I really hate it when accusations of racism are used as a generic method of silencing opposition. Take this conversation that I had with a friend on Facebook:
The test on the picture seemed to imply that anybody who opposes Obama, or at least a majority of those who oppose Obama, are doing because of the man’s race. What bothers me about such an accusation is that there is no evidence to back it up. Without the ability to read minds one cannot know for certain what another is thinking. Yet one must consider the number of reasons one could oppose Obama. Obama is a very loathsome human being. He was swept into office on the promises of reducing the police state, ending Bush’s wars, shutting down Guantanamo Bay, and restoring many of the civil liberties that were lost when the state implemented tyrannical laws after the 9/11 attacks. After getting into office Obama has expanded the police state, continued Bush’s wars and started some of his own, kept Guantanamo Bay open, took more civil liberties from Americans, and even managed to find time to outright murder two American citizens without even pretending to hold a trial. As you can see there are many reasons to oppose Obama that have absolutely nothing to do with his race.
Yet some of his supporters continue to play the race card. This faction of Obama supporters like to take pictures such as the one shared by my friend and use it as evidence that everybody who opposes Obama, or at least a majority of those who oppose Obama, are racists. What’s funny is that we don’t even know if the person who defaced that sign was a racists. It very well could have been a racist or it could have been an Obama supporter attempting to make his political opponents look bad. There is no proof either way and even if there was it would prove nothing about the majority of people who don’t support Obama.
Obama’s supporters need to put the race card away unless there is a provable case of racism. If a member of the Ku Klux Klan argues against Obama because of his race then the race card is applicable. The race card is not applicable every time somebody criticizes Obama. Furthermore the race card should not be played against individuals who are entirely uninvolved in any racist acts. Trying to imply everybody who opposes Obama is a racist because one of Obama’s opponents is a racist is nothing more than a cowardly attempt to silence those who hold a different political viewpoint.