[lit-ideas] Re: How to Draw a Crowd

EY:
Classic example: Tawana Brawley. It made Sharpton's career! Now he gets the big bucks.
I like Sharpton. He doesn't deny he's a showman. So were most of the campus radicals of the 60's. So is every public figure to one degree or another. That doesn't diminish the relevance of their cause. Showmanship is part and parcel to leadership. You must get the attention of the media and the people if you want to bring about any political change.
What is it that offends you about Sharpton? That he promotes himself through advocacy of social issues? Or do you think that he jumps on or even invents grievances just to promote himself? Twana Brawley was a regrettable affair to be sure, but the fact that many others as well as Sharpton believed Twana's story is not surprising. A year before Twana Brawley there was the racial incident at Howard Beach in which Sharpton was instrumental in getting a special prosecutor appointed to investigate the events. Racial prejudice was certainly at play within the New York police department in the Abner Louima killing in 1997 and in the Amadou Diallo abuse in 1999, a full decade after the Brawley affair, so Sharpton was not inventing racism as a real and significant problem in New York. Does the nature of Sharpton's showmanship detract attention from the issues he embraces or does his celebrity help bring attention to them? That, I think, is a legitimate question.
What I read in your posts is an accusation that complaints about racial or gender discrimination are prima facie fraudulent because the laws of this country prohibit such discrimination. "Done deal", as you say, so shut up. But laws only become Law in the enforcement and therein can be injustices that need to be called to the public's attention. So too, we are always enlarging our understanding of social justice in response to expanding values and mores, changes that are always in conflict with the status quo and thereby giving rise to new discriminations. 

So saith
Mike Geary
of Memphis
----- Original Message ----- From: "Eric Yost" <mr.eric.yost@xxxxxxxxx> 
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, January 22, 2009 2:22 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: How to Draw a Crowd
Mike: Those wily Filipino-American leaders lead their people from demand to demand like shyster shepherds, demanding they all flock together or wander lost forever on a cattle farm.
Classic example: Tawana Brawley. It made Sharpton's career! Now he gets the big bucks.
[see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tawana_Brawley for more on that bonfire of the vanities.]
Mike: Compared to Eric, I suspect that I have a lot less estimation of people's selflessness.
Here's an international example. When Bush went to Brazil he was greeted with many "Fora Bush!" signs. News picked this up as a spontaneous crowd. After Bush left and the media went away, Brazilians discovered that the money for the protest (lodging, food, signs, etc.) had been paid for by a "donation" from Hugo Chavez to the Brazilian labor unions. Chavez even sent organizers. However, nobody but the Brazilian media picked up the story.
It's not that hard to get a prefab "crowd" out for a "spontaneous" protest. Everyone has seen how in 2000, both GOPs and Dems rallied protesters over the Florida recount. Consider GOP Tom Delay's buses of protesters. 


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