I've learned that a radical internet newspaper and commentary site, Black Star News, claims to have started with a grant from Bill and Camille Cosby. Black Star News claims to be expert in sociology and crime prevention through gun control. When confronted with the racist history of gun control and other forms of prior restraint on civil, human and natural rights, the Star responded with the equivalent of "Nyah nyah, I can't hear you, you don't know what you're talking about." I was one of the commenters who asked the Star to do at least minimal research on this controversial topic. They refused. Then I learned that one of the Star's executives is a former aide to Idi Amin of Uganda, and loyal to his memory and methods. In this wonderful still-somewhat-free country, people are free to idolize Amin, Liberace, Elvis, Bill Cosby, Pol Pot, Hitler, the Pillsbury Dough Boy... anyone at all. But when they try to influence public opinion with undocumented opinion presented as fact, they can and should be held responsible. I would be saddened to learn that Dr. William Cosby, a man who made black, white, brown and yellow people alike laugh, harbored any support for unconstitutional agendas. I know Dr. Cosby is a friend of former Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder, a man known to sow division and spread hate, and has been a defender of Jeremiah "God Damn America!" Wright. Certainly there have been and still are many things wrong with America, and some wounds will never fully heal even if people like Wilder and Wright would stop reopening them. But the current attack on diversity, dissent and discussion... it hurts everyone. The political pendulum swings first to liberal, then to conservative. Backlash seems to be the standard response. I'm afraid we are sufficiently divided and ripe for conquering by anyone with a good sales gimmick. More individual liberty is the cure, not less. Our governmentS at many levels seem to be working toward equality by making EVERYONE a second- or third-class citizen. It should not make anyone happy to see how "those other people" are being abused. That technique worked too well in Germany in the late 1930s. If we haven't learned anything in the intervening years, maybe we deserve what lies ahead. Thank you for listening.
I was one of those kids in the 1960s who memorized all the Bill Cosby albums and recited them in class. I always admired his creativity and wit. After reading several articles in the Black Star News (founded via funding from Cos), I have to ask this question:
Does Bill Cosby agree with Idi Amin henchman that 'brave' Somali pirates 'had no choice'? http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m4d29-Does-Bill-Cosby-agree-with-Idi-Amin-henchman-that-brave-Somali-pirates-had-no-choice
Done.
ReplyDeleteExcerpts from my email to them:
ReplyDeleteI've learned that a radical internet newspaper and commentary site, Black Star News, claims to have started with a grant from Bill and Camille Cosby.
Black Star News claims to be expert in sociology and crime prevention through gun control. When confronted with the racist history of gun control and other forms of prior restraint on civil, human and natural rights, the Star responded with the equivalent of "Nyah nyah, I can't hear you, you don't know what you're talking about."
I was one of the commenters who asked the Star to do at least minimal research on this controversial topic. They refused.
Then I learned that one of the Star's executives is a former aide to Idi Amin of Uganda, and loyal to his memory and methods.
In this wonderful still-somewhat-free country, people are free to idolize Amin, Liberace, Elvis, Bill Cosby, Pol Pot, Hitler, the Pillsbury Dough Boy... anyone at all.
But when they try to influence public opinion with undocumented opinion presented as fact, they can and should be held responsible.
I would be saddened to learn that Dr. William Cosby, a man who made black, white, brown and yellow people alike laugh, harbored any support for unconstitutional agendas. I know Dr. Cosby is a friend of former Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder, a man known to sow division and spread hate, and has been a defender of Jeremiah "God Damn America!" Wright.
Certainly there have been and still are many things wrong with America, and some wounds will never fully heal even if people like Wilder and Wright would stop reopening them. But the current attack on diversity, dissent and discussion... it hurts everyone. The political pendulum swings first to liberal, then to conservative. Backlash seems to be the standard response. I'm afraid we are sufficiently divided and ripe for conquering by anyone with a good sales gimmick.
More individual liberty is the cure, not less. Our governmentS at many levels seem to be working toward equality by making EVERYONE a second- or third-class citizen. It should not make anyone happy to see how "those other people" are being abused. That technique worked too well in Germany in the late 1930s.
If we haven't learned anything in the intervening years, maybe we deserve what lies ahead.
Thank you for listening.
I was one of those kids in the 1960s who memorized all the Bill Cosby albums and recited them in class.
ReplyDeleteI always admired his creativity and wit.
After reading several articles in the Black Star News (founded via funding from Cos), I have to ask this question:
Does Bill Cosby agree with Idi Amin henchman that 'brave' Somali pirates 'had no choice'?
http://www.examiner.com/x-1417-Gun-Rights-Examiner~y2009m4d29-Does-Bill-Cosby-agree-with-Idi-Amin-henchman-that-brave-Somali-pirates-had-no-choice
Respectfully,
There's always a choice.
ReplyDeleteImagine if the pirates turned their guns on the oppressor warlords. Anyone at BS News suggest that?