jmdrake
07-15-2014, 06:24 AM
I wasn't sure if this belonged in General Politics or Religion. Mods can move it if needed. It's not a religious discussion per se though.
As some of you may know, Dr. Ben Carson is Seventh Day Adventist. That makes him probably the most famous black SDA in the world. Perhaps he's the most famous SDA alive at the moment. (Admiral Barry Black, chaplain of the U.S. Senate, is right up their with him, though I think Carson is more famous. Barry Black hasn't had a movie made about his life.) Since the infamous prayer breakfast where Dr. Carson, tactfully in my opinion, criticized Obama's healthcare plan, he's been a favorite of many republicans (yes I know many here do not like his gun control position). Well, recently the following was posted by a friend of mine on Facebook
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t1.0-9/10464015_272181929636769_1399980361807552249_n.png
Her immediate reaction was an emphatic "No". Note that she, like me, is a black SDA and many who commented on her post fit in that category. The split was interesting. I think there were more "nayes" than "ayes", but there were a significant number of "ayes". When someone asked "Why the nayes" the responses were things like "He opposed Obamacare at the prayer breakfast. That was rude." or "The republicans are using him just like they used Michael Steel". (An interesting response was someone upset at Dr. Carson's answer to a question about racial profiling. She pointed out that her brother was stopped and charged with carrying a concealed weapon for a carved piece of wood. I guess it didn't register that the problem might have been gun control.) I did my best to explain the facts about Obamacare and how I know people who voted for Obama twice who will readily admit that Obamacare has already hurt them. (Vanderbilt is talking about cutting physicians salaries now for example). I pointed out how premiums have gone up and people have lost their insurance and their preferred doctor. To that someone responded that they didn't like being "lectured" about Obamacare from someone who didn't know them or their background. Ummmm.....I didn't know these people had been consulted on the drafting of the ACA. They must have been consulted on it to take any criticism of it so personally.
Anyway, while I don't expect all black SDAs to blindly support Ben Carson, it is a bit disappointing that some would blindly attack him just because they disagreed with him on one piece of legislation that they really didn't understand. (If they did understand they wouldn't have minded the "lecture". People tend to get like that when they don't really have an answer to the points you are bringing up.) Then again, people get tripped up on style versus substance. It's just like Rick Perry supporters getting all hacked off at Rand Paul for his response to Rick Perry's attacks an responding without even reading the article and thinking Rand was attacking Perry on the border issue when Rand was talking about foreign policy. Heck, even my own mom briefly fell into the "He criticized Obama at Obama's prayer breakfast at that's rude." trap. And she voted for Ron Paul in the last primary! (I responded by asking my mom "Why is it okay for politicians to hijack any event they are invited to in order to push their own agenda, but when they invite someone else to their event and that person speaks truth to power it's rude?" She got what I was saying and agreed.)
Breaking people out of the mold they are in isn't easy. That's for sure.
As some of you may know, Dr. Ben Carson is Seventh Day Adventist. That makes him probably the most famous black SDA in the world. Perhaps he's the most famous SDA alive at the moment. (Admiral Barry Black, chaplain of the U.S. Senate, is right up their with him, though I think Carson is more famous. Barry Black hasn't had a movie made about his life.) Since the infamous prayer breakfast where Dr. Carson, tactfully in my opinion, criticized Obama's healthcare plan, he's been a favorite of many republicans (yes I know many here do not like his gun control position). Well, recently the following was posted by a friend of mine on Facebook
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/t1.0-9/10464015_272181929636769_1399980361807552249_n.png
Her immediate reaction was an emphatic "No". Note that she, like me, is a black SDA and many who commented on her post fit in that category. The split was interesting. I think there were more "nayes" than "ayes", but there were a significant number of "ayes". When someone asked "Why the nayes" the responses were things like "He opposed Obamacare at the prayer breakfast. That was rude." or "The republicans are using him just like they used Michael Steel". (An interesting response was someone upset at Dr. Carson's answer to a question about racial profiling. She pointed out that her brother was stopped and charged with carrying a concealed weapon for a carved piece of wood. I guess it didn't register that the problem might have been gun control.) I did my best to explain the facts about Obamacare and how I know people who voted for Obama twice who will readily admit that Obamacare has already hurt them. (Vanderbilt is talking about cutting physicians salaries now for example). I pointed out how premiums have gone up and people have lost their insurance and their preferred doctor. To that someone responded that they didn't like being "lectured" about Obamacare from someone who didn't know them or their background. Ummmm.....I didn't know these people had been consulted on the drafting of the ACA. They must have been consulted on it to take any criticism of it so personally.
Anyway, while I don't expect all black SDAs to blindly support Ben Carson, it is a bit disappointing that some would blindly attack him just because they disagreed with him on one piece of legislation that they really didn't understand. (If they did understand they wouldn't have minded the "lecture". People tend to get like that when they don't really have an answer to the points you are bringing up.) Then again, people get tripped up on style versus substance. It's just like Rick Perry supporters getting all hacked off at Rand Paul for his response to Rick Perry's attacks an responding without even reading the article and thinking Rand was attacking Perry on the border issue when Rand was talking about foreign policy. Heck, even my own mom briefly fell into the "He criticized Obama at Obama's prayer breakfast at that's rude." trap. And she voted for Ron Paul in the last primary! (I responded by asking my mom "Why is it okay for politicians to hijack any event they are invited to in order to push their own agenda, but when they invite someone else to their event and that person speaks truth to power it's rude?" She got what I was saying and agreed.)
Breaking people out of the mold they are in isn't easy. That's for sure.