February 15, 2008
On the Commentary blog, our good friend James Kirchick warns of race baiting at the upcoming UN-sponsored “Durban II” conference. He also presents us with a broader critique of the tendency of gatherings dedicated to “combat[ing] something as nebulous as “Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance”” to descend into hate-mongering powwows.
Generally speaking, I agree with most everything Kirchick says here: there’s little doubt the conference will be centered around “hatin” whitey” with some “blame it on the Jews” thrown in for good measure.
Then again, in accusing the UN of corruption and hypocrisy, Kirchick isn”t exactly breaking new ground… Moreover, I might take his comments seriously if he weren”t a kind of left-neocon manifestation of Al Sharpton who’s built his young career doing things like making bizarre insinuations about Nazis within the Ron Paul movement. Recently, he called out our own Daniel Larison to be purged for his ideological deviations. (Larison responded here).
If seeking an example of some rather nebulous combatings of racism, look no further than Kirchick’s own hit piece on Ron Paul”beginning with its title, “Angry White Man,” perhaps the most typical of leftist epithets used for silencing opponents, and ending with his speculations about Paul being “filled with hate,” a secret, hidden hate being that there’s no evidence Paul has ever uttered unkind words towards black and Jews himself.
Dear James, you”re free to go after African race baiters, but please heal yourself first.
