Thank you for pointing this out. I had listened to his full sermons on the web and listened to these speeches. As an Atheist who believes in the essence of Jesus’ teachings, just not the divinity, I am absolutely turned off by many Christian ministers. Then there are the ones I genuinely enjoy. Wright was exceptional. Very bright, excellent command of many subjects pertinent to his calling. And a sense of humor. You just don’t get any better.

After climbing into my empty nest 5 years ago, I started making up for the years I read homework, books to be reported and spent time with my children. I’ve read a lot of non-fiction tomes, chased new information and ideas all over the internet. Lost a lot of innocence. I wasn’t that ignorant in some ways. I just didn’t have a very good perception of the breadth and depth of the causes of our problems. Compared to what I’ve read by very respectable scholars (almost all white men), Wright was relatively tame. 2 years ago I wrote a letter to all the Senators on “Not In MY Name” policy issues. The biggest being the Iraq war.

There have to be two basic human tendencies at work with this bunch. The first is that most of us only absorb about 7 % of what we hear. Obviously, anyone who writes or talks into a mic on something like this, should reread and relisten carefully enough to grasp 95+%. Not that we expect that kind of effort from folks who just hear the most useful statements for twisting. Then there is the avoidance of information that might tear down your own beliefs. I admit I rarely go to the right wing mud pits. Mostly because after being there (sometimes whether I wanted to be or not) enough, I got the arguments, the tactics, the absence of sincere moral values. Through Memeorandum, where I found this post, I find the better right wing posts and read them.

Mr. Bergel, just because white men tend to act that way, projecting it on Rev Wright is flimsy. He spoke very well to several very large and influential groups. His experience and achievements give him a position to have his opinions SOLICITED. Seemed to me the audiences were very receptive and appreciative. I would certainly like him to be keeping his clearly well grounded and insightful ideas in the discussions that this country needs to have.

I especially like Rev Wright’s tendency to reiterate an important point. Gets the retention factor up to 20 or 30%. So if you think the learning concepts he spoke of (different but not deficient) were his, go back and listen for the names of the actual researchers. He mentioned them several times, and they are part of the 5% I didn’t retain (but I know where to find them).

Thanks again, Kathy.

-The Management