Oh. Hi there. Thanks for stopping by.
I thought I would welcome those of you who might be first-time visitors.
I’m Allan. I’m an Angry Black Lady.
Natasha Lennard’s article included the following paragraphs:
“What u said was that Obama was against what happened in NY which is inherently dishonest. U made like he lobbied against the bill,” read one tweet; “why did you lie?” demanded another; and “@maddow has Hate and Racism towards Obama!” wrote another. The playwright and journalist J. Samuel Cook tweeted, I feel sorry for all the #LGBT Americans whose victory last night in New York is overshadowed by @maddow’s and @ltdanchoi’s hatred of Obama.”
Allan Brauer, a blogger at AngryBlackLady.com, wrote that Maddow was refusing to acknowledge a quote from a letter Obama wrote to an LGBT group in California in opposition of Prop. 8. “I want to congratulate all of you who have shown your love for each other by getting married these last few weeks,” Obama wrote in 2008. Others point to the fact that Obama’s view is “evolving” to illustrate that Maddow’s use of the word “against” did not do justice to the president’s view on marriage equality. [emphasis added]
And concluded:
Maddow may have been a bit too strong in her initial comments, but clearly she touched a fragile, irrational nerve in the body of Obama’s diehard supporters.
When ABL sought out the author for clarification, she acknowledged (via Twitter) that my comments were a “fair critique,” which suggests Lennard is differentiating my feedback from that emanating from the “fragile, irrational nerve in the body of Obama’s diehard supporters.” Hey, I’m a white male, so I’m accustomed to my opinions being given greater credence. But whatever. I don’t feel the need to slam other people for how they expressed their feedback to Rachel, even if I don’t agree with all of it.
I’ve had a few things to say since I joined the team here at ABLC, including some reflection on how people communicate via Twitter, and how some public figures are navigating this highly interactive, two-way medium more effectively than others.
But for now, a few thoughts in no particular order:
