BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE
A MESSAGE TO CRAIG ACOSTA – THE BLACK CONSERVATIVE
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I don’t really expect Craig Acosta to read this because it has far too many words in it for the typical Black conservative. But I thought I’d write it anyway, for the benefit of those of you who do read.
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I don’t really expect Craig Acosta to read this because it has far too many words in it for the typical Black conservative. But I thought I’d write it anyway, for the benefit of those of you who do read.
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I’ve written several articles on the idiocy of Black conservatism. Now I have a prime example of why I call it idiocy, and exactly the kind of brainwashed ignorance that it entails. I was discussing this issue online with a guy by the name of Craig Acosta, of Glassboro, New Jersey, and he said the following:
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Craig Acosta: “There is a concept in psychology called the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. Most black people have a fixed mindset and when they encounter brothers and sisters with a growth mindset they say they're thinking/talking like white people...lol BTW...just cuz a person has conservative values does not make
them a Republican. I personally don't care about either party but I know the Democrats are pandering to their idiotic base with inane tactics trying to overthrow a sitting US president and using reasons that are about as realistic as unicorn farts and fairy dust. My brain cells hurt from that type shit.
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“It pains me to say it...but I'm starting to realize most of y'all aren't intelligent enough to understand politics and when you are being manipulated by the media. Emotions has[sic] nothing to do with choosing a political representative. Understanding of economics does. If you don't understand that somebody has to pay for all the free shit the democrats promise...whether it's the middle class business and home owners, whether its from stupid taxes on straws and plastic bags, or your children and grandchildren...then you need to have your voting rights revoked because you're not responsible/informed enough.”
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Right off the bat we can see why Craig is a conservative. He immediately
began to indulge in inefficient thinking and false logic. He said, “Most black people have a fixed mindset . . .” In other words, “All dogs have teeth, and my cat has teeth, therefore, my cat is a dog.”
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What he’s doing here is profiling all Black people based on the way that Black people are portrayed in the media, or based on the profile of the most dysfunctional 10% of Black people in America - and notice how he separates himself from the rest of the Black population by referring to Black people as "y'all". And further, he never once stops to consider that if White people were portrayed by the media in the same way, we’d think that all White people were barefoot Hillbillies. So it is clear that Craig has completely embraced the negative stereotype of Black people.
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| CRAIG ACOSTA |
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“It pains me to say it...but I'm starting to realize most of y'all aren't intelligent enough to understand politics and when you are being manipulated by the media. Emotions has[sic] nothing to do with choosing a political representative. Understanding of economics does. If you don't understand that somebody has to pay for all the free shit the democrats promise...whether it's the middle class business and home owners, whether its from stupid taxes on straws and plastic bags, or your children and grandchildren...then you need to have your voting rights revoked because you're not responsible/informed enough.”
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Right off the bat we can see why Craig is a conservative. He immediately
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What he’s doing here is profiling all Black people based on the way that Black people are portrayed in the media, or based on the profile of the most dysfunctional 10% of Black people in America - and notice how he separates himself from the rest of the Black population by referring to Black people as "y'all". And further, he never once stops to consider that if White people were portrayed by the media in the same way, we’d think that all White people were barefoot Hillbillies. So it is clear that Craig has completely embraced the negative stereotype of Black people.
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That, in turn, makes another thing quite clear - that Craig is a bligot (a Black bigot). That accounts for his mindset – “I’s not like the rest of dem fools, boss. I's got sense. I loves you.”
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The few Black people with Craig’s mindset will eat turtle shit just for a pat on the head by a White man. They’re disgusting and weak, and bigots just love to trot them out to embarrass the rest of the Black community. While they're before the crowd dripping with sweat trying to espouse the White man's point of view, the man is standing behind them giggling with a look on his face that says, “You see how weak and idiotic you people are? Just listen to that idiot.” Yet, people like Craig think they're proving to the White man how enlightened they are. So, what Craig disparagingly refers to as Black people’s “fixed mindset”, is what most people call common sense, intelligence, and a backbone.
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The few Black people with Craig’s mindset will eat turtle shit just for a pat on the head by a White man. They’re disgusting and weak, and bigots just love to trot them out to embarrass the rest of the Black community. While they're before the crowd dripping with sweat trying to espouse the White man's point of view, the man is standing behind them giggling with a look on his face that says, “You see how weak and idiotic you people are? Just listen to that idiot.” Yet, people like Craig think they're proving to the White man how enlightened they are. So, what Craig disparagingly refers to as Black people’s “fixed mindset”, is what most people call common sense, intelligence, and a backbone.
The fact is, the White establishment discovered when Black people were in slavery that we have some of the most creatively brilliant minds in the world. That’s one of the major reasons they passed laws making it illegal to teach Black people to read. It was also a major reason why they instituted Jim Crow laws after slavery, to keep the Black intellect in check. During Reconstruction Black people walked right out of the cotton fields into the halls of congress. And Frederick Douglass became one of the most brilliant writers and orators of his time.
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In fact, Craig could benefit from one of the things that Douglass pointed out at the time. He said, "Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave." So instead of going around espousing White supremacist propaganda, Craig would be much better served if he turned off Fox News and spent more time in pursuit of knowledge. Because while he may no longer be in shackles, his mind is still trapped on a Georgia cotton field.
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If he took the time to educate himself instead of just regurgitating conservative talking points, he'd find that what we call “soul” is nothing less than Black intellectual creativity letting off steam, and there are many examples of our intellectual prowess throughout history. He'd also learn that we wouldn’t even be able to communicate over these computers, or cell phones, if it were not for Black intellect. But most importantly, he'd learn not to make a damn fool of himself by trying to help the White man in his attempt to denigrate Black people's ability to think.
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It may be a simplistic example, but it's no accident that we have Eskimos trying to rap; and over 60 years after his death some of the greatest musicians in the world are still trying to figure out what Charlie Parker was doing on his saxophone - and he was high as kite while he was doing it. Even when he couldn't standup, Bird could play the most complexed chord progressions in music at break-neck speed on his horn, and jazz is nothing short of an intricate form of mathematics with Max Roach on drums. Mathematics only has 10 numbers, but a chromatic scale has 12 notes - and through the creative manipulation of those notes, jazz musicians inspired American soldiers to defeat Hitler during WWII. And while Black people are a minority in the United States, our creative intellect has influence the entire world through Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Rock, Rap, Soul, and even Country and Western music (White boy Blues).
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But music is simply an example of our minds at play. It was also a Black mind that helped to send man to the Moon, but the White man will never tell Craig that – and they don’t have to worry about him opening up a book to find out on his own, because he's been indoctrinated to be allergic to knowledge. People like Craig have so much faith in the White man that they feel they can get any information worth having from Fox News.
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So, Black conservatives need to recognize that as a direct result of having to face adversity, racism and bigotry from the time we open our eyes in the morning until the time we close them at night, Black people have become MORE rather than less. It’s a simple matter of evolution. Nature has provided us with the intellectual wherewithal to overcome adversity (look at the difference between Barack Obama and Donald Trump). But when we fail to educate ourselves we tend to assume that "educated people" (meaning White people, for the most part) have a superior intellect, so we tend to discount our own. But there's a big difference between mere education and intellect, one is a sign on the door, and the other is the ability to think. People of true intellect are in a constant state of intellectual development, whether they're enrolled in a university or not. So, if Black people have a major shortcoming, it's learning to trust our own intellect. We must never assume that everybody can see what we see so clearly.
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Some of the most powerful minds I've ever known held court while sitting on empty milk crates in the parking lots of ghetto liquor stores, while some of the weakest minds I've ever known roamed university campuses in search of credentials over knowledge. And personally, when I look back over my own educational career, it's clear that I learned more from Sweet Willie on the streets of South Central Los Angeles than I did from any university professor I've ever known. Because Sweet Willie taught me the most important lesson of my life - that knowledge is free.
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Some of the most powerful minds I've ever known held court while sitting on empty milk crates in the parking lots of ghetto liquor stores, while some of the weakest minds I've ever known roamed university campuses in search of credentials over knowledge. And personally, when I look back over my own educational career, it's clear that I learned more from Sweet Willie on the streets of South Central Los Angeles than I did from any university professor I've ever known. Because Sweet Willie taught me the most important lesson of my life - that knowledge is free.
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And the fact is, Black people have already demonstrated that we have an intellectual capacity that is at the very least, comparable to any group of people on Earth. Again, what we call "soul" is nothing less than intellectual creativity literally overflowing from neglect, and many of the things that White supremacists take credit for in this country are actually the product of Black minds. Again, it was the power of Black intellect that sent man to the Moon, but Fox News would never tell Craig that.
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But Craig didn’t have to know that or do any extensive research to find out that his conservative beliefs are ridiculous, all he had to do was open a dictionary. Absolute proof that any Black or poor White person who identifies with conservatism is uninformed is the fact that they obviously don’t understand the English language. The word “Liberal” means that the person has a liberated point of view and is dedicated to “Progress” in our national politics – thus, they are called “Progressives”. On the other hand, the very word “Conservative” means the person is dedicated to “Conserving” past traditions, including bigotry – both racial, and economic.
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Obviously, none of the above has even occurred to Craig, yet, in an attempt
to sound learned, Craig tried to base his mindless theories on
psychology. My educational background is in psychology, so let’s take a
look at the way psychology views the conservative mindset. Psychology
Today printed an article by Dr. Goali Saedi Bocci entitled, “Do Racism,
Conservatism, and Low IQ Go Hand and Hand”, indicating that “Lower cognitive
abilities predict greater prejudice through right-wing ideology.” And still
another British study indicated that children with lower IQs tended to grow up
to embrace conservative ideals:
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“The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, examined data from two large-scale British studies, and found lower intelligence scores in childhood were predictors of greater racism in adulthood, which the researchers controversially explain is brought about by adopting right-wing ideologies.
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“A secondary analysis of data from a U.S. study also showed those with poor abstract-reasoning skills were more likely to have anti-homosexual prejudice, partially linked to authoritarian attitudes..
Obviously, none of the above has even occurred to Craig, yet, in an attempt
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“The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, examined data from two large-scale British studies, and found lower intelligence scores in childhood were predictors of greater racism in adulthood, which the researchers controversially explain is brought about by adopting right-wing ideologies.
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“Lead researcher Gordon Hodson told LiveScience that the results of the study indicate a vicious cycle, in which people with low intelligence are drawn to socially conservative ideologies. In turn, those ideologies can contribute to prejudices.”
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So I strongly suggest that Craig Acosta reassess his conservative ideals before he tries to look down his nose at Black people. And if he finds that trying to overcome his conservative predisposition is too steep a hill for him to climb, psychology is the very last place he should look to try to take refuge. It’s no accident that conservatives are more often than not anti-intellectual and go out of their way to avoid science. The reason for that is simple - their ideological philosophy is based on pure stupidity.
So I strongly suggest that Craig Acosta reassess his conservative ideals before he tries to look down his nose at Black people. And if he finds that trying to overcome his conservative predisposition is too steep a hill for him to climb, psychology is the very last place he should look to try to take refuge. It’s no accident that conservatives are more often than not anti-intellectual and go out of their way to avoid science. The reason for that is simple - their ideological philosophy is based on pure stupidity.
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A BLACK 7-YEAR OLD NEUROSCIENTIST
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Eric L. Wattree
http://wattree.blogspot.com/
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.