Reply #23: Eh. [View All]

[Igel]

Just because you've never seen the combination doesn't mean it's impossible.

This is different from saying that Obama fits in this category.

But my dissertation advisor did. When he didn't get sufficient start-up funds at his new job, he cried. Whenever he was confronted with something unpleasant that he didn't feel in control of, he buckled. However, that didn't keep him from being absurdly controlling and demanding when it came to his students and people that he considered his inferiors, including his colleagues. Often he was most patronizing and arrogant when it came to things that he knew or should have known about and didn't do squat with for months until they were about to blow up in his face.

He was weak and needed to take command. He was arrogant and patronizing. One size idiot boy did not fit all contexts.

(And, on a separate issue, under what conditions is it acceptable to call a black man "arrogant"? Do we assume that blacks are graced with intrinsic, insurmountable humility as a genetic inheritance linked to the DNA segments involving skin color? Do we think Steele or Sowell or Clarence Thomas are arrogant, which apparently can only mean "uppity"? Or are interracial judgements on this point simply untenable because of inherent, genetic cultural differences? Otherwise, many posts seem paranoid and overly self-defensive, making defending our hero at all costs a personal and racial matter.)