence on the Screen
   We can witness brutality, in the movie “Detroit” or on police dashcams, but what is the country unwilling to see?
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   Aug. 5, 2017
3. How Black America Saw Obama
   His success elated us. But then we spent eight years worrying for his life.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   Jan. 14, 2017
4. Death in Black and White
   In a week full of killings, racial justice feels elusive.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   July 7, 2016
5. Barack Obama, the President of Black America?
   What the haters and the hagiographers get wrong.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   June 24, 2016
6. President Obama’s Racial Renaissance
   How our first black president can leave black Americans better off.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   Aug. 1, 2015
7. Love and Terror in the Black Church
   Our houses of worship are the site of particular power, and a magnet for violence.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   June 20, 2015
8. Goodbye to Freddie Gray and Goodbye to Quietly Accepting Injustice
   How could people destroy their own neighborhood? The real question is: How could they not?
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   April 29, 2015
9. Racial Terror, Fast and Slow
   One plays out on live TV. The other kills the soul, gradually and quietly.
   
   April 17, 2015
10. Where Do We Go After Ferguson?
    Ferguson illuminates our country’s racial divide.
    

 

[cnelsen]

Here's today's entry to the Stupid-Things-You'll-Find-in-the-NYT list:

"Their resentment of the removal of public symbols of the Confederate past — the genesis of this weekend’s rally — is fueled by revisionist history."

by the especially stupid, hate-spewing, super-light-skinned Michael Eric Dyson.

Hey, Michael, those monuments have stood for 150 years, so when you and your American Taliban allies demand they be removed, it is you who is revising history.

Those monument have not stood for 150 years
They were erected well after the war

Oh, well, then by all means, tear that shit down. Then we'll have racial healing.

 

[Pogo]

WHO is proposing blowing up statues of Robert E. Lee?

And WHEN did Robert E. Lee turn into a religious figure?

So you are arguing that the BLM and Taliban are different because 1) the Taliban blows up statues while BLM just tears them down, and 2) the only monuments worth preserving are religious monuments?

Mmmmm nope. I didn't bring up a "BLM" but the Taliban blew up religious icons just because they unilaterally felt like it, while New Orleans and Charlottesville (and elsewhere) VOTED to move monuments from a public outside place to inside --- without (again) the blowing of anything up.

No "BLM" involved in that, red herring attempt fall down, go boom.. Guess it got 'blown up'.

 

[Pogo]

And while you're at it, why don't you essplain to the class exactly what the color of the author's skin has to do with the material therein. You know, for those of us sporting a low RQ.

Nuthin', Teach. Nuthin' at all.

1. Charlottesville and the Bigotocracy
   It is disheartening for black folk to see such a vile and despicable replay of history.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   Aug. 13, 2017
2. Racial Violence on the Screen
   We can witness brutality, in the movie “Detroit” or on police dashcams, but what is the country unwilling to see?
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   Aug. 5, 2017
3. How Black America Saw Obama
   His success elated us. But then we spent eight years worrying for his life.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   Jan. 14, 2017
4. Death in Black and White
   In a week full of killings, racial justice feels elusive.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   July 7, 2016
5. Barack Obama, the President of Black America?
   What the haters and the hagiographers get wrong.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   June 24, 2016
6. President Obama’s Racial Renaissance
   How our first black president can leave black Americans better off.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   Aug. 1, 2015
7. Love and Terror in the Black Church
   Our houses of worship are the site of particular power, and a magnet for violence.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   June 20, 2015
8. Goodbye to Freddie Gray and Goodbye to Quietly Accepting Injustice
   How could people destroy their own neighborhood? The real question is: How could they not?
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   April 29, 2015
9. Racial Terror, Fast and Slow
   One plays out on live TV. The other kills the soul, gradually and quietly.
   
   April 17, 2015
10. Where Do We Go After Ferguson?
    Ferguson illuminates our country’s racial divide.

Thank you. That was like pulling teeth. So why did you go out of your way to post "super-light-skinned Michael Eric Dyson"? How come you don't call yourself "super-light-skinned (or whatever) CNelsen"? Seems relevant in your world, no?

And what's with all the irrelevant links to other stories? It's feast or famine around here.

 

[cnelsen]

WHO is proposing blowing up statues of Robert E. Lee?

And WHEN did Robert E. Lee turn into a religious figure?

So you are arguing that the BLM and Taliban are different because 1) the Taliban blows up statues while BLM just tears them down, and 2) the only monuments worth preserving are religious monuments?

Mmmmm nope. I didn't bring up a "BLM" but the Taliban blew up religious icons just because they unilaterally felt like it, while New Orleans and Charlottesville (and elsewhere) VOTED to move monuments from a public outside place to inside --- without (again) the blowing of anything up.

No "BLM" involved in that, red herring attempt fall down, go boom.. Guess it got 'blown up'.

Oh, so it's not unilateral if the majority agrees, and therefore, anything goes. OK, got it.

 

[cnelsen]

And while you're at it, why don't you essplain to the class exactly what the color of the author's skin has to do with the material therein. You know, for those of us sporting a low RQ.

Nuthin', Teach. Nuthin' at all.

1. Charlottesville and the Bigotocracy
   It is disheartening for black folk to see such a vile and despicable replay of history.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   Aug. 13, 2017
2. Racial Violence on the Screen
   We can witness brutality, in the movie “Detroit” or on police dashcams, but what is the country unwilling to see?
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   Aug. 5, 2017
3. How Black America Saw Obama
   His success elated us. But then we spent eight years worrying for his life.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   Jan. 14, 2017
4. Death in Black and White
   In a week full of killings, racial justice feels elusive.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   July 7, 2016
5. Barack Obama, the President of Black America?
   What the haters and the hagiographers get wrong.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   June 24, 2016
6. President Obama’s Racial Renaissance
   How our first black president can leave black Americans better off.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   Aug. 1, 2015
7. Love and Terror in the Black Church
   Our houses of worship are the site of particular power, and a magnet for violence.
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   June 20, 2015
8. Goodbye to Freddie Gray and Goodbye to Quietly Accepting Injustice
   How could people destroy their own neighborhood? The real question is: How could they not?
   
   By MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
   
   
   April 29, 2015
9. Racial Terror, Fast and Slow
   One plays out on live TV. The other kills the soul, gradually and quietly.
   
   April 17, 2015
10. Where Do We Go After Ferguson?
    Ferguson illuminates our country’s racial divide.

Thank you. That was like pulling teeth. So why did you go out of your way to post "super-light-skinned Michael Eric Dyson"? How come you don't call yourself "super-light-skinned (or whatever) CNelsen"? Seems relevant in your world, no?

And what's with all the irrelevant links to other stories? It's feast or famine around here.

Thought you'd pick up on the first-person plural-ness of his oeuvre without me having to state it explicitly.