Let’s talk about being pragmatic. Before I do, however, allow me to say that I’m a fan of Dr. Cornel West. I’m talking a longtime fan who has his books. So much of a fan that if he is on television, my mother always calls to tell me that he’s on. If she doesn’t catch me when she calls, she’ll make it a point to call and tell me about the interview. I assume that when Cornel West dies, she’ll call to check to see if I’m okay like she did on Christmas Day when James Brown died in 2006.
So, when I say I’m a huge fan of this man’s work, I’m not lying.
In fact, I once had an opportunity to interview Dr. Cornel West several years ago. This was around the time when he and Rev. Al Sharpton had a big blowout on MSNBC over his criticism of President Barack Obama. Naturally, as a fan, I wrote something quite scathing about Sharpton in response. Before the interview, I found out that West read what I wrote. I was also told that he thought my blog post was hilarious. So yeah, I’m a big Cornel West fan.
As much as I love him, and what he stands for politically. I have to say, my man, Cornel West is full of shit. Okay, well not in totality as in his body of work. Instead, specifically, he was full of shit last election cycle. Nothing illustrates this better than West’s most recent appearance on HBO’s Real Time.
This from Mediaite:
Maher tonight brought up Tulsa officer Betty Jo Shelby being found not guilty of manslaughter for fatally shooting Terence Crutcher, making the point that Clinton and Trump hold very different views on these issues.
He confronted West for calling them “equally awful,” but West said his point was that “one was a disaster, another was a catastrophe.”
As far as Maher was concerned, that proves his point, and the two of them got into a fierce back-and-forth over Clinton’s flaws compared to Trump’s. Maher said West was throwing out “bullshit” and West pointed out just how badly Bernie Sanders––who “would’ve won if he had a chance”––was treated.
West did say at one point that of course, he thinks Clinton’s better than Trump, but then added, “That doesn’t take too much! Who isn’t better than Trump?” o
So, essentially, Dr. Cornel West argued with Bill Maher and attempted to justify not voting for Hillary Clinton in the last election. In West’s mind, Clinton wasn’t as bad as Trump, but bad nonetheless. Yes, too bad to vote for. As a result, he decided to cast a vote for Jill Stein. To me, that’s like having a choice between full blown AIDS and the flu and saying, “Sorry, I’d rather go with herpes. Yes, herpes is the best.”
To me, that’s like West having a choice between full blown AIDS and the flu and saying, “Sorry, I’d rather go with herpes. Yes, herpes is the best.”
A pragmatist would’ve gone with the flu.
But no, West, like many, chose to be petulant and went with the occasional herpes flare up that is Jill Stein. Yep, the yearning for ideological purity made him feel good when he cast his vote. However, West walked away with a diseased and inflamed penis. Good choice?
Ab-so-fucking-lutely not!
Here’s Why West Disappoints Me
What infuriates me most, is that as a representative for Bernie Sanders, Cornel West helped shape the Democratic party platform. Yes, he served on the committee, and as a result, the Democratic party platform gave 90% of what Bernie Sanders wanted as a vision for the party. And what did he do afterward? He turned around and endorsed Jill Stein, the great white progressive puritanical unicorn, for president. In short, he not only voted for a candidate that had no hopes of winning – because, she wasn’t on the ballot in all 50 states.
This type of thinking is dangerous. It is especially so because it ignores political reality and all sense of logic and reason. Which is exactly why we on the political left find abhorrent about many right-wingers. That would be, the detachment for reality and their propensity to be adverse to facts. You know, because, things like facts get in the way when you’re an ideologue. So yeah, even though I’ve defended Cornel West over the years. I defended him when crying about not getting tickets to Obama’s inauguration in 2009.
But I’m sorry, I can’t defend him this time.
While I still love the brother, on this one, to me, he’s full of shit.
It’s this very lie of thinking that got us where we are today.
And yes, this makes me sad.