This strikes me as at the very least a telling and perhaps even a significant moment in recent television history. Or not. Regardless, the women of The View begin by considering the meaning of Jesse Jackson’s disparaging remarks about Barack Obama. From there, though, Whoopi Goldberg tries to explain the linguistics of power dynamics — Subvert the Dominant Paradigm! — to Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Hasselbeck just doesn’t get it. Because she’s oppressed, too, you see. And there’s just so much hate in the world. So why add more by using coarse language?

Still and all, this is the kind of thing I was talking about at the end of this post. And my point isn’t that I’m vindicated or really smart or anything. Because I don’t think anyone was disagreeing with my rather obvious argument back then. It’s just that although Obama’s candidacy — and, fingers crossed, presidency — isn’t going to wash away centuries of racism, it surely will force many people to confront the cultural dynamics of race in ways that are unsettling, and, again, likely salutary.

Via the often super-cool sociological images.