Units of Selection and Zero-Sum Games

My man Prof. Lester Spence has set out a smorgasbord of thought for food on the zero-sum psycho-political warfare raging in the American mediaspheres;

What's striking in all of the controversy is that it centers on racial symbols, rather than substance. I believe Clyburn missed a prime opportunity to move the country's focus beyond symbolic slights toward real democratic change -- and this says a great deal about the practice of black politics at the elite level. And the fact that the mainstream media is paying such close attention to the debate over words and symbols says even more about what America thinks of black politics -- that it is more about reducing racial offense and fights over "black leaders" than it is about reducing the real impact of racism on the lives of black citizens, using government to do so.

Not content to leave us sated with the his gourmand's political analysis published at Salon.com - Spence then wheels out the desert cart so that we can hear a spicy and delectable exchange between his colleague Melissa Harris Lacewell and Gloria Steinem - partisan combatants representing distinct units of selection in the war for American hearts and minds.

For those interested in the rigorous hardline on what's happening in the primaries, there is only one destination.

Accept no substitutes......,