Educated Beyond One’s Intelligence (EBOI)

Introducing a new regular feature at ThrowAllTheBumsOut.Org , here is the first installment of EBOI

Source:Kansas City Star  Editorial Page Columnist: Lewis Diuguid  Link: Here

In the referenced article, Lewis Diuguid makes the laughable assertion that Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin are using socialist  as a proxy for overt racial smears against Sen. Obama.   Diuguid’s case appears to rest on the supposition that J. Edgar Hoover used the term in describing such Civil Rights luminaries as Rev. Martin Luther King, W.E.B. DuBois, Paul Robeson and A. Philip Randolph.  Apparently, the usage of the work socialist by a single governmental functionary more than 40 years ago, colors its meaning in the culture at large.

A simple Google search for “socialist definition” generated the following nine responses (of a possible 3,930,000):

(1)“Socialists mainly share the belief that capitalism unfairly concentrates power and wealth among a small segment of society that controls capital, and creates an unequal society. All socialists advocate the creation of an egalitarian society, in which wealth and power are distributed more evenly, although there is considerable disagreement among socialists over how, and to what extent this could be achieved.”

(2)Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.  The stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and communism, in which collective ownership of the economy under the dictatorship of the proletariat has not yet been successfully achieved.

(3)A political and economic theory or system in which the means of production, distribution, and exchange are owned by the community collectively, usually through the state

(4)A theory or system of social organization advocating placing the ownership and control of capital, land, and means of production in the community as a whole

(5)Marxist theory. the first stage in the transition from capitalism to communism, marked by imperfect realizations of collectivist principles

(6)any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods

(7)a system of society or group living in which there is no private property

(8)a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state

(9)a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

In none of the above cases is the word “race” or any allusion to color or ethnicity made. 

Mr. Diuguid, you owe an apology not only to Sen. McCain and Gov Palin but to all the readers of the Kansas City Star Editorial Page.  Bias on the OpEd page is completely understandable.  Acceptable.  Even expected. 

Intentional gross distortion of the truth for obviously partisan purposes is not!

You sir, have abused the public trust and are as much to blame as any Washington Politician for the cynical attitude of the electorate.