If you don’t know who Tim Wise is, consider yourself lucky.
I discovered Wise when I was forced to read his book, White Like Me, for an introductory sociology class. (The book is required reading for college classes across the country.)
Wise is one of the most sought after speakers on American campuses, and is also a frequent guest on CNN and PBS. He is essentially a professional racialist, meaning he uses race as the basis for determining policy and interpreting nearly all events. It is his job to provide commentary, write books, and make speeches on a variety of subjects, using race as the primary factor in determining his ideas and conclusions.
So when someone criticizes President Barack Obama, for example, racism must be the motivation, according to Wise. This interpretation of events is at the heart of his presentation of America as a deeply racist country.
As far as professional racialists go, he is one of the most highly respected. The famed author of the Afrocentric Manifesto, Molefi Kete Asante, said that Wise is “One of the brilliant voices of our time” (an endorsement that Wise proudly displays at the top of his website). Michael Eric Dyson, too, has said that Wise is a “national treasure.” And according to the Utne Reader, Wise is one of the “25 Visionaries” of 2010.
That a man like Wise is so highly respected and widely demanded on college campuses does not speak well about the left and modern universities.
Wise is a clear example of a leader on the left who is the antithesis of what he has successfully convinced his followers he represents. He presents himself to be a scholarly man of pure facts and data, and a leading voice for anti-bigotry. Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite his reliance on embarrassingly flimsy studies, his followers believe his facts are indisputable. Likewise, no matter how hate-filled some of his comments are, his followers believe his statements are accurate rather than bigoted.
His recent remarks about Andrew Breitbart on Facebook represent one of his more vicious attacks:
[Andrew Breitbart]…I want that bastard destroyed. Now. […] when I say I want him destroyed I am not kidding. I want to see him penniless, homeless, begging on the street for money to buy food […] he can die on the street so far as I’m concerned […] let you and your rich ass Brentwood family suffer
As Wise declared his desire to see Breitbart and his family to suffer, he committed a spectacular libel in the process. Wise accused Breitbart of approving of a cross burning in front of his fraternity in 1989 at Tulane University:
Tim Wise wonders if Andrew Breitbart was involved in the cross-burning at Tulane in 1989, in the front yard of HIS fraternity[…].I have no reason to think he did it, but [Breitbart] was a member of the frat where the cross was burned after a bid was given to a black student for the first time, and he said nothing publicly to condemn the act, so I assume he approved of it. Seems fair. We had a press conference at the time, and he could have come to add his voice to the condemnation but he didn’t, so as far as I’m concerned he’s a guilty as whoever burned it…
The cross burning was believed to be in response to a black pledge being sponsored to join the fraternity. Guess who the sponsor was?
Andrew Breitbart.
In fact, Breitbart was the sole sponsor of the black pledge. No one was ever caught for the cross burning, but authorities believed that it was actually targeted at Breitbart and the black pledge.
In other words, Tim Wise managed to say the exact opposite of reality. (Wise has since tried to claim he was only joking about Breitbart, “this alcohol-addled hack.”)
Wise’s libel isn’t an isolated incident, either. One doesn’t have to follow Tim Wise for very long before encountering a plethora of hatred. His personal facebook page is a good place to go to understand his nature. For example, here is some of the nuance you will find there:
This is what teabaggers are about: cruelty and ignorance, classist (and implicitly racist) hate, masquerading as fiscal responsibility[…] FU Kate O’Beirne, and all who think like you. You need 2B crushed, mercilessly
if you support the Tea Party agenda you are either a) ignorant or b) an asshole, or c) a racist, or d) some of all three…no exceptions
republicans and their democratic enablers are evil… screw NASCAR
[Limbaugh] this drug addled jackass is among the most cruel and inhumane people to walk the Earth this past half century
why, oh why, are so many white people so effin stupid…honestly…hey OC [Orange County] (at least the white part), go die please…figuratively speaking of course, or literally, whatever
conservatives are a gaggle of pro-fetus, Jeezoid, anti-life fanatics, who merely want to control women, whom they inherently distrust […] they are evil, period…and ignorant, and need to be politically destroyed…no middle ground. no compromise
the GOP and their Democratic enablers are straight up evil… enemies of women, all women, and a collection of misogynistic rape-empowering jack holes…no exceptions.
the republican party hates women […] that means that women who cleave to the right are self hating
because Glenn Beck is a venal idiot…Any real God would have smote this jackass years ago. He is the best evidence for atheism in history
To put it mildly, these aren’t the thoughts of “one of the brilliant voices of our time,” yet Wise is leading the charge to educate college students on race relations.
His influence should be exposed, and it should be plainly noted that if you respect Tim Wise, then you aren’t anti-hate.
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