Pulling Shirley From Under the Bus
She’s brushing herself off, surveying the damage, looking over at the folks who slimed her and the folks who tossed her and somehow the dividing line between the two has blurred. It’s been reported that Ms. Sherrod is a tad wary about leaping back into the den after being so roughly tumbled and all I can say is: can you blame her?
In a day and age when minutia is reported, communication is split-second, and the art and craft of media subterfuge is not only well-documented but relentless, one has to wonder how the NAACP and the USDA could have flown so quickly off the handle as to sacrifice one of their own in the name of political correctness. We’ve got “birthers” who wouldn’t believe Obama was a citizen if he passed a “you’re an American” DNA test (would that one existed!), Tea Partiers who have the man lynched on rally posters, and bloggers who sound suspiciously like KKK terrorists, but dignified men who run the NAACP and USDA still wasted no time screaming “racist” and firing a woman of substance before even vetting the inciting material.
NAACP President Benjamin Jealous says he was “snookered” by Fox News and Tea Party activist Andrew Breitbart. Really? Mr. Jealous, when did you start making critical public relations decisions based on the perspective of a clearly biased TV network and the media manipulation of a hard-core partisan? At what point in your vaunted career did you not learn to judge wisely, take the time to get all the information and not believe everything you read or hear?
And Mr. Vilsack, when did you start taking marching orders about the viability of your staff from bloggers with agendas and pundits who make no secret of their persuasion? Where is the integrity and honor in firing a respected colleague without thoroughly investigating the purported blunder? That you’ve now “reconsidered” your hasty decision long after Ms. Sherrod pleaded with you to get all the information – which you didn’t – is grudgingly admirable but perhaps too little too late.
And now we’ve even got Ann Coulter claiming Tea Party perpetrator Andrew Breibart was himself “set up.”
Poor, bamboozled fellows, all of them. So I have to ask: what are you guys, 12?!
Why are grown men of either political party allowing all this hapless snookery to ensue when it’s so bloody easy these days to research anything, read anything, find anything; watch anything (like maybe a full video tape)? Maybe they could find a teenager to show them how to do all that.
Have they never learned the folly of too quickly responding to a half-read email, buying into a truncated “good” review of a bad movie (ellipses are our friend), or slamming the phone down on a confounding phrase before the clarifying addendum is uttered? This is Human Relations 101, stuff our mothers and teachers and best friends taught us, and if it hadn’t meant the embarrassment and manhandling of a respected, intelligent and clearly insightful woman, it would be downright laughable. Come on, guys; WATCH THE WHOLE MOVIE BEFORE YOU START SCREAMING RACIST.
When I read the entirety of the text of Ms. Sherrod’s speech given many years ago in Georgia, the speech Mr. Breitbart printed out of context for the sole purpose of mislabeling her as a racist, I was moved by the openness she showed in illustrating her own evolution as a woman of color in a position of power. Her willingness to expose her re-education and learned empathy for people she had previously misunderstood was commendable and the kind of thoughtful integrity we’d like to engender in our children. It’s also the kind of candor that in today’s vicious, sucker-punching political climate leaves one vulnerable for slaughter. Ms. Sherrod paid a steep price for speaking so authentically at an earlier time in her career when knives weren’t so quickly and foolishly drawn. Who knew the farming business could be so cutthroat? 
I don’t know that the USDA deserves to have Ms. Sherrod back. They displayed zero loyalty or respect for her time and tenure under their roof. But if she returns, I hope they will do all they can to assure her that they have learned a lesson; that everyone working under their purview will be given the respect of “innocent until proven guilty.” I’m delighted that Mr. Vilsack offered both an apology and a promotion; I understand Mr. Jealous followed suit on the apology. Mr. Breitbart, you might consider writing an apology blog. Maybe even “out” the perpetrator of your stated snookering…frankly, I’d like to know who that was. Might be wise before the suit gets filed.
And next time, let’s everyone take a deep breath, get out the vetting teams, consider the source, and do just a little bit of due diligence before we throw our best and brightest under the bus.
August 19th, 2010 at 5:40 pm
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August 15th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
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August 13th, 2010 at 11:01 am
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July 30th, 2010 at 2:38 am
Riaz-Ul Haque: I’m impressed that my entry about Empty Nest Syndrome inspired such a thorough and detailed response! Obviously you feel passionately about the topic and I can’t say I don’t agree with much of your treatise. I hope with the tools you offer at your center, you’re able to affect the kind of change you hope to…it’s a worthy cause. To the extent that you found my blog a momentary forum to express your ideas, I welcome you here and wish you all good luck in the endeavor.
July 28th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Thanks to AOL for bringing out such gems as your blog to the member’s attention. I enjoyed finding you.
Our society, however, has a deeper problem which is that despite our responsible positions in terms of our jobs, we are not fully all there so we cannot analyze what is happening, why it is happening and what can be done about it. The trend has become to subscribe to just plain rhetoric and conformity lacking any analysis.
My take on all this is the root of our societal problem which originates from our dismantled educational system which is no longer teaching but spending all of their money and time on researching and since researching has such an honorable sounding affect, we accept it as if it is going to solve all of our problems. So we not only do not think or question it but condone it, even donate more money to it.
Here is the summary of what happened to our eruptional system that no one is losing any sleep over it. Our universities and colleges since the mid fifties and early sixties of the past century but more so during the seventies have started cutting down course contents, even altogether eliminating key courses.
While this syndrome has been happening all across the board and through our nation, where it hurts the most is when science courses, especially their hands-on portions are cut down (and then we complain that we are loosing our edge in science).
Here is the extent of this travesty: A science course which during the seventies used to consist of 60 lectures and 60 hands-on labs has now been cut down to 30 lectures (given by different professors thus also losing on the continuity and connectedness of the course contents also) and only 8-10 mostly demonstration type labs with little or no hands-on component. Also note that this is not an introductory undergraduate science course but the one taken by our professional (medical) and graduate students.
Now think with me: if any one of these graduates (and they do all graduate) becomes a science teacher in a school, what kind of science he or she will be teaching? The reality is even more serious than this because we teach only what we understand and skip the rest. Thus even from the little they learned, they will skip out on most of it for the reason for not feeling comfortable with it and also because they may not find the needed equipment and supplies in the school they are teaching in.
Now the sad part is that no one has uncovered this dilemma facing our nation and our students. There was even a Senate hearing in Washington on the quality and cost of higher education where students from our ten major universities went complaining that we pay good money and no one is teaching us. Nothing came out of this hearing and nothing changed.
The sad affect of all this is that the graduates of our educational system eventually become our leaders who via “streamlining” and much rhetoric get elected who without knowing the real problems cannot rectify any. They are not like the Khalif of Baghdad who used to wander the streets at night only to learn what ails his people. Now even if you hand it to them in a platter, they do not see it because they do not have it what it takes to analyze.
And this syndrome goes all the way up the ladder even to our President Obama for whom I have great respect but who keeps asking the nation to send in your ideas and when you do, you get a form letter back because no one has the time to read what you wrote and even if they did, they did not understand it because that is not part of the prevailing rhetoric. So they evade the issue. Perhaps this is the price we pay for being in the twitter generation!
Here is the information to the Senate Hearing held in l992:
Consult United States Senate hearings by House Select Committee on Children, Youth, and Families on the Cost of College Education, held September 14, 1992. To obtain a copy, contact your local depository library or contact the Select Committee at 385 House Annex 2, Washington D.C., USA
July 25th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
A great and, I think, accurate description of blogging! And I like Andrew Sullivan (mostly!).
Civil discourse is just part of the equation for me. I know there are bloggers firmly ensconsed on one or the other side of the aisle and that’s fine; they can be there. I’m highly opinionated but not always predictable in my opinions so I reserve the right to bounce between. And regardless of positioning, I simply cannot tolerate the screaming and yelling; it has never helped solve a problem, find a solution, convince a non-believer or change a mind. It’s just so much wind and fury and it leaves out the ability to see a bigger picture….hence: civility.
Thanks, as always, Cris, for insightful comment.
July 25th, 2010 at 3:18 am
Searching for this type of entertaining blog for some time now – i guess luck is more advanced than search engines :)
July 25th, 2010 at 2:02 am
This is a really good read for me, Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article.
July 24th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
With the emphasis on “exercized responsibly” (he’s British) and, I know you would add, in the context of civil discourse. This is what separates us from the Breitbarts of the blogosphere.
July 24th, 2010 at 6:42 pm
On the difference between blogging and journalism, I like Andrew Sullivan’s take:
. I think a blog exists to air things you cannot nail down in a more formal journalistic context. And I think many of my critics do not get or simply disagree with this understanding of the relationship of blogging to journalism.
All I can say is that this is my understanding of the place of blogging – a conversation where nothing is forbidden, a zone of truly free speech, exercized responsibly, but open to any and all views and theories and questions.
July 24th, 2010 at 5:55 am
thanks for a great blog!
July 24th, 2010 at 5:44 am
You asked if they were 12. At age 12, my kids knew better than that. I call it intentionally stupid which somehow rings of passive/aggressive behavior.
Shame on them!
July 24th, 2010 at 5:06 am
Cris: I swear, you make me sound more cogent by virtue of your passionate, articulate and well-though-out comments!
You’ve fleshed out the issue quite succinctly and we can only hope if enough people raise bloody hell over a long enough period of time, the cultural laziness will at least be prodded. Where that goes, I do not know. I find it shocking that anyone can so blindly believe anything they read or hear in the media. Of course, when you say “the media,” what are we talking about anymore? It used to be that the title was reserved for respected journalists, newspeople, publishers and producers; now the moniker applies to anyone with a computer and some internet savvy. That may bring about more transparency but it also murks up the waters, requiring thoughtful people to work a bit harder to discern. That our leaders and government officials were caught so stupidly lazy on this one is stunning. If nothing else, let’s hope the embarrassment factor makes it a mistake not repeated.
We can hope!
July 24th, 2010 at 2:49 am
Hey admin, very informative blog post! Please continue this awesome work..
July 24th, 2010 at 12:49 am
I don’t know where to begin about this story, except that I think this is a thoughtful, reflective blog that shows you follow your own advice!
As a ‘bureaucrat,’ albeit at a local government level, we are professionals whose governing bodies’ or superiors’whims and policy direction may be changed with each election. As a result our work is often politicized to begin with. Add to that your noted 24/7 examination and political spin cycles and it is no wonder that people feel pressured to stay ahead of the cycle. When they do that, and when they inevitably add political cache to unworthy opponents by knee-jerk reactions, these kind of blunders will more frequently occur.
Unfortunately, she was probably of the management class and therefore, most likely not protected by unions that typically are out there as a Damocles sword to protect workers from being let go for capricious reasons or without cause that has been amply documented as justifying dismissal – the due diligence component institutionalized, if you will.
Breitbart is, as you indicate, a know political hack and troublemaker (he similarly was involved in doctored/edited/misleading tapes about ACORN which would seem to indicate that ACORN staff were up to illegal shenanigans – disproved, but no Page 1 retraction exposure.
Given everyone’s scrambling to retreat in the face of a stand-up professional who has integrity and honesty on her side, this story of being thrown under the bus might well be retitled “Thrown Under Bus, She Survives, Bus Implodes.”
We, of course, are also to blame if we can’t distinguish between shoddy journalism and cable shows which are only steam vents for left or right wing bloviations. The future doesn’t portend a more enlightened populace – the frenzied news cycles will only continue and quick soundbite slants is most that we ever see, particularly as we enter election seasons.
Speaking of steam vents, I feel so much better on a Friday early evening after hijacking your space and reacting to this very interesting summary of the sorry state of today. It’s been that kind of week.