“My View, My Quill, My Voice” #1 (by Joey Clemmer)
By Corey Thompson, filed in Guest Features, Joey Clemmer on Feb.02, 2009
(Editor’s Note: Joey Clemmer is a Guest Columnist for “The Thirsty Quill,” and he will be a frequent contributor for the site in the weeks ahead. While Joey is a Conservative Republican, the opinions expressed in his articles are his own, and may not always reflect the views of “The Thirsty Quill.” This is Joey’s first editorial for ‘The Quill,’ and we look forward to publishing more of his articles in the future.)
“My View, My Quill, My Voice” #1 (An Opinion Column)
By: Joey Clemmer, Guest Columnist
First and foremost, I must relay to the readers that in no way do I claim to be a prolific writer. My friend Corey Thompson possesses such a great gift of writing. I can only hope what I write is comprehensible. I also hope that my message doesn’t get lost in my writing. I am an emotional person, and therefore my thoughts tend to come out of nowhere and may seem a bit unorganized. But, I have a voice and therefore I have the opportunity to comment and speak my mind.
Why must I be viewed as a slave-owning racist, now that President Obama has taken office? My family never owned slaves. Did you see the after-party videos where Jay-Z and Beyonce were at an Inauguration Banquet, participating in a disrespectful, vulgar rap about George W. Bush and white people? Did you hear the speech on Inauguration Day? The Reverend Joseph Lowery stated, “When Brown can stick around. When Yella will be mellow. When the Red Man can get ahead, man. And when White will embrace what is right.” What am I doing that is not right? Do I need to expound on this absurd piece of theology, supposedly from a “man of God?” Is this really the first “step” in bringing people “together” and setting aside “the childish differences of the past” that Obama has talked about for so long (including in his Inaugural Address)?
Now how about our national media? Let’s face it, THE MEDIA IS BIASED FOR LIBRALS. Why did they feel the need to keep stepping all over George W. Bush on Inauguration Day? ABC’s coverage was the one I chose to view. They couldn’t let go of the fact that George W. Bush “never embraced Washington.” I could go on and on about the Liberal media and their biased views, but I will save that for a future post. The media has ‘stacked the deck’ for the Liberals. That is a fact that even the most uninformed Liberal could agree with.
That being said, I would also like to thank President Obama. I didn’t realize that I needed to thank him for anything until his Inauguration. After viewing it, I was more fired up than I have ever been in my life. Obama’s speech was a less-than-gracious reference to the Bush Administration, despite President Bush’s courteous and cordial embrace of Obama during the transition. Why did Obama feel the need to keep pointing out the outgoing administration’s flaws in his address? I’ve always been of the mindset that if you need to belittle someone else to make yourself look better, then your position really doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on.
Again, thank you President Obama for stoking the fire in my political soul. I’ve had the opportunity to vote since the 1992 Presidential Election. I have voted in every Presidential race since that one, and I’ve always considered myself to be politically “in the know.” However, I have at times taken the position that I don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. I’ve often said to myself, “what difference can I make?” But I now digress; watching one man’s rise to national and universal political prominence in less than eight years has been baffling to me…and to others, I’m sure. As a Conservative Republican, I must ask where my party went wrong, or perhaps more importantly, what did ‘the Left’ do right?
I will be asking such questions and doing a lot of reading for my own education and accountability. I will be utilizing “The Thirsty Quill” as a platform to further my passion. I’m looking for hard answers and straight facts. I feel that if I go through my day-to-day life just ‘catching up’ on TV news, then I’m not going to get a fair assessment of where our country truly stands due to the Liberal media bias mentioned above. Thank you for your time. God bless you all, and may God bless America.
(Editor’s Note: Joey Clemmer is a Guest Columnist for “The Thirsty Quill,” and he will be a frequent contributor for the site in the weeks ahead. While Joey is a Conservative Republican, the opinions expressed in his articles are his own, and may not always reflect the views of “The Thirsty Quill.” This is Joey’s first editorial for ‘The Quill,’ and we look forward to publishing more of his articles in the future.)
February 2nd, 2009 on 10:58 am
Joey, let me first say that you needn’t give us a disclaimer on your writing abilities as the above piece is as thought provoking and sincere as any I have read here or elsewhere. As the Quill’s resident liberal please allow me to share my perspective.
In regard to you being a slave owner ect… I would simply suggest you consider the source. Our freedoms afford people to share their opinions, no matter how absurd.
In regard to Reverend Joseph Lowery’s comments I sincerely believe you are accepting it with far too much sensitivity. To elaborate I will share with you how I received his poetic license that day. Here is a man who in his life time has seen the peeks and valleys of the Civil Rights Movement. His context is not being pulled from a campaign, a past administration, or even just a few decades. His context is of a people who were considered property less than 200 years ago. His comments were inspirational to a great many who in their own lives must have felt a little closure, either directly or through the stories passed down from grand parents and distant relatives. (Now) if you take it as a threat, or a glorification of the hatred once displayed by the bull conners and other racist leaders of the past: Don’t. You have no reason to fear being lumped in with the slave owners any more than we can take responsibility for crucifying Jesus. And I implore you to minimize any commentary that takes this tone, but at the same time adjust your perspective so that you don’t take sincere jubilation spoken out of liberty as anything more than celebratory comments.
Regarding President Obama’s speech, I need to know the comments with which you took exception. I too was extremely fired up but for different reasons. I continue to be excited about the potential this administration has to lead this greatest of all Nations out of our current circumstances and back to a steady footing.
Lastly, I want to thank you for your comments and commend you for stepping out to make your opinions known. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said that “luke warm acceptance is worse than out right rejection” while this was in different context at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, I think it applies for different reasons for situations like we are in right now. If you disagree with a position, I encourage you, as well as any American, to take a firm stand against it. It is only through such dialogue and debate that we can stop bandaging our sores and actually begin to heal them. Great post Joey.
February 2nd, 2009 on 11:41 am
Joey, believe me, I myself am getting a little tired of this “white man won’t let us get ahead” attitude myself; I have a brief story to illustrate a view of slavery from another culture.
I was speaking with a Greek man the other day who said “The United States is the most racist country I’ve ever been in!” When I inquired why, he said “Because the African Americans who were slaves still have the slave mindset!” He went on for a bit telling me how a “slave” mindset was poisonous for a country and proceeded to remind me that the Greeks were enslaved by the Ottoman empire for 750 years, yet now they have a completely amicable relationship. He asked why I thought that was, to which I could give no thoughtful reply.
He said the reason was because they don’t give a **** anymore.
He explained to me that he personally was never a slave, his parents were not slaves, nor were his grandparents. Even though there had been some brief hostilities from time to time, they saw that period as just a part of history.
Of course the United States is different from Greece or any other part of the world, the question still begs to be asked, why can’t we just move past this thing”? I personally have no desire to EVER have someone be subservient to me and even even secretly object whenever I hear of my mother paying someone to come clean her house, and yet I might get lumped in with this “mean old white man attitude”. What can I do to avoid this stereotype?
The answer, Joey, is nothing. Be yourself, brother. Stay true to your beliefs and maybe, just maybe, you can change one person’s misconception about you.
As for the liberal media thing? As a liberal, I agree with you. Its pretty biased.
I’ve always been of the mindset that if you need to belittle someone else to make yourself look better, then your position really doesn’t have much of a leg to stand on.
I hear ya man, that’s why I don’t watch Bill O’Reilly!
February 3rd, 2009 on 5:22 pm
I’d like to thank Andy and Steven for your comments and suggestions toward my post. Each of your points have not been cast away as simple rhetoric, thus I have given each of them their due diligence. I would ask the same in return.
My dear friend, Andy, the “restless resident liberal,” since you were the first to challenge some of my statements, let me offer you a few excerpts form President Obama’s inauguration speech. Now it’s important to dive into what actually is being said, and not pass over it due to the ‘rhythm and the rhyme.’ Quite frankly, isn’t that how magicians and snake charmers have made their living throughout history?
Now while President Obama’s speech opened with a one sentence compliment toward President Bush, it was his cunning undertones that totally disrespected President Bush and his administration.
Here are a few excerpts of the inauguration speech I gathered from The New York Times. Tell me what you gather from the following statements:
President Obama mentioned “our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.” I believe President Obama is calling out President Bush’s judgment.
President Obama promised to “restore science to its rightful place.” I believe President Obama is stating that recent science (abortion, stem cell research, etc.) was in the wrong place under President Bush’s watch.
President Obama rejected “as false, the choice between our safety and our ideals.” I believe this is a blatant attempt to discredit President Bush’s foreign policy and implementation of interrogation techniques to protect America from those who would do us harm.
President Obama assured the rest of the world “that we are ready to lead once more.” Obviously President Obama is portraying to the world that the United States was running amuck under George Bush.
February 3rd, 2009 on 6:56 pm
Joey, I feel that any points Obama made in his inauguration that may have felt like a jab were, indeed, a jab at Bush’s presidency. It goes without saying that Obama disagreed with Bush’s foreign policy, research areas, interrogation methods, judgement etc.
I do not disagree with your points but would just like to reinforce that that was most likely his intent; doing it in a (somewhat) subtle way is his style.
February 3rd, 2009 on 9:47 pm
Of course Clem Dog, I will be happy to. Let me see here:
“our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age.”
(I think this is a reference to the nation and our inability to transition adequately from the industrial age to the fiber optic age more than a slam at Bush)
“restore science to its rightful place.”
(May very well be a proclamation that the days of protecting big business from environmental standards are over.)
“as false, the choice between our safety and our ideals.”
(I agree whole hardily with the President here and think it was important to say. We must hold ourselves to a higher standard than the mafia and Mexican drug lords)
“that we are ready to lead once more.”
Joey, what would you expect him to say? “Don’t worry world nothing is going to change and we will continue to follow in the footsteps of the Bush administration?
If he said that I am sure Reverend Joseph Lowery’s comments would have been more like this: “This Barack is quite a crock.
I don’t know that President Obama would have been able to stay clear of any comments that couldn’t be directed as an indictment toward the Bush administration and remained genuine. How do you expect a President to run for two years on a specific platform and then not mention it in is first address as President?