Academic

ANN ALTHOUSE: Is Harry Reid a Racist? It Depends On What The Meaning of ?Racist? Is. If by ?rac?

By Glenn Reynolds

ANN ALTHOUSE: Is Harry Reid a Racist? It Depends On What The Meaning of “Racist” Is.

If by “racist,” you mean somebody who feels antagonism toward black people, then Harry Reid isn’t a racist. Harry Reid thinks we are racists.

If by “racist” you mean somebody who would use other people’s feelings about race in a purely instrumental way to amass political power, then Harry Reid is a racist.

Well, that’s a generous assessment.

UPDATE: Comments from Eugene Volokh, and the Crack Emcee. Plus, Ed Driscoll.

ANOTHER UPDATE: More from Steven Barnes. “It was ‘racist’ in the strictest sense that it was discussing race. But it seems to me he was just commenting on some common-sense things. . . . A number of times I came across comments that these comments were acceptable in private black-on-black conversations, but not for white people. . . . Are there subjects that only whites can talk about publicly? I’ve never been aware of black people refraining from commenting on anything they want. Where, again, is the official list of those things blacks can talk about, but not whites? Men but not women? Gays but not straights?” I think the list changes as politics demand.

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on January 11, 2010 (boomark / email).