Jesse Jackson Likens Cavs Owner to a Slave Owner and Lebron to a Runaway Slave

Good questions. In this regard he's kind of like a longer-lasting black male version of Palin.

And, like Palin, people still listen to what he says, and rally around him as needed - regardless of all the dumb things he has done in the past.

 

According to Whitlock is the key phrase,

Whitlock loves these racial arguments, and he invites this particular argument on a lot of issues, so his email box is exactly representative of that

 

Sure - but I guess I just think of that as like 20 or 30 ignorant sports fans. You can take any crazy view in sports or politics or whatever, and you'll have people support it. You have those everywhere.

But Jesse Jackson seems to be treated as though he's a bigger figure than he is. People listen to Rush. People listen to Glenn Beck. That's why those guys get high rated TV or radio shows. People listen to Michelle Bachmann or President Obama or various bloggers like the DailyKos or RedState guys. They have real followers and real influence.

I just don't see many people actually caring about what Jesse Jackson has to say. I don't see a constituency that really listens and is influenced by him.

 

you've been reported

 

I agree and I think he just tries to piss people off, but it doesn't change the fact that Jackson's feelings do represent other people.

 

Every rally or march he does always has a large turnout and he makes it on TV whenever he wants. People care.

 

I'd argue Jackson gets quoted for the same reasons. Now, maybe he "feeds the fires" so to speak, but those folks you listed above do the same thing too.

But I'm not a rabid Jackson follower or anything, so you may be right. But I doubt it. He's influential enough that plenty of folks would be happy to see past obvious silliness such as this. I mean, that happens all the time.

 

Granted, the Facebook demographic is not representative because of demographic issues, but look at this disparity:

Glenn Beck has 1.1 million fans. Rush Limbaugh has 89,000. Obama has 10 million. Palin has 1.8 million. Al Sharpton (same demographic as Jackson) has 21,000.

Jesse Jackson? 340. (only 37 as a politician; another 303 as an author)

Jesse Jackson Jr has 3800 fans.

I understand his demographic (probably older black America) isn't the facebook Demographic, but those numbers are ridiculous.

 

TV - yes. And that's my point - the media loves him and seems to think he's a big figure. But that goes back to being famous for being famous.

Rallies and marches - are these things that he organizes? Or does he go piggyback off of already existing things?

 

I think he's influential as a boogeyman. People on the opposite side use him as a famous person to make fun of the other side. He riles up conservatives effectively because he's portrayed as representative of "Black America" or whatever. But I think if you go into "Black America", he's not nearly as influential.

If Rush Limbaugh goes nutty and turns something stupid into a big story, and you poll conservatives before and after, I think it moves the needle as to whether they see it as important. If Jesse Jackson goes nutty and does the same, I don't think it moves the needle on Black America nearly as much.

 

TV is not stupid. They won't show things that do not attract ratings.

 

Perhaps. But I think that's ancillary to my or Whitlock's point: That black americans look silly via this guy. And it's probably up to black americans (like Whitlock) to remove his "aura of authority".

 

maybe we should make him disappear. this is what i'm saying, what do you want black people to do?

sharpton whom major mentioned is a lot more influential at this point. but when sharpton ran for president, blacks didn't out right support him. and that's about the only type of rejection that is relevant.

much like the rejection of a certain vp candidate

 

Crazy attracts ratings. As you can see, we're all talking about what Jesse Jackson says.

I'm saying people listen to him to see what stupid stuff he says. Not because there's this big block of people that he influences anymore.

 

obama should call out the black panthers on jackson

 

How, though? It's like saying non-extremist Muslims need to stop the extremist ones. The only thing they can do is not listen to him - but if they are already doing that, I'm not sure what else is their responsibility.

 

Yes but that doesn't equate the people watching to followers of said subject being shown on TV.

 

Well, articulate responses such as Whitlock's are a good start.

 

Sure - and on a voluntary basis, that's fine - though Whitlock doesn't sound like a Jesse Jackson follower, so I'm not sure how his criticism really helps.

But on a larger scale, why should it be Black America's responsibility? If Rush Limbaugh says something stupid, it's not the responsibility of a moderate, non-Rush-listening conservative to distance himself from it. So if Black America doesn't care about Jesse Jackson right now, why is it their responsibility to somehow distance themselves from someone who they don't listen to as is?

If Black America actively uses Jesse Jackson as their voice, and actively is influenced by what he says, then that's a different story. But if they don't, why do they need to stand up to him?

 

I did not say that. I'd just argue it more effective than the alternative.