National Public Radio — which I listen to religiously — needs a rating system. Perhaps an audible buzz followed by an earnest voice stating, “Warning: the following has been rated HTTWP.”

Because this morning, driving home from church, I nearly puked in my car.

“Weekend essayist” Diane Roberts was droning on about why we are afraid of Michelle Obama. Apparently, Michelle Obama represents a terrifying archetype: an angry black woman.

(A Blogenberg digression: First of all, Michelle Obama doesn’t seem angry to me. She’s kind of hot, if you ask me. Second of all, I’ve seen an angry black woman up close. It’s my wife about twice a week — much scarier than anything Diane Roberts thinks we think we see in Michelle Obama.)

According to Roberts, to the rest of us white people Michelle Obama seems downright terrifying and threatening. Michelle Obama even does a “terrorist fist jab.” No kidding, that’s what Roberts said — a “terrorist fist jab.”

But what made me nearly throw up just thirty minutes after taking the Lord’s blood and body into mine, was the holier than thou drip, drip of Roberts’ “essay.” It’s the very nauseating enlightened white person making sure we all know he or she isn’t like those other white people. You know what, Ms. Roberts, I’m thrilled you’re a “good” white person, not an “uppity” white person.

Just warn us next time, so I don’t puke in my car.

And by the way, it’s a fist bump, not a “fist jab.” And even old white guys like me do it on occasion.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 at 9:56 am and is filed under Race and Ethnicity, Media Criticism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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