[Reader-list] Ralph Nader, "White" Boy?

[Paul Miller]

Hi Nicholas - yes, that clip got passed around alot. I still totally  
and utterly disagree with Nader's use of what is viewed in a political  
context as ridiculously stupid rhetoric.

To call someone an "Uncle Tom" is a highly charged term in African  
American culture - I'm not sure what the South Asian equivalent would  
be. Of course there's a reason Fox News (never the most progressive  
place...) would highlight Nader saying that, and of course, he's  
trying to gain media traction by using incendiary terms.

I'd like to elevate the discourse a bit. If you look up Birth of a  
Nation and it's fear of an African American political leadership - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Birth_of_a_Nation

you can see a similar aesthetic at work. Will the new leader be the  
saviour of his people or be controlled by whites as a kind of stand in  
for their own agenda? That film was in 1915. Nader's comments were in  
2008. If we look at the philosophical implications of Obama's  
presidency, we need to look at something like Frantz Fanon's "Black  
Skin, White Masks" as a guide - perhaps. Or maybe, just maybe, the  
Obama presidency will be something totally new. It's too soon to say.

To be fair, one needs to have some kind of equilibrium. I don't think  
that Nader's comments were, as Fox News likes to say "fair and  
balanced."

in peace,
Paul


On Nov 10, 2008, at 9:06 AM, Nicholas Ruiz III wrote:

> Let's be fair...and not take Nader's comment out of context:
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibsP6XN2dIo
>
> There is little that is hurtful about the way in which Nader meant  
> to articulate a critique of the political (not racial) similarity of  
> Obama and McCain...
>
> NRIII
>
>
>
> Nicholas Ruiz III, Ph.D
> Editor, Kritikos
> http://intertheory.org
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Paul Miller <anansi1 at earthlink.net>
> To: V Ramaswamy <rama.sangye at gmail.com>
> Cc: reader-list at sarai.net
> Sent: Monday, November 10, 2008 7:57:45 AM
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Ralph Nader, "White" Boy?
>
> Hello Naeem, and hello V - -I'm now writing to you from the far
> northeast of the U.S. where I'm doing an artist residency at Dartmouth
> University.
>
> Sorry about the delay in communication - I had a 9 hour flight from
> Vienna to Washington D.C. then plane transfer to New England etc etc
> This is from my cell phone, so it's brief.
>
> OK - response:
>
> I'm a big fan of looking at things from the viewpoint of hybridity:
> yes, Nader is Lebanese American. Is it an identity he claims in public
> discourse? No.
>
> If a person who was identified as "white" American said that Obama was
> an Uncle Tom on a major news channel it would be greated with outrage
> (as Nader's comment was).
>
> I've lost a lot of respect for Nader from his comments. Imagine if in
> India a minority from the Muslim population (Muslim's make up about
> 13% of India's population), became Prime Minister, and these kinds of
> comments started up in the media. I'm sure people would be outraged.
> In any case, I definitely think it was simply a poor choice of words,
> and the intent to critique what Nader views as Obama's agenda got lost
> in the poor choice of rhetoric.
>
> I'm in the middle of releasing a "remix" of DW Griffith's film "Birth
> of a Nation" as an art piece. The film was made in 1915 and showed
> exactly the same kind of sentiments of Nader. I can only say I'm not
> too surprised. Brown on brown racism can sometimes be alot more
> virulent than white on brown racism. Many of my friends in the African
> American community were disgusted with Nader's comments. It's an
> emotional issue, and all I can say is that Nader lost alot of support
> with his comments.
>
> in peace,
> Paul
> On Nov 9, 2008, at 10:18 PM, V Ramaswamy wrote:
>
>> Nader's "Uncle Tom" comment is not in his "open letter". I believe
>> that was
>> made in an interview on Fox tv.
>> From what I understood (from an earlier age of literacy), the term
>> "Uncle
>> Tom" was used by radical blacks, to refer to what they perceived as a
>> servile, non-threatening, accommodating attitude, of accepting the
>> white
>> man's game and his domination but seeking something better for  
>> oneself
>> within that.
>>
>> The term itself of course comes from the novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin",  
>> by
>> Harriet Beecher Stowe, where the protagonist, a slave, Uncle Tom,
>> silently
>> suffers indignities, but never turns against his white masters, whom
>> he
>> continues to love and whose overlordship he neither questions nor
>> rejects.
>>
>> If I am not wrong, Dr Martin Luther King had also been called "Uncle
>> Tom" a
>> few times.
>>
>> Ralph Nader has contested the US presidential election a few times.
>> I don't
>> think he or anyone else seriously believes he will ever win. He has a
>> specific political objective in contesting the elections. To say
>> certain
>> things, to raise certain issues, to ask certain questions. He is
>> ultimately
>> a valuable asset to the US democratic system. In fact this time I was
>> surprised to learn - 2 days ago - that he had contested. That says  
>> how
>> marginalised he was in the mainstream media.
>>
>> Even if no one else does so, perhaps Nader sees it as his task to say
>> certain things, to call a spade a spade. For instance, the whole
>> Israel-Palestine thing, on which he has elaborated in detail in his
>> "open
>> letter". I was struck by the fact that notwithstanding Obama's
>> bending over
>> backwards to please Israelis and thus American Jews,  most Israel-
>> based
>> Americans apparently did not vote for Obama.
>>
>> Electoral politics is, as we know, a dicey matter, a game that has
>> to be
>> played cunningly. So I suppose non-cunning people should not be in
>> that
>> game, and only cunning people will play. But I would like to think
>> that
>> "cunning" need not always be a negative term! But I would also like
>> to think
>> that by and by, the ways of electoral politics will change, and
>> people can
>> by the force of their convictions, speak the truth, be honest, say
>> what has
>> to be said, and yet prevail.
>>
>> I would like to see Nader as a conscience keeper, rather than a sore,
>> sour-grapes loser, or sniveler. He is holding up the mirror to
>> Obama. He is
>> challenging him with what he must do, if he is to be true to the
>> expectations and hope he has unleashed. I have learnt from life that
>> one's
>> harshest critics turn out to be one's best supporters. "With enemies
>> like
>> these, who needs friends!"
>>
>> For those interested, I am mailing separately Vinay Lal's article on
>> Obama
>> (written before his victory) that appears in the current EPW. And a
>> blog
>> post that expressed the feelings unleashed by Obama's victory.
>>
>> Best
>>
>> V Ramaswamy
>> Calcutta
>> cuckooscall.blogspot.com
>> _________________________________________
>> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
>> Critiques & Collaborations
>> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
>> subscribe in the subject header.
>> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
>> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>
>
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with  
> subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with  
> subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>