Recent controversies surrounding various statements by U.S. presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson have raised a series of questions and concerns about how the candidate actually thinks. This revolves around his frame of analysis and the extraordinary conclusions he has apparently drawn.
Let’s start with a point of clarification, however, a point I am particularly directing toward Black America. Carson is not a “brother.” To be clear as to my meaning, I have no intention of insulting Carson. Carson is, clearly, genetically a person of African descent. I am not questioning that, nor am I questioning where he was born. What I am suggesting is that his frame of reference is antithetical to that of the overwhelming majority of African-Americans and, like Justice Clarence Thomas, represents interests that are not favorable towards those of Black America.
Carson, again much like Justice Thomas, is a convenient instrument in the hands of the white right-wing. Carson articulates views that, were they to come from a white person, would be described as unacceptable. Yet, Carson, as an identifiable Black person is able to offer points of view that white right-wingers can reference as if to say that if a Black person, i.e., Carson, can say them, then they are okay. In fact, his views are so over the top that I frequently ask myself whether this is some tremendous prank that he is carrying out.
If one examines Carson’s politics, he is very right-wing. His opposition to the Affordable Care Act (so-called Obamacare) and comparing it to slavery is a simple example of being out of touch with reality. Slavery, Carson? Really?
His views do not stop there. Opposition to a women’s control over her own body. His homophobia. His suggestion that African-Americans can pull themselves up by their bootstraps; his attacks on #BlackLivesMatter as, allegedly bullying people, along with his demonization of the late Michael Brown (killed by the Ferguson Police), all point in a direction of someone far more comfortable with right-wing delusions about Black America rather than the actual experience of Black Americans.
I start here because I want to remind African-Americans of the mistake that too many people made when Justice Clarence Thomas was nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court. There were too many of us who wanted to avoid criticizing him, if not going so far as to support his candidacy on the basis that as a Black man, once on the bench, he would supposedly do the right thing because he knew the reality of being Black in the U.S. This approach was knowingly faulty, but proved to be an utter disaster once one witnessed precisely what Justice Thomas did upon joining the U.S. Supreme Court. On virtually every issue that affects the majority of African-Americans, Justice Thomas has voted the wrong way.
Any suggestion that due to Carson’s being genetically of African descent should make him more sympathetic to our plight should be discarded. He has had numerous opportunities to “do the right thing,” and in each case he has failed, becoming a mouthpiece for people such as right-wing media magnate Rupert Murdoch who claim that he will be a genuine Black president if elected; that is genuine compared with Murdoch’s diagnosis of the current occupant of the White House.
If we were to stop there the conclusions would be bad enough, but one then must look deeper at the processes through which Carson thinks. Let’s consider a few examples. Carson seems to believe that whatever he thinks is, therefore, true. One example is his apparent explanation of the Egyptian Pyramids. CBS News described Carson’s views as “unusual.” That was putting it nicely. He suggested that the Pyramids were created to store grain and that they were created by Joseph.
Let’s start with a few points. There are no credible archeologists who subscribe to Carson’s views. What is he basing his views upon? Has he interacted with any Egyptian scholars on this question? On what basis would he come to this conclusion? What studies has he conducted? Why, even, utter such a theory?
It is not just that Carson is talking off the top of his head but the fact that anyone gives such views credibility is itself most disturbing. It is not just that his views are unusual; his views rank up there with the idea that the Pyramids were created by ancient other-worldly civilizations. Sure, that makes for good science fiction, e.g., Stargate, but it has no relationship to science. Yet this is a Presidential candidate?
Here is my favorite. As reported, Carson, for years, claimed to have been offered a full scholarship by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The publication Politico broke the story that this was simply not the case. First, there are no “full scholarships” to West Point. Second, he was not offered anything. Third, he never applied to West Point. His campaign is, apparently, trying to skirt this entire issue by suggesting that this was simply loose language and that, at a banquet, he was encouraged to apply.
I am not so old as to not remember the difference between being offered a full scholarship and being encouraged to apply. Even if you assume that Carson misunderstood when he was told that he would not have to worry about paying (because one enlists in going to West Point), Carson has lived long enough to have known the distinction between that reality and a scholarship. Yet, Carson seemed to feel comfortable repeating this inaccuracy not caring the least about the consequences.
Alright, team, it is time to sum this one up. What does it mean that Carson believes that it is acceptable to, apparently, play fast and loose with a significant part of his biography and also engage in pseudo-archeological analysis? Frankly, it means, that Carson upholds what the comedian George Wallace would say at the end of his “commentaries” on the Tom Joyner Morning Show: that’s the way that I see it; and that’s the way that it ought to be. Such a point of view may work for a comedian, but in the case of someone running for president of the United States it is unacceptable, if not utterly dangerous.
Carson has no experience in elected office; no experience in a social movement. He is a renowned neurosurgeon, but has no credentials in anything else. All he has is an opinion and the backing of some of the most extreme elements of the Republican Party. And he is seeking an office where, with the push of a button, he can destroy planet Earth several times over.
Makes you wonder.
Makes me scared.
Bill Fletcher, Jr. is the host of “The Global African” on Telesur-English. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and at www.billfletcherjr.com.
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2 Comments
Dr. Ben Carson’s comment are not only very extremely right wing; they are bizarre, dishonest,, misleading, semi-delusional, even delusional. They are also ignorant and unfounded remarks without any basis. It is quite unsettling that he makes these off the top remarks so many times obviously without thinking carefully whether they are true. To make matters worse, he has no experience in public office. It’s a shocking and sad commentary that the Republican Party has this kind of presidential candidate who is totally unfit and unqualified to become President of the most powerful nation in the world. Although he is a renowned pediatric neurosurgeon, he should not be running for the highest public office in America. In conclusion, the prospect of his becoming our next President is chilling to say the least.
Bill: The first time I saw Carsen was Cspan Book TV speaking to an almost exclusive white audience. He made the remark that when he was operating on someone’s brain to the effective that he wasn’t operating on a white person or a black person’s brain. The statement itself was not over the top controversial, but the over the top semi-delusional applause that he received certainly got my attention.