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Austrian journalist slammed for racist Obama rant
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"Veteran Austrian television personality Klaus Emmerich has triggered a storm of criticism for his racist comments about Barack Obama, the US president-elect," reports Der Spiegel.
Here are four statements of interest by Emmerich, as quoted by Der Spiegel:
* "I wouldn't want the Western world to be directed by a black man. When you say that is a racist remark: right, without a doubt."
* "It must be going very badly for them that they so convincingly . . . send a black man, and a black, very good-looking woman, into the White House."
* "Blacks aren't as politically civilized."
* Obama has "a devil-like talent to present his rhetoric so effectively."
Comment: This journalist helps us appreciate American exceptionalism. That is, in the U.S., we understand that character is what counts. And we know why. This is not a bare philosophic statement hanging in mid-air.
First, then, skin color for all of us is an accident of history as people (moms and dads) make choices and the wonder of the Creator's diversity is expressed in various hues on the surfaces of our bodies.
This is something we can enjoy even as we refuse to turn it into an idol. Deifying any good thing, including diversity, is weakness, not strength.
What matters in good government is not the color of those elected to serve the people, but rather whether public servants recognize and respect inalienable rights from the hand of an existing, living Creator, without which the entire edifice of freedom lacks intellectual support and crashes to the ground. Human dignity under God precedes color arrangements from the Creator and how a society might evaluate them.
Second, Americans are glad to have a black man and his family in the White House. There are many of us who expected and welcomed such an event sooner rather than later.
Whether things political or social go well or badly for us hinges on how well President-elect Obama and other political servants line up with the Declaration, the U.S. Constitution, right over wrong, science, and the information we have from the Creator, from whose hand we receive inalienable rights in the first place.
Third, I know at least one white journalist who could use a primer in political civilization. This brings us back to American exceptionalism -- which really isn't about us but about the fruits of liberty when a people (any people, any color) base their polity on their true Creator, as opposed to the state, to nature "red in tooth and claw," to gender groups, to polls, and so on.
Fourth, "devil-like talent"? That's a moral assessment that has nothing to do with pigmentation. No one should fault Obama for seeking to put his best foot forward. Or fault us, including Joe the Plumber, for asking questions.
Our responsibility as a free and free-thinking people (and this includes journalists) is to hold Obama's "best foot forward" to the fire -- that is, to evaluate his worldview, principles of governance, policies, staffing, tactics, and real-world outcomes in the light of the Declaration, Constitution, inalienable rights, information from the Creator, and so on.
That kind of light reveals much about what's needed for presidents in Washington, citizens in America, and journalists in Austria.
Here's the article in Der Spiegel . . .
More on breaking news at The Pearcey Report . . .
