Context is everything.
As the Left (including the NAACP) has tried to brand the Tea Party movement as ‘racists’ over the last year, they’ve engaged in racial politics at their worst using the tactics of Saul Alinsky to try to “pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it” [see Alinsky Power Tactic #13].
Now that the very same tactic has been brilliantly been used on the NAACP (and unintentionally caught the White House in the net as well), they’re attempting to pose as victims to some nefarious trickery. The flaw in their argument though is that they did it to themselves.
The fact is, those who capriciously take words out of context for political purposes were warned about “context” at the beginning of Breitbart’s Monday post, were never told that Ms. Sherrod caused harm to the farmers (except through Ms. Sherrod’s own words), and were even given the proper context:
In the first video, Sherrod describes how she racially discriminates against a white farmer. She describes how she is torn over how much she will choose to help him. And, she admits that she doesn’t do everything she can for him, because he is white. Eventually, her basic humanity informs that this white man is poor and needs help. But she decides that he should get help from “one of his own kind”. She refers him to a white lawyer.
The problem for both the NAACP and the White House was that they took it out of context on their own and reacted as any victim of an Alinsky-style tactic might—by overreacting. However, is so doing, they also threw Shirley Sherrod under their bus. In other words, they got beaten at their own game, with their own bat, and they chose the politically expedient way out of it.
That was their fault, not Breitbart’s. He just facilitated them getting caught in their own hypocrisy. [Alinsky Power Tactic # 4: “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules.”]
The funny thing is, according to Tuesday’s statement issued by the NAACP’s Benjamin Jealous, it’s now all Fox News and Andrew Breitbart’s fault that the NAACP and the White House got ‘snookered’ and Ms. Sherrod became an inconvenient speed bump:
With regard to the initial media coverage of the resignation of USDA Official Shirley Sherrod, we have come to the conclusion we were snookered by Fox News and Tea Party Activist Andrew Breitbart into believing she had harmed white farmers because of racial bias.
Having reviewed the full tape, spoken to Ms. Sherrod, and most importantly heard the testimony of the white farmers mentioned in this story, we now believe the organization that edited the documents did so with the intention of deceiving millions of Americans.
The NAACP’s after-the-fact back pedaling can’t hide the fact that they knew there was a contextual problem and they still condemned her (and the audience) anyway, making her the roadkill on their path to demonize average Americans.
Here is Jealous’ statement on Monday, proving he knew there was more to the story and still proceeded with the condemnation her anyway:
Her actions were shameful. While she went on to explain in the story that she ultimately realized her mistake, as well as the common predicament of working people of all races, she gave no indication she had attempted to right the wrong she had done to this man.
The reaction from many in the audience is disturbing. We will be looking into the behavior of NAACP representatives at this local event and take any appropriate action.
Context is everything, Mr. Jealous. You knew the context of Ms. Sherrod’s comments on the tape and you still condemned her anyway when the White House forced her resignation.
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“I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes.”Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776
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Jealous and the NAACP knew there was more to the story.
Here’s their problem: Once the White House overreacted, the NAACP had no other choice but to
