The Wright controversy confirms our "national discourse" is a trivial exercise in national denial

[Orwellian_Ghost]

"I tremble for my country..."



The Jeremiah Wright controversy has revealed -- or rather, to be accurate, confirmed -- our "national discourse" as an indescribably petty, unremittingly superficial and stupid, insultingly trivial exercise in national denial. Some thoughts about the general nature of our "national discourse" will be found in "'Regrettable Misjudgments': The Shocking Immorality of Our Constricted Thought"; my latest posts about various aspects of the Wright controversy are here and here.

So I am exceedingly grateful to find that unusual instance of commentary that approaches this subject in an informed and thoughtful manner. John Nichols is not as forceful as I would prefer, and he makes a few regrettable concessions to the conventional demands of the day. But much of this piece is excellent. You should read it in its entirety, but these excerpts are the main argument:
his former Marine who became an remarkably successful and widely-respected religious leader is in possession of the balm that has frequently proven to be the cure for what ails America -- an eyes-wide-open faith in the prospect that this country can and will put aside the sins of the past and forge a future that is as just as it is righteous.

As Wright has illustrated over the past several days, in a remarkable appearance Friday on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal and in speeches to the Detroit NAACP and the National Press Club in Washington, he is the opposite of the caricature of an angry, America-hating false prophet that has been so crudely attached to him. Deeply grounded in biblical tradition, nuanced in his understanding of race relations and historically experienced in his assessments of America's strengths and weaknesses, he has much to say to this country at this time.

Not all of what Wright says is comforting.

His views are not universally appealing, nor are they or should they be seen as unassailable.

But, for the most part, they are well <...> within the mainstream of American religious and political discourse.

The problem is not Jeremiah Wright.

...

Much more here:
http://powerofnarrative.blogspot.com/

[ladjf]

1. Yes, we are majoring in the minors.

[Supersedeas]

2. reaching consensus about important national issues is not the Repig way--so the media feeds us

false wedge issue and the politics of personal identification