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Listen: Michael Eric Dyson's Interview on His Break With Cornel West
http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2015/04/michael_eric_dyson_tells_the_root_about_his_split_with_mentor_cornel_west.html?wpisrc=
topstories
“Something irrational is going on,” Dyson said, later adding, “It was the nastiness of the tone. The unprincipled assault. There’s a difference between that and ad hominem.”
West’s ever personal turn has “obscured the sometimes powerful and sometimes luminous and other times legitimate critique” he may have, according to Dyson.
“But when you weight it down under the burden of extraordinary, personal bitterness, it just wipes away all the good stuff that you might say and makes us question what it is about the motivation for your criticism in the long run,” he said.
Dyson is talking about both West’s critique of Obama and of the scholar’s attacks on Dyson and his peers, both older and younger, primarily Melissa Harris-Perry, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. West has called them all traitors of sorts, liars and opportunists who choose to toe the Obama administration line. This despite the fact that all have been critical of President Obama at one point or another, but have couched their criticism with respect for both the office and the place President Obama holds in the hearts of many African Americans.
West, who has compared himself to slain civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., has called them “false prophets,” leading with the idea that his voice is the only one ringing with any truth.
Yet, for Dyson, there is something very unlike MLK about this assessment.
“Something irrational is going on,” Dyson said, later adding, “It was the nastiness of the tone. The unprincipled assault. There’s a difference between that and ad hominem.”
West’s ever personal turn has “obscured the sometimes powerful and sometimes luminous and other times legitimate critique” he may have, according to Dyson.
“But when you weight it down under the burden of extraordinary, personal bitterness, it just wipes away all the good stuff that you might say and makes us question what it is about the motivation for your criticism in the long run,” he said.
Dyson is talking about both West’s critique of Obama and of the scholar’s attacks on Dyson and his peers, both older and younger, primarily Melissa Harris-Perry, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson. West has called them all traitors of sorts, liars and opportunists who choose to toe the Obama administration line. This despite the fact that all have been critical of President Obama at one point or another, but have couched their criticism with respect for both the office and the place President Obama holds in the hearts of many African Americans.
West, who has compared himself to slain civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., has called them “false prophets,” leading with the idea that his voice is the only one ringing with any truth.
Yet, for Dyson, there is something very unlike MLK about this assessment.
Maybe now the folks who have come back here and been shocked at the derision from regular participants will get it now?
29 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
As I read the first two paragraphs, I was starting to formulate a post adding Ford to the list of Black folks white folks just love to tell Black folks, we should be listening to and agreeing with.
Then, I got to your third paragraph ... Never mind! Nothing for me to say 
Again - things are pretty cushy in Princeton. I should see if I can get my friend who is doing down there what I'm doing in my town - a community kitchen - to call him for a donation.
I'll give her the list of prominent Conservatives in my district that have given and are volunteering time to the cause. Shame him a little bit in case he says "no".
the pie as they're used to getting are the core patrons and audience for BAR. They can all have each other.
And I love how the article is actually trying to give West credit for Obama's successes! 
Who the fuck is Chris Floyd? Any man that is only able to make create an international reputation for themselves by putting down another brother (MED) gets nothing from me. Even Corny was well established and regarded before he fell on the hate train with Obama.
I read this morning - someone write "fuck so an so and Sharpton".
Sharpton.
One of the most reviled and hated black Americans by even moderate Republicans. The man who ran for President with a platform that included being pro Same Sex Marriage. A man who speaks to Poverty and Class every chance he gets.
. . . And the slithey toves did gyre and gimble in the . . .
You seen that Jabberwock lately? I have and that thing is uuuuuuggggg-leeeee.
