Re: President Obama Uncle Sam or Uncle Tom- Ralph Nader

[benjilittleman555]

Honestly we need to listen what other country's are saying about us. Only then can we get better. We have to respect what they choose and how they view us. I mean, a million people on television that act like idiots will be viewed by other country's as what american people are. For god sake make your children better to because if we teach our kids the right way we can have a chance at a better future. BEAT THEM if you have to(not to harsh though)

[DiastolicBP]

It seems,perhaps, unlikely that Nader and his cause will lead to the extirpation of the tumultuous corporate influence in the nation without the rational support of the denizens in the United States; however, these denizens subject themselves to deceitful news mediators that are subordinate,culturally and corporately, to big business. To inform the masses, Nader needs the media, but to lie his way to debates would be to abandon his dogma, garble his message, and crawl towards the seat of power.

[Balertwine]

Thank you, thank you. You hit the nail on the head. Fox News has a responsibility and has totally abrogated that responsibility. Its methods of propaganda are very disturbing and are a threat to democracy. If people look at Fox News and are disturbed by what they see, they can then understand how the German people were deceived by the Nazi propaganda machine.Reporting the news is a serious business and should not be used as a guise to present a political viewpoint. Canada banned Fox News.

[allenjasson]

Americans gave their votes to the major party candidates because they thought minor candidates like Paul and Nader couldn't win. They caved in to the lying mass media who promoted that very notion. Had all of the American population ignored this and voted as they actually wanted Paul or Nader would have won.

[Apathesis0]

@allenjasson YES! YES! People are unfortunately easily manipulated. I made the smart decision and voted third party and I urge everyone to do so. Vote out the incumbents too!

[llothar68]

Nader was so right. Obama is a bitch and an Uncle Tom

[cowboysfan782008]

Great video, and you nailed it. It is unfortunate that when he used the Uncle Tom expression that it gave the media all of the fuel that it needed, but that is EXACTLY the problem in this Country today. IE: Enforcing immigration law's is racist, a mosque at ground zero is only freedom of religion, etc etc. America is broke but still has to cater in ways that other country's like mexico and iran would never cater to us. The media will always find "CRAP" to divert us from what is right and just!

[ryanshaunkelly]

nader paul kucinich gravel mckinney

free your mind and the rest will follow

[DarkLordCallMeDickC]

I agree with free speach however Fox News is the equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded room.

[SAwesome2]

Thank you for taking the time to post this. I'm glad that your Video Response is the first on the list.

[hoomanity]

Thanks for your great commentary. Someone should have said these things!

[alistairproductions]

hey thanks for putting some truth on that video.. fox news tried to make it seem like he said something evil

[fuzzywzhe]

Obama is clearly an Uncle Tom.

He didn't repeal the Patriot Act, he didn't end the war in Iraq, he didn't stop the Bush/Paulson bailouts, he didn't close Guantanamo.

And quit calling us capitalist. We were somewhat capitalist 50 years ago, today, we are fascists.

[rewtguy]

Too bad this has less than 500 views. What you said makes sense.

It's funny when Nader explains the reason the question was asked and even tries to explain the idea behind "Uncle Tom" (toward the end) the reporter just dismisses him as "irrelevant" and ends the conversation.

Reporter: What you say!?

Nader: Because of this ...

Reporter: You're irrelevant

Nader: Retort & continue of observations

Reporter: Good bye.

Fox New's reporting of politics is irrelevant... Gotta love morons.

[allenjasson]

Thanks for your comment.

Yes, the right to "free speech" has become segregated like every other "right" we have. For the privileged few it is the right to own or influence a media empire while to the rest it is the right to engage in discussion with one or not more than two others to quietly discuss your views. However, that's wht talking about a revolution sounds like a whisper.

But the reporter, like all of the hangers on to empire, acts contrary to his own best interests. A fool!

[TawpDawg123]

fuck off and get involved in austrailian politics u fucking idiot not american politics

[allenjasson]

Now there's a rare intellectual insight.

Just for your information - the US has been meddling in Australia since WW2 and in 1975 engineered a coup against the socialist government of Gough Whitlam. It's you Americans who need to "fuck off" as you put it, and get involved in their own politics rather than meddling in the rest of the world breeding the hatered that will inevitably come back to you and make it ultimately impossible for Americans to travel because you are universally despised.

[ecoli2345]

As born and raised US citizen I can say that many people in other countries actually know more about "our" government than most Americans.

[italianman2112]

@ecoli2345@ecoli2345 I think its like when you can give great advise to a friend, but to give yourself the advise it doesn't work nearly as well, And outside source has not been conditioned to your things. So thank you Allen for being kind and giving us a great outside look and please always remember, there are lots of kind and loving people here ( I know you already know that, But I still wanted to say that and hello :)

[cheedren]

hey frog ur a dumbass

do urself a favor and turn off ur TV

and start researching 9/11 truth, federal reserve, ron paul, rockafeller, rothchilds, Bilderburg group, CFR, berzinski, ruppert murdock, G&E & BBC, john perkins, CIA... the list gose on and on

[allenjasson]

As it happens, I'm aware of most of this, particularly the false-flag nature of 9-11; my theory being that the people who own western capitalism (including the US and all its serfs) discovered the plan, and subsequently cooperated, facilitated and exploited it - that's all obvious. As for Perkins - he spends his career working for the enemy and then retires to writing books to sell to the left bragging about it - a through and through arsehole!

But has it occurred to that you're illiterate?

[froggoiny]

how could you agree with this freak. How the hell would he know whats best for America he isnt even american for crying out loud. Jerk

[allenjasson]

Very easily - he's intelligent and makes excellent arguments on a lot of issues. As to knowing what's best for America, given that 200 Million out of 300 million americans have their heads firmly jammed up their arses Nader has to be among the most likely to know.

Why don't you turn off your programming and scripted responses and start using your brain for its intended function?

[allenjasson]

I care. You care. We fantasize we can change things but the realilty is that at end game they win the disaster we all wanted to save them (and us) from. It's almost shakesperian.

[allenjasson]

The system is failing. It is failing because the thing that unifies the capitalists, aligns them like a magnet aligns iron filings, olso is their achilles tendon. They are compelled by the greed and power-lust to do the very things that are bringing down the system and as it comes down the materialist illusion breaks, the masses get angry etc etc ther rest follows naturally: they resort to violence - then they fail. Fail ugly, but fail.

[allenjasson]

We have to wait and see. A lot of people will be clinging to the illusion long after Obama's failure (if it happens, I don't pre-empt), which would be ideal for the corporate dominants who in 8 years will have closed the gate on the global masses. But if enough people are watching, understanding the situation, critically assessing Obama and ready to act against him sooner rather than later there is a chance to completely overturn the situation. They can't beat the masses with violence.

[allenjasson]

It may well be - and in my opinion, clearly is the case - that Obama was actually chosen by the corporate elites because they know this is a time they will need a populist president whom they can put in front of the cameras to calm the angry masses. It's been done before.

[RodneyShaneRuss]

I agree. I'm not crazy about the proposed Clintonesque, centralist politics which provide less accountability to big corporations. America needs more progressive measures( ex. FDR New deal) along with corporate and government accountability.

If Obama fails on such accounts, his presidency will be a failure. Obama's administration has to take America in a new direction. If it fails to do so, Nader's assessment will be correct. Obama will be no nothing more than a corporate Uncle Tom.

[allenjasson]

Still think blacks are more politically savvy; I think of George Jackson, Malcolm X and ML King as excellent articulators of the position of disadvantaged blacks. True, these are exceptions but I can't think of equivalent spokesmen for the white poor, they rely on elite intellectuals like Nader, Chomsky, Zinn, Gore Vidal etc.

[RodneyShaneRuss]

Nader posed a valid question that every socially/ historically conscious African American thought in the back of their minds on election night. Clearly in America there's an attack on free thinking. We've been duped into silence by a media we allow to control our thinking. Blacks are fearful of questioning the presidency of Obama for fear of being labeled an uncle Tom and whites for fear of being labeled racist. What kind of America is that? Free speech must come back.

[allenjasson]

Personally, I think you have misunderstood Nader's comment. I also don't think that African Americans would hesitate to question Obama, in my experience they are much more politically savvy, much less susceptible to the mental bubble-gum issued by the media than white Americans. Nader is imploring Obama to resist the temptation to servile compliance with the wishes of establisked corporate power, that's all.

[RodneyShaneRuss]

Nader was speaking to blacks. Why use Uncle Tom? Why not flunky?

Blacks are no more savvy of politics it's just that they are naturally more distrustful of a corrupt , corporate leaning, white supremacist government.

Obama could be the biggest tool the government has ever employed, or a tool of change similar to FDR. But if history has shown us anything he's likely to offer us only a few symbolic gestures of change while maintaining the institution of white supremacy and privilege in place.

[hultonclint]

were trained to hear "Uncle Tom" as a "forbidden" word, and at the same time never developed the sense of critical thinking or breadth of historical knowledge to think otherwise. That woman who speaks at the end of the video is a classic example of the young white American who has been raised to avoid ALL contact with any mention of race/ethnicity, lest they accidentally speak critically and are branded with the Scarlet "R" (another American literary allusion that they probably wouldnt get!)!

[hultonclint]

Hi Allen, I agree with everything you say. I just want to give nuance to the term "Uncle Tom" as I understand it as a lifetime resident of U.S.

At some point in our history (starting when? 1970s maybe?) "Uncle Tom" became a phrase of pretty heavy insult--"fighting words" I remember the incident where some white power "skinheads" appeared on the talk show "Geraldo" in the 80s. There

[hultonclint]

was an all out brawl, and it all began when one of the white power dorks called a Black leader "Uncle Tom"--the latter lost his cool after he was called that. So for people raised through certain decades, they have been trained to react to it as fighting words.

The phrase isnt inherently offensive; its context can make it so, if it is intended as insult. "Black" is not a racist term, but if one says "Get your Black ass out of here" with prejudice, it could be.

I think the younger generations..

[hultonclint]

don't even know the term well anymore. (With our current poor education system, they may not have ever been introduced to the book Uncle Toms Cabin, which after reading in their school English class, they would have been introduced to the colloquial usage).

ANyway, this explains why so many Americans are reacting like "Nader should have made the point without using a racial epithet." Of course, we know that Nader had no offensive intent; he uses the phrase historically and effectively...

[hultonclint]

Others say "If he didnt want to be racial, why didnt he choose another word?" Well, of course the sharpness of the metaphor depended on race--this doesnt make it racially bigoted. Race is relevant--after all, everyone was patting themselves on the back for electing "first African-American president."

Anyway, my long-winded point is that this Shep Sheperd idiot KNEW he could make a big deal out of the words because there is that segment of the US population that grew up in a period when they