Quote of the Day

My recent inactivity on this blog has stemmed from two things:

1. My insane workload (6 courses this semester plus journal editing)
2. My ongoing investigation into moving the blog to another site hosting service that will provide me with more publishing options. I still haven't decided for certain what I'm going to do there.

At any rate, I saw amusing quote today I wanted to share. Earlier this semester, I made a comment in my graduate class that greatly entertained the students. Somehow the class discussion had turned to the term "racist" and its ever-expanding definition. I said that when congressmen resort to denouncing opponents of President Obama's healthcare plan as "racist," that the term has lost all useful meaning and is the equivalent of calling someone a "poopy-head." It took some time for the laughter to die down, and I heard later that a lot of Facebook status updates that night repeated my comment.

Today on Lew Rockwell's site, Tom Woods expresses similar sentiments in an article on nullification. In response to those who condemn supporters of decentralized government as "racist," he writes the following:

"Nobody buys the 'racism' smear anymore. No one in his right mind believes, with Keith Olbermann, that people who drive pickup trucks are likely to have sinister intentions, or that "arrogant" as an adjective to describe Barack Obama is a "racist code word." That game is over. The non-zombie population, which is growing all the time, just tunes it out. At this point, "racism" now encompasses, at the very least, the Tea Party, the GOP, constitutionalists, libertarians, anarchists, anyone who has ever said a kind word about the South (since what reason other "racism" could anyone have for doing that?), anyone who opposes Obama, and anyone who opposes health mandates. That pretty much leaves, as a working definition for "racist," someone who doesn't subscribe to The New Republic."

The entire article is here. I look forward to reading Tom's new book!