Chavez, War, and a Pomona College Professor

This is a repost of a post I did at RedBlueAmerica.com

I met Dictator Chavez in Guatemala this past January. He came to the inauguration of the new Guatemalan President, narco-terrorist lover (and leftist), Alvaró Colom.

My uncle and I met him in the lobby of the Western Camino Real, one of the most expensive hotels in Guatemala. Although much of the Guatemalan press was fawning over him, calling him Commandante, only one of the journalists had the courage to say the right thing: “it smells like sulfur in here.” It was a reference to this Chavez statement. My kind of guy. The journalist, that is. Pity he’s in such a minority.

Chavez, like Benito Mussolini before him, is a classic Fascist. After he failed to militarize his country with his “reforms,” he’s now militarizing the border with Colombia. He knows that this action probably won’t get rebuked. Columbians don’t vote in Venezuela, after all. War, Chavez knows, will give him more power. The very real tragedy is that Colombia has been making such economic and political gains.If war happens, guess the country they’ll take refuge.

This story will end in war. Make no mistake. Anyone think political assassination of autocratic leaders is such a bad idea? This economist doesn't. I think he’s right. Maybe it is time to take Chavez out. He's a pretty ugly guy. I don't think we're going to have to worry about Che-like shirts.

Well, at least, there will be one positive side effect of removing Chavez from power. Pomona Professor Tinker Salas won't be visited by the FBI. No Chavez, no Chavez supporters, and no FBI visits. Hey, he can even write a book talking about how we murdered that poor dictator who just wanted to create a "democracy." He's already spent a lot of time talking about how bad free trade is for Latin America on a public news station.

"Race Matters More Than Scientifically Provable Facts"?

Emi Sawada of The Claremont Student has written an article about the ultra-pervasive racism on the 5-Cs. It's entitled "Silence, Subculture, & Social Interchange: An Exploration of Race & Racism in the Claremont Bubble." Small wonder that she discovers it's all over the place. Heavens! Run for the hills, children!

The article is much too long to read, though I did. It's divided into sub-sections-- any one of which could be a blog post in its own right. The first one, "The White Conundrum," is one of the more disturbing. (We used to call people who say things everywhere "paranoid." Now we call them observers of "white privilege." Oh, the times, they are changing...)

"Racism plays out in unconscious ways," says [Chantal] Coudoux [Scripps '10]. "But you're taught to look at it in terms of overt-racism, like KKK violence and hate crimes." Although a liberal education may deter outright acts of prejudice, it does not discourage bigotry of more subtle varieties. As uninformed participants in a pre-established system of white supremacy, it is only too easy to favor a simplified ideology of "equality." "Once you become 'color-blind,' you take race out of its historical context," says Coudoux. "Race has mattered and it does matter. It matters more than scientifically provable facts.

Strange, I've heard that before somewhere. Just where did I hear that? Well, at least the quote isn't in German. I'm a bit rusty.