1. Welcome to Baptist Board, a friendly forum to discuss the Baptist Faith in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to all the features that our community has to offer.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!

A Different Perspective on 'How Obama Thinks'

Discussion in 'Political Debate & Discussion' started by carpro, Sep 21, 2010.

  1. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2004
    Messages:
    25,823
    Likes Received:
    1,167
    Faith:
    Baptist
    http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0...enterprises-obama-business-problem_print.html

    How Obama Thinks
    Dinesh D'Souza, 09.27.10,


    EXCERPT

    It may seem incredible to suggest that the anticolonial ideology of Barack Obama Sr. is espoused by his son, the President of the United States. That is what I am saying. From a very young age and through his formative years, Obama learned to see America as a force for global domination and destruction. He came to view America's military as an instrument of neocolonial occupation. He adopted his father's position that capitalism and free markets are code words for economic plunder. Obama grew to perceive the rich as an oppressive class, a kind of neocolonial power within America. In his worldview, profits are a measure of how effectively you have ripped off the rest of society, and America's power in the world is a measure of how selfishly it consumes the globe's resources and how ruthlessly it bullies and dominates the rest of the planet.

    For Obama, the solutions are simple. He must work to wring the neocolonialism out of America and the West. And here is where our anticolonial understanding of Obama really takes off, because it provides a vital key to explaining not only his major policy actions but also the little details that no other theory can adequately account for.
     
  2. Gold Dragon

    Gold Dragon Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 24, 2005
    Messages:
    5,143
    Likes Received:
    149
    Faith:
    Non Baptist Christian
    I don't know if Obama is postcolonial or not. Maybe he is.

    But I disagree with D'Sousa's position that postcolonialism is something that nobody cares about in the United States. Postcolonialism maybe not be significant for folks like the author of this article and those that support the article. But, I would say it is a significant part of the current cultural milieu in the United States and most of the western world.
     
  3. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2004
    Messages:
    25,823
    Likes Received:
    1,167
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I didn't find "postcolonialism" mentioned at all, or an assertion it was something nobody cared about in the U.S., but maybe I missed it.

    Would you point it out please?
     
  4. Gold Dragon

    Gold Dragon Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 24, 2005
    Messages:
    5,143
    Likes Received:
    149
    Faith:
    Non Baptist Christian
    You are right. Postcolonialism wasn't mentioned. I incorrectly assumed that was what D'Souza was referring to when he was talking about anti-colonialism.

    While the concepts are related in time with respect to classical colonialism, it is not appropriate to refer to opposition to neocolonialism or economic imperialism as postcolonialism because we are still in it.
     
  5. Gold Dragon

    Gold Dragon Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Feb 24, 2005
    Messages:
    5,143
    Likes Received:
    149
    Faith:
    Non Baptist Christian
    Anti-colonialists with respect to neocolonialism would be anti-globalization advocates.

    Is Obama a supporter of the anti-globalization movement? That would probably be an extreme description.

    But I think it is fair to say that Obama is sympathetic to some of the issues that anti-globalization advocates would say is wrong with the way capitalism is practiced internationally (ie environmental and economic sustainability, exploitation of labour, etc). And I think that view is one that is gaining traction among the average American.
     
  6. billwald

    billwald New Member

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2000
    Messages:
    11,414
    Likes Received:
    2
    I voted for Obama on the outside chance that this OP was correct. Alas, Obama sold out before he was elected.
     
  7. Salty

    Salty 20,000 Posts Club
    Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 8, 2003
    Messages:
    38,982
    Likes Received:
    2,615
    Faith:
    Baptist
    I would say the title of this thread is an oxymoron
     
  8. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
    Site Supporter

    Joined:
    Oct 14, 2004
    Messages:
    25,823
    Likes Received:
    1,167
    Faith:
    Baptist
    Why are you struggling so hard to reframe his argument?

    If you have a point to make, try making it within the framework the author outlined. You'll make much more sense.
     
Loading...