For those that don't know him, the Reverend Al Sharpton is an activist who is bent on drumming up support for whatever cause he can latch onto. While he claims to want to help the little guy and stand up against oppression, racism, injustice and any other buzzword he can find, he simply wants attention.
Sharpton has built a career on racism - if nobody ever said or did anything racist ever again, he would be unemployed. Not only would he be unemployed, but he wouldn't be famous. Not only wouldn't he be famous, but he wouldn't have a legion of minions who treat him as the savior of the black man. Actually, he's not only a pariah, he's the worst instigator of racism I know of in America.
Al Sharpton believes he walks on water. Not only has he never said or done anything wrong in his life, he truly believes that the only way to 'bring justice to the blacks' is to vigorously condemn anybody who ever says or does anything that Sharpton (the self-appointed spokesman for all America) dislikes. Sharpton needs someone to martyr like a vampire needs blood - he just can't wait until someone says something that might possibly be construed as racist, and he's got a month worth of radio shows to spout about. Without someone's career to ruin, he's going to be ruined himself. The way to continue his own career is to spout out like a madman, in the process angering more and more people, which only serves to boost his own infamy.
Now, for those that are curious about who the holy Reverend Al Sharpton is, here are a few highlights from his bio: he dropped out of college after two years, married and divorced a backup singer for James Taylor, and switched which church he was a reverend of (from Pentecostal to Baptist) at the age of 40. Oh, and he's never done anything wrong in his life. In fact, if anyone claims that he has ever done anything wrong, he'll sue them. The funny thing is, despite suits against groups including the New York Post, HBO, Rudy Giuliani, and the Republican National Committee, he's never won a cent. But, in 1998 he did lose a suit (he was responsible for $65,000) for defaming someone else. Great role model, huh.
What I can say for Sharpton is that he's good at what he does. He knows how to climb the soap box and spout out pseudo-truths and he knows how to incite a reaction. He's also very good at making whole classes of people clash - he was one of the leaders who lead the crowds which later resorted to anti-semitic rioting in 1991 (he claims the rioting wasn't his suggestion). He's more than willing to defend his own reputation no matter what, and his position is simple: Al Knows Best. If you ever get bored, read his web page or read what he said at Kean College in 1991. No matter what you hear him say, it's always the same: he wants to rile you up, causing you to pay more attention to him.
So, what does this blog accomplish? Well, it falls into the little trap where when people talk about Al Sharpton his infamy grows (as do his book sales). Why, then, did I write it, even though there are countless other articles and blogs that talk about him? It's simple - Al Sharpton is not going to be able to swim forever and eventually his own followers will realize what a millstone around their necks he is and they will cast him off and I want to be the first person to congratulate them for helping stop one of the most vocally hateful people in America. Not only will fewer careers potentially be ruined by his bigotry and personal assaults, but one more step will be taken by America to eliminate racism at its core.
