Dave von Ebers Deals with the Brats

Chicago lawyer and blogger, Dave von Ebers, just showed the world why Glenn Greenwald was not only a failure as a lawyer, but also still is an emotionally-puerile bully (and, very probably, a racist one at that):-



Dave was certainly the adult in that room. He had me at "Grow up." Greenwald employs the time-honoured Teabagger tactic of moving the goalposts and twisting facts in order to make himself the victim. He's a word-twister also, accusing Dave of name-calling when he fired the first salvo by saying Dave was "intellectually stunted." Dave responded with a valid question, asking Glennie if he were a racist, as he - like many other Paulbots from the Left - seem to sweep Paul's documented racism under the carpet in order to mould him to their so-called Progressive image.

But Greenwald isn't a Progressive, although he's reasonably successful in masquerading as one. He's a bought-and-paid-for Koch whore ensconced in the Cato Institute and loving him some Citizens United.

You see, Greenwald never answers Dave's question. He never acknowledges Paul's racism, instead he tries to imply - perversely -that the President is the racist, for his policies in the Middle East and the number of "Muslim children" who have been killed by drones.

I'm sorry, but the "I have empathy for brown babies" line is as tired as the "I have black friends" meme as a strawman throw-out hide inherent racism.

And then there's Zaid Jilani.

Glenn Greenwald is the-bully-as-Peter-Pan, whose presumptive superior intellectualism is easily dismantled when someone like Dave von Ebers pulls the curtain aside. Greenwald has no argument. He resorts to robotic repetition of lines, ever panicking when the intended reaction from these lines does not compute.

But Jilani is the real deal. He is a child. He's 23 and writes for Think Progress. He is jejeune and naive. He mimics. He adopts the soundbytes and opinions of others without ever presuming to think for himself. He is the classic example of someone who is totally incapable of critical thought and analysis, and one wonders why an entity like This Progress employed such a dilettante. He is, quite succinctly, the hero-worshipping but annoying little kid who wants to play with the big guys.

But here's what's disconcerting and more than a little sad. Zaid is an American of Asian descent. He was born and raised in Kennesaw, Georgia, and calls himself a "proud Southerner." I have seen Zaid engage in several arguments on Twitter concerning race, and Zaid always sides with the white Progressives in denying that racism exists on the Left. In fact, he goes as far as saying he wouldn't know racism because he's not black, he's brown.

Seriously, this is a Muslim guy living in the heart of Teabagger country saying that.

Well, Zaid, honey, I - like you - am a proud Southerner. I'm a white woman who's people have lived longer in the South that you'll ever know and I can tell you one thing: For a lot of people in the South, brown is black.

In the above Chirpstory, Zaid is painstaking in echoing Glennie's soundbytes, whilst Glenn doesn't even acknowledge his existence. In fact, for Zaid, Paul's abhorrence of the US foreign policy in the Middle East cancels out any semblance of racism, documented or otherwise. Ron Paul does penance for grotesque racist ramblings by protesting the United States' perceived attitudes to Muslim factions in the Middle East.

But guess what? If this were 1941, and the Middle East were Germany, Ron Paul would be saying the same thing, about the foreign policy being waged by the same United States government who was lobbing bombs and missiles on blonde-haired and blue-eyed German babies.

Zaid truly needs to grow up. He needs to mature. He needs to stop being a token lickspittle to white privilegists, either on the Progressive side (yes, you Joan Walsh, who's taken Zaid as her "token" black brown protoge') or on the side where things always go better with Koch. The posture he strikes now is of the faithful slave who, rather than sample freedom and all the hardships it entails, keeps his head down and stays with Massa - because liberal Massa knows best.

He should be ashamed for himself that he even buys into the snark of a Joan Walsh who slips up on occasion to reveal her resentment of people of colour; he should be ashamed of his open imitation of Glenn Greenwald, an immature man who reveals his racism by open projection.

Zaid wants to be like them. He wants to be accepted by them. Sorry, Zaid, but any proud Southerner would know that there's a name for you in the South and it's not nice. It's "Oreo" - and that doesn't mean you're exactly a sweet cookie, but rather sad.

Anyone who cherrypicks the values of an open racist, who believes that poor people are that way through their own fault, doesn't deserve to think of himself, much less call himself a "Progressive."

And while you're looking in the mirror of your soul, Zaid, learn some respect for your elders. Dave von Ebers has accomplished some things of which you can only dream.

Grow up.