Un-Liberaled Woman

For some reason there’s this whole issue that I guess needs to be addressed by the “heroic” left about how different the Obama’s talk. Here’s a report from ABC.

President Obama’s use of slang was seen as a tip of the hat to African Americans.

So here’s my tip of the hat and it’s not rocket science. The reason the Obama’s sound the way they do is not because they are more affluent, or hang around white people more, or are striving to be white. It’s because they are – educated and are in a professional environment 99% of the time they are publicly speaking!!!!  I know this is REEEEEEEALLY hard for people on the left to grasp, but the way you talk has nothing to do with the color of your skin as the ABC report above would have some believe. I’m sorry if you believe that, but you are wrong.

Why is that? Well, because if that were true then my uncle’s voice wouldn’t resemble Milton from Office Space.  My uncle is white, so via the liberal’s logic, he’s supposed to by default be articulate with words flowing out of his mouth as smooth as ice cream. Hmmmmm – ice cream. Anydaydream, enough with the classifying people based on how they talk is a characteristic of their race, and then showcasing others as “so brave” when they speak in tone of what is basically a highly-educated professional (nothing more, nothing less). It’s great for kids to look up to professionals and admire them to then in turn strive to be like them. BUT that’s not what this is. This is putting the Obama’s on a pedestal based on how they speak and that their “professional talk” is responsible for transforming the African American community - as if their culture is solely defined by the slang they speak in non-professional settings.

This is a propagandist tactic used by the left to play up some race-baiting for the DNC. Sorry to break the bad news, but uneducated people in the inner-city talk just like the uneducated people in the rural areas. It’s based more on education achievements than culture or race.

People talk in different tones based on multiple settings. I talk in a different fashion than I would with my friends or even at work. Some people even talk in a distinct way only when around their parents. Many people have unique dialects that change multiple times based on their growing ages or where they live. Others while at work may enunciate more while giving a speech or heading up a meeting, but would still have a highly-professional yet a bit more relaxed tone when it comes to their daily interaction with co-workers.

I argue that most people on a daily basis have at least 3-4 different ways in which they speak, ranging from highly slang/casual to highly academic/professional, and adapt their usage based on their environment. And that one’s range is more vast based on the education level they have achieved AND the academic level they encounter on a daily basis. For instance, I believe two PH.D students would on average talk more affluently than myself (who holds just a Master’s), but if you split up the two PH.D. students – putting one in Corporate America and keeping one in academia – you would also start to see a divergence between their speech patterns and context as well.

But, uh, some liberals may huff and puff saying that I’m doing a disservice to recognizing culture and the African American community. Notice how the parameters of culture for the Democrats only seem to include African Americans. How come there’s no hubba-bubba over how Asian Americans, Hispanics or other minorities talk? When Bill Richardson, who is Hispanic, gets up to speak where’s the “he’s so brave and has come so far as to overcome the barriers in articulation and enunciation” or the ”nation is fascinated not only by what Richardson says but HOW he says it”? I’ve seen plenty of Hispanics that speak the most broken English, yet Richardson is not hailed as transforming the Hispanic community based on him sounding professional which is essentially a requirement of him being a civic servant just like the Obama’s.

And what about when people on the left degrade others like Sarah Palin for being “hicks” or “too folksy” in their speech, blaming their small-town and rural backgrounds. Now all of a sudden it’s not about race that plays into your articulation but geographic residency? HUH?

Also, let me get this straight. It’s okay for someone to make fun of anyone they deem as poor white trash – the way they talk, how they look, etc. You can joke around by calling someone a redneck, comment they have missing teeth, probably sleep with a relative, talk funny (or ”too folksy”) or look like the creepy banjo kid from Deliverance. That’s okay, BUT if someone says a black student from the inner city talks a certain way not because of race, but because of personal choice and education level – then that’s wrong. Again, where is the logic?