In Defense of Andrew Breitbart: 'This Is Not About Shirley Sherrod'

by greybeard

Andrew Breitbart made it clear when interviewed on Tuesday that 'This Is Not About Shirley Sherrod'.

No one listened.

It is the Media today that made the taped issue "all about Sherrod".

That Sherrod was retelling a story that would eventually form in some epiphany of racial growth for Sherrod - advancing her personal philosophical change to one of a born again Marxist serving the haveNots over the haves - was not the purpose of the CLIPS; and the story's culmination of some sort of maturity of racial 'growth change'... certainly was not known by the audience in the clip as she told it.

From the reactions of everyone from the Media to the White House - Sherrod's words as she spoke sounded like 'get back time' discriminatory racism. Otherwise they would not have pulled her over to the side of road, asked for her ID, and purged her. Their own over reaction made it about Shirley.

But in this instance Brieitbart has told us that the context for the clip (SENT to him as a Clip) was not to show portions of Sherrod appearing to be racist.
He already explained that the issue was not about Sherrod herself.
It wasn't about whether her story was of 26 years ago or tomorrow...as it will be.

The story & the clip was to show the NAACP crowd approving of what they were hearing because as they listened they too were at that portion of the story clip that came across as racist.
In content and context - They laughed.

That was the story- not who the speaker was.

VERY FEW people put entire tapes on their sites. News programs play clipped "soundbites" all the time. Newspapers with websites post relevant CLIPS in conjunction with their storyline.
Clips are nothing new.

The people going beyond a 'context' argument and ranting about a "doctored" tape are themselves the actual distributors of distortion in spreading the allusion that the tape was phony in some way.

The portion of a tape that is pertinent, to whatever "the point" is that is trying to be made, has always been used in this way.

So no matter how one sliced, diced, edited, or clipped it "6 ways to Sunday" - the point in the tape was not taken out of context by Breitbart, even if there was miles more of it to hear, since the reported Breitbart focus was the NAACP laughing at what appeared to be the power over a white farmer needing help from Sherrod... and just how much help she would decide to give him by directing the farmer to 'one of his own kind'.

The reaction was the point. The reaction was the story.

If the "context" focus had been instead on what Sherrod says hurts, at her present job, is in writing millions of dollars of checks to white business, or 'guess what'...black land with a creek on it is going to a white man - we might have to ask why is race an issue in the Agriculture Department - but it wasn't even brought up.

Racist - not racist- content of character - tip of iceberg- you decide.

If the "due diligence" Breitbart accusers are listening - 'This was Not (supposed to be) About Shirley Sherrod'; but others made it so.

The Sherrod clip was to show an example of the "elements" of hypocrisy in the house of the NAACP "crowds" and their condemnation labeling claims of Tea Party crowds as racists. [Actual example of Left Media content doctored video here -- infiltration manufactured "elements"-- and non-existent --claims might I add]

As everyone scrambles to make amends because they say they didn't listen to the whole tape,and now apologies and offers of recompense go out, (while trying to refocuse blame on Breitbart)I have to wonder how anyone listened to whole tape and didn't hear "it is a white and black thing" for Sherrod.

But THAT is a different story.

If there is a 'teachable moment' in all of this then perhaps the NAACP, and others, will re-evaluate their own slice n dice of crowds to seek out n find that ONE nitwit who stands out improperly so they can label an entire group.

So long as race-baiting politics is a tool of division I won't be holding my breath.

Meanwhile- a very important thing that happened this week during this race distraction circus was Obama's control of people and business in a 2300 page transformation of our 'free market' Republic.
We just moved one step closer to a socialist dictatorship with Obama's financial 'reform' take over of our independence.
If not repealed then soon we will all equally have not - and government will be the Haves.