Was the voting in the American election positive racist?

You have to give it to the Americans, if there is a possibility to draw an event out for the longest time possible then they are the nation to do it and what’s more they will show as much of it as they can on TV. We have finally come to what seems the longest election campaign in the world and without doubt the most publicised.
I appreciate which candidate is chosen to become the American president does have important consequences for the UK and the rest of the world but do I need a daily if not hourly update on what has been going on in the American election. Sometimes it seems the reporting on the event has been in more depth and frequent that the election for the prime minister.

Anyway it’s done and Obama has been elected, good, now lets move on world.

There has been a huge deal made about Obama being of black origin and it brought to me the question of whether Obama has benefit from what is seen as a positive racism. Black people have in America and the rest of the world have suffered from racist behaviour towards them for a long time and see this as a significant period in their history.

I don’t think the term racist is the correct word but a lot of the media on the radio and TV I have seen and heard has featured people of black origin saying they are going to vote for Obama because he is black. The fact that I few him as the best candidate rather than the a 72 year old man and a gun totting hockey mum who has had a 100,000 dollar make over is not the point I’m discussing here. What if we had heard all the white voters saying they were going to vote for McCain because he was white, is this racist. I found myself slightly ignorant of the exact definition of racism and so I thought I would look it

Here is the definition from http://dictionary.reference.com/

rac⋅ism

–noun

1. a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others.
2. a policy, system of government, etc., based upon or fostering such a doctrine; discrimination.
3. hatred or intolerance of another race or other races.

Do the people voting view their own race as superior? Maybe. Are people discriminating against a candidate because of the colour of skin? Yes.

It seems at odds with all the hyperbole stating this is the most important and influential job in the world and people are basing their votes on the colour of the candidates skin, when in this election there seems many other factors to base your decision on.

The way the media mentions race is something to consider, well it’s not just the media but ourselves in our everyday lives also have to deal with different races and different attitudes. I also have the same thoughts on the sex of people and the sexiest attitudes towards some women. I just see people who are raising a certain point or have a certain opinion, it’s what they say not who say’s it. It is worthy of mentioning this debate brings to mind Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton. I usually think we should deal with it in these two ways

1. When the media keep mentioning race or sex of that a person it highlights and points attention to the race or sex of the person as if it is something which is very important and possible more important than many other issues and theories regarding that person. I think the colour of the skin or sex of the person isn’t the most important point and they shouldn’t focus on it and instead focus on the polices or beliefs of the person.
2. That by highlighting the race or sex of the person it highlights the fact this point is often used to discriminate and you the consumer of the media should not fall into this trap.
So I veer between thinking the media should mention it or focus on it because I don’t care about it, sometimes I think all people are just people and the colour of their skin or their sex isn’t important to me. Recently I have been hearing constituently that Barack Obama is black, so what, Barack Obama is a person the same as John McCain is a person, the most important part isn’t the colour of their skin but what are their actual policies. This is the same thought I had when it was Obama versus Hilary Clinton, all the focus was on it could be the first women versus the first black person in white house.

Then some other times I think, yes Obama being black is important, the same way it was important the way footballers and musicians raised the status of black people in England. In the end the more you see influential black people the less important the colour of their skin becomes but that is only after the way has been paved by the generations of black people before them. In particular as a football fan I think of the monkey charts and people throwing banana’s at John Barnes, the fact it seems so distasteful and odd is a mark of how society has changed over the past 20 years.

One of the interesting points I have taken from the American election is how in this election in particular seems to have been focused on the person rather than the political party. In the UK people seem to vote for the party first and the candidate is a secondary consideration. It seems rather odd in some ways how candidates either are thought to believe one set of values or a different set of values and although we do have some other choices the candidates aligning themselves not with the two major parties will never get in. Yet when the candidate is elected prime minister he can do what he likes and not really following the part line, although he will have to get his choices voted in. Anyway I seem to have veered off course with the last paragraph.

Incidentally I heard a few interviews with American saying they wouldn’t for Obama because they thought he was a Muslim and he was one of them. I find it quite scary that religion has such an influence in the election of the American president. I remember reading with the last election with the now former president Bush, he played on his religious beliefs to get the Christians to vote for him. The radio discussion on the topic stated it would be impossible for a non Christian person to be elected president in America. I wonder if one day in the future people will be celebrating the first Atheist prime minister, I think this would really be something to celebrate.

Another interesting point I would like to mention is about the American election was a Radio 5 live presenter was saying there was some people voting for Obama because they thought he was good looking, the female presenter was saying these people shouldn’t be allowed to vote if the looks of the candidate was the criteria they used for deciding their vote. I found this interesting because part of the way someone looks is often what people base their first opinion on and good looking people tend to generate better first impressions than their uglier counterparts. Studies have also shown people who talk eloquently, confidently and with powerful low voice also give a better impression to the listeners. In fact most of human communication is based on how we say things and it is only a small percentage is based on what we actually say.

The final thing I would like to say it was amazing to see so many people getting out and voting and I am glad it is finally over and now all the new stations will have to find something else to tell us incessantly about every day, Good luck to Obama it’s a bit of a paradox the situation he finds himself in, everybody is excited and expecting radical changes but I get the feeling with the current economic situation that in many ways he will be just fire fighting and will do well just to keep things going let alone radical changes.

It will be interesting to see how Obama does and everyone has high hopes, I wish him good luck and good fortune, I think he is going to need it.

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